TVTropes Now available in the app store!
Open

Follow TV Tropes

Following

Alternate versions of songs you like

Go To

0dd1 Just awesome like that from Nowhere Land Since: Sep, 2009
Just awesome like that
#1: Aug 30th 2013 at 3:07:28 AM

Are there any songs where you like a certain alternate version better than the official version? (E.g. a live version, a bootlegged outtake version, a demo, an alternate mix, a cover, etc.)

For me, I love Stephen Stills' song "Love the One You're With", but the version performed as part of Crosby Stills Nash And Young at their infamous concert at Wembley Stadium just kicks all kinds of ass to me. I don't care that the vocals are low in the mix, or that their attempts at harmonizing with each other are horribly off-key at times (because they were all high, of course). I think it might be how the music is being played that makes me love this version more than any other version. Seriously, DAT DRUMBEAT (especially at the "dih do dih do dih do didoo" part), DOSE KEYS, DAT GUITAR RIFF... And, sadly, I doubt this will ever see any official release [lol]

(song starts about 1:23 into the video)

edited 30th Aug '13 3:07:35 AM by 0dd1

Insert witty and clever quip here. My page, as the database hates my handle.
TopographicOcean A Pathetic from the colo Since: Feb, 2011 Relationship Status: I'm Clockwork and she's Quartz
A Pathetic
#2: Aug 30th 2013 at 6:09:52 AM

Outside of covers of videogame music, I think Solas' version of The Ghost of Tom Joad is much better than the Bruce Springsteen original. That said, I still like the Springsteen original. I just like Solas' version better.

I think most of it is to do with their singer; I really lover her voice.

Yes' cover of Simon & Garfunkel's America is also pretty damn good.

YUUGI WANTS YOU FOR DRINKING BUDDY
Twentington Since: Apr, 2009 Relationship Status: Desperate
#3: Aug 30th 2013 at 1:56:25 PM

I really prefer Jack Ingram's version of "Lips of an Angel" to Hinder's. The lyrics are actually pretty good, and I don't think they deserve that angry, harsh screaming that Hinder's lead singer did. But Ingram gives a mellower, more country delivery, and reveals that the song actually is kinda country after all.

Gamebreaking Ten seconds before from Inside an Australian. Since: Jan, 2011 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
Ten seconds before
#4: Aug 30th 2013 at 3:40:00 PM

A lot of Neil Young live, for example Like a Hurricane accompanied by just a tramp organ is just chilling. Also, I feel that See the Sky About to Rain works better with a live piano than studio synthesizer.

edited 30th Aug '13 3:47:36 PM by Gamebreaking

Deep into that darkness, peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before.
MikeK Since: Jan, 2001
#5: Aug 30th 2013 at 4:49:35 PM

The Self-Titled Album by They Might Be Giants was one of the last ones of theirs I heard, so for a long time I preferred the Severe Tire Damage version of "She's An Angel" just because it was the one I was more used to. Now I think both have their merits - I think the chorus sounds better on Severe Tire Damage, but the original version has that awesome, enormous and lumbering synth-bass in the verses. If I were in a band covering that song, I'd sort of want to find some way to combine my favorite bits of both renditions. Studio vs. live.

edited 31st Aug '13 10:17:41 AM by MikeK

StillbirthMachine Heresiarch Command from The Womb ov Impurities Since: Mar, 2012
Heresiarch Command
#6: Aug 30th 2013 at 5:10:13 PM

Only Death Is Real
Twentington Since: Apr, 2009 Relationship Status: Desperate
#7: Aug 30th 2013 at 7:43:35 PM

My sister sang "Hallelujah" once in choir class and loved it. She asked me for the actual song, but she didn't like Leonard Cohen's voice on the original. I played snippets of a few of the many covers of that song, and she told me she liked Rufus Wainright's voice best.

I also prefer Rosanne Cash's version of "Tennessee Flat Top Box" to her father's for some reason.

PhysicalStamina ain't nothin' but a party y'all (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Coming soon to theaters
ain't nothin' but a party y'all
#8: Aug 30th 2013 at 8:29:41 PM

The original is good, but I much prefer this version.

Do not spare the feelings of those who would not spare yours.
DemonSharkKisame Since: May, 2009
#9: Aug 30th 2013 at 8:46:09 PM

I feel odd for actually liking the version of Iced Earth's Something Wicked trilogy of songs released on the Overture of the Wicked EP versus the original versions found on Something Wicked This Way Comes. Don't get me wrong, the originals with Matt Barlow on vocals are godly on their own, but there's something about the versions on the EP that the originals just lack.

Original

Overture EP

edited 30th Aug '13 9:25:51 PM by DemonSharkKisame

MikeK Since: Jan, 2001
#10: Aug 31st 2013 at 10:47:21 AM

So The Strokes' very first release was The Modern Age EP, featuring three songs that would all get re-recorded (and to varying degrees, rearranged) for their first proper album Is This It?. I like two out of the three EP tracks better than their album counterparts: The title track and "Last Nite" just have a little more "live energy" to them, and while I think the original version of "Barely Legal" needed some tightening up, it also has a cool little guitar solo that they cut out of the Is This It? version.

