Incredible songs that are recorded poorly

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by The_Shocker, Oct 12, 2017.

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  1. StephMess78

    StephMess78 Forum Resident

    "The genius of Ray Charles" always sound too thin for my taste...
     
  2. ReggieNJ

    ReggieNJ Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Jersey
    Ugh. St. Anger as a whole. Some really good songs but damn those steel trash can lid drums.
     
    Last edited: Oct 12, 2017
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  3. Beaker73

    Beaker73 Forum Resident

    This one!
     
  4. Summer of Malcontent

    Summer of Malcontent Forum Resident

    Lots and lots of low-fi bands (Guided by Voices, Flying Nun), but in most cases the 'poor' recording is part of the appeal. Recordings don't get, technically, much more atrocious than 'Gelatin, Ice Cream, Plum. . .', but it's still one of my favourite tracks of all time, and I wouldn't trade a second of it for the entirety of Aja.


    The Chills' first album, Brave Words, however, is one I would love to be rerecorded, radically remixed, anything. It's always sounded quite lifeless to me, and that was a bunch of songs that were just astonishing live. '16 Heartthrobs' and 'Ghosts' were powerful, churning psych monsters in concert for years before the band finally got to put them down in the studio, and the results were tame and timid. Still a fine collection of songs - maybe the best the band ever had - but the shortfall from their potential was drastic.
     
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  5. Koabac

    Koabac Self-Titled

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    The thread does not specify that the intent to record the songs poorly matters, so I'd throw in much of Alex Chilton's "Like Flies..." album. Obviously they were going for that sound, but I would have loved to have heard many of those songs more carefully arranged and recorded, as well. I think Chilton found the right balance of loose and tight in his later solo albums. That said, I love "Flies" the way it is. It IS some great songs poorly recorded, though.

    Also, there are a few Costello albums where the songs do not benefit from the arrangements and production. "PTC" and "GCW," obviously sound dated and the "PTC" demos from the Rhino reissue bring those songs to life in much more human and warm way. "GCW," obviously, is notorious for Costello going along with the wrong producers for the wrong songs, not that I think TOO many of those songs are actually that "incredible." I also think about half the songs on "All This Useless Beauty" suffer from poor arrangements and production. The demos and solo live performances of those same songs typically reveal what great compositions they really are. A real waste of the final appearance of the Attractions.

    Then there's "Mighty Like a Rose," which, again, I actually love the way it is, overwrought production and all, as much as I could see that if it had been recorded flat out by EC & the Attractions in an "Armed Forces" way, as first intended, those songs would have come across as the classics many of them are and the album would not have the general disdain it now carries around. Jeez, honestly, for one of my all time favorite artists, I would say there are far too many of his albums where the songs aren't well-served by whatever "approach" bug Elvis had up his butt at the time of recording.

    Finally, more controverisally, I'd again (I probably mentioned this in another thread at some point) like to make an argument for "The Clash's" (Joe, Paul, Bernie and central casting) "Cut The Crap" actually being rescued. Hearing the raw boombox demos from November 1983, as well as some of the live performances of many of the songs from this era, Joe really didn't come up with as bad a group of back-to-basics rockers as it seems. "Earthquake Weather" is another example of some good Strummer tracks lost in bad arrangement and production ideas. Strummer, like Morrissey, was always at the mercy of his producers and musical foils.

    I believe if a "Naked," remixed version of "CtC" was released with the "football hooligan chant" chorus voices and synths/drum machines/SFX removed - and a few of the songs swapped out for others left off the album (like "Pouring Rain," "Galleani," "Jericho," or "National Powder"), it would show that Strummer hadn't completely lost his mind and still had some good songs in him. I mean, he was back working with Mick Jones on his "Sid & Nancy" and BAD's "No. 10, Upping St." songs one year after recording "CtC." Most of his "Sid & Nancy" and his solo "Permanent Record" (1986-1988) soundtrack songs are great. His muse hadn't just completely left him between "Combat Rock" in 1982 and the "CtC" songs written in the next year. "This Is England," "Pouring Rain," and "Jericho," in particular, are great songs. That two of them were left off the album (but played live often) just shows more of the bad judgement that created the mess surrounding "CtC."

    One of the main reasons "CtC" is so utterly despised (apart from the music contained in it. Ha!) is the fact it's called a Clash album and Mick Jones wasn't on it - and, more importantly, was fired. It's such an outrage to call a band without Mick Jones "The Clash," that no one WANTS to really hear that this era had some good material buried beneath the production, politics and drama. On principle, no one wants to think that Joe Strummer could write good songs without Mick Jones (although he did while Mick was still in the Clash and he did many times after the Clash ended). And if one listens to Mick Jones' TRAC demos from 1984, one hears a group of fairly embarrassing, limp, synth-heavy, chest-beating, self-pitying songs ("And although I am no longer the ringmaster, the smell of animals still hangs in the air"). If THAT'S the direction Mick wanted to take the Clash at that point, I can understand why Joe felt he had to part company with Mick and I doubt many would have been happier with the resulting album. I imagine people would much prefer the "Naked," remixed, reshuffled "CtC" album I described above than the Spandau Ballet-like vibe Mick was going for when he left the band. Of course, Mick realized his mistake and course corrected before releasing a TRAC album, forming BAD instead and writing virtually all new songs. Joe, at the mercy of those around him, could not course correct alone and crashed and burned.

