When Artists Re-Record Their Old Hits...

A friend of mine tweeted this article about artists and musicians who re-record their hits to side-step past contractual issues with their original recordings.

You see it happen a lot with musicians from the 50s and 60s, but newer artists like Def Leppard are getting into this game as well.

It's one of those things where a song will come on Spotify and I'll think This doesn't sound exactly like how I remember "Moonlight Feels Right" was played. It's close enough where I think maybe it's just my headphones, but a-ha, they have been trying to sneak some of them in.

Roy Orbison openly did this during that brief reign he had after Blue Velvet and before his death. It was a "Roy Sings His Greatest Hits" package produced by Jeff Lynne, and you know, some of those versions were better than the originals.

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

But then we have the aforementioned Def Leppard, and I don't know. They come 95-percent close to the original, but there's something just a little off about a 50-year-old Joe Elliott trying to mimick his 1983 self. From the way he says "I have something to say..." at the very beginning to the very RockBandish sound of it all, I don't think it works very well. (Plus no Steve Clark.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Sk5aeUoOjw

I am sympathetic to the artists. If these new versions are the ones used in the background of teen movies or blaring out of the stadium speakers during at-bats, then I'm cool with it. What I'm not cool with is trying to hunt down the originals like lost animals since they do sound better and more authentic most of the time. And don't even get me started on the George Lucas-inspired bands like ZZ Top. (Is there a non-"remastered" version of ZZ Top's Tejas available on CD?)

Do you think it's appropriate for artists to re-do their songs, note for note? Are there any versions that work better than the originals? And what are some of the more notable horrible renditions have you heard?

the worst rerecording I've ever heard was terrible because it WASN'T note-for-note:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GFKdecB9lQ

The worst part about that one is that it was on a Greatest Hits album with all of the other original recordings.

Just at that time, if you wanted to hear one of their biggest songs, you still had to go out and buy Zenyatta Mondatta.

Well, the worst part is the song and then the video. Third worst part was having to buy Zenyatta Mondatta for one song.

This phenomenon is nearly always related to label conflicts right?

See Squeeze: Spit the Difference.

SPOT the difference.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwTMmBoah3o

LOL (xp)

This phenomenon is nearly always related to label conflicts right?

http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02196/money_2196794b.jpg

The worst part about that one is that it was on a Greatest Hits album with all of the other original recordings.

what was the motivation behind this re-recording? I have never understood this

I think with the Police and Genesis, the motivation is to say "hey, man, it's a reunion, but we've PROGRESSED, man."

at thrift shop bought a best-of cd by the crystals and was so relieved when i got it home that it was a collection of re-recordings. always wanted to hear "and then he kissed me" without all that annoying "wall of sound" business

THE CRYSTALS GREATEST HITS
engineered by Steve Albini

Styx did a pretty credible job re-recording "Lady" in '95, so twenty-something years after the original, and it's a reasonably difficult vocal...

Shortly after Squeeze did Spot The Difference, one of their flop singles had it's original version (which they didn't bother to re-record) appeared in an advert. Wondered if it was some kind of 'fuck you' from Universal.

And don't even get me started on the George Lucas-inspired bands like ZZ Top. (Is there a non-"remastered" version of ZZ Top's Tejas available on CD?)

To be fair, strictly speaking nothing was re-recorded for the infamous Six Pack; the acoustic drum sounds were used to trigger digital samples, but no guitars or vocals were redone. Billy Gibbons said at the time he didn't like it much, but that the record company pressured them into it.

(and a box with all the original masters is coming out soon)

THE CRYSTALS GREATEST HITS
engineered by Steve Albini

would pay good money to hear this.

Fair point on Top, though you'll hear that did re-record a stray line here and a new vocal there.

I found the whole six-pack of original masters online with very minimal google sleuthing (taken from some guy's collection.)

John Anderson's Anthology is a double CD of his greatest (re-recorded) country hits on KOCH Records. Nothing on the cover or the notes would let you know. It's great though because his voice is nicely matured and the band and production are consistent and gimmick-free.

