Remaking an Album/CD

[Spinniker]

After finding both “Hot Water” and “Off to see the Lizard” in a used CD store, I thought I'd pick these up after selling both off when they came out. I like them both a much better that at the time. My only beef would be that they seem to be over produced, wayyyy to "slick".
I would love to have JB re-cut the songs and strip away some of it.

The question then: is there a JB album / CD you would like to have him to redo and why?

[Jahfin]

The question then: is there a JB album / CD you would like to have him to redo and why?

No. That's revisionist history at it's absolute worst. Look no further than some of the horrid remakes that ended up on Meet Me In Margaritaville for conclusive evidence. What would be good is a remastering project that would cover his entire back catalog with the inclusion of bonus tracks, restored artwork, etc. Lots of people at this site have rejected that idea many times but they're not fooling anybody. They'd be the very first ones in line the day they went on sale just like they are for nearly every other Buffett product he puts out. Speaking of which, DVD versions of Live By The Bay and Tales from Margaritavision are also long overdue.

[rednekkPH]

Lots of people at this site have rejected that idea many times but they're not fooling anybody. They'd be the very first ones in line the day they went on sale just like they are for nearly every other Buffett product he puts out.

Not me. I bought them once, I ain't buying them again. I couldn't care less about the artwork and liner notes. And as for the extra tracks, I'd download them and burn them all onto one disc.

[jbfinscj]

The question then: is there a JB album / CD you would like to have him to redo and why?

No. That's revisionist history at it's absolute worst. Look no further than some of the horrid remakes that ended up on Meet Me In Margaritaville for conclusive evidence. What would be good is a remastering project that would cover his entire back catalog with the inclusion of bonus tracks, restored artwork, etc. Lots of people at this site have rejected that idea many times but they're not fooling anybody. They'd be the very first ones in line the day they went on sale just like they are for nearly every other Buffett product he puts out. Speaking of which, DVD versions of Live By The Bay and Tales from Margaritavision are also long overdue.

I would re-buy some of the earlier albums. Just look at the great Job Columbia / Legacy did with some of the classic country albums.

[phjrsaunt]

I like to hear different arrangements. I may not buy a whole cd of them, but I think it's cool to hear the same song performed in different style. I especially like to know things like "this is way I WISH I could have recorded it to begin with" to add to it.

[Jahfin]

The question then: is there a JB album / CD you would like to have him to redo and why?

No. That's revisionist history at it's absolute worst. Look no further than some of the horrid remakes that ended up on Meet Me In Margaritaville for conclusive evidence. What would be good is a remastering project that would cover his entire back catalog with the inclusion of bonus tracks, restored artwork, etc. Lots of people at this site have rejected that idea many times but they're not fooling anybody. They'd be the very first ones in line the day they went on sale just like they are for nearly every other Buffett product he puts out. Speaking of which, DVD versions of Live By The Bay and Tales from Margaritavision are also long overdue.

I would re-buy some of the earlier albums. Just look at the great Job Columbia / Legacy did with some of the classic country albums.

..and what MCA (Buffett's old label) did with the recent reissue of Lynyrd Skynyrd's Gimme Back My Bullets that includes a bonus DVD of a long lost performance from the British program The Old Grey Whistle Test:



Disc 1
1. Gimme Back My Bullets
2. Every Mother¡¦s Son
3. Trust
4. I Got The Same Old Blues
5. Double Trouble
6. Roll Gypsy Roll
7. Searching
8. Cry For The Bad Man
9. All I Can Do Is Write About It
10. Double Trouble (Live) - Recorded live November 4, 1975 - Capital Theatre, Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom
11. I Got The Same Old Blues (Live) - Recorded live November 4, 1975 - Capital Theatre, Cardiff, Wales, U.K.
12. Gimme Back My Bullets (Live) - Recorded Sunday, March 7, 1976 - Bill Graham's Winterland, San Francisco, California
13. Cry For The Bad Man (Live) - Recorded Sunday, March 7, 1976 - Bill Graham's Winterland, San Francisco, California
14. All I Can Do Is Write About It (Acoustic) - Recorded November 29, 1975 - Capricorn Studios, Macon, Georgia
15. Double Trouble (Alternate) - Recorded September 8, 1975

