When remakes are better than the originals ...

[kenny weir]

I was in a deep soul groove last night, so played this:

Gosh, it's brilliant! The original Muscle Shoals recordings are cool, but for mine these ARE better. Soul purists no doubt get a bit sniffy, especially I'd guess with the big drum sound. But with the likes of original culprits Dan Pen, Spooner Oldham and Donnie Frits and more on board, this is simply masterly and gorgeous, imbued with the sort of ease of master musicians at the top of their game. The warmth, pathos and soulfulness of tunes such as Really Got To Be This Way and In The Middle Of It All is majestic in outcome.

Once I started thinking along these lines, the first that came to mind was this:

This was an early release on the Alligator label, and as such quite out of step with the Hound Dog Taylor, Son Seals and Walter Horton stuff they were doing at the time. I loved and played it to death - along with Live At The Regal, it was IIRC my introduction to sophisticated horn-laden blues. I subsequently realised that Robinson had earlier recorded virtually every track on the album as singles for various labels. Through set sales and auction I gradually tracked them all down. They were good, but not as good as the album - and, for obvious reason, certainly not as cohesive as a whole.

**********

So what else?

Van recently did Astral Weeks. It got a heap of praise - but I don't recall anyone saying it was better. Just different ...

Duke continually reworked his material - IIRC The Popular Duke Ellington is particularly highly regarded. But, again, no one claims the later recordings are superior.

Country guys like Ernest Tubb also redid stuff over and over - usually in tandem with label changes. Quality varies greatly!

Same with Bob Wills.

Bobby Fuller's Mustang sides are markedly more polished and exciting than the demo/live stuff released by Norton. IMO.

Does Brian Wilson's Smile qualify?

Muddy Waters' albums with Johnny Winter made a big noise at the time, and continue to have their adherents. But I suspect a lot of the initial acclaim had more to do with the very mixed bag that was Muddy's previous couple of decades' output.

Sonny Boy Williamson redid several songs for Chess that he'd already cut for Trumpet - but I don't know that "better" would be quite the right word.

For some folks - I'm thinking particularly of Monk, Professor Longhair, the Grateful Dead, earlier Allmans and (to some extent) Sun Ra - the constant reworking of a repertoire is pretty much what they do, so that doesn't seem to count.

Had a buddy 'round last night to watch football and tennis, and even given we were somewhat distracted, we didn't come with too many names to add to the Superior Remake list.

Edited June 6, 2010 by kenny weir

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Good idea. I'll give it some thought.

MG

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Got one.

Etta James recorded "W-O-M-A-N" for Modern records in 1955. She revived it on the Chess LP "Etta is betta than evvah" in 1976, retitling the song "Woman (shake your booty)", and it's MILES better than the original.

Oh yes - Bobby Bland's 1983 version of "Queen for a day" on the MCA LP "Tell Mr Bland" is every bit as good as, and may be slightly better than, the original 1966 version on the Duke LP "Call on me/That's the way love is". Bland's MCA albums are mostly not very good but, here and there, you get the pure magic coming through.

Ray Charles' original version of "Drown in my own tears" recorded in November 1955 was great, but truly not a patch on the incredibly beautiful live version he recorded in May 1959 in Atlanta. The same could be said of the versions of "Come rain or come shine" - the studio version from May 1959 is completely wiped out by the version recorded in October 1961 at the Olympia in Paris.

It's almost certainly a matter of personal preference to chooe between Percy Mayfield's two versions of "River's invitation" - the original, slow version done for Specialty in January 1952, or the Bossa Nova version done with Ray Charles' band for Tangerine in 1963. I like both versions a lot, but slightly prefer the later one.

MG

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Hm, there's also Mongo Santamaria's versions of "Afro blue". The original version, recorded in May 1959, for Fantasy isn't a patch on the version he did for Pablo at Montreux in July 1980, on the LP "Summertime" - course, he did have Diz in the band for the Montreux gig

MG

[kenny weir]

There's folks - not necessarily myself - who rate the slightly big band renditions of the likes of Mahogany Hall Stomp and Struttin' With Some Barbecue as better than those done Oliver and/or the Hot5/7.

And personally, I prefer the live Great Society versions of White Rabbit and Somebody To Love to any subsequent Airplane versions, though I suspect I'm pretty much alone on that. Different band, too, but same singer.

Edited June 6, 2010 by kenny weir

[Swinging Swede]

I'm certain that Charlie Parker himself considered his 1951 Mercury/Clef version of Lover Man superior to the original 1946 Dial version.

[kenny weir]

I'm certain that Charlie Parker himself considered his 1951 Mercury/Clef version of Lover Man superior to the original 1946 Dial version.

Yeah, but guess which one has been listened to a whole bunch more in the years since!

[Swinging Swede]

Bunny Berigan first cut I Can't Get Started with a small group for Vocalion in 1936. But it is the extended 1937 big band version for Victor which is his acknowledged masterpiece.

[carnivore]

I like the 'Kenton in Hi Fi' 1956 remakes even more than the mid 40s originals. Nothing to do with sound quality and I love the originals but I think the '56 sessions are even better. Fontana on 'Intermission Riff' is a solo for all time!

[John L]

I tend to prefer the remakes that Patsy Cline made in the early 60s to the original hits of the 50s.

T-Bone walker arguably surpassed even his own high standards on some of the remakes recorded for Atlantic on T-Bone Blues.

Jimmy Scott's voice grew in maturity and nuance, and he continued to surpass himself on a number of remakes from the 60s-80s.

Robert Nighthawk made a number of his best recordings of older songs in the 60s.

I actually prefer Mississippi John Hurt's rediscovery remakes from the 60s to the original 78s from the 20s, although not everyone agrees with this.

Edited June 7, 2010 by John L

[kenny weir]

I tend to prefer the remakes that Patsy Cline made in the early 60s to the original hits of the 50s.

T-Bone walker arguably surpassed even his own high standards on some of the remakes recorded for Atlantic on T-Bone Blues.

Jimmy Scott's voice grew in maturity and nuance, and he continued to surpass himself on a number of remakes from the 60s-80s.

Robert Nighthawk made a number of his best recordings of older songs in the 60s.

I actually prefer Mississippi John Hurt's rediscovery remakes from the 60s to the original 78s from the 20s, although not everyone agrees with this.

Good ones!

I certainly agree with the Patsy Clines - her singing got a lot better, more than sufficiently so to counter the countrypolitan backings.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

I tend to prefer the remakes that Patsy Cline made in the early 60s to the original hits of the 50s.

I certainly agree with the Patsy Clines - her singing got a lot better, more than sufficiently so to counter the countrypolitan backings.

Funny, that's true of few female vocalists; but it is also true of Gloria Lynne. Her recent albums for HighNote are a lot better than those I've heard done for Everest in the sixties. There's a lot more feeling in her voice now. But she's been recording new material, not rehashing old stuff.

MG