Topic: Albums of “reimagined” songs

[alan nagsworth]

Howzabout other artists reimagining stuff? I know Duke already mentioned Dirty Projectors but let's have more.

I really like Jeffrey Lewis' 12 Crass Songs album, which is twelve songs, by Crass, reimagined by Jeffrey Lewis, on an album. Jeffrey Lewis is fucking ace, and so were Crass, so yeah I instantly enjoyed this. His typical droll and half-arsed anti-folk style just works great regurgitating the bilious and captivating spew of Crass.

However, I really do not like The Flaming Lips




Oh, I forgot to finish that sentence. I really DO NOT LIKE The Flaming Lips










Hmm. Third time's a charm... I REALLY DO NOT LIKE The Flaming Lips doing Dark Side of The Moon and Sgt. Peppers. Fuck off, The Flaming Lips.

[Huxleys Babkins]

How does this this sound anything like Ian Curtis, other than a vague similarity of accent? He's not even singing the right tune. Or this? He sounds like Ian would have sounded if he'd blown out his vocal chords maybe. He is better on their later Closer-era songs after Ian started using the deeper crooning voice (assisted by Hannett's studio trickery). I'm not saying Bernard is any better at singing JD songs either - whenever New Order have done them live it's made me cringe (I think it was Hook who pushed for them to start doing them regularly too - they used to be an extremely rare occurrence prior to their second reformation in 1998).

The Light sound great musically, but they should do as they are all experienced veterans (plus Hooky's son, who fills in on bass when his dad is singing and Yves Altana is busy on guitar) and they have probably played at least 5 times more shows than Joy Division ever did (it also helps being a 6-piece, so you don't get the problem JD had live of having to get a non-guitar player to play guitar when Bernard had to play keyboards).

The Light are a great band to go see live, but I can't imagine why anyone would want a CD to play at home. The Joy Division sets aren't too bad, but the New Order stuff beyond Movement is mostly dreadful thanks to Hooky's singing. I heard them do Regret on Marc Riley's show and it was pure, liquid AIDS.

[Rolf Lundgren]

The Light are a great band to go see live, but I can't imagine why anyone would want a CD to play at home. The Joy Division sets aren't too bad, but the New Order stuff beyond Movement is mostly dreadful thanks to Hooky's singing. I heard them do Regret on Marc Riley's show and it was pure, liquid AIDS.

I've never understood why Hooky's the lead singer in The Light for the New Order stuff. I agree he can get away with it for Joy Division but he should get a decent singer on for the rest. If I'm seeing Hooky live I'd like to see him on the bass.

[thecuriousorange]

There was a stocking-filler CD of Elvis vocals set to new orchestral arrangements about two years ago.

And of course there was Let it Be... Naked.

[Huxleys Babkins]

I've never understood why Hooky's the lead singer in The Light for the New Order stuff. I agree he can get away with it for Joy Division but he should get a decent singer on for the rest. If I'm seeing Hooky live I'd like to see him on the bass.

He’s literally got David Potts from Monaco right there to do it, a man he employed as a substitute Barney in the 90s. Pottsy did do some pretty heavy lifting on the backing vocals on the Technique/Republic tour, but Hooky’s always there to drag it all back down again.

Alas, he sees The Light as his chance to finally be the frontman he always thought he was.

I mean, the absolute state of this: https://youtu.be/BR6NYFvLscc

[imitationleather]

I mean, the absolute state of this: https://youtu.be/BR6NYFvLscc

Yikes. When their whole point seems to be recreating the sound of the albums it's a bit of a fuck up to have such an important element making it borderline unlistenable.

[The Culture Bunker]

There was a stocking-filler CD of Elvis vocals set to new orchestral arrangements about two years ago.

Didn't they do that with Roy Orbison too? Pretty sure my old man has both of them - the Big O one seemed pretty underwhelming to me, from what little attention I was paying.

[buzby]

Didn't they do that with Roy Orbison too? Pretty sure my old man has both of them - the Big O one seemed pretty underwhelming to me, from what little attention I was paying.

