What's the story with all those artists of the 50's and 60's re-recording their hits?

I don't remember if it was in "Pulp Fiction" or "Jackie Brown", but I am sure that "Street Life" - sung by Randy Crawford - wasn't the original version known from the Crusaders album...

 

As much as I've hated every single re-record of a hit for the reasons already mentioned, I can't say as I blame some of the artists. I remember both Badfinger and Mary Hopkins did that to there Apple Records hits when the originals were tied up in legal limbo for twenty years. The surviving members of Badfinger in particular were starving. If they were faced with a choice of a year's wages at McDonalds or a quick re-record of "Come and Get it", I'd understand (though I wouldn't buy it).

Of course, in a perfect non-capitalist world, they wouldn't have been stuck with that choice in the first place (oops - sorry - I'm treading dangerously close to my soap box here!)

 

Crikey, Jonathan... so do I. Anyone else have another example???

 

When I'm in stores whether HMV or Wal-Mart, I observe what people are considering buying and warn them when I know they're getting close to buying a re-record. I consider it my solemn duty as a music lover.
But on the other hand, there are a handful of re-records that are, if not nearly as good as the originals, somewhat decent. The only ones that come to mind at the moment are the Classics IV stuff and Chubby Checker's re-record of The Twist (done earlier than his other re-records), which is not bad. The main difference there is in the background vocals.

 

Sometimes the security packaging obscures the fine print that indicates the songs are rerecordings. I've gotten burned twice by that. I'm so tempted to throw them out.

 

When It Rains It Really Pours-Elvis Presley (Sun to RCA)
Beatles-Money (Decca session to EMI)
Beach Boys-Help Me Rhonda (album version to single version)
Platters-Only You (Federal/King to Mercury)
James Brown- I Got You (Smash to King)
James Brown-It's A Man's, Man's, Man's World (ditto)
JB-Give It Up Or Turn It Loose (single to 1970 Sex Machine album version without the applause)
JB-1973 versions of Think (mono single to stereo single, if that's the order in which they were recorded)
Guess Who-No Time (Canned Wheat to single)
Monkees- I Wanna Be Free (fast to slow, unless that counts as a remake)
Monkees-Valleri (TV to single) Actually, I like 'em both equally.
Monkees- Zor and Zam (TV to album version)
Bobby Fuller-I Fought the Law (local single to Mustang, I presume)

 

And more...
Beach Boys-Cottonfields (20/20 LP to single-Sorry Brian)
Beach Boys-Surfin' Safari, Surfer Girl (Candix to Capitol)
Abba-Happy Hawaii to Why Did It Have To Be Me

 

There was a whole Badfinger "greatest hits" re-record by folks who had been in the band! Anyone ever see that one?!

 

Funny you mention that record. I found it puzzling, even then, when he did The Long and Winding Road with strings like Phil Spector did. We all knew he hated that version, even back then, so I was mystified why he did it Phil's way.

Now, of course, you know what this means, don't you?

GIVE MY REGARDS TO BROADSTREET-NAKED

 

I bought an "audiophile" album just for curiosity at Radio Shack in the early '80s where some British Invasions groups re-recorded a couple of songs "using today's high tech studio equipment" or something like that. It had re-recordings by the Beau Brummels, Freddie &The Dreamers and I forget the rest. It was interesting but paled compared to the original recordings.

Tim

 

My first introduction to Roy Orbison was through the "In Dreams" single disc hit set, all re-records from around the time of David Lynch's Blue Velvet (in which the title track was used). It may be sacreligious, but I actually like a lot of Roy's re-records better...

 

Nat King Cole re-recorded Straighten Up And Fly Right and Get Your Kicks On Route 66 maybe some others too in the late 50's. These originally were hits over 10 years previously. IMO the later recordings were better.

 

My favorite Sinatra album is Sinatra's Swingin' Session, which is largely remakes of his Columbia stuff.

I guess a distinction should be made between "remakes done because the artist is not getting royalties from the original versions" versus "remakes done because the artist is interested in reinterpreting the song" (Charlie Rich did a lot of these).

 

One man's meat! I lobbed this disc in the trash within minutes of its arrival by mail.

 

Nat also re-recorded "The Christmas Song" twice to take advantage of changing recording technology. The original hit version was recorded in the pre-tape days; the 1953 version was a full-track mono tape recording; the 1961 version was a stereo recording. Each version is noticeably different.

And he was far from the only one: Eddy Arnold re-recorded many of his 1940s hits in the early 1960s in stereo. Actually, quite a few people did re-records when stereo recording became the norm; one of the most famous (and another one that is better than the original) was when Tommy Edwards re-recorded his minor 1951 hit "It's All in the Game" and some of his other early 1950s hits in 1958 expressly so that MGM could issue a stereo album of his "greatest hits." That song hit #1 in its new version and it revived his career.

Conway Twitty and Merle Haggard, among others, re-recorded their early hits when they switched record labels.

I'm pretty sure that the John Denver's Greatest Hits album from 1974 was almost entirely, if not entirely, composed of re-records. One of them, "Sunshine on My Shouders," became a #1 hit.

Sometimes, the Muzak at work plays the re-record of Chris Rea's "Fool (If You Think It's Over)," and it just isn't the same as hearing the original.

 

Definitely understandable. Again, since it was the first time I experienced Roy, the "In Dreams" set holds a special place in my heart. Of course, Roy's voice never deteroiated, so he sounded as good as ever (and in some ways, even better). Also, the arrangements and sound somehow reminded me of the modern feel of Bruce Springsteen's "Tunnel of Love", which had just come out and that I instantly fell in love with (still think it is the best thing the Boss has ever done.) It was over a year later that I went back and got Roy's original recordings, and by then it was too late - the re-records were part of me. And although I have subsequently tried to be objective about the re-records and the originals, the fact is that I have a nostalgia for the re-records and absolutely none for the originals, as weird as that sounds....

In the end, regardless of what versions someone prefers, that voice and those songs are timeless...

 

Gordon Lightfoot did the re-recordings to "reinterpret the song" hoping he could do them "better." One of the re-recordings, "The Circle Is Small" as it appears on "Endless Wire" was the charted hit, rather than the original UA recording from "Back Here On Earth" which wasn't even a single.

 

And Gordon himself says he prefers the remake.

 

I was bummed when I bought Gords Gold 2, and "Endless Wire" was not the same recording I had heard on the radio. I was like - What the Heck is this???

I liked Neil Sedaka's redo of "Breaking Up", although that is more of a different approach than a recreation.

I too got a chuckle when I heard the "Broadstreet" version of Long and Winding Road. It sounded to me like "Paul does Phil Spector!"