Studio albums that have an entire alternate version available (studio recordings, not mix/mastering)

Casablanca Moon by Slapp Happy was rerecorded and released as Acnalbasac Noom.

 

Although it's not available and to my knowledge never been leaked, many sources have claimed Axl re-recorded the entire Appetite For Destruction album around 2001 with the Buckethead lineup.

Another album almost no one here probably is aware of that has two very different versions officially released is The Lords Of The New Church's 3rd studio album "The Method To Our Madness." The original version released in the UK and parts of Europe at the end of 1984 and then when it was released in North America in early 1985, most of the songs had been radically tampered with, adding echo, pumped up bass, additional guitar overdubs, etc and one song swapped out for another song. Even the original monochrome album cover had red tinting added to the background. That original Europe/UK mix has never been released on any media since the original release on vinyl and cassette only in '84 and is considered lost. The band themselves were unaware the album had been (re)produced until it was brought up several years later.

 

You are correct - thanks. Was confusing with Vintage Violence. Need to play both of them soon !

 

What are the differences?

 

The upcoming reissue of Roxy Music‘s first album appears to miss out by only one track...

 

So did The Cure with Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me.

 

Arlo Guthrie re-recorded his Alice's Restaurant album for the 30th Anniversary. It was the only one of his albums he couldn't get the rights back from Warner Brothers so he re-recorded it.

 

The Finn Brothers recorded Everyone is Here with Tony Visconti. They then scrapped it and recorded the whole thing again with Mitchell Froom. Wisely, I might add, with the exception of perhaps one song ("Luckiest Man Alive").

There are a ton of great b-sides from this record, btw.

 

How about the alternate versions of Yes albums on the Steven Wilson packages?

 

yea, and he also put some effort into re-doing or remixing many of the songs on Manifesto

 

On Street Survivors deluxe edition, disc 2 has the original versions recorded at Criteria Studio with Tom Dowd.

 

Completely different recordings. Different sound, different arrangements.

 

Some of the Wilson box sets of King Crimson also have alternate albums (although I think they are often the same takes as the regular versions with longer fadeouts, missing overdubs etc.).

 

Totally different recordings - Acnalbasac Noom was recorded first (but released later), and with Faust as the backing band. The s/t album (aka Casablanca Moon) is smoother and more commercial with orchestration.

I saw Slapp Happy and Faust's rhythm section performing together earlier this year. Was wonderful.

 

They are usually alternate takes, more than alternate mixes.
In the Court and Islands 40th Anniversary editions have complete alternate versions of the albums. Beat and Discipline have the entire albums as rough mixes. There might be a couple others as well but I don't have them handy to check.

 

Right after Return To Forever recorded "Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy" in 1973 drummer Steve Gadd left the band because he'd become so in-demand as a studio drummer. So Chick Corea shelved the album, hired Lenny White and re-recorded the entire album.
Unfortunately the original tapes with Steve vanished. No one has ever heard them to my knowledge.

 

I did mention that one earlier, but it's worth mentioning twice.

 

I recall hearing it on the radio at the time, I think it was a bootleg.

After reading the Wiki on the album, it appears that the demo is actually a rough mix of what would become the final version. So the "bootleg" I heard may have been a ruse on CBS to make them believe they rerecorded everything. It got airplay in Cleveland, where they first broke out.

Boston (album) - Wikipedia

We Found it in the Trashcan, Honest! (The Boston Demo Tapes) by Boston

 

Roy Orbison's 'In Dreams: The Greatest Hits' starts out as a track-by-track re-recording of the compilation album 'All Time Greatest Hits of Roy Orbison.' It duplicates the track listing of the compilation's first disc, but changes up the song selection somewhat in its second half.

 

I'm not certain this is an ongoing campaign. Time will tell, but as we didn't see 40th anniversary editions for the previous studio albums, I'm not optimistic.

 

N.E.R.D's debut album ...in search of was released in Europe with mostly keyboards and drum machines as the backing tracks. It was re-recorded using live instruments for the version that was released at a later date in the US, and re-released in Europe.

 

I vaguely recall hearing about this, thanks for the added info!

 

Here it is, for your listening pleasure:


So the "demo" was recorded on a Scully 8-Track and then those tracks were transferred to a 3M 24 track mobile truck. So the final mix might have a different vocal or two, but the demo contained the essence of the album.

 

Someone involved with QPL in an archival capacity once suggested that the reason we didn't get expanded reissues of the first five albums is because there was barely enough material to fill the "bonus EPs" included with the 2011 remasters. While there is supposedly a relative lack of studio outtakes from before the News Of The World era in terms of finished tracks, I suspect the problem is more Brian May, who is a known perfectionist and someone I'm sure would rather pad out such releases with embellished live recordings, contemporary instrumental variations or new vocal-only remixes where nothing of greater value exists. Alternatively, it's claimed that plenty of incomplete fragments do remain (especially from Jazz, the 1980s and the Innuendo sessions), though I can't blame everyone for not wanting to embark on another full Made In Heaven style posthumous effort. Whatever the case, I'm just grateful the powers that be didn't choose to rip off the group's fans any more than they already have!

 

The La's are practically the definitive alternative version band. They released the Mike Hedges version of the album in the deluxe set, and there was enough alternate takes from different sessions...