NERD...which version of LP is better?

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NERD...which version of LP is better? Is the newer live one better than the studio/didtal one?

scottjames23 (worrysome-man), Sunday, 22 June 2003 16:21 (twenty-two years ago)

i got the newer live one the other day,haven't really listened to it that much but i wasn't too impressed

robin (robin), Sunday, 22 June 2003 16:32 (twenty-two years ago)

I was lucky enough to be on vacation in Europe when the original came out, so I bought it there, brought it back to the states, loved it, listened to it regularly until the US version was released. Then I heard it with live instruments, turned it off halfway through, and I've not listened to either since. So I like the 'digital' one better, I guess.

On the other hand, you can get the US released for $7.99, while the import will run you a heady $8.99

Adam A. (Keiko), Sunday, 22 June 2003 19:01 (twenty-two years ago)

the studio one, by some way. when you're 80 you'll be able to listen to it and remember the zeitgeist.

mitch lastnamewithheld (mitchlnw), Sunday, 22 June 2003 20:05 (twenty-two years ago)

I bought a promo of this record used & I've never been sure which version I have. I believe it's the live one, but the songs are copyrighted the year prior, when the original vers. was released. Is the running order different? (I'm not sure why I care since I think it's pretty average.)

Mark (MarkR), Sunday, 22 June 2003 20:10 (twenty-two years ago)

mark: does yr version of "rock star" sound like limp bizkit or limp bizkit with synths?

mitch lastnamewithheld (mitchlnw), Sunday, 22 June 2003 20:21 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm definitely more into the original, though I've had this sneaking feeling 'Things Are Getting Better', 'Baby Doll' and almost certainly 'Rock Star' are better second time around. The original still rules for the fact that NERD are 'being themselves'-the second one got them a few obvious (and somewhat lame) Check Your Head comparisons for one thing and they haven't quite gotten the hang of the live thing outside of the aforementioned and 'Like I Love You'. And note to Amazon-I like the 'unfunny in-jokes and skits' for breaking up the record and preventing a possible descent into a monolithic Neptunes-beat fest (to say nothing of Pharrel's occasionally annoying singing). I also skip 'Provider' in pretty much any form, especially the Zero 7 remake and 'Lapdance' hasn't been the same since Daredevil (like, imagine sharing film space with that horrific Evanescence track and therefore minor infamy for poorly chosen and super-tacky complimentary scene music).

Mind you, I don't feel the Neps will vary their shit like they did on the first version for a while-even Pharrel's single doesn't sound like it's trying too hard. C'mon, boys...

Barima (Barima), Sunday, 22 June 2003 20:26 (twenty-two years ago)

Mark, if you don't have 'Intro' for a second track, you have the 2002 edition.

Barima (Barima), Sunday, 22 June 2003 20:27 (twenty-two years ago)

i totally like the "live rock" version better. the guitars and the drums really hit you.

chaki (chaki), Sunday, 22 June 2003 21:56 (twenty-two years ago)

"Live" version involves Minneapolis band = better by miles and miles

Nate Patrin (Nate Patrin), Monday, 23 June 2003 00:31 (twenty-two years ago)

"Live" version = exactly the same songs with guitars instead of synths = clearly worse by miles and miles :-(

um, seriously, i kind of thought the point of this album was to be a kind of classic rock album recorded in a millennial-r'n'b studio (specifically, thru the neptunes' version of that studio.) and it works like that! and then they ruin the whole thing by *actually recording it with an actual rock band.* it's worrying - makes you suspect that maybe they don't *get it* as much as you thought they did, if you get me.

(fwiw, i do like the re-recorded version, but that's because i think the songs themselves are great and always sound great. i just like the philosophy behind the first version a lot more.)

pete b. (pete b.), Monday, 23 June 2003 09:22 (twenty-two years ago)

I've only heard the original and can't believe the re-recorded would be any better.

The band who play on it are called Spymob. If you go to www.spymob.com they have songs to download. Get 2040 and It Get's Me Going, they're really good and prob not what you'd expect. Bit of New Radicals/Steely Dan in there. Don't think they've released their album yet though.

mms (mms), Monday, 23 June 2003 10:22 (twenty-two years ago)

But with the exception of Rock Star, which is k-rub either way, they're virtually exactly the same! The second version sound bigger and beefier, therefore it is better.

