Song re-recorded by one or more of the original artists

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Are any of these actually worth listening to?

What exactly are the rules?

I got a cd today with the above warning which contains a version of "Get dancin'" by Disco tex and the sexolettes that bears absolutely no resemblence to the original.

Does the singer have to be disco tex himself or can one of the Sexolettes sing in his place and still have it qualify for such a release?

The album also has a version of "Patches" which would fit easily onto the "Deliverance" soundtrack.

― Kris England, Wednesday, 27 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

The re-recording-for-a-new-label of Stick McGhee's "Drinkin' Wine Spo- Dee-O-Dee" is, by all accounts, the far superior version.

I know of no other case where this is true.

― Douglas, Wednesday, 27 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Lloyd Price did "Stagger Lee" twice--once with a gun and once without, at Dick Clark's behest. The second shreds the original, "sore no more" and all.

― M Matos, Wednesday, 27 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Edgar Winter - "Frankenstien" and "Frankenstein 2000"
Prince - "1999"
King Crimson/Adrian Belew - "Heartbeat"
The Smiths - uh, most of the first album, wudnit? Done in different keys, different endings, etc. - see Hatful of Hollow

Sometimes it's the artist reinterpreting their song because they want to do something different with it. But usually it's because the artist doesn't own (and isn't getting the royalties for) the original version.

― Dave225, Thursday, 28 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

In my experience they're all dire; the 2.99 price tag usually gives the game away. The worst are rerecordings of pre-70s stuff, complete with synth strings & a really horrible dry drum sound. Search & destroy the lot!!

― Jez, Thursday, 28 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

A lot of Bootlegs/Live albums would cover this. Grateful Dead/Phish/Bob Dylan etc. Particularly Dylan: whereas the other will just chuck more stuff in, he'll actively take a knife to the original song.

― Andrew Farrell, Thursday, 28 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Sting is quite famous for destroying perfectly good Police songs.

― Dan Perry, Thursday, 28 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I know James Brown did this a few times, but can't think of any examples...

David Bowie recorded "Memory of a Free Festival" and "John I'm Only Dancing" twice.

― Sean, Thursday, 28 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Larry Kessler of the Godz lives in my area and a few years ago he re- recorded and released the band's classic bad-acid spazz-out "Radar Eyes" as a sort of NIN-meets-ZZ Top boogie.

― lee g, Thursday, 28 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I'm not sure if it counts but My Life Story recorded a gazillion different versions of Emerald Green (Emerald Green, Return To Emerald Green, Emerald Green Strikes Back etc etc etc). They also re-visited 12 Reasons Why, adding three more reasons and did a version of It's a Girl Thing called It's a Boy Thing.

― jamesmichaelward, Thursday, 28 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

John Fahey re-recorded a lot of his early solo guitar albums, such as "Blind Joe Death" and "Death Chants, Breakdowns, and Military Waltzes". In most cases, I prefer the second versions.

― o. nate, Thursday, 28 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Bobby Fuller recorded most of his best stuff twice. Both recordings are really though most fans prefer the originals.

― Alex in SF, Thursday, 28 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

my mum has a 'best of' same and dave album... but they're all re- recorded versions with very low production values - someone mentioned synths and dry drums... that's a pretty good description. it was $10 australian, so that would be about $2.99 us :)

― minna, Thursday, 28 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Most of the tracks on Hatful of Hollow were Radio 1 live sessions (John Peel and the like), so not actually re-recordings as such. Apart from the version of Hand In Glove which was the single edit with a slightly different ending.

Lots of Jazz and Blues artists did re-recordings of their most popular songs, didn't they? With regards to Billie Holiday, I've heard several God Bless The Childs and any number of Strange Fruits.

I think Joy Division did two versions of She's Lost Control.

Do re-recordings of demos count? Blur premiered Death of a Party as an acoustic demo (via their fanclub) at least a year before the album version came out.

― Phil A, Saturday, 30 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I'm surprised no one's mentioned Momus's "Slender Sherbert" yet, since he posts here and all. An album of re-workings of previously recorded songs, some of which surpass the orignials by miles.

However, that's not really what the thread's about, izzit? As several posters have noted, usually these are 'greatest hits' collections by reconstituted R & B singers who got screwed out of royalties for their original recordings. As a political statement, they're probably valuable. As art, they tend to be shit.

― J, Saturday, 30 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Del Shannon did a horrendous reworking of "Hats Off To Larry". The Sweet did the same with practically their entire catalogue.

― Robin Carmody, Saturday, 30 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

catpower (in this hole) & yo la tengo (did i tell you) both covered themselves on their cover records & that expanded days of wine & roses has THREE versions of that's what you always say which is nice because then you dont have to feel guilty about backtracking to listen to it again...

oh yeah & i dont know if anyone mentioned this, but there's radiohead putting morning bell on both kid a & amnesiac

― kristin sage, Saturday, 30 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

eight years pass...

it's interesting that Loretta Lynn's "Story of my Life" is a re-recording of an obscure b-side she released in 1960, with the lyrics reworked to reflect her stardom and old age. I doubt many of her fans made the connection (or even heard the original), but it's a nice gesture nonetheless.

― tickle me lmao (unregistered), Monday, 27 September 2010 14:01 (fifteen years ago)

Sting is quite famous for destroying perfectly good Police songs.

otm

― ▲ just some triangles ▲ (crüt), Monday, 27 September 2010 14:05 (fifteen years ago)

The Intelligence do this quite a bit. In most cases the original, less produced versions are better. For instance: both "The Universe" and "The Beetles" were re-recorded for Malesand their original versions are superior (they appear on their first full-length and The World's Lousy With Ideas Volume 8 respectively). However, I do prefer the version of "Dating Cops" on Deuteronomy to the earlier single version.

― chromecassettes, Monday, 27 September 2010 14:12 (fifteen years ago)

Bryan Ferry of course. And very nicely so on most occasions.

― willem, Monday, 27 September 2010 14:31 (fifteen years ago)

King Crimson, "Cadence and Cascade" (and others?) – re-recorded with Belew on vox after Fripp fell out with Gordon Haskell.
Peter Hammill, The Love Songs – rerecordings of ballads from throughout his career to go on a comp
Peter Hammill, The Fall of the House of Usher – rerecorded eight years after the original version was released as he wasn't happy with the sound of the original

― margana (anagram), Monday, 27 September 2010 14:38 (fifteen years ago)

Lucinda Williams, "I Lost It" - original on her second album, rerecorded version on Car Wheels

― margana (anagram), Monday, 27 September 2010 14:40 (fifteen years ago)

three years pass...

I think about this issue every now and then : when it's the same artist/band doing it, why is it that the re-recordings are always worse than the original version (I suppose sometimes it's better but I have no exemple of that) ?
If the song is good in the first place and the artist has matured and gained more experience (and also has more studio-money, etc), it should be improved, no ?

― AlXTC from Paris, Wednesday, 19 February 2014 12:56 (twelve years ago)

Perfectionism + losing your sense on what made your previous recording special + being unable of letting go = re-recordings that might be sonically superior but lost the "feel", the particular sound of the old record etc.

Re: Thread, R. Stevie Moore is a big offender regarding this issue.

― DDD, Wednesday, 19 February 2014 13:15 (twelve years ago)

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