Комментарии
7 years назад
Since a few have stated their preference for the GW version here in such a passionate manner, I'm giving an analysis of each version. These are my opinions as a long-time musician and recording artist.The Ian Hunter version starts of in an understated fashion, which Mick Ronson, one of the greatest guitar players of the 60's & 70's, chugging along with a solid "2 & 4" accent on the downbeats. Excellent. GW's version doesn't even play the same simple riff at all, in fact, he has instantly changed the entire song by playing something that doesn't even resemble this great song at all.Ian "Mott The Hoople" Hunter greets us all with a very English "Allo" (hello) in the begining. GW's vocalist rides in on a motorcyle, trying to look like a badass, but really only makes himself look ridiculous. When he finally DOES add in his vocal, it it buried far back in the mix with a very dark EQ'd tone and a ton of reverb, so much so that you can't really hear his vocal very well at all. It sounds like he's singing in his toilet or at the end of a very long hall and their band is set up on the other end.The guitar tone in the original version is simple, understated and excellent. The GW version is muddier, and when the Ian Hunter version piano kicks in, you instantly know that it's an upright piano that has that old "western saloon" sound to (by adding thumbtacks to the felt hammers on the piano). the GW version's piano is an overly-processed MIDI piano, buried in reverb once again. What are these guys hiding that they have to mask their playing and singing in so much reverb all the time?Once the GW version reaches the 2nd verse, the lead vocal is COMPLETELY buried in the background with TONS of reverb. It's as if they turned the MIX function on the reverb FX all the way up. Where you could SORT OF hear him before, now he is mostly unintelligble.W hat gives? What are they hiding? Lack of talent? 2nd verse for Ian's version: the piano drops back out, leaving the bass, drums & guitar to carry the rhythm, and rightly so. In the GW version, for some stupid reason, the guitar player has completely dropped out and has decided to go polish his guitar in the middle of the song. WTF?!? They opt instead to let the KB player continue hammering away pointlessly while the guitar player takes a break. Weird! Once again, they radically changed the song, and NOT for the better. You can barely hear the vocalist due his being buried in reverb and the constant yammering by the KB player.The guitar player finally came back from the bathroom, where he was obviously talking to the vocalist way in the back, and reappears for the chorus. The harmony vocals are buried in reverb & chorus FX, once again in the background. Did the entire band record all of their vocal tracks in the toilet? I suppose when you aren't able to sing very well, you do everything you can to hide that fact by burying the vocals with copious amounts of reverb and other FX.Now, to address the whole "garage band recording" comments. Taking a look at the available recording equipment in 1974 & 1975, things were a bit different, and attitudes towards production and mixing were also different. At the end of that decade, we had many recordings warming up the sounds, especially that of bass & drums, with more bottom end EQ. The result is a fatter, fuller sound, especially on the kick drum and toms of the kit. The difference being, they were mastering for the limited bandwidth of vinyl, whereas CD's had a bit more on the top and bottom end to play with in the audio spectrum. At that point, heading into the 80's, they no longer had to concern themselves with the bleed through sound from one groove on the vinyl into the next. You also had emerging technologies such as digital recording, which changed the industry, which also happened in the 80's.If Ian Hunter or a smart producer were to remaster this classic hit, they would most likely "warm up" the mix to reflect the incredible headroom we have available with today's digital media, which would probably make most here who have commented on the alleged 'garage band' sound a lot happier.However, strictly from a performance valuation, Ian Hunter's vocals absolutely blow away the GW version, as does the incredible Mick Ronson, tasteful, understated guitar work. They knew how to cut records back in those days!The rest of the track goes downhill for the GW version, and continues to build dynamically for the Ian Hunter version, culminating in a badass, full sounding, complete track. Not much more can be said, other than I have complete respect for the classic artists of the 60's, 70's & 80's, and very little respect for the phoney baloney hairband copycats who are pale, impotent ripoffs of REAL artists.There are those who innovate, and those who imitate. Ian Hunter is certainly an innovator, and Great White is absolutely and imitator.