Re-recorded Material

There has been a little rash of bands remaking their earlier work for one reason or another. Is there a band that you think improved on their earlier recordings by re-recording them?

I ask because I am listening to Twisted Sister's "Still Hungry" album. I think TS improved greatly on songs such as "Stay Hungry", "Don't Let Me Down", S.M.F.", and "The Beast". The new versions add a heaviness that the originals didn't have. Maybe it's the lower tuning they used on "Still Hungry". On the other hand, I don't like the remade "I Wanna Rock", The Price", or "We're Not Gonna...". Those songs didn't age well, IMO.

So I ask again, Is there a band that you think improved on their earlier recordings by re-recording them?

Testament's First Strike...Still Deadly. that disc shows what today's production can give classic material.

mc666 wrote:

Testament's First Strike...Still Deadly. that disc shows what today's production can give classic material.

Hmmm, that sounds intriguing...didn't even know it existed. Thanks for the recommendation!

oh yeah, wait until you hear Over The Wall & The Preacher with today's production. the songs killed back in the day, now they obliterate.

mc666 wrote:

Testament's First Strike...Still Deadly. that disc shows what today's production can give classic material.

I like that one as well.

The Twisted Sister disc isn't a different tuning, just a better recording.

Molly Hatchet's 25th Anniversary disc is very well recorded. I like it quite a bit.

The Anthrax re-recordings with Bush on vocals are cool, although I like the originals better.

Saint's "Warriors of the Son-20th Anniversary Edition" is far, far better than the original IMO

Saxon - Heavy Metal Thunder is very well done IMO, although I have read a lot of negative reviews on this one.

There are a lot of one-off tracks I like too. Exodus' 2004 recording of Impaler is outstanding!

I like Ultimatum's new version of "Blink" far, far, FAR better than the original on Symphonic Extremities.

mc666 wrote:

Testament's First Strike...Still Deadly. that disc shows what today's production can give classic material.

Yep. First album I thought of. The songs are so damn heavy. Don't get me wrong, the originals are outstanding, but I can't help but now wish they'd redone the five albums. Haha. I think I prefer the songs on First Strike over the originals.

Nightingale re-recorded a bunch of songs from their debut and put them on the limited Nightfall Overture album. (Which, by the way, was limited to 500, and you can still buy copies. It came out in 2005. So sad, really, because they're such an amazing band.) Anyway, their debut album was recorded by Dan Swano in his bedroom in 1995. It's got a very gothic sound to it, soft guitars, a drum machine. But it's really good, regardless. But the re-recordings were killer. The guitars were heavy, there was a real drummer. It sounds great, and again, in my opinion, I like the re-recordings better.

Speaking of re-recordings. Am I the only one that wants Warrell Dane to re-record the Sanctuary albums as Nevermore? Holy crap, that would be killer!

mc666 wrote:

oh yeah, wait until you hear Over The Wall & The Preacher with today's production. the songs killed back in the day, now they obliterate.

Exactly. It's a brutal album. Zetro even sounds like a badass.

ultmetal wrote:

Saint's "Warriors of the Son-20th Anniversary Edition" is far, far better than the original IMO

I agree. It is light years ahead. I dont normally think it is a good thing to re-record earlier stuff but Saint proved the exception.

Alex

Depends on the band. I like listening to the KISS remakes, as I think it sounds more like they do live in concert today. But, some of the songs are just off - I Love It Loud is not the same, neither are any of the songs off Destroyer. How ever, some of the early stuff redone sounds good. Hotter Than Hell sounds 100 times better. Black Diamond is cool (nice to have a recorded version withSinger on vox, but Peter was still the best at it!) Heaven's On Fire sounds alot better too and so does Forever, but then again the production on HITS sucked donkey *****.

As far as other bands, it depends on the band. I'm going to add Still Hungry to my buy list, I haven't picked it up yet and it will give me a chance to decide for myself!

I for one don't like FSSD. I don't like the new solos Skolnick noodled around with (his original ones were far better planned out and classier) and tuning down didn't really make it sound any better. Some parts were slower. I prefer the vocals on the originals too. I do like the drums much better on the re-recording. To me, they never topped their first album and it was gonna be really tough to beat with a re-recording.