It was the A Love So Beautiful album featuring his vocals (presumably from the multitracks of the rerecordings he did for the 1987 'In Dreams' best-of album when he signed to Virgin), released at the end of 2017 to go with the 'hologram' tour with the RPO, discussed here at the time
Hologram Roy Orbison

[Satchmo Distel]

Beach Boys have also had the RPO treatment. Dire.

[NattyDread 2]

David Pajo (Papa M) out of Slint did an album of lo-fi acoustic Misfits covers - 'Scream with Me' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AvbKvtO5mg

I don't know the Misfits stuff at all, but enjoyed this as a fan of the man.

[jobotic]

Covers of whole albums are covers aren't they?

But if they're allowed

Quickspace (as Dougal Reid) - Rumours

Pussy Galore - Exile on Main Street

both great

[thecuriousorange]

Petra Hayden's a-capella cover of the entire The Who Sell Out album is really good.

[C_Larence]

Last year Car Seat Headrest released a studio-recorded version of his 2011 lo-fi album "Twin Fantasy". The original album is one of my favourites ever, and I can't talk about it without turning into Patrick Bateman on Huey Lewis & The News, but it really is something special. The album, originally written and recorded when Will Toledo was just 17, centres around his relationship with an older male artist who wanted to transition and become female. Toledo was against this, and the relationship ended. That's summing it up a lot (I didn't even mention the furries), but like I said, Bateman.

The 2018 rerecording, known as "Twin Fantasy (Face To Face)" (with the original version renamed to "Twin Fantasy (Mirror To Mirror)")  reexamines the relationship from a new, less pained perspective. Now friends, explicit mentions of the artist's name are removed in favour of oblique references to her comic. It's the same album, but it's very different, in some aspects it's better, in some it's worse, make your own mind up I don't know. All I know is that Famous Prophets (Minds) is the only song that can make me cry just thinking about it.

Original 2011 album here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QjkSabC7bM&list=PLEXw136R3PlqaKtChiRadPCbv2d9XC7Xm

2018 re-recording here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNqJFVOKaU0&list=PLUkpIIjyrx_snVKZyBGd8HKPEp2Hhvluu

P.S. I know the name Car Seat Headrest is stupid.

[a duncandisorderly]

I mean, the absolute state of this: https://youtu.be/BR6NYFvLscc

that sounds like the sound guy fucked up & bypassed all the fairy-dust on the vocals- they're absolutely dry, no compression, no reverb, no eq.... still sounds better than fucking barney though.

I'm looking forward to hearing their australian rendition of the joy division album again- it worked for me, & I've been listening to that album since 1980.

[Johnny Yesno]

Kraftwerk haven't re-recorded their albums. They have done a couple of recent live albums featuring performances of their classic tracks (Minimum-Maximum and 3-D) and remastered their entire post-1974 catalogue for 2009's Der Katalog boxset. The closest they came to re-recording was The Mix in 1991, an album of remixes they made after transferring their multitracks into their Synclavier Direct-To-Disk system.

Have you heard Señor Coconut's reimagining of Kraftwerk's hits?

Señor Coconut - El Baile Aleman (A Latin Tribute to Kraftwerk) (LATIN): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGnFF5w5sro

I fucking love this album. Señor Coconut is one of Uwe Schmidt's many, many aliases. All his work can be found here: https://atomtm.bandcamp.com/. He's a prolific and very much underrated artist. His production is astonishing.

It wore a bit thin by the second album, in my opinion because the songs he was doing were songs I never liked in the first place, e.g. Smoke on the Water. There's something neat about a German guy living in Chile doing German electronic music in a Latin American style and it still having that essential artificial quality. Also, El Baile Aleman, pictured on the front cover don't exist, and there's some nice wireframe representations of them on the inside cover.

[Johnny Yesno]

Then there's the first Nouvelle Vague album: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3GVd4DFFPA&list=PLm--B4L6tdcMfwUtsmIzx-dA6jF-jn8Ea

Again, their thing wore a bit thin by the second album, but I think they managed to capture the original atmosphere of most of the songs on this one. A Forest is great, and I say that as an overly defensive fan of the Cure's early work.