Matt DC (Matt DC), Monday, 23 June 2003 10:34 (twenty-two years ago)

seven years pass...

haha, i loved this album so much when i was in school, haven't been able to listen to it in a long time, sounds kinda shitty. d/ld the orig. studio vers. recently. It sounds awesome, but similar enough that it hits all the right nostalgia spots.

plax (ico), Sunday, 18 July 2010 17:55 (fifteen years ago)

i prefer the first, keyboard beats version, as opposed to the one with live instruments. that sounds a bit nu-metal to me.

max arrrrrgh, Sunday, 18 July 2010 21:56 (fifteen years ago)

i love the version w live instruments ... only a few songs sound that much improved by being originals imo -- run to the sun mainly

but cmon 'rock star' sounds like shit done w keyboards. only ppl who think kebs are 'progressive' rlly believe lapdance was better when it sounded like a wack version of superthug

'am i high' & 'things are getting better' in partic stand up but this will forevs be a spring break classix for me

blap...tremendo (deej), Monday, 19 July 2010 07:44 (fifteen years ago)

still love "bobby james". so good.

hobbes, Monday, 19 July 2010 07:53 (fifteen years ago)

"lapdance" hasn't held up well, instruments or not, but the digital versions of "provider" and "bobby james" really have

the live version of the album can go suck its mum

لوووووووووووووووووووول (lex pretend), Monday, 19 July 2010 07:59 (fifteen years ago)

Still maintain people massively overblew the differences between both records, might listen to both of them again sometime to see if I still think that. I remember at the time thinking that live drums >>>> tinny Neptunes beats but synths > guitars. My guess would be that the energy the live drums provided would still elevate it above the old one for me.

But there really isn't as much difference as everyone is pretending. Although I suppose you can hold the live version responsible for the atrocious records they spent the rest of the decade releasing.

Matt DC, Monday, 19 July 2010 09:30 (fifteen years ago)

I suppose the issue is that if you're a rap act and you're going to try and make rock music you can't do it without proper rock drums, they're the most important thing. The worst thing of the many shit things about that Lil Wayne album from last year was that the beats sounded ridiculously cheap and tinny under all the guitars, they just couldn't support them. Didn't help that the songs were appalling though.

Matt DC, Monday, 19 July 2010 09:34 (fifteen years ago)

yeah the diff was way less than i expected, but the orig has this androidy sweatless funk thats missing on the second, the voices sound dryer and more removed from the production in that weird staccato neptunes way.

plax (ico), Monday, 19 July 2010 09:46 (fifteen years ago)

the puristy argument that "the live version of the album can go suck its mum" is really dumb imo.

spymob give it a lot more ooomph.

at the time i remember not liking the original so much as it sounded like it needed more power than the standard neps setup could provide. but i like both versions really, and both have their merits, theres no definitive 'this one is best'.

titchy (titchyschneiderMk2), Monday, 19 July 2010 10:24 (fifteen years ago)

Some tracks are better on one, some on the other.

rhythm fixated member (chap), Monday, 19 July 2010 16:12 (fifteen years ago)

i forgot about the whole two versions thing!

al-goreda (s1ocki), Monday, 19 July 2010 17:21 (fifteen years ago)

Thinking about it I've concluded that Provider's the only one I unequivocally prefer on the original.

rhythm fixated member (chap), Monday, 19 July 2010 21:31 (fifteen years ago)

but cmon 'rock star' sounds like shit done w keyboards. only ppl who think kebs are 'progressive' rlly believe lapdance was better when it sounded like a wack version of superthug

― blap...tremendo (deej), Monday, 19 July 2010 08:44 (15 hours ago) Bookmark

dunno about "progressive", but keyboard beats were pretty fresh at the time. i guess i'm just a sucker for their 98-02 production style. "superthug" probs being the best example, actually.

max arrrrrgh, Monday, 19 July 2010 23:00 (fifteen years ago)


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