Remake/Remodel - Revisionist musicians

Inspired by the announcement of Kate Bush's Director's Cut album of Sensual World/Red Shoes revisions (see this thread), give me artists who have rerecorded/revised/rewritten their own music.

Bonus points for artists who've gone full-on George Lucas by making the original versions unavailable.

The Carpenters - As I understand it, Richard Carpenter has repeatedly rerecorded various instruments on many of the Carpenters albums and has never allowed the original LP mixes to be released on CD.

Sharon Osbourne to thread

In 1986, Daisley and drummer Lee Kerslake sued Osbourne for unpaid royalties, eventually winning songwriting credits on Blizzard of Ozz and Diary of a Madman. The 2002 reissues of these albums saw the replacement of the original bass and drum tracks of Daisley and Kerslake with new ones by Osbourne's then-current drummer Mike Bordin and bassist Robert Trujillo. Osbourne's wife and manager, Sharon, explained the re-recordings in a press conference: "Because of Daisley and Kerslake's abusive and unjust behaviour, Ozzy wanted to remove them from these recordings. We turned a negative into a positive by adding a fresh sound to the original albums." Daisley and Kerslake denied the allegations of abusive behaviour and continued to battle for royalties for their work on Blizzard of Ozz, but their case was dismissed by the US Supreme court on May 3, 2004, putting an end to any future potential litigation on the matter.

Zappa did that all the time to his old records too. Though I think he just wanted more bozzio all over everything

There's the story of Jeff beck asking his record label to take Blow by Blow off the shelves the week it came out so he could record more guitar overdubs.

also, Dave mustaine rerecorded the vocals on the rust in peace reissue, right?

PIL never got round to issuing their "remake" album, I think three tracks made it out as b-sides.

Gang of Four, "Return the Gift."
Brian Wilson, "Smile."

Springsteen did it on his boxed set outtakes, "Tracks" and "The Promise." At least one track on the latter is a 100% new recording.

I know Peter Gabriel used to futz with his live albums.

Bunch of bands later re-recorded singles for albums. First thing that comes to mind is House of Love, who did two different versions of "Shine On."

Zappa did that all the time to his old records too. Though I think he just wanted more bozzio all over everything

― Whiney On The Goon (Whiney G. Weingarten), Friday, March 11, 2011 6:35 PM (15 minutes ago)

He did it to two records, with Chad Wackerman, not Bozzio.

Thomas Dolby kind of did this with his later live shows, really repurposing his work, in a way I liked.

I'm not so much looking for live stuff, because both aspects already mentioned are so common: 1.) Rearranging old songs in concert, 2.) Overdubbing live albums with studio fixes.

Yeah fair point.

Also, remixing by hired hands doesn't count.

Could have sworn at one point Prince threatened to re-record his entire catalog. Also, the final Police album was going to be revisited versions of old songs. I think one, "Don't Stand So Close to Me," ended up on that first hits collection. One or two others are floating around somewhere, too.

I seem to remember Ozzy saying something like, "You did WHAT?! Put it back the way it was!" and that the re-recording went on largely without his knowledge.

Still officially unreleased, but Cheap Trick's Albini-recorded version of In Color.

Albums of rerecordings:

John Mellencamp - Rough Harvest (probably done as a contract filler, but it's not bad)
The Cure - Greatest Hits (bonus disc of acoustic versions)
Cracker - Greatest Hits Redux (independently released fuck-you to Virgin Records)
Squeeze - Spot the Difference (inexplicable)

This thread on another messageboard lists a huge number of re-recordings of songs by original artists. Lots of cases of musicians trying to reclaim their own material after getting fucked by bad contracts.

As mentioned in the Kate Bush thread:

The Stooges - Raw Power (which I think is a big improvement on the original mix)

The Telescopes self-titled second album. Released once as shoegaze, once as droooooooone.

Sparks' tribute album to themselves, Plagiarism.

Dunno if this counts, but Townshend's (and the rest of the Who's) dissatisfaction with how the original studio recording of Tommy came out ultimately resulted in re-recording everything for the film, and then doing the Broadway musical.

This thread on another messageboard lists a huge number of re-recordings of songs by original artists. Lots of cases of musicians trying to reclaim their own material after getting fucked by bad contracts.

Oh yeah--lots of '50s & early '60s artists in that category. I guess it was pretty common when you switched labels back then to give the new label their own version of a Greatest Hits album.