So far as covers go, I have a few versions related to The Beatles - Siouxsie And The Banshees' "Dear Prudence" kind of out-psychedelics the original, Wilson Pickett's "Hey Jude" just has much more passion to it to the original, and Guns N Roses' "Live And Let Die" isn't too different from Paul Mc Cartney's, but it just "rocks out" a little more.

edited 31st Aug '13 1:32:53 PM by MikeK

0dd1 Just awesome like that from Nowhere Land Since: Sep, 2009
Just awesome like that
#11: Aug 31st 2013 at 1:14:40 PM

[up]Yes, I've always loved that version of "Dear Prudence"!! Haven't heard that version of "Hey Jude", need to listen to it later.

Insert witty and clever quip here. My page, as the database hates my handle.
Bananaquit Since: Jan, 2001
#12: Aug 31st 2013 at 1:19:25 PM

You haven’t truly heard “Love the One You’re With” until you’ve heard it performed by two Finnish teenage girls:

SmytheOrdo Wide Eyed Wonderman from In The Mountains Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ
Wide Eyed Wonderman
#13: Aug 31st 2013 at 1:57:16 PM

The Tigers' non single cut of Aoi tori on Human Renascence, with guitarist Katsumi Kakashi adding in a sprightly flute section and horns into the song.

David Bowie 1947-2016
0dd1 Just awesome like that from Nowhere Land Since: Sep, 2009
Just awesome like that
#14: Aug 31st 2013 at 2:12:43 PM

[up][up] Okay, that is pretty great. Never heard that before, but I'm glad I have now.

Insert witty and clever quip here. My page, as the database hates my handle.
FingerPuppet Since: Sep, 2012
#15: Aug 31st 2013 at 6:45:47 PM

There are multiple versions of early Black Flag songs, partly because they kept changing singers before Henry Rollins joined, although I'm only aware of three songs that have studio recordings by all four singers: "Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie," "Depression," and "Police Story."

I can't put my finger on why, but Keith Morris's versions tend to be my favorite. For example, I like the Henry Rollins version of "Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie" as much as the next guy, but there's just something I can't quite put my finger on about Keith Morris's performance that makes me prefer it.

That said, I do like to listen to the other versions of "Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie" and the other songs I mentioned because none of their vocalists seemed to sing those songs the same way. Some singers changed the order of the verses and they all made their own minor alterations to the lyrics.

edited 31st Aug '13 6:50:12 PM by FingerPuppet

Bananaquit Since: Jan, 2001
#16: Sep 3rd 2013 at 2:17:26 PM

[up][up][up]There’s also the all-woman rock band version:

There’s a surprising amount of female re-interpretations of this song, considering how often it’s criticized for being an anti-feminist artifact of the “free love” era.

0dd1 Just awesome like that from Nowhere Land Since: Sep, 2009
Just awesome like that
#17: Sep 3rd 2013 at 11:34:33 PM

[up]Damn. That kicks ass.

People criticize the song as being anti-feminist? Maybe I'm just dense, but I don't see it. Maybe if one were to interpret it as encouraging staying in an abusive relationship? That's a bit of a stretch if that. Encouraging promiscuity or something? Perhaps, but there are many sex-positive feminists out there. Honestly, I don't see how it'd be anti-feminist. Sure, hippy-dippy free love and all that, but that's hardly something I'd call anti-feminist.

Insert witty and clever quip here. My page, as the database hates my handle.
DingoWalley Your friendly neighborhood Cartoonist Since: May, 2012
Your friendly neighborhood Cartoonist
#18: Sep 4th 2013 at 5:30:05 PM

The Elephant 6 Orchestra's version of Sun Ra's song "Enlightenment". I like it a lot better then the actual version of the song.

Grounder Main Character Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: All is for my lord
Main Character
#19: Sep 4th 2013 at 5:31:12 PM

Mc Fly's version of Don't Stop Me Now.

Alucard Lazy? from Vancouver, BC Since: Jan, 2011 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
Lazy?
#20: Sep 5th 2013 at 12:34:37 AM

It's bands like this that make me love Can Con.

DemonSharkKIsame Since: May, 2009
#21: Dec 1st 2013 at 12:30:14 PM

The Basement Tapes version of "Black Sabbath" is way spookier and more ominous than the one found on their self-titled debut IMO.

War Pigs from the same session is really cool too. Note how different the lyrics are!

edited 1st Dec '13 12:41:28 PM by DemonSharkKIsame

Muzozavr Since: Jan, 2001
#22: Dec 8th 2013 at 5:48:06 PM

In an alternate universe, Les Claypool's bass rendition of "Master of Puppets" is extended to the full song.

As for things that actually exist, I really like 'Frantic Disembowelment' but only the instrumental "studio rehearsal" version.

In general, I think death metal growls lessen the musical complexity by drowning everything under a one-note instrument (aka the atonal vocals) and they also suffer from a massive case of "trying too hard" and becoming Nightmare Retardant. So it makes sense that I like the instrumental version more than the one with the vocals. tongue

The riffs themselves, though? Kickass.

edited 8th Dec '13 5:48:39 PM by Muzozavr

ERROR: Signature not loaded
GeekCodeRed Since: Sep, 2010
#23: Dec 10th 2013 at 2:30:36 AM

Rebecca Black's covers of "We Can't Stop" and "Wrecking Ball".

...
Don't look at me like that, she got better since Friday. Especially with Saturday. tongue

chihuahua0 Since: Jul, 2010
#24: Dec 10th 2013 at 8:04:17 PM

-checks her out-

This makes me want to listen to Miley's version. tongue

But seriously, I hope Rebecca Black gets better in the next years.

GeekCodeRed Since: Sep, 2010
#25: Dec 11th 2013 at 2:23:40 AM

Well, she's miles better than Friday, and it's only been 2.5 years since.


Total posts: 35
Top