Re-Recordings of Songs

[WeatherWiseCDC]

It seems fairly common for musicians to re-record their own material, sometimes improving upon one of their compositions, though sometimes releasing a lesser, possibly redundant version of it. There are some re-recorded versions of songs many may recognize, while there are some that remain in obscurity to this day. I'm sure we all have certainly aware of one re-recorded song even within our own music libraries. Let's discuss them and decide whether or not some of them were ever necessary and whether some in fact improved on the originals.

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I'll begin with potentially one of the most easily identifiable re-recordings, at least in prog circles. Upon hearing it for the first time in 1981, I was quite indifferent to it but always felt the second half of the original recording could have stood alone as a strong pop rock song. The re-recorded version is a lot jazzier than the original. After listening to it several times more recently, it's grown on me. Both versions were recorded within the same two years, 1979 to 1980. This version was recorded after the Duke version.

This is "Behind the Lines" from Phil Collins' 1981 debut solo album, Face Value. The album was co-produced by Collins and Hugh Padgham.



What is your impression of it?

[GuitarGeek]

One that I thought was terrible was when Chicago redid 25 Or Six To Four. They slowed it down and, well, this was the mid 80's, so you can imagine what else they did to it (eg drum machine, Eddie VH style guitar solo, etc):



I think the idea was to redo one of the old songs, as a means of introducing Jason Scheff as the new bassist/singer after Peter Cetera's departure. They even did this weird video for this track (which I can't find on Youtube), which revolved around a couple teenagers in an Orwellian future escaping into the past. Or something like that.

[WeatherWiseCDC]

One that I thought was terrible was when Chicago redid 25 Or Six To Four. They slowed it down and, well, this was the mid 80's, so you can imagine what else they did to it (eg drum machine, Eddie VH style guitar solo, etc):

I think the idea was to redo one of the old songs, as a means of introducing Jason Scheff as the new bassist/singer after Peter Cetera's departure. They even did this weird video for this track (which I can't find on Youtube), which revolved around a couple teenagers in an Orwellian future escaping into the past. Or something like that.

Yikes. I wasn't a fan of that either. I thought Dawayne Bailey's guitar solos during the live performances of the song in the 1980s were pretty unique (and had a very strong 80s flair), but the live version was more alike with the original recording than the '86 remake.

Here's an 80s re-recorded version of Paper Lace's "Billy Don't Be a Hero." The original is a nice song. Listen to the chorus here especially and the female vocal. Some argue it's way over-the-top; in addition, the band members look ridiculous in the video, mullet, sunglasses and all:



I've listened to it enough times to actually groove to it, but it's ridiculously cheesy.

[GuitarGeek]

BTW, re-recording old material is something that goes way back. I think a lot of older performers, back in the 50's-70's, when they'd change labels, the new label would make them do new versions of their old hits, so that the new label could put out their own "best of" release and exploit the recordings the artist made with the old label. That's why whenever you see those Time Life infomercials for their big hits boxsets, they always emphasize that "These are the original hit versions, no re-recordings".

[WeatherWiseCDC]

BTW, re-recording old material is something that goes way back. I think a lot of older performers, back in the 50's-70's, when they'd change labels, the new label would make them do new versions of their old hits, so that the new label could put out their own "best of" release and exploit the recordings the artist made with the old label. That's why whenever you see those Time Life infomercials for their big hits boxsets, they always emphasize that "These are the original hit versions, no re-recordings".

Here's one example of that: Gordon Lightfoot's 1975 greatest hits album, Gord's Gold, contained all-new re-recorded versions of many of his classic hits. After purchasing the box set containing the originals, I truly feel the re-recordings are so much better. The 1975 version of "Canadian Railroad Trilogy," for example, sounds absolutely phenomenal, and has become the definitive version of the song. It has a much stronger arrangement and is very well-produced.



The original is nice, but seems fairly unrefined in comparison.

[GuitarGeek]

The Byrds were actually forced to record both Eight Miles High and Why twice, reportedly because the original versions of the two songs were recorded at RCA Studios in LA, and Columbia (their label) was unhappy with them working "outside the Columbia family" or whatever. So they had to redo the songs, more or less the exact arrangements, but with tighter vocal harmonies and less of the "volatile" sound heard on the RCA recordings.

