Tuesday, April 20, 2004
Everybody in music is into re-mixes these days. "DJ Blogger Remix." "I Let My Dog Do It Remix." "Fucked Up the Overdub But It Still Sounds OK Remix."
I guess that's fine, but what gets me is that the music industry seems to treat this phenomena like it's something new. Clearly it isn't.
Consider, for example, "Let It Be...Naked," the Paul McCartney-supervised remix of what was probably the Beatles' most mediocre accomplishment. Personally, I like the results, but I'm apparently in the minority.
If you haven't heard it, "Naked" takes out all of the production values that Phil Spector added ("Wall of Sound" production, strings, etc. -- Ringo Starr cleverly called it "Ex-Spectorated") and lets you hear what the Beatles heard. In some cases, there's not much difference, but in quite a few places, the difference is stunning, and Billy Preston has every right to file for "Official Fifth Beatle" status, should there ever be any argument to that end. In a lot of ways, "Naked" is Preston's shining moment with the Beatles; he's all over the thing, and if you like his soulful organ playing, as I do, this one's for you.
It's not like the Beatles were the only ones re-mixing their songs, either now or back then. Frank Zappa did it constantly, for better or worse.
And tell me something: How many versions of "Help Me Rhonda" by the Beach Boys are there? I can think there's two or three: There's the "Hit version" one, where you hear Brian Wilson singing really high in the chorus: "Help MEEEEEE Rhonda yeah!" But then, there's another one I hear on oldies radio a lot, with a different guitar solo in the break, and the same part above is sung by Al Jardine and Mike Love, and it's more mid-range, they're singing the same notes, more rhytmically, rather than harmonizing: "Help-Me-Rhon-da-Yeah!"
And then, there's the "Fade-in, fade-out" version, which is different than the single version. On the single, it fades with the same notes you hear at the beginning of the song, playing underneath the first lines. On the radio, you're just as likely to hear this preposterous mix where Brian Wilson had the guys sing the chorus over and over, and you get to hear them fade in, fade out, fadebackinreallyfast, drift out, come back, SHEESH, just get it over with! That version (or some version) also has a part in the chorus after the last verse where the guys sing "Get her out of my heart," then the band does this bizarre BUHHH-Dumm, (Boom boom) "Bow Bow Bow Bow" into the reprise.
Look, call me a purist but somebody's gotta decide which version is gonna be the definitive one that people will be playing in another 40 years (and I'm sure they will be; goofy as the song is, it's catchy).
I say go with the version that made the money in the first place. That's why people know it.
By the way, regardless of which version you choose, you gotta admit that "Since she put me down, I've been out doin' in my head" is the greatest metaphor for getting drunk or stoned that anyone's ever come up with, which just reinforces Brian Wilson's genius credentials. (Even though humorist Dave Barry thinks they're singing "Since she put me down, there've been owls living in my head.")
But wait...I'm not done.
Three Dog Night. Okay, not the greatest band of the 70s, to be sure, but they knew good songwriting when they heard it and had a shitload of hit records. Who, in their great programming mind, decided that alternate mixes were needed to play on oldies radio as opposed to the versions of their songs we remember from 35+ years ago?
Case in point #1: "One," the Harry Nilsson song that was 3DN's first hit. Now, when I was 11 and spent my hard-earned 69 cents on that single, it FADED OUT. As opposed to the album version, which ends with a rather anemic and predicatable "Ba-doom, bum-bum-bum BUMMMMM..."
Which version gets played on the radio now? The Album cut. Why?
Case in point#2: "Joy to the World." Call your local oldies station. Ask them to play this song. Listen to the musical break in the middle and then, if something sounds amiss, call the station back and say, "WHERE'S THE FUCKING GUITAR SOLO????"
Every time I hear "Joy to the World" on the radio, they play this bizarre mix (was it this way on the album?) where the musical break comes on, and the only ballsy part of the song, the guitar solo, is missing. Just the backing track is there. My whistling the missing part is hardly a replacement.
I guess my point to all this is to know when to leave well enough alone. And when you have to re-mix something, make sure it's something people will want to hear, and a version that stands on its own.
Rest assured I will NEVER re-mix any of my own songs!
