The Most Overproduced Single of the Past Twenty Five Years

and i'd vote instead for the beatles' "free as a bird."

Clearly, Alex, you've never heard TfF's "The Working Hour".

I thought it was the extremely early-released bonus track from XTC's Nonsuch.

Oh, I forgot to insert some disgustedly "outrageous" comparisons and snide adjectives: "This snot-caked rat turd might be covered in diamond dust, but it still sounds like Aunt Bea's severed ballsack."

(NB: The song isn't that bad, actually. But it is overproduced.)

Compared to "Sowing the Seeds...", though? "The Working Hour" sounds spartan by comparison.

i don't think i can argue with Alex's choice but i thought the track was fantastic then and i think i still do now

I'm not saying it's a bad track, I'm only saying it's hugely overproduced (intentionally or otherwise).

Me too.

I'm not saying this is the most over-produced stuff, but I thought it was a bummer when Billy Bragg went from bare sparse electric guitar to big lush stuff like Worker's Playtime and Don't Try This at Home. The songs sound perfect on the Peel sessions. Eventually I got used to Workers Playtime and now it is one of my favorites, but I remember thinking it was really cheesey the first time I heard it.

Me too except that Worker's Playtime never became one of my favorites. The Pell Session version of "The Short Answer," which very well may be my favorite song of all time*, just doesn't work with the extra junk on it no matter how many times I listen and try to like it.

*As much as I bandy about words like "favorite" and "of all time" when talking music, I am serious about that song. I still find it as incredible as the first time I heard it, and I still think it is absolutely brilliantly written and perfectly matches lyrics to music in the context of the little snapshot/story of a life it is creating. It is the only song that has ever made me pull over to the side of the road rather than keep driving. Once just to listen and once because I teared up something fierce singing along to it, couldn't stop, and wasn't having the easiest time seeing the road while sobbing.

i mean you do all realise it's one big sample right?

OTM ! piano, choir, orchestra, loud drums and...3 guitar solos... (+ the video as the cherry on the cake !)
as for crazy in love, i don't see how it compares as far as overproduction is concerned. i agree that it's just a sample with drumtracks and vocals on it (great track tho).

But that's just me. (I am also prejudiced because the original source of the horns is one of my favorite songs and I feel like the bride has been stripped bare by the bachelors, so ignore if you h8 Chi-Lites-based rockism.)

I suppose it should just be a music TypeList so I can mention it, but holy crap the hook on Beyonce's "Crazy In Love" is working. It's a sample from the Chi-Lites' "Are You My Woman", which is not that great a song. (The Chis are known for their ballads for a reason...) Truly elevating the one great part of a sampled track to a new level. Considering how thin Beyonce's voice is and how fantastically inane the lyrics are, the way the song works is really a tribute to its production. A new high water mark for Rich Harrison.

from http://www.anildash.com/poplife/2003/07/crazy_in_love.html

Clearly, Trevor Horn owns this thread.

This is the point where anyone with working ears says, "Wow, this person is completely talking out of his/her ass."

I thought of that myself. It was glorious until that last Missy Elliot record, which felt bloated to me.

????

This is Not a Test was much more stripped-down and minimal than Under Construction.

Oh wow.

Also of note: t.A.T.u.'s "All the Things She Said," and the Jordan Knight song that suddenly turns into Franziskaner oom-pa-pa insanity and then reverts back to its original form.

Is there an online equivalent of "high five, maaan!" that isn't just as retarded as the IRL version? Cause "high five, Daaan!"

The sound of happy couples coupling happily in the dark while you and I sat down for tea. I remember you said to me that "no amount of poetry could mend this broken heart, but you could put the Hoover on if you want to make a start."

Is this impossible to define? One person's overproduced mess is another's wall of sound masterpiece.

Trevor Horn took both to giddy heights.

And for everything else there's Mutt Lange.

Maybe, but on Test I felt like all I was hearing was Missy and Timba showing how clever they could be. So maybe what I'm hearing is not too much production but too few fresh ideas supporting it. And don't get me wrong, I loves me some Missy and Timbaland, but Test was the first time they've ever disappointed.