Then, they decided to do a third version of Why, this time with a different, less adventurous arrangement than the one that was used as the Eight Miles High B-side. It's that third version that was used on the Younger Than Yesterday album. Supposedly the band was unhappy with the B-side recording, which is a shame, because it's in my view the superior take.

[GuitarGeek]

Hawkwind regularly redid their old material in the 80's and early 90's. Sometimes this for live albums, but not always. Here's the new version of Psychedelic Warlords that they cut did in 1982. Something that's kind of curious is the late Huw Lloyd-Langton is singing lead vocals, which is kind of curious for a Dave Brock composition:

[GuitarGeek]

And here's the 1982 version of Silver Machine:

[GuitarGeek]

Re-recording and retitled version of Mirror Of Illusion, which appeared on the first Hawkwind album way back in 1970 as a more or less acoustic number. In 1992, it appeared as Mask Of Morning on Electric Tepee, with a decidedly more "modern" sound, I guess:

[WeatherWiseCDC]

The Byrds were actually forced to record both Eight Miles High and Why twice, reportedly because the original versions of the two songs were recorded at RCA Studios in LA, and Columbia (their label) was unhappy with them working "outside the Columbia family" or whatever. So they had to redo the songs, more or less the exact arrangements, but with tighter vocal harmonies and less of the "volatile" sound heard on the RCA recordings.

Then, they decided to do a third version of Why, this time with a different, less adventurous arrangement than the one that was used as the Eight Miles High B-side. It's that third version that was used on the Younger Than Yesterday album. Supposedly the band was unhappy with the B-side recording, which is a shame, because it's in my view the superior take.

It's quite neat that sometimes the newer recordings turn out for the best and sound better than the originals. Sometimes that isn't the case, though.

Another song that suffers from mid-'80s syndrome is The Police's "Don't Stand So Close to Me," re-recorded specifically for the band's 1986 greatest hits album.

[WeatherWiseCDC]

This is another that suffers from the musicians trying to do too much and overproducing the re-recorded version. Terry Jacks, his wife Susan, and their band The Poppy Family released the original "Where Evil Grows" in 1971. In 1983, Jacks re-recorded it, trying to give it the cheesy "haunted" sound with very hollowed vocal effects and an odd arrangement:

Start at 0:06, as the uploader places an intro in this video:



I've linked to the original below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLYO9Flbf14

The original charted at #6 on the Canadian RPM 100 and at #45 in the US.

[WeatherWiseCDC]

Sometimes musicians re-record songs with altered lyrics as a tribute to certain subject matters. Sometimes it's sports, as we see in the following two examples:

In 1996, Streetheart re-recorded their 1982 song, "One More Time," as a tribute to then-Winnipeg Jets goaltender, Nikolai Khabibulin. This was the result, titled "One More Save." They probably thought this would work because the words "have you" in "have you had a change of mind" could be swapped for "Khabi," the player's nickname.

It arguably works better as a sports anthem.



The original:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q69OzYwSn0U

[WeatherWiseCDC]

Here's the other re-recorded song I was referring to: Alan Frew's 2008 re-recording of his band's 1991 song, "My Town." The re-recorded version is a tribute to the local MLS team, Toronto FC. The only change is the vocal track, as everything else seems to sound exactly the same. While his voice has not changed at all, the altered lyrics absolutely ruin the song:



The original:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tu8JFZw3L6A

[WeatherWiseCDC]

Here's a controversial re-recording: "Here Comes the Flood" by Peter Gabriel. Does it actually improve upon the original? I've always liked the way the 1977 version was arranged, and I think the 1990 version is different. The re-recorded version is good, but a bit too slow for my liking, and the chorus lacks the power and the passion of the original, in my opinion. I absolutely adore the 1977 version. Which do you prefer?



The 1977 version, from his self-titled debut album:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vb7htoJAK7g

There's also the version included on the 2006 re-release of Robert Fripp's Exposure, which is a lot closer to the original than the 1990 version:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wS8V8vCUqw

[arabicadabra]

http://youtu.be/qzuB0LgwhZc

The 1988 version of The Dixie Dregs classic Take It Off The Top. Slower, gnarlier (is that a word?) and the guitar solo is crazy great. I truly prefer it to the speedy original that opens What If (and that YouTube videos of were "not allowed in your country" when I went to grab one).

