It seems like if it was easy to replicate whatever it is these big-name producers do in the studio, then everyone would be doing it.
I haven't looked, but just curious, who *is* credited as producer(s) on all these new versions?
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 27 October 2023 13:52 (eleven months ago) link
I think Shellback is involved with most of them
― Beyond Goo and Evol (President Keyes), Friday, 27 October 2023 13:54 (eleven months ago) link
I mean on some of the Max Martin songs. Christopher Rowe is the main producer.
― Beyond Goo and Evol (President Keyes), Friday, 27 October 2023 13:57 (eleven months ago) link
Shellback’s on just one track, it looks like. It’s mostly this guy, this guy, Antonoff on a few tracks (including most the vault tracks), Imogen Heap on “Clean”…
― Girl (1956) (morrisp), Friday, 27 October 2023 13:58 (eleven months ago) link
(these are all co-producers with Swift)
Oh one of the vault tracks was co-written with Diane Warren, that’s interesting
― Girl (1956) (morrisp), Friday, 27 October 2023 13:59 (eleven months ago) link
Shellback produced Wildest Dreams but is listed as "Drums, Sound Effects" for Shake it Off
― Beyond Goo and Evol (President Keyes), Friday, 27 October 2023 14:01 (eleven months ago) link
I hadn’t heard of Rowe but it looks like he’s primarily a country guy, wonder why she worked with him on these particular songs.
― Girl (1956) (morrisp), Friday, 27 October 2023 14:10 (eleven months ago) link
He's done production on all of the rerecorded albums. Must be able able to bang tracks out quickly.
― Beyond Goo and Evol (President Keyes), Friday, 27 October 2023 14:13 (eleven months ago) link
lol she got Kendrick to re-do his Bad Blood verse on the deluxe version
― Beyond Goo and Evol (President Keyes), Friday, 27 October 2023 14:14 (eleven months ago) link
the cover art for this one is much worse than the original, how boring. I don't think I'll bother giving this a listen
― I? not I! He! He! HIM! (akm), Friday, 27 October 2023 15:09 (eleven months ago) link
Yeah I really don't like the regular version cover, but some of the alternates had better photos imo.
― Maxmillion D. Boosted (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Friday, 27 October 2023 15:11 (eleven months ago) link
oh I love the original cover, I think the polaroid is really cool.
ok i'm listening to some of this now and it sounds just like I remember the original sounding so whatever.
― I? not I! He! He! HIM! (akm), Friday, 27 October 2023 15:16 (eleven months ago) link
she never changes the things that I find irritating, like when she talk-sings lines like "cause, darling, I'm a nightmare dressed like a daydream". just sing that, don't talk it, it's not cute it's annoying.
― I? not I! He! He! HIM! (akm), Friday, 27 October 2023 15:18 (eleven months ago) link
i realize I'm in the minority there and that kind of cutesy shit is what lots of people love
― I? not I! He! He! HIM! (akm), Friday, 27 October 2023 15:19 (eleven months ago) link
she had a chance to change "nice dress" and let it stand
― Beyond Goo and Evol (President Keyes), Friday, 27 October 2023 15:21 (eleven months ago) link
It is pretty hard to imagine people preferring to listen to these new versions except out of loyalty
― Beyond Goo and Evol (President Keyes), Friday, 27 October 2023 15:22 (eleven months ago) link
"I don't have to pretend I like acid rock"
― Girl (1956) (morrisp), Friday, 27 October 2023 15:33 (eleven months ago) link
xp - sorry, i meant the "regular" version of the new Taylor's Version. some of the exclusive vinyl ones she sold had better covers.
― Maxmillion D. Boosted (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Friday, 27 October 2023 15:35 (eleven months ago) link
Gawd, "Say Don't Go" (the Warren co-write) is so so good. All these Vault tracks are so good
― Girl (1956) (morrisp), Friday, 27 October 2023 15:47 (eleven months ago) link
let me remind youTHIS WAS WHAT YOU WANTED
― ivy., Friday, 27 October 2023 16:38 (eleven months ago) link
[Chorus]I didn't come here to make friendsWe were born to be suburban legendsWhen you hold me, it holds me togetherAnd you kiss me in a way that's gonna screw me up forever
― J0rdan S., Friday, 27 October 2023 16:39 (eleven months ago) link
whatever else she lost in the transition to pop music on this record, she still loved to employ the framework-shifting bridge. "out of the woods" and "all you had to do was stay" are both catapulted out of tedium by it
― ivy., Friday, 27 October 2023 16:41 (eleven months ago) link
The "Bad Blood" version with Kendrick is her worst single, right? We can all agree?
― hat trick of trashiness (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 27 October 2023 16:43 (eleven months ago) link
(not that the original was good; it's like she constructed a nothing song out of a phrase she scribbled in her hotebook)
Not to sound like a jerk, but I feel like these vault tracks give the lie to the idea that Midnights was somehow "good" (I think it's a reasonable comparison, as they're in a comparable mode).
Just play "Slut!" adjacent to, say, "Maroon" (or yr favorite slice of tedium from that record)... it's (mid)night & day.
― Girl (1956) (morrisp), Friday, 27 October 2023 16:44 (eleven months ago) link
idk why i insist on putting myself through the rerecordings except that they usually summon fond memories of when i first heard the record. iirc the morning 1989 leaked i took it on the train with me and cried to "you are in love"
this is easily my least favorite taylor record other than the s/t so i'm not really dwelling on the uncanny differences in the rerecordings, other than "shake it off" sounding really bizarre
― ivy., Friday, 27 October 2023 16:46 (eleven months ago) link
― Girl (1956) (morrisp), Friday, October 27, 2023 12:44 PM (one minute ago)bookmarkflaglink
i had the sameeeee exact thought lol. like oh wow they did really have a good idea here... 8 years ago
― J0rdan S., Friday, 27 October 2023 16:47 (eleven months ago) link
(not that the original was good; it's like she constructed a nothing song out of a phrase she scribbled in her hotebook)― hat trick of trashiness (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, October 27, 2023 12:43 PM (three minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink
― hat trick of trashiness (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, October 27, 2023 12:43 PM (three minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink
It's a dumb song, but it sounds good loud.