Temple of Blood wrote:

I for one don't like FSSD. I don't like the new solos Skolnick noodled around with (his original ones were far better planned out and classier) and tuning down didn't really make it sound any better. Some parts were slower. I prefer the vocals on the originals too. I do like the drums much better on the re-recording. To me, they never topped their first album and it was gonna be really tough to beat with a re-recording.

Oh, shoosh!

As with Mc666 and Eyesore, First Strike Still Deadly immediately came to mind. Fantastic stuff, I think I may just prefer it over the originals. I also always quite liked Still Hungry, the version of 'Burn In Hell' on there is fantastic.

Eyesore wrote:

Temple of Blood wrote:

I for one don't like FSSD. I don't like the new solos Skolnick noodled around with (his original ones were far better planned out and classier) and tuning down didn't really make it sound any better. Some parts were slower. I prefer the vocals on the originals too. I do like the drums much better on the re-recording. To me, they never topped their first album and it was gonna be really tough to beat with a re-recording.

Oh, shoosh!

I cant believe he wrote that! That is probably one of the greatest re recorded things a band has ever done.

The band TEN re recorded a bunch of songs for a 2 cd Best Of Compilation. Some of the songs were good but others werent mostly do to programmed drums which I hate.

Savatage did some re recordings as well. The ones that were bonus tracks on Wake Of Magellen were awesome especially the ones where Zak would normally sing but Jon took them over. There are also some songs on bootlegs or singles where Zak would sing older savatage songs and those were good as well.

Morgana Lefays Symphony Of The Damned was also a great. Definetly a better production from the original. The only thing that sucks is they had to do it under the name Lefay.

Gamma Ray Blast From the Past. Everything sounds so much better with Kai singing. Nothing against Ralph cause hes a great singer but I think Kai fits those songs and his voice was really missed for those albums that he didnt sing on.

Destruction Thrash Anthems. Their earlier albums had probably one of the worst productions of any band but I guess thats what made them good. These new recordings though gave some olds songs new life and sounded a thousand times better.

Dimmu Borgir Stormblast. No really explanation with this one. Of course the new version would sound better than the original.

Anthrax The Great Of Two Evils. A lot of people hate this album but I was finally glad to hear Bush's take on how he sings these songs and I think he did a great job. Again another album that gave older songs a new life.

Thats about all I can think of for now. I would really like to hear Helloween re record something, anything from the kiske or kai eras. Ive only heard stuff live and they sound great I just wish I could hear something recorded because I think they could only just make them better. Maybe one day i'll get that wish.

Eyesore wrote:

Temple of Blood wrote:

I for one don't like FSSD. I don't like the new solos Skolnick noodled around with (his original ones were far better planned out and classier) and tuning down didn't really make it sound any better. Some parts were slower. I prefer the vocals on the originals too. I do like the drums much better on the re-recording. To me, they never topped their first album and it was gonna be really tough to beat with a re-recording.

Oh, shoosh!

Not everyone has to agree with you, you know. I gave my reasons. I'm sure people who love downtuned "aggressive" modern metal probably prefer the re-recordings but I sure don't.

Phoenix Reign Drummer wrote:

I cant believe he wrote that! That is probably one of the greatest re recorded things a band has ever done.

I agree, which lets you know how well I think the track record has been for re-recordings.

Temple of Blood wrote:

Eyesore wrote:

Temple of Blood wrote:

I for one don't like FSSD. I don't like the new solos Skolnick noodled around with (his original ones were far better planned out and classier) and tuning down didn't really make it sound any better. Some parts were slower. I prefer the vocals on the originals too. I do like the drums much better on the re-recording. To me, they never topped their first album and it was gonna be really tough to beat with a re-recording.

Oh, shoosh!

Not everyone has to agree with you, you know. I gave my reasons. I'm sure people who love downtuned "aggressive" modern metal probably prefer the re-recordings but I sure don't.

God, you must be a ball of joy in real life. I said "Oh, shoosh." No need to get so defensive. It was all in good fun. Like what you want, man.

Phoenix Reign Drummer wrote:

Savatage did some re recordings as well. The ones that were bonus tracks on Wake Of Magellen were awesome especially the ones where Zak would normally sing but Jon took them over. There are also some songs on bootlegs or singles where Zak would sing older savatage songs and those were good as well.

Gamma Ray Blast From the Past. Everything sounds so much better with Kai singing. Nothing against Ralph cause hes a great singer but I think Kai fits those songs and his voice was really missed for those albums that he didnt sing on.

