Breno's "No respect under the covers" thread somehow led to:

People who cover their own songs and manage to improve on them.

At the moment, Springsteen's Seeger Sessions (live) version of "Open All Night" (from Nebraska) leaps to mind...methinks Christgau may have made it "Springsteen track of the year from a live double Sony didn't bother to send me" last year, but methinks me not so sure.

springsteen immeditely comes to mind as someone who does very different versions of his songs live and often they are better.
a few songs have nils lofgren solos which somewhat reinvents the song as well.
any of the songs on nebraska that he does live stand out .
mike ness solo made many of his social d songs country which lyrically isnt that far of a stretch and works well.

i just recently heard a live version the beatles did of yesterday with your basic 2 guitars bass by mccartney and drums and it sounded great to me cause i was so used to hearing the same version all the time so just a departure to me sounds good.

Gang of Four's entire album worth - Return the Gift was totally worth the exercise. Even if most of the remix disc was to be avoided, it further emphasized how much more class and talent Go4 has over their contemporaries.

I didn't see this mentioned, but Lou Reed's Berlin, which he revisited live at St. Ann's Warehouse in Brooklyn during five nights in December 2006. Julian Schnabel made a concert film out of it - no idea if it's just one show or pieced together from the best takes, but it's excellent and for me it's the definitive version of Berlin. Simply called Berlin: Live at St. Ann's Warehouse, it's available overseas as a economically priced DVD or Blu-ray (I got the Blu-ray for $10 shipped before the dollar crashed this year). The audio-only CD edition is easily found in the U.S. but I've always been partial towards getting a DVD or Blu-ray if the option is available.

I'll have to check out Return the Gift. To my disappointment there doesn't seem to be any legit DVD's of a full-length Gang of Four show with the original lineup. A shame because they were amazing in Urgh! A Music War and the DVD box set of The Old Grey Whistle Test. (The second line-up with Sara Lee taped a full show for Rockpalast in 1983. You can find that everywhere.)

I'm sure not much TP love for him, but Bruce Hornsby teamed up with Ricky Skaggs to produce an outstanding reworking of his "Mandolin Rain."

Also, Paddy McAloon reworked much of Prefab Sprout's Steve McQueen album as (much overdubbed) solo acoustic guitar music. I'm not sure it's an improvement, but it probably takes those songs--which I think are both far and away his best and some of the best of the decade as a collection--and makes them sound a bit more timeless.

Somehow that Phantom Tollbooth album with Pollard seemed about 1/10 as good as the original (which, along with Bug, was on my turntable just about every day for 3 months straight in 1988 or so).

That's brilliant. My estimation of YLT has increased five-fold!

Hilarious! My first YouTube "favorite". (was never willing to register before)

Is Jefferson Airplane considered superior to Black Flag at Rock School? That doesnt sound right...

"I'm sure not much TP love for him, but Bruce Hornsby teamed up with Ricky Skaggs to produce an outstanding reworking of his "Mandolin Rain."

Hornsby also did a cover of his "Valley Road" with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band on one of their Will the Circle Be Unbroken albums that was a definite improvement.

Yo
La
Tengo !

They should definitely do an entire album of career-spanning self-covers!

> They should definitely do an entire album of career-spanning self-covers!

In the old days, that was called a live album, wasn't it?

Sparks - Plagiarism

Although I don't really consider any of the versions on it to be improvements on the originals.

Which makes me wonder - during their marathon performances of all their albums I mentioned in another thread today, did Sparks perform Plagiarism?



Post Edited (09-19-08 14:56)

In that vein, I love the live versions of "I May Hate You Sometimes" and "Believe in Something Other (Than Yourself)" on the Posies' In Case You Didn't Feel Like Plugging In far better than the studio versions on their first album.

"In the old days, that was called a live album, wasn't it?"


Live album?! Get out of the past, Granddad. The Foghat Principle has long since been discredited.



Post Edited (09-19-08 16:01)

Never heard of "the Foghat Principle," sonny.

No Foghat principle? Sounds like someone needs to go to rock school!

The Banshees 'The Thorn' EP are 4 preexisting tracks totally redone with an orchestra.

Juliana Hatfield gave "Nirvana", originally a Blake Babies acoustic song, the full band treatment on her debut solo album.

Modern English pointlessly released a new version of "I Melt With You" in '90/'91.

Babes In Toyland gave "He's My Thing", a song originally found on their '89 debut, a bit more punch for an EP that came out in '93.

That re-recorded version of " I Melt With You" was awful!

Always funny to see one of these nearly-20-year-old threads revived and see posts that I have absolutely no recollection of making!

I nominate the version of "Blue Marble Girl" from Giant Sand's Cover Magazine album.

Howe Gelb revisits material like it's comfort food. Mmm-MMM-Good!