SickthingsUK

Have any of you heard any of these recordings available on the official AC website? I've only just heard 'Elected' (freebie at the moment) and it is - as Tony Blackburn would say - 'SENSATIONAL' and 'poptastic bate'. Cooper's voice is simply immense on it!

Gunner wrote:Have any of you heard any of these recordings available on the official AC website? I've only just heard 'Elected' (freebie at the moment) and it is - as Tony Blackburn would say - 'SENSATIONAL' and 'poptastic bate'. Cooper's voice is simply immense on it!

I bouht all of them and love 'em the download was awfully slow though..

I downloaded them, but am kind of on the fence...they don't really hold up to the originals imo. I guess one reason to re-record songs is because someone else owns the rights to the original recordings, so if they sell the re-recorded versions they get full royalties, but what about the original band members? I am sure they must get something...but I know with Ozzy's first two discs they re-recorded the bass and drums to cut off royalties, and Kiss' recent Klassics disc...

Good point SamS.

I have not heard them (no sound on the PC just at present).

What with todays' 'high tec' sound systems etc, I sometimes think you end up listening to the 'sound' and not the actual 'music'. Lady Gaga is a prime example of this (an NO - I am not a fan!) - although I have listened to some of her music through a pair of Bose headphones and the sound is amazing - but thats my point - its the 'sound' and not the actual music.

Give me early Alice in the raw any day!! It was good enough in the 70's and its still good enough to listen to 40 years later!!

is there any info as to who played on these tracks?

shadowman wrote:is there any info as to who played on these tracks?

Add to that who produced them and are they all MP3?

Are royalties paid on those USB sticks?

I haven't bought the others yet but I will. I am a fan of re-recording your own songs with better and more sophisticated equipment actually and have often thought Alice should have done more of this later in his career. Sound quality does improve the musical experience as production and arrangement clearly does. I know you can't recapture the freshness, the excitement, the hunger, the desire and the anticipation of a young band recording what will be a classic, but you can improve the recording and actually make the track sound better, or else what would be the point of improving equipment?

Having said all that, this version of Elected however isn't a great improvement on the original in my opinion which shows how bloody good Bob Ezrin was on B$B.

>Are royalties paid on those USB sticks?

Yes.

None of these are going to give the originals a run for their money, but they are interesting alternatives.

"No More Mr. Nice Guy" sounds a little artificial in spots like there could be a bit of auto-tune going on.

I asked on the other thread if these were the recordings from the Rock Band thing that was going on and Jaded confirmed they were. Is the other project scrapped then?

WickedYoungMan wrote:I asked on the other thread if these were the recordings from the Rock Band thing that was going on and Jaded confirmed they were. Is the other project scrapped then?

So much going on. What is the other project?

What I did notice with the one re-recording I have heard (Elected), is that Alice has clearly done several 'punch ins/drop ins' in the vocal recording - which is OK, but need it be that obvious? I don't know who has engineered/produced/recorded this, but the vocal 'drop ins' are as subtle as a sledgehammer. The sooner they get Bob recording Cooper again, the better eh!!??

sammysausage76 wrote:I downloaded them, but am kind of on the fence...they don't really hold up to the originals imo. I guess one reason to re-record songs is because someone else owns the rights to the original recordings, so if they sell the re-recorded versions they get full royalties, but what about the original band members? I am sure they must get something...but I know with Ozzy's first two discs they re-recorded the bass and drums to cut off royalties, and Kiss' recent Klassics disc...

Even if you re record the songwriters of the original versions still get royalties

Gunner wrote:Cooper's voice is simply immense on it!

So true!!
The vocals on "Elected 2010" are pure punk in my ears. And I love that they kept the vintage sound on it.

Hopefully they will release it on a physical medium too. Maybe a limited vinyl EP or on bonus disc like Kiss did with the re-recordings on Sonic Boom. It's too good to hide it as an mp3 release only.

RemarkablyInsincere wrote:None of these are going to give the originals a run for their money, but they are interesting alternatives.

"No More Mr. Nice Guy" sounds a little artificial in spots like there could be a bit of auto-tune going on.

Don't hear that myself, think it is just a more laid back vocal than the other 4 tracks on the digital download.

Like you say nothing can compare to the originals, but I think Alice and the musicians on this have done a really good job in the spirit of the original recordings.

A lot of work has gone into studying the original versions by the musicians and I think it is great to hear Alice singing those songs in his 60's that he first did in his 20's, but still with zestful enthusiasm.
I particularly like the version of Welcome To My Nightmare.

Gunner wrote:I haven't bought the others yet but I will. I am a fan of re-recording your own songs with better and more sophisticated equipment actually and have often thought Alice should have done more of this later in his career. Sound quality does improve the musical experience as production and arrangement clearly does. I know you can't recapture the freshness, the excitement, the hunger, the desire and the anticipation of a young band recording what will be a classic, but you can improve the recording and actually make the track sound better, or else what would be the point of improving equipment?

Having said all that, this version of Elected however isn't a great improvement on the original in my opinion which shows how bloody good Bob Ezrin was on B$B.

Sometimes you can polish things too much, it's like guitar players getting more technical but losing the essence of the song, same with production.

Those albums that Bob produced for Alice still stand up as better than anything around today in my opinion, less is sometimes more. Bob knew when to be subtle, he would have an acoustic guitar or horns on something that if you took it out you would notice its omission, even though those instruments were not 'in your face' too much on the finished product.

As Alice has said he was the George Martin of Alice Cooper.

With this forthcoming album we will see he still is and realise what we have been missing.

Atlanta Santa wrote: Hopefully they will release it on a physical medium too. Maybe a limited vinyl EP or on bonus disc like Kiss did with the re-recordings on Sonic Boom. It's too good to hide it as an mp3 release only.

was hoping that too!!

Alice as well as the arrangements and playing are great, it's just the production that's subpar IMO. But then I don't know that these were originally intended for us to purchase since they were done for the Rock band thing.

Sometimes you can polish things too much, it's like guitar players getting more technical but losing the essence of the song, same with production.

Those albums that Bob produced for Alice still stand up as better than anything around today in my opinion, less is sometimes more. Bob knew when to be subtle, he would have an acoustic guitar or horns on something that if you took it out you would notice its omission, even though those instruments were not 'in your face' too much on the finished product.

As Alice has said he was the George Martin of Alice Cooper.

With this forthcoming album we will see he still is and realise what we have been missing.

Good points! I do think though (and this was my point essentially) that it is highly likely that Alice did as much 'jump/punch in' vocal takes on Elected with Bob Ezrin, but that it was mixed, edited and produced better so as to be less noticeable. If you really listen to Elected for example, it would inhuman to sing it as it stands in one take - just from a breathing perspective alone!

BTW, anybody here had difficulty moving these mp3s to iTunes? I have been unable to.