[Jockice]

Then there's the first Nouvelle Vague album: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3GVd4DFFPA&list=PLm--B4L6tdcMfwUtsmIzx-dA6jF-jn8Ea

Again, their thing wore a bit thin by the second album, but I think they managed to capture the original atmosphere of most of the songs on this one. A Forest is great, and I say that as an overly defensive fan of the Cure's early work.

I always wanted to form a band called Happy Section, who would do Joy Division songs in the style of Modern Romance. Ay ay ay ay isolation.

[Johnny Yesno]

I always wanted to form a band called Happy Section, who would do Joy Division songs in the style of Modern Romance. Ay ay ay ay isolation.

I think the best work of Nouvelle Vague and Señor Coconut is much more than one of those ideas that looks amusing on paper but is awful in reality.

Try giving Making Plans for Nigel and The Man Machine respectively a listen. They are some good shit.

[McChesney Duntz]

Two more for the "one artist covers a full album by another" list:

Camper Van Beethoven - Tusk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rY6JWRDn1Q
(this is just the title track, but they did do the entire thing)

The Darcys - Aja
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nqlS3QyUkylRuDJAcej84csV6n9k708HI
(I find this one rather fascinating, personally)

[Johnny Yesno]

Anyway, I thought this thread was going to kick off with Greg Saunier out of Deerhoof's reimagining of Fugazi's In On The Killtaker for solo classical instruments.

https://www.roughtrade.com/us/music/stargaze-instruments-a-track-by-track-re-composition-of-fugazi-s-in-on-the-killtaker

[Phil_A]

Ahh, took me a while to track this down based on a vague memory from five years ago, but it was worth it.

Dylan Howe's "Subterranean - New Designs On Bowie's Berlin"

[NattyDread 2]

Anyway, I thought this thread was going to kick off with Greg Saunier out of Deerhoof's reimagining of Fugazi's In On The Killtaker for solo classical instruments.

https://www.roughtrade.com/us/music/stargaze-instruments-a-track-by-track-re-composition-of-fugazi-s-in-on-the-killtaker

Jings! Is it as good as it sounds? Firing up the old soulseek now. Cheers

[Johnny Yesno]

Jings! Is it as good as it sounds? Firing up the old soulseek now. Cheers

Not really my thing. Colin Stetson's about as close as I get to being interested in solo acoustic instrumentation.

[NattyDread 2]

Not really my thing. Colin Stetson's about as close as I get to being interested in solo acoustic instrumentation.

Not quite what I was expecting. Interesting endeavour but can't see me blasting it in the motor.

[An tSaoi]

Kraftwerk haven't re-recorded their albums. They have done a couple of recent live albums featuring performances of their classic tracks (Minimum-Maximum and 3-D) and remastered their entire post-1974 catalogue for 2009's Der Katalog boxset.

Im not sure I agree with this.

Ralf has continued with the well worn tactic of writing out previous members of the band. To me the 3d project is a way of erasing Florian from the history.

I'd say Buzby is right that the remastered albums couldn't really be called reimaginings, as they are genuine remasters of the original recordings, with the same credits.

Similarly, the Minimum-Maximum double album doesn't really count either as it's a regular live album of selected songs, with audience noise, clearly not meant to replace the original album tracks.

But mrClaypole is ultimately right about 3-D. It's an album of "live" songs without any recording of the audience, so the end result sounds a lot like a studio album. It consists of essentally all the tracks from the "canon" albums, in more-or-less the same order. They could be thought of as replacements. Of course you can't really erase the old recordings in this day and age, but you know what I mean.

The most glaring example is The Telephone Call, which was originally sung by ex-member and un-person Karl Bartos, but which is now presented without lyrics. I had always assumed that it was Hütter on vocals, because he did all the rest of the singing, and I didn't realise the truth until after they had been removed from the "live" version. Has he become so petty that he would excise the lyrics just to avoid Bartos getting any performance/recording royalties from modern performances? Why not just re-record them himself? They always sounded the same to me anyway. Besides, he still has to give him writing credits anyway. Pointless.