It works like a live in the studio concert. Great for real fans, if they know what they are paying for. (not)

The worst part about that one is that it was on a Greatest Hits album with all of the other original recordings.

what was the motivation behind this re-recording? I have never understood this

― four Marxes plus four Obamas plus four Bin Ladens (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, May 13, 2013 1:07 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

IIRC, they'd reconvened in the studio to record new material for the hits set, but Copland & Summers quickly realized Sting would not be sharing any of his new material, so the new DSSCTM was done as a compromise, as the sessions were also stymied by Copland injuring his wrist in a polo accident.

Copeland's fight with Sting over which drum machine to use was supposedly what broke the band up for good. Which is pretty hilarious, if true.

I thought the original idea was to re-record all those hits? IIRC they got "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da" re-recorded as well but it never saw the light of day. Which is astonishing in its own way.

BTW this thread brings up memories of Frank Zappa who is a pretty good example of why not to do this

I'm imagining an earnest, 80s lounge version of "Can't Stand Losing You" and man am I sad those sessions fell apart

I mean really I'm happy but imagine the sweet lols that version would cause before the realization kicked in and you started sobbing

"The Carpet Crawlers 1999" was apparently recorded solo by each Genesis member in his respective home studio and assembled by Trevor Horn. Steve Hackett was disappointed that his rhythm guitar parts were not included and has been re-recording old Genesis songs ever since.

Years ago, some internet guy uploaded all the songs from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul - 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made. The torrent is full of limp remakes by soul and girl groups. Now the internet thinks Dave Marsh is an idiot.

According to the Wikipedia entry for Zenyatta Mondatta: "The band members have often expressed disappointment over it, going so far as to re-record two songs during a brief, unsuccessful reunion in 1986. Drummer Stewart Copeland said about the time pressures: 'We had bitten off more than we could chew. ...we finished the album at 4 a.m. on the day we were starting our next world tour. We went to bed for a few hours and then traveled down to Belgium for the first gig. It was cutting it very fine.'"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8UeasdkEgo

Suzanne Vega's done 4 albums of these.

I guess the Nashville versions of those Palace songs done by Bonnie "Prince" Billy qualifies in the general sense, but that wasn't done in a way to replace the originals.

Peter Hammill re-recorded his opera The Fall of the House of Usher:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dHsQekNB64

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0puJVi2xJpQ

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYWKZUxmHh8

Years ago, some internet guy uploaded all the songs from Dave Marsh's The Heart of Rock & Soul - 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made. The torrent is full of limp remakes by soul and girl groups. Now the internet thinks Dave Marsh is an idiot.

― Zachary Taylor, Monday, May 13, 2013 3:44 PM (1 hour ago)

How about When David Gilmour Re-Records His Old Hits...

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

^ that one's pretty inexplicable. Can't put it down to circumventing label shenanigans, since the other tracks are both CBS and EMI.

Wasn't Dark Side on Capitol while the others were on Columbia?

Or are they under the same umbrella?

Yep, Dark Side was on Capitol, but that comp also has "One of These Days" (also on Capitol).

Although I guess it's possible Capitol was willing to license OOTD but not Money.

Public Image did some re-recordings..

"The Suit" was one, I believe. Not good

I downloaded off itunes "Midnight at the Oasis" by an unexpectedly aged and creaky-voiced Maria Muldaur....yikes, that was scary!

One where it's kind of/sort of ok is by Anthony Moore (Slapp Happy dude who also wrote lyrics for late Pink Floyd). The CD version of his World Service has some rerecorded songs, and exchanges a few tracks vs. the vinyl original. What's annoying is that it's not noted anywhere, and I only found out after years and years while reading Amazon reviews (Allmusic has the info now, but didn't used to). Anyway, some of the CD stuff is better, some of the vinyl stuff is better, and it was apparently some slightly misguided aesthetic thing...

Gang of Four's Return the Gift greatest-hits-re-recorded disc was apparently equal parts an aesthetic thing and a contractual thing: they didn't like the original drum sound, plus their EMI contract wasn't delivering royalties on sales. Or something.

Mention of Slapp Happy reminds me that they re-recorded their début album to make it more palatable to the record company.