[GuitarGeek]

OH yeah, and another one was the Psychedelic Furs redoing Pretty In Pink for the movie of the same name. The thing I thought was interesting about that was the original version of the band had a keyboardist/sax player, who only plays organ on that original version of the song. But then, a few years later, after half the band (including the sax player) had left the group, they redo the song, and suddenly there's a sax part on the song.

Apart from that, it's largely the same arrangement, but with mid 80's production, rather than early 80's production. One thing I miss from the original version is the way the band plays through the intro a couple times before the bass comes in. Also, Richard Butler's sort of mumbled spoken word thing near the end of the song is mixed higher on the re-recording, which I think was a mistake (I think he said in one interview, they deliberately undermixed on the original version so people would wonder what he was saying).

[arabicadabra]

As for a few of the earlier examples, in the case of Behind The Lines, while the Genesis version is probably my absolute FAVorite song the 3 man band EVER did and therefore the version I prefer by a country mile, Phil's faux Motown version shows just what an incredible musician he is.

In defense of the later Police recording of Don't Stand So Close To Me, let us not forget that the sessions for it were scheduled immediately after The Police reunited for some huge mega-benefit at Giants stadium in NJ (don't even recall the cause - better pillows for the homeless? Air conditioning for endangered gnats due to global warming?) and Stewart Copeland broke his wrist or ankle the next day - so they said screw it, let's use a drum machine.

[zravkapt]

Gordon Lightfoot

Have you ever heard the awful 80s-style re-recording of Edmund Fitzgerald?

[Adrian]

Here's one example of that: Gordon Lightfoot's 1975 greatest hits album, Gord's Gold, contained all-new re-recorded versions of many of his classic hits. After purchasing the box set containing the originals, I truly feel the re-recordings are so much better. The 1975 version of "Canadian Railroad Trilogy," for example, sounds absolutely phenomenal, and has become the definitive version of the song. It has a much stronger arrangement and is very well-produced.

I think you might be in the minority among Lighthoot fans! Gord's Gold was my introduction to a lot of his classic material, and when I moved on to the original studio albums, I found that I much preferred the originals. Too many syrupy strings on the re-recordings, and in a lot of cases, it feels as if Lightfoot was just going through the motions on the re-recordings. For me, the energy and emotion of the originals -- and sometimes even the uncluttered simplicity -- are missing.

[BravadoNJ]

Squeeze did an album of remakes, Spot The Difference. actually it was really good.

[Rune Blackwings]

much of Hawkwind's rerecordings are because Dave Brock and several former members and entities have gone into full lawsuit mode on each other. The newer versions with newer titles are to skirt around technicalities.

This is not always the case-Monster Magnet rerecorded some songs to have an "updated" version of them.

[Rune Blackwings]

This is another that suffers from the musicians trying to do too much and overproducing the re-recorded version. Terry Jacks, his wife Susan, and their band The Poppy Family released the original "Where Evil Grows" in 1971. In 1983, Jacks re-recorded it, trying to give it the cheesy "haunted" sound with very hollowed vocal effects and an odd arrangement:

Start at 0:06, as the uploader places an intro in this video:



I've linked to the original below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLYO9Flbf14

The original charted at #6 on the Canadian RPM 100 and at #45 in the US.

digging the original one...has a Matthews' Southern Comfort vibe to it.

hate the animation on the video for the new one. cheesy, bad kiddie crap.

[rcarlberg]

Artists re-record earlier songs when their dealer demands payment, and they're too coked up to write anything new.

Go on, prove me wrong!

[Rune Blackwings]

Artists re-record earlier songs when their dealer demands payment, and they're too coked up to write anything new.

Go on, prove me wrong!

if i wrote that, I would have been moderated by now

[Tangram]

Pink Floyd rerecorded Money for the Collection of Great Dance Songs album. Different but not better. Again to get around license issues. The above mentioned 25 or 6 to 4, is moved straight into the 80's. I thought it was fine but it did not hold a candle to the original. And the box set to surely get most TD fans shorts in a bunch is Tangents, where Edgar Froese remixed, remastered , rerecorded the Dreams Virgin works to get around licensing issues. On the whole, I like what he did given that if he just put the originals up, there would be just a handful of 20 minute tracks. But what he did to Mysterious Semblance could make one cry.