They also bring up the situation of rerecording only certain songs for a Greatest Hits because the original label wouldn't license them, like Gordon Lightfoot.

Styx did that with "Lady" for a mid-90s greatest hits, because their old label wouldn't license it. Understandable, as the original "Lady" is probably the only income-generator for Wooden Nickel Records.

I don't know why I know this; I hate Styx.

Then there was the time Van Halen took out Michael Anthony from the cover of Van Halen I and put in Wolfgang (they changed it back)

The Church has done this twice with the two El Momento albums

a shit-ton of classical composers to thread

btw i heard the church in the supermarket yesterday wtf

that alanis starbucks version of jagged little pill

Boulez owns this xxp

henry cow added different instruments and remixed both 'legend' and 'in praise of learning' for the 1980s cd releases. then came to their senses for the 2000's remastered releases (although, in at least the case of 'legend', they had to digitise it from pristine japanese vinyl)

Game Theory did this on a bunch of tracks for compilations. If memory serves, one instance was to fix some flawed backing vocalsremove Scott Miller's ex-girlfriend from a track.

Mention of Henry Cow reminds me: Slapp Happy - Casablanca Moon and Acnalbasac Noom.

Camper Van Beethoven re-recorded a couple of "Key Lime Pie" tracks for the recent best-of. Sacrilege, but I agree with the band that they're pretty close.

I keep imagining this thread is about a new revisionist band called Remake/Remodel.

Game Theory did this on a bunch of tracks for compilations. If memory serves, one instance was to fix some flawed backing vocalsremove Scott Miller's ex-girlfriend from a track.

Also love how he corrected his grammar on the rerecording of "Bad Year at UCLA" -- "fits as good as all your clothes" became "fits as well as all your clothes."

Let It Be...Naked

Songs credited to McCartney/Lennon (briefly until someone talked some sense into Paul)

George Martin remixing Help and Rubber Soul for CD (original stereo mixes only available as bonuses in the Beatles mono box set)

Give My Regards to Broad Street

Mention of Henry Cow reminds me: Slapp Happy - Casablanca Moon and Acnalbasac Noom.

wasn't this more about the record label rejecting the original recording (backed by various Faust) so they had to rerecord before anything was released. & Acnalbasac Noom was only released about 20 years later by These or Recommended records ?
Than the group later being intentionally revisionist at least. This must have happened several times with various bands. Original versions only coming out way after the fact.
Does the remix of the Grateful Dead's Anthem Of The Sun & Aoxomoxoa in the early 70s fit this thread? Original mixes are supposed to be a lot more psychedelic and only just being reissued if i'm thinking right. I think the recent Warner lps vinyl boxed set was original mixes.
Also thinking was much changed when Einsturzende neubauten remastered & mixed for cd for the first time when the Potomak cds came out?

Wire just released a bunch of rerecorded songs on an e.p. that came free with the Pink flag mailorder version of their last lp.

Alan Douglas was notorious for redoing Hendrix material in the early 70s.Crash Landing and Midnight Lightning are the most famous. He also redid the material released as Voodoo Soup in the 90s. I think the original non overdubbed stuff is now on First Rays Of The New Rising Sun & South Saturn Delta.
Think I read that Douglas first tried this technique on John McLaughlin's Devotion lp when the tapes were damaged. I haven't been able to find any more info on this. So would anybody know anything?

Alan Douglas was notorious for redoing Hendrix material in the early 70s.Crash Landing and Midnight Lightning are the most famous. He also redid the material released as Voodoo Soup in the 90s.

Doesn't really fit into this discussion; Douglas didn't alter previously released Hendrix albums/songs, he had new backing tracks recorded for previously unreleased studio jams/unfinished songs.

Yeah, that's a different trend (see also: Buddy Holly)

did question mark and the mysterians pull something like this?

http://www.punkrockcds.com/images/KillingJoke-DuendeTheSpanishSessions.jpg

in the '60s, Hank Williams's original hits were repeatedly overdubbed with Nashville-style string sections and backing vocals and packaged under imaginative titles like Hank Williams with Strings and Hank Williams with Strings, Volume 2.

Once upon a time, Pharrell Williams took note of the myriad "rockist" threads on ILM and ordered the first N*E*R*D album to be re-recorded for its US release, with more guitars and live drums.

Also, Amp Fiddler re-recorded his "Afro Strut" album for domestic release, which similarly emphasized a more organic feel than its European counterpart.