    Look, Mick Jones is a freaking musical genius and the highs of "Combat Rock" are obviously higher than anything on "CtC," songwriting wise, but I would not say that the lows, songwriting-wise, of "Combat Rock" (and I think there's quite few) are better than the best songs Joe Strummer wrote between 1983 and 1985. The arrangements and production of everything on "Combat Rock" is obviously leagues better, but all the SONGS, themselves, imo, simply are not. Retitle, remix, reshuffle and reissue "CtC" and I think the SONGS would be reevaluated more kindly.
     
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  6. YpsiGypsy

    YpsiGypsy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Michigan, USA
    Have there been any re-releases on CD where it was cleaned up? Or would that not be possible?
     
    Last edited: Oct 12, 2017
  7. "Little Fury Things" by Dinosaur Jr sounds like it was recorded at 120 dB using one of those circa-1980 portable cassette recorders.
     
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  8. Man at C&A

    Man at C&A Senior Member

    Location:
    England
    Some of my favourite sounding music mentioned here. Personally I can't hear anything wrong and wouldn't change a thing.
     
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  9. fogalu

    fogalu There is only one Beethoven

    Location:
    Killarney, Ireland
    Del Shannon's "Runaway". A bloody fantastic record but the sound quality is on the bad side of mediocre. It didn't help that the recording was speeded up for some odd reason. One source said that Del was singing flat (due to nerves) and the speeding up helped to fix that. I can't see how unless his voice was recorded on a separate channel, which is unlikely.

    (A stereo version does exist which is slightly different to the well-known version but it has the vocal in the middle - not at the side, like the Beatles' early stuff.)

    Anyway, when Del heard it on the radio he complained that it didn't sound like him. He calmed down a bit when it was pointed out to him that, as this was his first recording, nobody would know that. He calmed down even further when it became a multi-million seller.

     
    Last edited: Oct 12, 2017
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  10. warewolf95

    warewolf95 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Greenville, SC
    The Kinks entire 60's discography pre-Arthur.
     
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  11. AudiophilePhil

    AudiophilePhil Senior Member

    Location:
    San Diego, CA
    Joy to the World - Three Dog Night
     
  12. OobuJoobu

    OobuJoobu Forum Resident

    Location:
    Yorkshire, UK
    Have you heard Noel's recent remix of D'you Know What I Mean?

    The strings in particular sound fantastic, but go back to the original and there they are , almost buried but audible once you know they are there.

    I really wish he hadn't got bored after remixing one track, and had gone on to do the rest of the album as originally planned!
     
  13. RickH

    RickH Connoisseur of deep album cuts

    Location:
    Raleigh, NC
    Roxy Music - Out of the Blue
     
  14. McLover

    McLover Senior Member

    Game, Set, and Match.

    Add to this. Many Tom Dowd Atlantic overload distortion offenders. Some key ones are Drifters/ Under The Boardwalk and Ray Charles/ Just For A Thrill.
     
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  15. Chemguy

    Chemguy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Western Canada
    I've always struggled with that one, too. Then Bluebird comes on and it's a sonic treat.

    Mine is...Quarter to Three, Gary US Bonds. It may be the champ...
     
  16. DTK

    DTK Forum Resident

    Location:
    Europe
    The whole album is rough. Good example.
     
  17. CBS 65780

    CBS 65780 "Could I do one more immediately?"

    Location:
    Dublin, Ireland
    When the orchestra (brass) kicks in in Classical Gas it sounds like someone just opened an interlocking door between two studios, pointed a mic. at the orchestra who just happened to be there and suddenly decided to parp along. The whole clarity of Williams on his own is just lost in this cacophony of wailing and screeching. Though they disappear later, it never really recovers. A pity.
     
  18. Satchidananda

    Satchidananda Forum Resident

    Location:
    California
    This song is my A Day In the Life.
     
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  19. RDriftwood

    RDriftwood Vintage Member

    Location:
    Midwestern US
    Pretty much all Jefferson Airplane. Some good music but bad sounding recordings in general.
     
  20. DeRosa

    DeRosa Vinyl Forever

    Agreed, sadly this is a horrible sounding record. There is a ton of overload distortion that is apparently on the master tapes.
     
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  21. DamnDirtyApe

    DamnDirtyApe Forum Resident

    Location:
    Thailand
    The Raspberries Go All The Way always sounds like crap to me, no matter the quality of the source
     
  22. Millstone50

    Millstone50 Forum Resident

    Born to Run
     
  23. Lemon Curry

    Lemon Curry (A) Face In The Crowd

    Location:
    Mahwah, NJ
    Is there no remix that fixes the awful "all in one" mixing Bruce originally did?
     
  24. Teufelzkerl

    Teufelzkerl Forum Resident

    Location:
    Germany
    LZ's Custard Pie, could've been recorded in a big tin can. I always dreamed of a remix with thundering drums and a real bass guitar, like SW did with "Locomotive Breath".
     
  25. BlueSpeedway

    BlueSpeedway Curated Iconic Half-Speed Picture Disc

    Location:
    England
    Can: Outside My Door (1969)

    John Cale: Villa Albani (1984)
     
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