TT
(If you like different kinds of
music
tribal might be a kind you want to listen to.)
I guess that's fine, but what gets me is that the music industry seems to treat this phenomena like it's something new. Clearly it isn't.
Consider, for example, "Let It Be...Naked," the Paul McCartney-supervised remix of what was probably the Beatles' most mediocre accomplishment. Personally, I like the results, but I'm apparently in the minority.
If you haven't heard it, "Naked" takes out all of the production values that Phil Spector added ("Wall of Sound" production, strings, etc. -- Ringo Starr cleverly called it "Ex-Spectorated") and lets you hear what the Beatles heard. In some cases, there's not much difference, but in quite a few places, the difference is stunning, and Billy Preston has every right to file for "Official Fifth Beatle" status, should there ever be any argument to that end. In a lot of ways, "Naked" is Preston's shining moment with the Beatles; he's all over the thing, and if you like his soulful organ playing, as I do, this one's for you.
It's not like the Beatles were the only ones re-mixing their songs, either now or back then. Frank Zappa did it constantly, for better or worse.
And tell me something: How many versions of "Help Me Rhonda" by the Beach Boys are there? I can think there's two or three: There's the "Hit version" one, where you hear Brian Wilson singing really high in the chorus: "Help MEEEEEE Rhonda yeah!" But then, there's another one I hear on oldies radio a lot, with a different guitar solo in the break, and the same part above is sung by Al Jardine and Mike Love, and it's more mid-range, they're singing the same notes, more rhytmically, rather than harmonizing: "Help-Me-Rhon-da-Yeah!"
And then, there's the "Fade-in, fade-out" version, which is different than the single version. On the single, it fades with the same notes you hear at the beginning of the song, playing underneath the first lines. On the radio, you're just as likely to hear this preposterous mix where Brian Wilson had the guys sing the chorus over and over, and you get to hear them fade in, fade out, fadebackinreallyfast, drift out, come back, SHEESH, just get it over with! That version (or some version) also has a part in the chorus after the last verse where the guys sing "Get her out of my heart," then the band does this bizarre BUHHH-Dumm, (Boom boom) "Bow Bow Bow Bow" into the reprise.
Look, call me a purist but somebody's gotta decide which version is gonna be the definitive one that people will be playing in another 40 years (and I'm sure they will be; goofy as the song is, it's catchy).
I say go with the version that made the money in the first place. That's why people know it.
By the way, regardless of which version you choose, you gotta admit that "Since she put me down, I've been out doin' in my head" is the greatest metaphor for getting drunk or stoned that anyone's ever come up with, which just reinforces Brian Wilson's genius credentials. (Even though humorist Dave Barry thinks they're singing "Since she put me down, there've been owls living in my head.")
But wait...I'm not done.
Three Dog Night. Okay, not the greatest band of the 70s, to be sure, but they knew good songwriting when they heard it and had a shitload of hit records. Who, in their great programming mind, decided that alternate mixes were needed to play on oldies radio as opposed to the versions of their songs we remember from 35+ years ago?
Case in point #1: "One," the Harry Nilsson song that was 3DN's first hit. Now, when I was 11 and spent my hard-earned 69 cents on that single, it FADED OUT. As opposed to the album version, which ends with a rather anemic and predicatable "Ba-doom, bum-bum-bum BUMMMMM..."
Which version gets played on the radio now? The Album cut. Why?
Case in point#2: "Joy to the World." Call your local oldies station. Ask them to play this song. Listen to the musical break in the middle and then, if something sounds amiss, call the station back and say, "WHERE'S THE FUCKING GUITAR SOLO????"
Every time I hear "Joy to the World" on the radio, they play this bizarre mix (was it this way on the album?) where the musical break comes on, and the only ballsy part of the song, the guitar solo, is missing. Just the backing track is there. My whistling the missing part is hardly a replacement.
I guess my point to all this is to know when to leave well enough alone. And when you have to re-mix something, make sure it's something people will want to hear, and a version that stands on its own.
Rest assured I will NEVER re-mix any of my own songs!
TT
(If you like different kinds of
music
tribal might be a kind you want to listen to.)
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