Frank Black redid Pixies songs on Frank Black Francis

Oh, I forgot ZZ Top did that horrible remix of its entire catalog! In fact, I think some of their albums are still unavailable in their original versions.

Peter Gabriel re-did "Here Comes the Flood" as a somber piano ballad, which seems to be the version he prefers now. He and Massive Attack also did a "remix" of "Games Without Frontiers" that I'm pretty sure is a total re-recording, with new vox.

Oh, I forgot ZZ Top did that horrible remix of its entire catalog! In fact, I think some of their albums are still unavailable in their original versions.

In some instances, it was more than a remix: drum triggers replaced the original drum tracks on a number of songs, most obviously "La Grange." For decades, that horrible Six Pack compilation was the only way to get ZZ Top's early stuff on CD.

Oh, this always comes up in their threads, but Lilys did revisions of two of their albums (some overdubs, some re-editing, some re-mixing, some track shuffling). Both revisions were arguably improvements.

Did the non-overdubbed mix of Pretty Things "Emotions" ever come out officially?

Oh wait, I think I see what you mean.

Yeah, the Six Pack was the first CD release of ZZ Top's first 5 albums, plus El Loco, released in 1987. I vividly remember a radio DJ excitedly announcing this release (it was pretty novel in 1987 for a band to put out an archival 3-CD set), and then playing "La Grange." After the song, the DJ came back on and sounded distinctly downcast, and basically apologized for playing it.

New Order have done this with Ceremony, True Faith, Blue Monday and Temptation

― brotherlovesdub, Saturday, 12 March 2011 17:09 (2 hours ago) Bookmark

Blue Monday and True Faith is that right? they definitely did it with Sub-Culture, Ceremony and Temptation but didn't know about the other 2.

― piscesx, Saturday, March 12, 2011 1:43 PM (13 minutes ago) Bookmark

The 95 New Order "Best of" has remixes of "True Faith" "1963" "Round & Round" and the '88 mix of "Blue Monday", which is version i hear on the radio.

Interesting...some customer reviews suggest that if you buy the ZZ Top Six Pack from the Amazon MP3 store, you get the original recordings, not the '80s remasters.

I was looking at my friends Carpenters hits set (some recent 2-disc collection) and noticed in the liner notes that Richard has been steadily remixing their songs since the mid-eighties.

Ha, I never knew that about ZZ Top.

Quite a few metal bands have done this. The first one that springs to mind is Testament's First Strike Still Deadly on which they rerecorded stuff from their first two albums.

here's "La Grange" '87:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3RLIU7T39I

and the original:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOsFwRv6zto&feature=related

When "Tales of Mystery and Imagination" was released on CD in 1987, Alan Parsons Project remixed it considerably, with many instruments re-recorded. The original version wasn't issued until it was put on a Deluxe Edition 2CD, with the re-recorded version being the other CD, in 2008 or thereabouts.

Chris Rea recorded most of his biggest hits on "New Light Through Old Windows" in 1988 and even though the original versions are on the same label, the re-recordings of his pre-1988 hits have been the ones used on every subsequent "Best of"-collection.

Cowboy Junkies marked the 20th Anniversary of recording The Trinity Sessions by re-recording the album with Ryan Adams and Vic Chesnutt.

Was (Not Was) multiple iterations of Out Come The Freaks are a creative, non-Lucasesque variation on this.

The 95 New Order "Best of" has remixes of "True Faith" "1963" "Round & Round" and the '88 mix of "Blue Monday", which is version i hear on the radio.

Yeah, but remixes are not part of this specific phenomenon.

I was looking at my friends Carpenters hits set (some recent 2-disc collection) and noticed in the liner notes that Richard has been steadily remixing their songs since the mid-eighties.

I was looking at the first post in this thread and...

Oh god I just remembered one - Flock of Seagulls released a thing called "I Ran - best of" but all the vocals have been re-recorded by the vocalist, and they are INCREDIBLY BAD, like it sounds like a karaoke recording, it is hysterical.

section 25's most recent release was reworkings of a bunch of their previous stuff. really well done, too - though some songs came out of it better than others.

Missed that Carpenters thing.

Anyhoo, Robert Palmer did the semi-ZZ Top thing on to "Bad Case of Loving You" on Addictions Vol.1 and most of the tracks on Addictions Vol.2 by retooling old songs so they sounded like Riptide/Heavy Nova-style tracks. The originals were still available on the original lps, but the new versions were what ended up on radio and in most peoples collections.

