Down with this ORIGINAL ARTISTS SOME TRACKS HAVE BEEN RE-RECORDED IN VERY SMALL PRINT psuedo-compilation madness!

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

I realise that musicians have to pay the rent the same as everybody else, but can't they do the decent thing and flog these crappy £2.99 HITS OF THE SIXTIES/SEVENTIES/EIGHTIES atop a table in their nearest Arndale Centre in the manner of the late, lamented Don Estelle, instead of clogging up the HMV/Virgin racks with them?

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Friday, 20 October 2006 11:25 (nineteen years ago)

The best thing though is that they are recorded by hideously bastardized versions of the original bands, so the tracks are all by "The New Sensational Alex Harvey Band" or "Pilot Junior" or "David Van Day's Sugarhill Gang" or whatever.

― Sadly, he will be the next Alexis Petridish. (Dom Passantino), Friday, 20 October 2006 11:34 (nineteen years ago)

lol record stores

― ;_; (blueski), Friday, 20 October 2006 11:35 (nineteen years ago)

I'd pay serious money to hear David Van Day's Sugarhill Gang!

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Friday, 20 October 2006 11:45 (nineteen years ago)

Has there ever been one of these that, as it happens, was actually better than the original?

― M. V. (M.V.), Friday, 20 October 2006 11:52 (nineteen years ago)

I daren't listen to any of them! I suppose Neil Sedaka re-recording "Breaking Up Is Hard To Do" comes nearest, but that's not quite the same thing.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Friday, 20 October 2006 12:00 (nineteen years ago)

Has there ever been one of these that, as it happens, was actually better than the original?

And if so would anybody know? 'cause the first thing you tend to do when you hear a re-recorded version of something you thought was gonna be the origina is say "hey, bullshit"

― Thomas Tallis (Tommy), Friday, 20 October 2006 12:03 (nineteen years ago)

There was this one compilation of 60's hits re-recordings I heard at a record store the other day, which featured an original intro song, something like "1960's/peace and love for everyone/1960's/are coming back again..."; thing is, the track *totally* sounded like "How Soon Is Now?" era Smiths, complete with Morrisey-worshipping vocalist. One of the most perverse things I've heard this year.

― Daniel_Rf (Daniel_Rf), Friday, 20 October 2006 12:05 (nineteen years ago)

I got a few of those 2CD sets that Everything's Profound were selling a while ago.

I played one recently, "2468 Motorway" Tom Robinson band, was a live version and perfectly fine for that.

I should play the others sometime...

― mark grout (mark grout), Friday, 20 October 2006 12:07 (nineteen years ago)

"I daren't listen to any of them! I suppose Neil Sedaka re-recording "Breaking Up Is Hard To Do" comes nearest, but that's not quite the same thing."

Not quite - specially when Neil's rerecording was a hit itself, and any "best of Neil" would have to include both versions...

― Rev. Hoodoo (Rev. Hoodoo), Friday, 20 October 2006 12:38 (nineteen years ago)

Two different record labels, though, so they tend not to coincide on Sedaka compilations.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Friday, 20 October 2006 12:39 (nineteen years ago)

I have a 50s/60s ripoff compilation called Rock n Roll Fever that has superior re-recorded versions of Paul Evans' "Seven Little Girls (in the Back Seat)" and The Chantays' "Pipeline". The re-recorded "Pipeline" has a much better bass intro.

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Friday, 20 October 2006 12:58 (nineteen years ago)

This happened to me with a Screamin Jay Hawkins compilation.

― Rat Nasty (ratnasty), Friday, 20 October 2006 13:32 (nineteen years ago)

there's tons of 60's & 70's country records like this. I have one by "Hank Owens"!

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Friday, 20 October 2006 13:50 (nineteen years ago)

the swinging teutonic funkrock compilations of covers of charttoppers by james last and bert kaempfert are fuckign great though, i kow they're not what marcello's talking about but man are they ever awesome

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Friday, 20 October 2006 14:14 (nineteen years ago)

Has there ever been one of these that, as it happens, was actually better than the original?