It was their second record, "Casablanca Moon", and I can't imagine why the record company would've found the original version unreleasable, given that the record company in question was Virgin Records circa 1973, who were in the process of releasing "The Faust Tapes" (Faust in fact were Slapp Happy's backing band on that first recording).

Anyway, that was a record re-recorded before its release, which I think is a slightly different thing, hardly different from recording demos before the actual record- see also Magma's "Mekanik Destruktiw Kommandoh", which was recorded with a full choir before the Manor Studios version. That said the song was originally released as a 7" single in 1971, so in that sense I guess you could say it's a re-recording... but it's not like they were doing it to cash in on the wildly popular success of the single.

Speaking of Manor Studios, mind you, brings to mind Mike Oldfield- how many different times has he recorded Tubular Bells? Actually prog is rife with that these days. Didn't Ian Anderson just re-record Thick as a Brick, or some such thing?

Well, I believe there were two pre-release, as he wore out the tape and had to restart.

Since then, one with John Cleese instead of Viv, and one remix/remaster when he obtained the rights back from virg.

There was an orchestral one, and a couple of 'sequels' which are 'different' musically and shouldn't really count.

yeah, my mistake on the first album/second album, but I'm just going by wikipedia which says they re-recorded it at Virgin's request.

xp

Shades of the ZZ Top Six Pack, what about the Robert Palmer 'Addictions' remixes? I'm hearing the O.G. version of "Bad Case..." (with the whiney synth) over muzack right now, and am remembering how I didn't hear this version til maybe the early 2000s, because the remix (which made it sound like something off Riptide) was the go-to version for radio.

david bowie re-recorded a few of his hits for the rykodisc editions of heros/low/lodger ...

also, just picked up the limited 2 cd/1 dvd edition of sonic boom by kiss.

the extra cd - 'kiss klassics' : all 15 tracks re-recorded in 2007.

also, just picked up the limited 2 cd/1 dvd edition of sonic boom by kiss.

you're a hero for this

All the Grass Roots songs on Spotify are re-recorded. So is "Stuck In the Middle With You".

Which makes me wonder, there's no way Gerry Rafferty got all of Stealers Wheel back together to re-record that one song. Will Westerberg one day re-record the Twin/Tone stuff and still call it The Replacements? There's got to be even more gray details going on with these new versions.

Stealers Wheel are a Scottish folk rock/rock band formed in Paisley, Renfrewshire in 1972 by former school friends Joe Egan and Gerry Rafferty.[1]

The band broke up in 1975 and re-formed without Egan or Rafferty in 2008.

After being contacted by iTunes and K-tel records in California, Tony Williams re-formed Stealers Wheel in Blackpool in 2008 with two other original band members, Rod Coombes and Paul Pilnick, together with locally based musician and songwriter Tony Mitchell. On 10 November 2008 they started filming a music video for a re-release of "Stuck in the Middle" on the Fylde coast. They also began writing songs for an album due to have been released in 2009, although they have no plans to go on tour.[5] Luther Grosvenor has expressed his interest in joining the band should they tour.

Well that's completely the opposite of what I assumed happened. Someone faked Rafferty pretty good on that cut.

Good for a watered-down recreation of a 30-year-old song, I should say.

I dunno, it's a bit like Simon and Garfunkel reforming without the two original singers...

Sometimes I'll see a casino's billboard advertising an upcoming show by The Four Tops or The Inkspots. Who the hell would be suckered into going to one of these non-tribute tribute bands, I have no idea.

The 'saddest' one I saw was one for South Shields, where inamongst the Abba tribs and the Beatles tribs and rolling stones trib was the actual Kid Creole...

Mekons' Punk Rock
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yagZpaNQDw

Rolling Stones just gave 5 stars to John Fogerty re-recording his old hits

Which ones? Mick? Keith? (etc..)

lol what an unfortunate typo

donna lewis re-recorded "i love you always forever" in 2008 as a bonus track for her album that came out then. i'm pretty sure it was just put in there b/c she knew that that's the only song people ever search for from her, hoping that people might accidentally discover that she had a new album.