I should clarify the above and say "CD collections".

A minor one from Neil Young, who since discovering the lost "original mix" of "Mr. Soul" Buffalo Springfield has decided it was the best version-putting it out in place of the famous version on the Springfield box* and on Archives Vol.1

*cause c'mon, the fourth disc is a paid-for afterthought.

Squeeze - Spot the Difference (inexplicable)

It was done so that they could get royalties should they license their songs for commercials. Devo does this too; whenever you hear a Devo song in a commercial it is never the original; sometimes the lyrics change too.

Zappa definitely comes to mind for this thread (so I'm not surprised he's been mentioned a few times); the live albums are so full of overdubs that you can't really tell which albums are supposed to be live or not

The bonus disc of the Robert Smith/Steve Severin collabo The Glove's remaster has the entire album resung by Robert, as he was legally unable to do at the time, and pretend-labelled as original demos

Red House Painters have done 2 different versions of "Uncle Joe" - the version on the Volume compilation is imo better than the album version! No idea weather they re-recorded it just for the comp.

Hey would Peel Sessions count here? I spose they're technically live perfs, I guess.

Steven Wilson added a real human drummer to Porcupine Tree's Up The Downstair something like 10 years after it was initially released

Volume tracks were always exclusive

I think the Deluxe version of John Martyn Live at Leeds replaces the original released performances with the complete Leeds show. Seems what was released as Live at Leeds largely wasn't, I think a lot of it came from London or somewhere.
Basic point is most of the music on this version of a legendary lp is different to that which was on the legendary lp. I think there is a Voiceprint version that does have the original plus bonus tracks from elsewhere with Paul Kossoff who was on the tour but not much featured on the lp on.

Steven Wilson added a real human drummer to Porcupine Tree's Up The Downstair something like 10 years after it was initially released

In the case of early Porcupine Tree, you could argue whether those first albums were ever properly released at all.

Peter Hammill's The Love Songs is a compilation of re-recorded ballads from earlier albums.

He also re-recorded The Fall of the House of Usher a few years after it was released when the rights reverted to him as he was never entirely happy with the original recording.

King Crimson put out a re-recorded version of "Cadence & Cascade" with Adrian Belew on vox instead of Gordon Haskell, as far as I can tell because Fripp had fallen out with Haskell.

Oh, duh, and Gira's treatment of Swans catalog.

How so? Yes, he reissued many tracks on compilations rather than reissuing the original LPs in their entirety. Some of those reissues contained alternate versions. But AFAIK he's never actually re-recorded anything.

Peter Gabriel did new vocal tracks on live cuts for Genesis Archive 1967-1975, an anthology that came out in the late '90s. Also has some re-recorded guitar.

badfinger dude redid their bigger hits in the mid-90s. iirc it was credited as badfinger on the packaging with no disclaimer or anything

Oh, duh, and Gira's treatment of Swans catalog.

How so? Yes, he reissued many tracks on compilations rather than reissuing the original LPs in their entirety. Some of those reissues contained alternate versions. But AFAIK he's never actually re-recorded anything.

only lp I could think of that really fit here would be Omniscience which was apparently put together like a jigsaw or mosaic out of various live recordings of the band. though Body Lovers/Body Haters is based on a similar idea but done far more abstractly.

Peter Hammill's The Love Songs is a compilation of re-recorded ballads from earlier albums.

Which reminds me that Suzanne Vega is in the midst of a 4-album series called Close-Up of stripped-back, thematic revisitings--so far Love Songs and People and Places.

The original drummer of The Zombies added a snare track to the stereo mix of "She's Not There" done a few years ago. However, they did as well they could to make it sounds as close to the original as possible - the only reason it was done was it was originally an overdub and no separate track existed to include in the original stereo mix.

(Now of course mono fans insist that making a stereo mix of a song originally mixed in mono is in itself revisionism)

Squeeze - Spot the Difference (inexplicable)

It was done so that they could get royalties should they license their songs for commercials.

Glenn Tilbrook writes about this here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2010/oct/25/squeeze-back-catalogue-up-junction

N.E.R.D : In Search of ..

original electro version, vs rock band version.

?

The Zombies track, as Geir mentions, is true.

The additional snare was added during the mastering process for the single.

They did do as well as they could on the stereo remaster: They went to the drummer's house, and he still had the original snare drum in his garage, so he brought it down and voila! It sounds exactly as it did in 1964.

