Greatest Hits albums that don't have the actual hit versions on them?

I don't know if this has been mentioned or not as I haven't read the whole thread, but The Byrds' Greatest Hits (the 1967 album) used the LP version of "All I Really Want to Do" instead of the single version, which was a totally different take.

 

The re-records on Volume One (Liberty tracks) made sense. I've never listened to Volume II, but if he re-recorded his own Reprise originals for Volume II, then I don't get it. I don't know if this is a generalization or not, but it seems like re-recordings are most often done by solo artists rather than groups.

 

If he was into the sauce (rumour has it that he was), why go to the trouble and extra work to re-record something? Unless maybe he completely forgot ever having recorded those songs ,in which case you have to forgive him.

 

He did re-record his own Reprise originals for Volume II.

 

I can't argue with that.

 

Debates about why the original "Endless Summer" LP was put together the way it was will probably go on forever. It is true that mono tracks were sometimes put on otherwise all stereo albums, but that was rare, and it would not have been something that the record buying public would expect. There would have to have been a pretty good reason to do it, and simply because the hit single version differed from the stereo album version was obviously not, by itself, a good enough reason in the minds of the album producers. It's possible that some of the producers were unaware of such differences (or not interested enough to do any research), but my guess is that more often than not, they were aware, and simply went with the "standard" of "all stereo". Many of the tracks from "Endless Summer" had previously been "re-released" on the earlier Capitol comps "Best Of Beach Boys" (1966) and "Best Of The Beach Boys Vol. 2 (1967). That Vol. 2 comp from 1967 used the correct hit single version of "Help Me, Rhonda", so you would wonder if the same guy who put together 'Best Of The Beach Boys Vol. 2" in 1967 also compiled "Endless Summer" in 1974 and if so, what he was thinking (maybe he didn't remember what he did seven years earlier?). My guess is, it was most likely a different guy.

 

The Meaty Beaty Big & Bouncy CD uses the stereo mix; with a slightly extended intro compared to the version on the Magic Bus LP.

 

The DCC Endless Summer uses a couple of stereo mixes, while the Singles were obviously in mono. Fun Fun Fun is about 20 seconds shorter on the Endless Summer than the single mix.

 

To summarize some themes of this thread so far....

When you get back into the 50's and 60's, this topic gets a little more complicated, a bit more grey-area.

What qualifies as a "wrong" version? A stereo mix of a performance that was a hit in association with a mono single could still be considered as more or less a "correct" version (among non-purists) if it does not deviate remarkably from the mono mix. But even among non-purists, using an alternate take or a radically different mix (missing solos or vocals found in the "hit") would probably be considered a "wrong" version.

Then the waters get even more muddy when a compilation becomes a "classic" (Endless Summer, Meaty Beaty) even though it contains non-hit versions. Does the recompiler honor the nostalgia/history associated with the compilation or the nostalgia/accurate-chart-history of the artist?

 

The Elvis #1 CD has the wrong version of "The wonder of you"; now that is incompetence.

 

I think that's more of a licensing issue than choosing the incorrect version. The original "That's The Way God Planned It" single was released on Apple and whoever is releasing comps probably can't come to some kind of an arrangement with Apple about releasing the original version.

 

The original Best of Bee Gees, from 1969, had the slow stereo mix with alternate ending of "I've Gotta Get a Message to You"; the stereo "no-final-S" mix of "New York Mining Disaster 1941"; and an edited stereo mix of "World," none of which matched the hit versions.

This Is the Moody Blues was loaded with remixes, not to mention new segues between tracks. None of the "hits" (including "Tuesday Afternoon," "Nights in White Satin," "Question," etc.) matched the single versions. I don't know if, to this day, you can get all the Moodies' 1967-72 single versions in one place, and I'm not sure if the single version of "Tuesday Afternoon" has ever been on CD.

 

Would that CD be "Johnny Rivers' Greatest Hits",released on his Soul City Label in 1999? I know that THAT'S Probably it! Michael Boyce

 

I may be stretching the "Greatest Hits" theme, but Time-Life's "Your Hit Parade, 1957" has a non-hit version of Harry Belafonte's "Jamaica Farewell." That song sounds like a later re-recording and doesn't fit in with the overall 1957 sound of the other 23 tracks thereby causing me to skip over "Jamaica" every time - frustrating. The vast majority of songs on the "Your Hit Parade" series, though not always from the best sources, and more than a few have added reverb, are the original hit versions. "Jamaica Farewell" is an anomaly. (Belafonte's "Banana Boat Song" on the same compilation is the correct version.)

 

The Flying Burrito Brothers - Farther Along: Best Of The Flying Burrito Brothers (A&M) a single disc Gram Parsons era comp, has several wierd tracks for a "best of'' collection including some Sleepless Nights outtakes. The version of "Sing Me Back Home" is one I've never heard before.

 

The Police...."Don't Stand So Close to Me '86"....it might have been a hit but it's not the hit we want!

 

It also has the wrong verison of "(Now And Then)A Fool Such As I".More incompetence.

 

I agree 100% Cory, for Gord's Gold there was an excuse for the inclusion of the songs done over (and they do not sound bad at all) but for Volume II there was no need IMO. Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald means an awful lot to people in our neck of the woods and the original is just fine. I wonder how many people have bought that CD not realizing what they were getting.

 

I like the alternate, but there really was no reason to use it. And, BTW, I read an interview where they said that they did that on purpose.

 

Do any of these "mistakes" effect who gets paid for mechanical royalties...and might that ever not be an accident?

 

I have an LP that has a collection of recordings that made their debut on the BBC.

I can't remember the name of the LP - but I'm positive it has an alternate version of "Sultans of Swing" - that most likely pre-dates the version on the album. Is that the version you are thinking of ?

I seem to remember the liner notes saying something about Knopfler submitting the tape to a DJ (Peel? perhaps) and then subsequently getting a recording contract.

I also have a vague feeling that there is an Elvis Costello alternate take on the same album... but I could be wrong about that.

 

The latest re-issue of Sly & The Family Stone Greatest Hits has 2 songs that are not the originals. That was disappointing.

 

For what it's worth...

My first Everly Brothers album was a greatest hits collection that was recorded (entirely) in the 60s for Warner Brother - for material that had been released previously in the 50s by Cadence...

I have both versions of each song now - but I much prefer the re-recorded versions... probably because they 60s version sound so good - and the Everlys were still at the top of their game.

It's definetly not a strange listen - like some of the 70s era re-recordings by 50s artists (such as Bill Halley)

 

Not just "remixed in Q Sound," but in some cases re-recorded and re-arranged. It's a travesty, I tell you!

 

Which songs were re-recorded?