― peace, man, Friday, 27 October 2023 16:48 (eleven months ago) link
― hat trick of trashiness (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, October 27, 2023 12:43 PM (five minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink
"bad blood" vs. "me!" in a garish fight to the death
― ivy., Friday, 27 October 2023 16:49 (eleven months ago) link
man antonoff's two songs on the original go so fucking hard
i actually think the new version of "i wish you would" sounds a bit better, more synthy and mechanical. feels to me like it has more steve winwood in it & less haim. but maybe i'm hearing things. i love this song
― J0rdan S., Friday, 27 October 2023 16:51 (eleven months ago) link
Listening now confirms:
All You Had to Do Was Stay >>>> Stay Stay Stay
― hat trick of trashiness (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 27 October 2023 16:56 (eleven months ago) link
"how you get the girl" underrated
― ivy., Friday, 27 October 2023 16:57 (eleven months ago) link
What if you're new to Swift, should you go for the originals or the re-recordings?
― lord of the rongs (anagram), Friday, 27 October 2023 17:22 (eleven months ago) link
Originals 100%
― Girl (1956) (morrisp), Friday, 27 October 2023 17:23 (eleven months ago) link
“slut!” is kinda drab but the rest of these vault tracks….. the long lost mini new wave taylor swift album implied by “new romantics”
― ivy., Friday, 27 October 2023 17:32 (eleven months ago) link
i'm seeing and hearing less about this than I expected, perhaps we have finally reached peak swift saturation. she's almost done rerecording stuff now isn't she?
― I? not I! He! He! HIM! (akm), Friday, 27 October 2023 21:07 (eleven months ago) link
― Naive Teen Idol, Friday, 27 October 2023 21:11 (eleven months ago) link
I think that was ftgi
― Beyond Goo and Evol (President Keyes), Friday, 27 October 2023 21:12 (eleven months ago) link
I think she still has to do Reputation (my fave of that batch, which I wish she wouldn't touch...) and the S/T.
― Girl (1956) (morrisp), Friday, 27 October 2023 21:14 (eleven months ago) link
(assuming the songs on the S/T don't feel too much like "juvenilia" for her to get into...)
― Girl (1956) (morrisp), Friday, 27 October 2023 21:15 (eleven months ago) link
"You Are in Love": I prefer the original mix by a wide margin -- the way the vocals are are more buried behind the synths, the subtle tinge of sadness -- but nevertheless, this is such a gorgeous underrated track and among my favorites of hers. Deceptively simple, and so much work being done in the phrasing. Yooooouuuuu. A perfect melody in a single syllable.
― Indexed, Friday, 27 October 2023 21:24 (eleven months ago) link
"I don't have to pretend I like Acid Rock." PREACH.
― Indexed, Friday, 27 October 2023 21:31 (eleven months ago) link
Yeah these Vault tracks are all awesome. The Antonoff sound but more 1989 than Midnights in vibe. None of these would have necessarily fit well with the album, but very glad to have them here.
― Indexed, Friday, 27 October 2023 21:34 (eleven months ago) link
My daughter's conspiracy theory is that a lot of these Vault tracks were not really written contemporaneously with "1989." I think she described them as "very Antonoff" or something, and hypothesized that they may have started from demos or scraps or fragments from "1989" but were fleshed out and finished much more recently.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 27 October 2023 21:49 (eleven months ago) link
Antonoff wrote & produced 3 of the original tracks, but what you said is probably right.
It's really too bad Martin didn't help with the re-record. "Style" in particular is a pretty terrible attempt at a facsimile. Whoever is playing the electric guitar is noticeably not the same person, and yet they mixed it way more to the front during the pre-chorus than in the original, and it really competes with her vocals.
― Indexed, Friday, 27 October 2023 21:51 (eleven months ago) link
Ha, I almost referenced Nile Rodgers's style in that post -- was going to say that you can try to copy it but you'll never get it quite right -- and then discovered this: https://medium.com/cuepoint/the-oral-history-of-taylor-swift-s-1989-d9869cc13adc#.cw9c2ox39
Niklas Ljungfelt (guitarist): I played on “Style,” a song I started with Ali Payami for ourselves. He was playing it for Max Martin at his studio; Taylor overheard it and loved it. She and Max wrote new lyrics. But I recorded the guitar on it before it was a Taylor song. It was an instrumental. I didn’t have a clue that Taylor would sing on it. The inspiration came from Daft Punk and funky electronic music. Taylor liked that a lot when she heard the song the first time. [She was] taking a big step from the music she had done before.
― Indexed, Friday, 27 October 2023 22:01 (eleven months ago) link
she doesn't say "this sick beats" this time so that's an improvement
― I? not I! He! He! HIM! (akm), Saturday, 28 October 2023 05:47 (eleven months ago) link
Indexed is right about the new “Style” guitar line; its weakness is so jarring. There’s something so lifeless and tepid about this batch of re-recordings… that “spark” is just missing from every element (including her vocal performance). Admittedly, I don’t know how the takes would sound to someone who isn’t already familiar with the originals.
― Girl (1956) (morrisp), Saturday, 28 October 2023 05:58 (eleven months ago) link
That someone is me, and they sound great to my ears.
― lord of the rongs (anagram), Saturday, 28 October 2023 07:46 (eleven months ago) link