There are three different versions of Blind Joe Death, John Fahey's first alb

IIRC PG re-recorded vocals on the live Lamb tracks where he was wearing the big clumsy Slipperman outfit, it's quite noticeable as his voice has changed so much.

Letters to Cleo's big hit "Here and Now" is a different version from the one that originally appeared on the album, Aurora Gory Alice. After it hit, having been re-recorded and included on the "Melrose Place" soundtrack CD, they replaced the album version with the hit version and the former is unavailable now.

anagram, re: Swans, Gira heavily remixed (and imo ruined) both the debut EP and Filth for the Young God CD versions. Then the dude SOLD the master tapes for the debut EP! I will never forgive him for that, but I will still buy his records. Just not those reissues.

I vividly remember a radio DJ excitedly announcing this release (it was pretty novel in 1987 for a band to put out an archival 3-CD set), and then playing "La Grange." After the song, the DJ came back on and sounded distinctly downcast, and basically apologized for playing it.

― Tarfumes The Escape Goat, sábado 12 de marzo de 2011 11:56 (3 weeks ago) Bookmark

this is a great story!

Thanks for mentioning Zappa 'cause it got me to poke around and discover that you can now - finally - buy Cruising with Ruben & the Jets on CD with its original tracks, under the title Greasy Love Songs. (Previously you could only buy a version that had new bass/drum tracks recorded in the '80s replacing the original '60s ones).

^^^The Zappa family/their archivist has been righting some wrongs, albeit under new titles. You can get the original mix of Freak Out (which doesn't have all the digital echo & reverb Frank slapped on in the 80s) under the title MOFO.

BTW, Greasy Love Songs is a nice set, innit?

really happy to hear that the Zappa releases are being fixed! We´re Only In It For The Money was one of the first CD's I bought in the late 80's and I was so bummed out when I heard all the changes - especially iirc on Let's Make The Water Turn Black but also others.

It's only within the last few years that the Rhino reissues have put the original recordings on cd.

^ I think only two have been re-released: Tres Hombres and Fandango. Wake me up when Rio Grande Mud gets the remaster.

The upcoming 2011 Ozzy "deluxe editions" of Blizzard of Ozz and Diary of a Madman have restored the original drum & bass tracks.

I DL'ed a very nice clean rip of the original Cruising With Ruben and the Jets vinyl a few years ago, but I was glad to read that Greasy Love Songs existed. I need to buy a copy of that.

I like a good bit of what Zappa did with the WOIIFTM remix, except for the rerecorded bass & drums.

What's the deal with Greasy Love Songs, it's listed on the Zappa site for $21 but is currently unavailable. On Amazon it's $40.

Maybe they're between press runs? It has fairly involved packaging.

http://991.com/newGallery/Split-Enz-Mental-Notes-498231.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3219/3141807940_b2d44441d3.jpg

The Zappa family/their archivist has been righting some wrongs, albeit under new titles. You can get the original mix of Freak Out (which doesn't have all the digital echo & reverb Frank slapped on in the 80s) under the title MOFO.

I had no idea about this! I was listening to "Cruising With Ruben & The Jets" only the other day, cursing, as usual, Frank's stupidity in re-recording the bass and (esp.) the drums (apart from "Stuff up the Cracks", which has the original rhythm track and is coincidentally the best thing on it). That 80s version of "Freak Out" is horrible.

The unreleased, recently-leaked 2001 Bowie album Toy has 11 re-recordings of early (1964-1970) songs plus 3 new ones:

Uncle Floyd - 6:15
Afraid - 3:29
Baby Loves That Way - 4:38
I Dig Everything - 4:53
Conversation Piece - 3:53
Let Me Sleep Beside You - 3:14
Toy (Your Turn To Drive) - 4:46
Hole In The Ground - 3:30
Shadow Man - 4:41
In The Heat Of The Morning - 3:51
You've Got a Habit of Leaving - 4:49
Silly Boy Blue - 5:33
Liza Jane - 4:48
The London Boys - 3:47

Two of the new songs ended up on Heathen and a couple of the re-recordings came out as b-sides.

mark eitzel did an entire album of old songs (some american music club songs, some solo) with a greek traditional backing band. The Ugly American. Hard to find now, but worth it. Seemed like a ridiculous idea at the time but it's really good.

http://cdn.pitchfork.com/media/702-greatest-palace-music.jpg

Arlo Guthrie re-recorded the entire Alice's Restaurant album thirty years later.