"He came dancing across de water..."

*Shudder*

I think it's brilliant!

I think Lee Mavers did have a difficult time getting 'The La's' recorded. Possibly due to a record company that signed one thing, and then wanting to turn it into something else. Possibly due to Mavers' apparently overly-exacting artistic demands. Whatever, it's a good album; one of my favourites ever. I can hear the odd stray vocal or fluffed chord change, but really, do I care? No. These 'imperfections' don't detract from my enjoyment of the songs on that record - soem of which are up there with my all time favourites.

Mavers is on record as dismissing the whole album as as a joke, and on its release distanced himself from its recording, saying that part was nothing to do with him, that it'd been released against his will.
Of course, had I written those songs, I'd me more invested, and more critical of any percieved flaws, so I can to a degree sympathise with how Mavers sees things. However, what I can't get my head around is the fact that he has stubborbly refused to move on, over twenty years since this release. There've been all kinds of rumours about what he's been up to in this time, most of them quite dark and upsetting; and he has publicly resurfaced only once or twice for some quick cash & grab tours. What we do know for sure, though, is that he has spent this time re-recording and re-recording the songs on that album, desperately trying to recapture the magic of that period 86-89 when he was at his creative peak - the magic he always felt never made it to tape.

'The La's has subsequently been re-released a number of times, each with more demo versions, extra tracks, alternative takes etc. This is record company doing, but I suspect Mavers hand is in there somewhere along the way. What we can hear from some quality of a handful of these extra tracks, and another handful which can be found in dark corners of the internet* is that he always had more in the creative tank. He probably still does have another great album in him, but Mavers just can't see past his first effort. As the opening line to the opening song on 'The La's' goes, he's " a man who's at loggerheads with his past".

Bloody mandatory crowd singalong bit in Badlands. Being more familiar with the album version from Darkness On The Edge Of Town than with live versions of the song, whenever Springsteen lets the crowd revert to this bit I just switch off.

in this discussion?

No carping - the original was a taut, magnificent thing. So, yes, why not obliterate it Stingford?

for some reason Dave Mustaine cleaned up his act, found God and decided instead of just tidying up his early albums for the remaster release, he'd add bits to the tunes - Into the Lungs of Hell indeed Dave, thanks but I don't think we needed the 'plastic' horn fanfare at the start.

Many Stones' live versions don't repay repeat listens.
If memory serves, the 60s material especially tends to be rushed through at an alarming rate of knots on LPs like 'Still Life'.

But, as you hinted, the answer is surely Bob Dylan!

Didn't Frank Zappa only re-issue his classic early albums on CD with new "embellishments". "We're Only In It For The Money" I think had a new drum track all over it. Thanks Frank - perfect!

You know how the best thing about "I'm Waiting for the Man" is its relentless, pounding rhythm? Well, the Velvet Underground don't - I remember them playing it at a reunion gig with a bog-standard, common-as-muck beat that completely neutered the song.

The original wins every time.

The 1973 original was magnificently barmy: the slight out-of-tuneness and oddball mixing added to its charm.

But Mike Oldfield seems to have spent half his career since then trying to ruin it with endless remixes and reinventions. Leave it alone, Mike!

Jeff rerecorded it with his vocals turned it into a gently chugging rocker not a bad thing, just not as good as the original

clearly always needed was re-recording with Huey Lewis at the controls.

Crazyhead's Desert Orchid album ruined three great singles by knocking all the garagey edges off them with FM Radio rock production.

Will Oldham released a sublime acoustic version of The Risen Lord (a DH Lawrence poem set to music) on Black/Rich Music, only to include a bloody awful electronic version on the Guarapero comp. He's a serial song alterer and I'll tolerate or enjoy most of his changes (I sort of liked the Greatest Palace Music reworkings), but that one goes too far.

Fiery Furnaces' Tropical Iceland was a wonderful bubbly pop single, the album version was grey and dreary.