[Crabwalk]

I've got a few 'reinterpreting our own songs' albums, and I like them all to varying degrees.



Across Six Light Years was Tindersticks' 21st birthday present to themselves. They decided to hole up in Abbey Road and re-record a selection of tracks from across their back catalogue (plus a couple from Stuart Staples' solo records).

What was wrong with the original recordings isn't particularly clear, but there is a coherent richness and clarity peeping through the very familiar arrangements. The original version of 'Sleepy Song' was recorded on a single mic, so the re-recording here is noticeably fuller - if not necessarily as atmospheric.

The new version of I Know That Loving probably benefits most, pulling off the Memphis Soul sound with more punch than the original.

So you notice a re-phrased (or occasionally, flatter) vocal here, a smattering of extra keyboard there, but overall it must be one of the most subtle 'reimaginings' around.




The Ugly American is one of my favourite Mark Eitzel records, as it features beautiful reinterpretations of songs from his solo and American Music Club back catalogues, recorded in Greece featuring local musicians playing mostly traditional instruments. That sounds horrifically Sting-esque but it's subtly done, thankfully, and adds an iridescence to songs like 'Nightwatchman' that suffered from slightly flat production in their original releases.

'Western Sky' sounds incredible in virtually any of the many versions he's put out over the years - it's that imperial a song - but this incarnation is particularly gorgeous in its fullness and warmth. Same for the languid and yearning version of 'Last Harbour' which, sadly, isn't on youtube (neither is 'Nightwatchman').




I also own Bonny 'Prince' Billy Sings Greatest Palace Music, where he gave his old moniker's back catalogue the full Nashville treatment. But I've never actually heard the originals so can't comment on whether they're better or not.

A quick search for the original and re-recorded versions of 'Pushkin' shows they're certainly different, though.

[Johnny Yesno]

Hey! Welcome back An tSaoi. You were always my first choice in any CaB poll :-D

[buzby]

But mrClaypole is ultimately right about 3-D. It's an album of "live" songs without any recording of the audience, so the end result sounds a lot like a studio album. It consists of essentally all the tracks from the "canon" albums, in more-or-less the same order. They could be thought of as replacements. Of course you can't really erase the old recordings in this day and age, but you know what I mean.

Regardless of Hutter's attempts at rewriting history with the 3-D Der Katalog box set (and the 3-D compilation album spawned from it), the individual albums that were remastered for the 2009 Der Katalog box set are still available from EMI.. Given that you cannot buy the individual 'live' albums from the 3-D Der Katalog box, they aren't really replacements for the original albums (though the 3-D box set is currently only about £60 direct from Kling Klang, a lot cheaper than buying the individual remastered albums).

Hutter may also have been been thinking along the same lines as Lynne with the ELO re-recordings, and made the 'live' versions cheaper to licence fro sync rights than the original recordings (though I can't remember the last time I heard a Kraftwerk song used in a soundtrack).

Using the same name for both box sets is also slightly underhand, especially as we are now in the era of people buying individual tracks from iTunes or the Amazon MP3 Store. It would be very easy for someone to buy tracks from the 'live' box set thinking they were from the earlier remasters box set of the same name..

[Shaky]

I'm looking forward to hearing their australian rendition of the joy division album again- it worked for me, & I've been listening to that album since 1980.

Hook is performing Joy Division stuff with an orchestra here in Oz fairly soon. It's not clear whether The Light are involved - the blurb just says "special guests". I'm interested but also a bit repulsed by the idea.

[Satchmo Distel]

“Bobbie Gentry’s The Delta Sweete Revisited” by Mercury Rev, reimagined an album released 50 years earlier.

https://bellaunion.com/2018/11/mercury-rev-announce-mercury-rev-announce-bobbie-gentrys-the-delta-sweete-revisited/