Old Version - New Version - Better Version?

[Caraliz]

I have just realized that on my Of Montreal discography, there are two versions of a song, on different CD's.

Apparently there is a third, but I'm not sure about that.

The songs are "Dustin Hoffman Does Not Resist Temptation To Eat The Bathtub" and "Garden Gate World"

They both sound really different; Garden Gate World is acoustic and you can really hear Barnes' voice and he does a great job with it. But the newer one has it's merits too, it sounds a lot more together... but I'm not sure if that's a good thing, I kind of like raw music.

Have you come across any different versions of your favorite songs and why do you like the one you like better?

[JKTrix]

Last year, Daft Punk went on a tour called 'Alive'. They basically mixed and remixed some of their better/more popular songs together and it was absolutely fantastic. Mixed in with the atmosphere of the live audience who you can hear cheering and singing along almost constantly it's just greatness.

Beyond remixes, I don't have too many 'new versions' of older songs. Most of them are like live concert versions from old songs.

[Roto13]

Pat Boone's version of Enter Sandman is so much better than Metallica's version. xP

[Cz]

I've got a bunch of old song demos that sound quite different from the final studio versions, but I'm not sure that's what you mean. The same goes for live versions.

I don't have many examples of songs that have been released more than once on a studio CD. The first one I thought of was The Arcade Fire's No Cars Go, which was one of my favourite songs from their self-titled EP until they revived it for Neon Bible and made it even better. Another old song that benefitted from a makeover would be Interpol's A Time To Be So Small. The old vocal effects were, to be honest, kind of annoying, so the cleaned up version is much better to listen to.