Favorite Alternate Version by Original Artist

[afx]

I enjoy artist’s reinterpretations of their own songs.  Jimmy Page & Robert Plant’s – No Quarter is an album full of reinterpreted Led Zeppelin songs.  What’s some of your favorites?

One of mine is John Mellencamp’s – Rough Harvest album.

 

Edited April 24, 2016 by afx

[Snake45]

Tom Russell's "Tonight We Ride." Good song on his CD, but when he did it on Letterman, he got to use Paul Shaffer's band to do mariachi trumpets and so forth and made it just that much better.

[Snake45]

Randy Newman's "I Love LA," at his R&R HOF induction a couple years ago, with Tom Petty, Jackson Browne, John Fogarty, and Paul Shaffer's band.

When my kid heard this, he said, "When Petty sings his line, it sounds like this is a Tom Petty song---and the same is true for Jackson Browne and John Fogarty, too." I think my kid is right.

[Matt Bacon]

One of my faves -- John Fogerty and Foo Fighters version of "Fortunate Son":

 

bestest,

M.

[afx]

Peter Gabriel - Shaking the Tree

[madhorseman]

Here is One from someone I consider to have the best voice in all of rock!! Take you're pick.

 

 

Edited April 24, 2016 by madhorseman

[Snake45]

Just realized, my alltime favorite album is nothing but "alternative versions by the original artist"--the late great Warren Zevon's Learning to Flinch.

In the early '90s, Zevon reinvented him self as a solo act singer-songwriter and recorded this album from concerts around the world, with all his songs stripped down to just him and guitar or piano. One of the best improvements was "Play It All Night Long," a mediocre rock number but simply beautiful as a solo piano song.

Original band album version:

 

Stripped down, Learning to Flinch version:

 

 

 

 

 

[Harry P.]

I enjoy artist’s reinterpretations of their own songs.  Jimmy Page & Robert Plant’s – No Quarter is an album full of reinterpreted Led Zeppelin songs.  What’s some of your favorites?

 Pretty much any Led Zeppelin album is full of reinterpreted songs... other people's songs!

 

[afx]

Since I mentioned No Quarter.  Here is one of my favorites from the album.

Edited April 24, 2016 by afx

[Harry P.]

[dshue76]

Bruce Springsteens original uncut "Glory Days" with an extra verse.

For the most part with rock and alternative I only listen to original versions, to me the originals were off the cuff but when they try to reinterpret them it sounds contrived. 

Now groups like Lynyrd Skynyrd, I like all the different versions.

Johnny Cash had some songs that he did differently on every album and during live shows, he made them all sound off the cuff. But I don't really consider them to be reinterpretations because they are for the most part folk songs that had already been done by many other artists and he was just trying to fit the song with the crowd in front of him. But even he wasn't immune to making his own songs sound contrived, he had a re-release of "I Walk The Line" that was slow and depressing.

As far as covers go Willie Nelson is my favorite, especially when he does covers of songs that he wrote for other artists. It's great to hear what he envisioned while he wrote them, and to hear just how right the original artists got them.

[Matt Bacon]

Ad this is one of the great reversions...

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2kxrya_nirvana-mtv-unplugged-1993_music

bestest,

M.

 

[afx]

Alternate version:

Original version:

 

 

[1972coronet]

Original , gritty , 1966 acetate pressing of Run , Run , Run ( Scepter Studio , 04/1966 ) . All of the gnarly pops and cracks ; the delicious mono mix ; that killer guitar solo and all of that fabulous feedback !

 

 

[afx]

A few alternate versions of I Have The Touch

 

Edited September 20, 2019 by afx

[afx]

And the original:

 

Edited September 20, 2019 by afx

[afx]

 

[afx]

 

[Jantrix]

I might be the only one, but I really liked the slowed down version of the Police's song, Don't Stand So Close to Me '86.

 

[afx]

Sting did solo versions of Police songs for the Secret Policemans Ball album.

 

[afx]

 

[afx]

Acoustic version also from Secret Policemans Ball

 

Edited February 27, 2020 by afx

[afx]

 

 

Edited July 15, 2020 by afx

[Matt Bacon]

 

[Jantrix]

Another good one is Claptons accoustic Layla.