The implication is that the music already exists in some pure, natural state and the producer's role is to capture it with minimal interference. That purist point of view may have made some sense in relation to jazz or early rock and roll but how does it relate to any of the pop musicians listed on this thead? Most of the music mentioned doesn't even exist outside of the studio in a live setting.

So if I may define the process of "production" as making decisions that will ultimately lead to a finished record then I have to nominate Smile as the most overproduced record of all time. The basic material was there and yet it took 30+ years of second-guessing, re-recording and general dicking around before someone finally decided it was "finished".

not over-produced. it sounds like an 60's album.

Uh... Sergeant Pepper is also a 60s album. How does 60s = not overproduced?

Something like "Crazy In Love" is different - there you have a mediocre song that is transformed by over-the-top production into something memorable.

While there's certainly good arguments for other definitions, this would be an interesting one to use for the sake of an argument. However I think it leaves out a group of songs which do exist (and in no small number) that are both "decent" songs and transformed in a good way by over-the-top production. (Actually "Sowing the Seeds of Love" is one I think. It would still be a pretty good song without all of the bells and whistles, but they aren't "weighing it down" either.)

You might have actually meant to include that group, but I think the definition would need to be phrased in such a way that it indicates that "overproduction" applies when the production itself is burying the potential of the song rather than enhancing it. And, admittedly, that's subjective too.

The case for Brit's version of "My Perogative" becomes stronger...

that narrows it down to about 98 percent of all records made these days. maybe 99 percent.

That's the point I was getting at way upthread; "over-" is a negative modifier.

The case for Brit's version of "My Perogative" is easier to make because you've got the original with which to compare and contrast. I think all signs also point to overproduction any time you get a chance to hear the "unplugged" version of a song and say to yourself "Wow. When it's just [artist] and [one instrument] that song is waaaay better than the one on the album."

Anyway, I find it difficult to distinguish between "over-production" and "maximal production" because anything I like which falls into the second category is accused of being in the first category by people who don't like it.

So my answer is Basement Jaxx's "Lucky Star" - which I think is ace obv.

that narrows it down to about 98 percent of all records made these days. maybe 99 percent.

Exactly.

How you figure? I was laughing my ass off at Dan's comment.

Besides, I don't exactly hate Tori. I will admit to having a couple of her records (on vinyl no less) and also to having made an assload of money selling a few vinyl copies of the laughably horrible "Why Kant Tori Read" to hardcore fans who thought Tori was the Messiah. (Not that there's anything wrong with being an obsessive fan.)

I think her schtick is well, a schtick, and not a very good one at that. She's easy to potshoot, and I kinda like indulging when there's a good set up. That's all.

exhibit (a): keane's "everything's changing" single on fierce panda. nice clear, pretty production that nobody would reasonably call over-the-top.
exhibit (b): the album versions of the same three tracks. a bombastic, kitchen-sink mess.

I'm not sorry.

How could anyone look bad for making fun of a lady who makes terrible music?

Booyah.

Which, I suppose, it's supposed to be.

Frankie Goes to Hollywood haven't been mentioned yet?

I will. I'm seeing lots of Trevor Horn mentions upthread. If you're talking Horn, you have to talk Frankie. And then you're talking about the "Original New York Mix" of "Relax".

I think "T'Pau" was also the name of a Vulcan on Star Trek.

i nominate 'Out Of Your Mind' by Teh Truesteppers ft Dane Bowers and Victoria

1983 single
1988 single
1995 single
Power, Corruption and Lies version (different?)
International version

How about some of 1994/95 when every jobbing "grunge" band got their hands on a budget for the first time? "Not the Same" by Dinosaur Jr., all of Nevermind by Nirvana, Siamese Dream etc. Actually for the ultimate get Feeling Better by Sugar, wind on to the last 2 minutes and count the sheer amount of backing vocals.

This, of course, reached a peak with Garbage, after which they all saw sense and either split up or concentrated on more rewarding pastimes such as heroin benders.

Muse = good call

Imagine the usual SAW garb, but x 1000000. It's painful to listen to her low volume, out-of-key whine straining to take precedence over the 95 drum machines.....