Hello,
I have some all time favourites that according to me can never be redone in a way that is any better, and there are some songs that I think deserves to be redone in a better way. E.g. I always loved Cyndi Lauper but thought she needed to dump the cheesy 80's electro sound and get a real band. Then I learned that she did exactly that and I'm enjoying some of the re-recordings on "Body Accoustic", and she sounds better than ever before. But I digress.
Some Songs that cannot be improved:
Lou Reed - Walk on the Wild Side. For a guy who's out of tune and out of timing for 99% of his music, this song was done perfectly. Every "hah!" and "todo todo tototodo dodo" just fits, and the sparse instrumentation fills up the available tense space completely.
Zimbabwae - Toni Childs. Recording quality is OK-ish, maybe a little busy at times. But the pure power of this song & it's delivery chills my spine every time.
Roger Waters - Pros & Cons of Hitch-hiking. Another guy who can't keep a tune. On the album of same name Eric Clapton handles the axe. This particular song also just does everything right with some amazingly insightful playing by Mr Clapton, whom I normally give a miss.
Songs that requires a revamp:
Jonah Lewie - Louise. This guy most famous for "Stop the Cavalry" and "Always find me in the Kitchen at Parties", but he had a good number of good songs. Louise is a very energetic & groovy number, almost a perfect pop song that should be a dance anthem, but it was done on synthesizers. This needs to be re-recorded using a trombone / bass and a the rest of an energetic band.
Marc Almond - Say hello then wave goodbye. The guy from "Soft Cell". This song is very dramatic and while Marc carries it fine, it deserves a guy with a really forceful voice. I actually emailed Peter Murphy's agent about it once - but sadly he hasn't bothered to record it yet.... :-(
David Gray actually gave it a shot on one of his albums, but his version too drawn out and painful.
There are many others, can't think right now.
Regards
Leon
I have some all time favourites that according to me can never be redone in a way that is any better, and there are some songs that I think deserves to be redone in a better way. E.g. I always loved Cyndi Lauper but thought she needed to dump the cheesy 80's electro sound and get a real band. Then I learned that she did exactly that and I'm enjoying some of the re-recordings on "Body Accoustic", and she sounds better than ever before. But I digress.
Some Songs that cannot be improved:
Lou Reed - Walk on the Wild Side. For a guy who's out of tune and out of timing for 99% of his music, this song was done perfectly. Every "hah!" and "todo todo tototodo dodo" just fits, and the sparse instrumentation fills up the available tense space completely.
Zimbabwae - Toni Childs. Recording quality is OK-ish, maybe a little busy at times. But the pure power of this song & it's delivery chills my spine every time.
Roger Waters - Pros & Cons of Hitch-hiking. Another guy who can't keep a tune. On the album of same name Eric Clapton handles the axe. This particular song also just does everything right with some amazingly insightful playing by Mr Clapton, whom I normally give a miss.
Songs that requires a revamp:
Jonah Lewie - Louise. This guy most famous for "Stop the Cavalry" and "Always find me in the Kitchen at Parties", but he had a good number of good songs. Louise is a very energetic & groovy number, almost a perfect pop song that should be a dance anthem, but it was done on synthesizers. This needs to be re-recorded using a trombone / bass and a the rest of an energetic band.
Marc Almond - Say hello then wave goodbye. The guy from "Soft Cell". This song is very dramatic and while Marc carries it fine, it deserves a guy with a really forceful voice. I actually emailed Peter Murphy's agent about it once - but sadly he hasn't bothered to record it yet.... :-(
David Gray actually gave it a shot on one of his albums, but his version too drawn out and painful.
There are many others, can't think right now.
Regards
Leon