Only once in my experience, and only one track at that: It was a compilation of songs from 1975 (stuff like "Fallin' in Love" and "Before the Next Teardrop Falls") that had all been re-recorded "by one or more of the original members," and the only one that sounded good -- GREAT, in fact -- was Gloria Gaynor's cover of "Reach Out, I'll Be There."

Worst ever: A Badfinger greatest-hits collection that Virgin had hidden the disclaimer on. Some of the worst lead vocals I've ever heard.

― Joseph McCombs (Joseph McCombs), Friday, 20 October 2006 14:27 (nineteen years ago)

This happened to me with the Flamin' Groovies once. They'd even had the cheek to call the CD "Shake Some Action". Virgin were happy to let me take it back though. I should have known really, it was only £3.99.

― Colonel Poo (Colonel Poo), Friday, 20 October 2006 14:29 (nineteen years ago)

Two different record labels, though, so they tend not to coincide on Sedaka compilations.
-- Marcello Carlin (marcellocarli...) (webmail), Yesterday 1:39 PM. (later) (link)

Didn't the latter version have an intro consisting of the same into from the earlier version?

― mark grout (mark grout), Saturday, 21 October 2006 02:06 (nineteen years ago)

What an awful way to sell music. I've come close to purchasing one of these and thank my lucky bifocals it ain't happened yet. But I did get a Hermans's Hermits release that was packaged as a greatest hits only to later learn that it was newly recorded and not what I was after at all. Geez, it had their pictures on the cover and everything! Big caveat emptor.

― jim wentworth (wench), Saturday, 21 October 2006 04:53 (nineteen years ago)

there's a sam and dave album from 1975 that's all their old songs rerecorded in worse voice, with a terrible backing band, that y'all should avoid.

― i am not a nugget (stevie), Saturday, 21 October 2006 12:04 (nineteen years ago)

Sometimes, an artist changes label and then the new label feel like the, too, need hit old hits, so they make him re-record then. Which is why sucky compilations like this show up. Don't blame the artist, blame the label.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Saturday, 21 October 2006 12:23 (nineteen years ago)

James Taylor re-recorded some Apple-era tracks for his 1976 best-of, right?

― M. V. (M.V.), Saturday, 21 October 2006 13:01 (nineteen years ago)

Hmmm. I must have been a bit quick. My English in that sentence looks almost like something Comstock Carbinieri might have come up with. :)

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Saturday, 21 October 2006 21:07 (nineteen years ago)

There's this series of albums called "Great Rhythm & Blues Oldies" that show up ALL the time in used record stores...Johnny Otis produced them and released them on his own Blues Spectrum label...it's jump-blues and R&B stars of the forties and fifties like Richard Berry, Charles Brown and Louis Jordan, remaking their old songs in the seventies...actually, what I've heard of this series is pretty good! Even Amos Milburn's (he had a stroke, and unfortunately he sounds like it, but strangely enough, that adds to the ambience)...

― Rev. Hoodoo (Rev. Hoodoo), Saturday, 21 October 2006 21:21 (nineteen years ago)

Worst ever: A Badfinger greatest-hits collection that Virgin had hidden the disclaimer on. Some of the worst lead vocals I've ever heard.

-- Joseph McCombs (jmccomb...), October 20th, 2006.

ditto a 'The Sweet' compilation my mum has, the intro to Ballroom Blitz on which has to be the funniest attempt at a lead vocal ever.

― pisces (piscesx), Wednesday, 25 October 2006 16:54 (nineteen years ago)

I made the mistake of buying an awful re-recording of Hot Chocolate's greatest hits in the Virgin sales 6 months ago. It's not even Errol Brown singing on it! However, it does finish off with an ace technotechnotechnotechno remix of 'You Sexy Thing'. Almost worth the £3.99 just for this.

― zebedee (zebedee), Wednesday, 25 October 2006 17:02 (nineteen years ago)

Perhaps the saddest case of all was Billy Fury, who re-recorded his "20 Greatest Hits" for K-Tel in 1978 in an attempt to stave off bankruptcy. The album did not chart.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Thursday, 26 October 2006 10:03 (nineteen years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.