Destruction Thrash Anthems. Their earlier albums had probably one of the worst productions of any band but I guess thats what made them good. These new recordings though gave some olds songs new life and sounded a thousand times better.

Ack, I can't believe I forgot about these. I always liked those versions of later Savatage songs with just Jon and a piano - especially 'Alone You Breathe' and 'All I Bleed'. I think I probably prefer those stripped down re-recordings over the original.
Blast From the Past is equally fantastic, I too generally prefer Kai's voice, it just seems to work better for the material. That version of 'Last Before The Storm' on there is amazing.
Also, in Destruction's case, I didn't become a fan until I heard the re-recorded material.

Phoenix Reign Drummer wrote:

Thats about all I can think of for now. I would really like to hear Helloween re record something, anything from the kiske or kai eras. Ive only heard stuff live and they sound great I just wish I could hear something recorded because I think they could only just make them better. Maybe one day i'll get that wish.

There's a handful of Kiske versions of Kai-era songs as bonus tracks on the remastered CDs. Stuff like 'Victim of Fate' and 'Starlight' sound great with Kiske. I'd quite like to here Deris do 'Ride The Sky' or 'Judas', but I'm not entirely sure how I'd feel about hearing his voice recorded on Keepers material. Don't get me wrong, he does it all very well live, it just doesn't seem quite right. But that's probably just me associating those albums with Kiske a bit too much.

Iced Earth's Days Of Purgatory was cool in some respects. i enjoyed hearing Barlow redo the songs from the first album & the early demo tracks.

Not much of a fan of re-recorded material

mc666 wrote:

Iced Earth's Days Of Purgatory was cool in some respects. i enjoyed hearing Barlow redo the songs from the first album & the early demo tracks.

Again, I'm surprised I forgot this. The only issue with Days of Purgatory is it's a bit patchy. Matt sounds great on most songs (although there's a few which just don't sound right to me, for instance 'Colors', but the live version that came later with Matt more than made up for that), but the instrumentals sound very dodgy on most of the album. It's just an inconsistent mix of production values and what not due to only some instruments being re-recorded, varying from track to track. It just sounds odd.

I like when bands re-record stuff and release it like a best-of album, like Testament and Anthrax did. I never care that much for re-recording entire albums. I just don't see the need for it. Fans were fans becasue of the original material, so who needs them done again? That said, I do like some of the songs from "Still Hungry" and "Ninety Ninety Seven" and some of those other re-recorded albums.

Quote :

Savatage did some re recordings as well. The ones that were bonus tracks on Wake Of Magellen were awesome especially the ones where Zak would normally sing but Jon took them over. There are also some songs on bootlegs or singles where Zak would sing older savatage songs and those were good as well.

All of the albums on Atlantic were reissued with bonus tracks here in Europe. Most of them were acoustic takes on "old" songs. I don't think they were re-recorded though, but more "outtakes" and demos already recorded. It's rumored that Savatage are sitting on a huge vault of unreleased material, mostly songs done in different version, different take, and with different vocals etc. I think I own at least 3 different versions of "Jesus Saves" for instance.

kmorg wrote:

I think I own at least 3 different versions of "Jesus Saves" for instance.

The always thought that the original version of 'Jesus Saves' was pretty awesome, but I can understand why they only kept the lyrics. I do prefer the version that ended up going on Streets, but it's a shame to see the song go to waste.

First Strike...Still Deadly was pretty good. I also liked Obituary's re-recording of Slowly We Rot (not better than the original, but still good.) The TS album didnt impress me too much though.

Smindas wrote:

There's a handful of Kiske versions of Kai-era songs as bonus tracks on the remastered CDs. Stuff like 'Victim of Fate' and 'Starlight' sound great with Kiske. I'd quite like to here Deris do 'Ride The Sky' or 'Judas', but I'm not entirely sure how I'd feel about hearing his voice recorded on Keepers material. Don't get me wrong, he does it all very well live, it just doesn't seem quite right. But that's probably just me associating those albums with Kiske a bit too much.

DOH! how could I forget about those kiske songs haha. Probably because I dont listen to those much. I dont really care for the Kiske version of Starlight and I used to like the Kiske version of Victim of Fate but I think the original is better.

kmorg wrote:

I do like some of the songs from "Still Hungry" and "Ninety Ninety Seven" and some of those other re-recorded albums.

Forgot about the Whitecross album. Like that one quite a bit too.