Death to re-recordings

[GoogaMooga]

I love the music of Ennio Morricone, the maestro, the greatest film soundtrack composer of all time. So today I found what seemed like a nice 2CD fatboy of his scores in thrift. If only I had leafed through the 20 page booklet, containing nothing but quotes and a basic tracklist, I'd have saved a quid. All licensed from the same source, (P) and (C) 2002? Hmmm... sure enough, I could hear it in the first few bars of the opener, "A Fistful of Dollars", it was a bloody re-recording! By the time the chorus chanted "We can fight!", I knew I'd been fooled. Stay well clear of stuff from Deja Vu Italy, don't get tempted by the many tracks you might not have already. And please note, there's a 2CD and a 5CD edition out there. Really, death to re-recordings, they are a bloody scam, I hate them.

[Muskrat]

I prefer the Mickie Most 1969 "Catch the Wind" and "Colours" to the original.s But that's two among millions. And it helps to know the originals.

[Muskrat]

In the late '50s and early '60s, a lot of acts re-recorded their old hits in stereo -- often modernizing the sound. Nat King Cole released a multi-disc box of stereo recordings of his old hits, but they were virtual soundalikes. He even got together with Stan Kenton's band for the remake of "Orange Colored Sky." Different personnel, but a Kenton band also played on the original.

[GoogaMooga]

The examples you post here are different, I have nothing against artists revisiting their old material. The re-recordings that I hate are the cash-ins on fly by night labels, one or more of the original artists, synthesized orchestration, watered down production, you know what I mean. The Deja-Vu set doesn't even specify "re-recording" in fine print, I think that might be illegal, is it not?

[Count Machuki]

I love the music of Ennio Morricone, the maestro, the greatest film soundtrack composer of all time. So today I found what seemed like a nice 2CD fatboy of his scores in thrift. If only I had leafed through the 20 page booklet, containing nothing but quotes and a basic tracklist, I'd have saved a quid. All licensed from the same source, (P) and (C) 2002? Hmmm... sure enough, I could hear it in the first few bars of the opener, "A Fistful of Dollars", it was a bloody re-recording! By the time the chorus chanted "We can fight!", I knew I'd been fooled. Stay well clear of stuff from Deja Vu Italy, don't get tempted by the many tracks you might not have already. And please note, there's a 2CD and a 5CD edition out there. Really, death to re-recordings, they are a bloody scam, I hate them.

Morricone's a composer, not a performer. You might prefer one version or another, for sure, but this is like saying that the only acceptable version of the Elgar Violin Concerto is the 1910 Fritz Kreisler and anything else can go to Hell.

(Most) pop music re-recordings can certainly fuck right off, on this we agree. Except Louis Jordan's. And James Brown's.

[GoogaMooga]

I take your point. But as a fan, it's the originals that matter. Okay, and Hugo Montenegro's covers, too.

[GoogaMooga]

Moreover, Elgar wrote a piece that was not tied to any particular performance. Morricone's work was performed and recorded for specific films. With OST's, it is common practice to specify on the LP or CD if it is a later recording or the actual one heard in the film. North by Northwest comes to mind, it was never released as an OST, and the LP and CD on the market are both a later recording. And they specify as much.

[mantochanga]

Morricone conducted and produced the records, so you need the real deal, not re-recordings. He did so much in fact that the collaborations with Bruno Nicolai worked the best as they split the work between them.

If you want to try again, this is a great collection, and I can promise you, the proper versions.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Movie-Theme-Hi ... _ep_dpi_22

If I was to pick one soundtrack, it’d be Veruschka, harps drenched in reverb and echo, and simply astonishing strings.

[GoogaMooga]

Morricone conducted and produced the records, so you need the real deal, not re-recordings. He did so much in fact that the collaborations with Bruno Nicolai worked the best as they split the work between them.

If you want to try again, this is a great collection, and I can promise you, the proper versions.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Movie-Theme-Hi ... _ep_dpi_22

Looks good, thanks!

[Muskrat]

The examples you post here are different, I have nothing against artists revisiting their old material. The re-recordings that I hate are the cash-ins on fly by night labels, one or more of the original artists, synthesized orchestration, watered down production, you know what I mean. The Deja-Vu set doesn't even specify "re-recording" in fine print, I think that might be illegal, is it not?

I can't speak for anywhere else, but a Canadian company called K-Tel, also doing business in the United States, used to take singers -- solo artists and lead singers of bands -- into the studio (often in Nashville) and record soundalike versions that could be labeled as by "the original hits by the original artists," which they sort of were -- just not the original versions. The advantage of this to the act was financial; a couple hours' work for a nice buyout. In other cases, and I can't name any offhand, acts would record soundalikes and lease them out for movies, TV and commercials (adverts) use -- the advantage to the client being at lease one fewer levels of licensing to go through and possibly a lower rate. The artist got to keep all the money, after initial recording expenses. And no, I see no reason the re-recording should be labeled as such; it's to everybody's advantage except the consumers' that the illusion is kept until they have your money. You've got to caveat your own emptor, which should be reasonably easy to do once you know the game.

[GoogaMooga]

I think the give-away if they don't specify, is if the recordings are all both (P) and (C) a date that is later than the actual recordings would be. Other than playing the damn thing or being able to flip thorugh the booklet (shrinkwrapped would pose a problem). But yeah, it's a game that you can learn, and you will soon know which labels to avoid.

[Muskrat]

Another game that U.S. reissue labels - who should have know better/shown more respect for their buyers - would attempt is passing radio air checks off as the real thing. Sometimes they would be better than the original, but the should be clearly labeled as what they are.

[`]

Must be loads of UK posters who remember the cheapo, cheapo Top of The Pops collections that came out on some budget label (MFP?) in the early 70s.

Once you got past the scantily clad bimbo on the cover, your 14/11 bought you faithful re-recordings of the hits of the day played by the likes of Elton John and Rod Stewart.

[`]

Here's a link - sure there are lots more for anyone who can be bothered to look

https://www.udiscovermusic.com/stories/ ... ps-albums/

Direct quyote from the page in question

Rival company Pickwick soon noticed the success of ‘Hot Hits’ and set about creating its own series on its Hallmark label, ‘Top Of The Pops.’ In both cases, the album covers were adorned with female models, in a manner that would now be regarded as exploitative and politically incorrect. We reproduce some of them here and hope that readers will see them as representative of a rather different time in British society.

Yeah, right...