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retired_dog
The more I listen to the The War On Drugs-Remix, the more I like it. It's now a coherent, catchy tune, maybe not exactly aimed at the purists, but then again, some of their greatest hits like Angie or Miss You were not exactly aimed at the purists, too...
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Stoneage
I never cared about remixes. And I don't know if they are even commercially relevant. They used to be aimed at DJ:s. But the dance floors aren't exactly overcrowded these days, are they?
The important commercial tool is the radio edit. LIAGT had a lot of air play. I can't tell about this one...
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Four Stone WallsQuote
retired_dog
The more I listen to the The War On Drugs-Remix, the more I like it. It's now a coherent, catchy tune, maybe not exactly aimed at the purists, but then again, some of their greatest hits like Angie or Miss You were not exactly aimed at the purists, too...
I'm not sure what'aimed at the purists' means in this context.
They've never aimed at purists', have they?
Mick is aiming to have a hit with song, it seems to me, in order to promote upcoming GHS reissue.
He has a project to promote and sell. And he put a lot of personal time into this track.
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Stoneage
Sure, Dandy. But I don't know about the commercial benefits of that. Outside the fan base I mean...
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Hairball
Angie and Miss You are both great tunes - I've loved them both since they were released.
And I believe I might be in the minority here, but I've always loved Miss You live, though Darryl's bass solo has always seemed out of place and an unnecessary detour.
As for remixes, I'm a bit indifferent - some bands have fantastic remixes (even better than the original version in some cases),
while the Stones' remixes for the most part have been mostly inferior to the original - this War version is one of those imo
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georgie48
... My simple musical mind doesn't go much further (not really true though ) than listening and saying to myself "I like it", "I don't like it" ...
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Four Stone Walls
I'd love to hear the original version and to know if it was a Ronnie basement track and what he contributed and what, if anything Mick originally contributed.
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Doxa
I've been listening to a lot of "Scarlet" in its different versions. The 'War on Drugs' remix kind of opened my eyes to hear the actual song/riff there, and by its help, the earlier versions make more sense to me. Some obvervations.
I think the 'original version' (I have the earliest relaesed one in mind, the one with Mick's vocals a bit lower in the mix) has a certain time-capturing jam feel in it, and its fascinating to hear, but there are some fundamental problems also in there, me thinks. By first listenings I couldn't quite grasp what it is, because the whole track sounded so hazy, noisy and confusing. Too much happening there (except the catchy relief-like chorus).
Now I locate the problem: it's the damn drums and bass. The whole backing/rhythm track sounds like each of the guys are playing/jamming a different song. Especially the drummer and bass player don't click with Keith at all - and that's a fundamental error - and which also serves to show how unique and delicate the rhythm section of the Rolling Stones is. It just sounds a noisy mess there, too many cooks. The Stones can sound noisy and wild and sloppy and whatever, but they always sound like playing from one heart, having that certain 'feel' or 'groove', which moves mountains, but that's not certainly happening here. Surely the guys might had a helluva party there, but unfortunately that feel is not captured on tape.
The War on Drugs dude made a right decision me thinks: get rid of the whole mess there, and just stick to the essential - the magic Keith and Page are providing. Just put Linn drums track there, to give it coherence, and empahazise the power of the guitars but not mess with them. A simple, but genius move. Like the ghost of Jimmy Miller entering the room, knowing what's the thing which makes Stones/Keith click. Suddenly the whole intro and the verse part started to make sense; a catchy, raw hot guitar riff shooting between your eyes with no mercy (and dammit when Page counters/adds the riff, that's guitar art, people!). A natural home for Mick's vocals as well. Even the first screamed verse - that in 'original' sounded like an anomaly - sounds a spot on here. Him entering like, say, in "Can't You Hear me Knocking?". The new bass is also added there with a good taste. Simple, fitting, and at pieces very efficient.
Funnily, the poppish, catchy chorus with new hectic rhythm track reminds me more of 60's 'pop era' Stones than the early/mid-70's Americana stuff¨with traditional 'lazy' country rock drumming typical to the era emphasizing the back beat. You know, the times when Charlie backed up songs with straight-forwardly hitting every beat (something I recall him adopting from "Oh Pretty Woman": "Satisfaction", "Let's Spend The Night Together", "Connection"...). I understand the doubled tempo is too hectic for somebody, but I find that extremely fascinating and enjoyable. A brave, unusual move, which turned out to be a success! These are kind of things someone 'out of the box' are able to come up with.
Altogether, like pointed here by many, there is a new cohesion in a song due to the new arrangement/mix. Like each passage in the song - there were a lot of unusal arrangement/structural choices for a Stones song initially - sounded like supporting each other, having a role in the story, with no repetition or a dull moment in it. Like Dandie wrote above, the new arrangement made the song sound 'playful' - reminds me of some Bowie songs from the era playing with funny arrangement/structure ideas and distinguished sounds, dramatically differing passages, etc. A bit of Monty Python, too.
Surely, there are features I am not so sure are quite clicking with my taste - such as Mick's vocals having so much echo, but that's their trademark, right? - but since the whole thing works so well and sounds nice, I don't mind.
- Doxa
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Chris Fountain
Well Ronnie used to run back and forth during "Borstal Boys" when playing for the Faces
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Hairball
Hats off to Evan for giving it a shot, but he sort of makes it sound like some of that contemporary country garbage.
That said, I think it's slightly better than this one [www.youtube.com], but gotta give Federico credit for being one of the first brave souls to post a cover version on youtube back on July 22.
Funny thing, the more covers and oddball remixes I hear, the more I'm beginning to like the first official version the Stones released - warts and all. Or maybe it was the single version...
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Rockman
But it is a fun song.
Well that cant be a bad thing
For its what we all need at this moment .........