Disc: 2
1. Double Trouble
2. I Ain't The One
3. Call Me The Breeze
4. Same Old Blues
5. Every Mother's Son
6. Sweet Home Alabama
7. Free Bird
8. Free Bird

Ronnie Van Zant (vocals)
Allen Collins (acoustic, electric & 12-string guitars)
Gary Rossington (acoustic, electric & slide guitars)
Billy Powell (piano, organ, Clavinet, keyboards)
Leon Wilkeson (bass, background vocals); Artimus Pyle (drums, tambourine, percussion)
Additional personnel includes: Barry Harwood (dobro, mandolin); Lee Freeman (harmonica); The Honnicutts (background vocals).

Studio tracks recorded at Capricorn Studios, Macon, Georgia and Record Plant, Los Angeles, California in 1975.

Live tracks recorded at Bill Graham's Winterland, San Francisco, California on March 7, 1976 & Capital Theatre, Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom on November 4, 1975.

DVD - 1975 performance on the English TV show “The Old Grey Whistle Test.”

[Jahfin]

I like to hear different arrangements. I may not buy a whole cd of them, but I think it's cool to hear the same song performed in different style. I especially like to know things like "this is way I WISH I could have recorded it to begin with" to add to it.

I like what he did with "In The Shelter" but I still prefer the original. Some of the remakes on Meet Me In Margaritaville (such as the one for Son of a Son of A Sailor) did absolutely nothing to improve upon the original and all the intro talking (as though it were a live record) detracted greatly from the new version.

[Spinniker]

Speaking of which, DVD versions of Live By The Bay and Tales from Margaritavision are also long overdue.[/quote]


and I'm STILL hoping for a DVD of " Don't stop the Carnival"

[Spinniker]

Well that didn't work....how do you get the white box with the "so and so wrote" ?

[Jahfin]

Well that didn't work....how do you get the white box with the "so and so wrote" ?

By clicking on "quote".

A DVD of Don't Stop The Carnival would be nice but how many of the performances were actually filmed?

[phjrsaunt]

I like to hear different arrangements. I may not buy a whole cd of them, but I think it's cool to hear the same song performed in different style. I especially like to know things like "this is way I WISH I could have recorded it to begin with" to add to it.

I like what he did with "In The Shelter" but I still prefer the original. Some of the remakes on Meet Me In Margaritaville (such as the one for Son of a Son of A Sailor) did absolutely nothing to improve upon the original and all the intro talking (as though it were a live record) detracted greatly from the new version.

I just think it's nice to have options.

[spucketts]

I think that when ever you listen to an album or read a book, you have to consider the time at which the work was completed. It gives insite to how the artist or author was influenced and you can follow how they evolved through their career. Those albums were produced during a time when everything was polished and electronic. They would be different if they were redone but I don't know if they would be any better.

It would be in interesting question for Jimmy, "In hind-site are there any songs that you think you could have done better?" (Saxaphones is an example on one he did do.)

[Jahfin]

I like to hear different arrangements. I may not buy a whole cd of them, but I think it's cool to hear the same song performed in different style. I especially like to know things like "this is way I WISH I could have recorded it to begin with" to add to it.

I like what he did with "In The Shelter" but I still prefer the original. Some of the remakes on Meet Me In Margaritaville (such as the one for Son of a Son of A Sailor) did absolutely nothing to improve upon the original and all the intro talking (as though it were a live record) detracted greatly from the new version.

I just think it's nice to have options.

I think it's cool to have alternate versions but not when they actually end up detracting from the originals. For instance, I think the versions he later redid of songs that first appeared on his Barnaby Records albums were definite improvements but most of the remakes on Meet Me In Margaritaville sucked to the high heavens.

[Spinniker]

Well that didn't work....how do you get the white box with the "so and so wrote" ?

By clicking on "quote".

A DVD of Don't Stop The Carnival would be nice but how many of the performances were actually filmed?

Hmmmm, thats what I did the first time.
I guess I didn't think the question through, because I do not want a repeat of SOASOAS remix (man I miss the ships bell). But you’re right, much like Lucas and Spielberg “tweaking” their movies, I’m sure JB would want to do also. Maybe for the DVD re-releases they could just re-mix the originals.

[Spinniker]

Well that didn't work....how do you get the white box with the "so and so wrote" ?

By clicking on "quote".

A DVD of Don't Stop The Carnival would be nice but how many of the performances were actually filmed?

Hmmmm, thats what I did the first time.
I guess I didn't think the question through, because I do not want a repeat of SOASOAS remix (man I miss the ships bell). But you’re right, much like Lucas and Spielberg “tweaking” their movies, I’m sure JB would want to do also. Maybe for the DVD re-releases they could just re-mix the originals.

[Parrot Monkey]

All re-recordings Jimmy has done have been interesting and a nice option to have indeed, but for some reason I’m not one for the whole remake thing. Even with The Captain and the Kid and In The Shelter, which have been made with studio recordings three times total, the versions I enjoy the most are the ones that we’re around the time period they were written and originally envisioned.

But think of it this way: Almost all artists, Jimmy no exception, rarely leave an arrangement “alone” when performing live. Dylan is an artist who is really big on this concept; rarely does a song come out the same way on more than once. So, what’s the big deal of them doing the same thing in a studio with the absence of a crowd?

So the point is, re-recordings are most likely not going to ever top the originals we’re all used to, not matter what the song, but I don’t find them to offend in any way as long as they’re clearly noted as remakes and not thrown in on the original albums. For example, if the early albums were to finally be reissued with full artwork and liner notes and included were some overdubs here and there, be it instruments or vocals that Jimmy just felt “weren’t done right” ala Lucas, that would be VERY bad, as people buying them for the first time may come under the impression that that was the way the songs always we’re, just like newbies to the Star Wars Trilogy may think Hayden Christenson was always in Return of the Jedi, just like Lucas wants it. He wasn’t there for 21 years and was like, I don’t know, 2 years old in 1983! I’m not sure if any “adjustments” to that extreme were made to any music recordings, but I have heard negative feedback from fans regarding reissues that include remixes, as the original mixes (what they grew up with and was the artist’s original vision) from that point on are most likely taken off the market. For example, Yoko Ono has been remixing classic Lennon solo albums one by one since 2000, and many fans object as John intended the mixes as they originally made and supervised what the recording engineers did. What’s worse is he’s not even alive to give the ok, and when a reissue goes on the shelves, the originals disappear forever.

This goes back to the main problem I always had with those MCA CD releases, that being new fans are subject to coming under the impression that the artwork was indented to be like that (generic, solid colors) and the albums we’re issued with no (or next to no) liner notes at all to begin with. To me it’s like something was taken away from those 12 albums and I count the art direction (or lack of) as a negative revision.

[Spinniker]

Heck, with how much a DVD-A will hold.....put both versions on it !!!!!

[Zanzibar]

Lots of people at this site have rejected that idea many times but they're not fooling anybody. They'd be the very first ones in line the day they went on sale just like they are for nearly every other Buffett product he puts out.

Not me. I bought them once, I ain't buying them again. I couldn't care less about the artwork and liner notes. And as for the extra tracks, I'd download them and burn them all onto one disc.

Same here, I buy the CD for the music, the artwork to me, is just an added bonus.

Usually I take the CD out of it's case anyway and put it in my Corona CD case in my car

[1 CP]

nevermind redoing old albums....i'd love him to do (re-do?) a CD of some of his gorgeous ballads, most of which did NOT appear on the ballad cd of the 4B package. Ones he wrote and a few he covered....ie

Gulf Coast Highway
False Echoes
Pacin the Cage
Thats What Livin is to Me
Quietly Making Noise
Love in the Library
Remittance Man
Changing Channels
When The Coast is Clear
Blue Guitar
If the Phone Doesnt Ring
Distantly in Love

and a few non-ballads like

Vampires Mummies and the Holy Ghost
Desdamona's Building A Rocket Ship

and so many many more that he seldom or never does.....

[Piratical]

Same here, I buy the CD for the music, the artwork to me, is just an added bonus.

Usually I take the CD out of it's case anyway and put it in my Corona CD case in my car

When I was younger (the LP days) the liner notes and the album art was part of "the package".

Today, I will admit, I don't miss it. Probably because of the access we now have to information i.e., the Internet.

You could learn some pretty cool and interesting things of the liner notes. Like who did the whip in Desperation Samba recording session, etc. Cool trivia.