Ticket to Ride Original VS Re-Recording

[Rick-An Ordinary Fool]

Do you think that Richard & Karen regret recording the track Ticket to Ride on their original LP back then. What I mean is they must have thought it needed work after they did it & it was already pressed to vinyl, right?

I always thought the original was harsh around the edges. When I heard the version after they re-recorded it, I was so impressed. I really think the re-record is one of Karen's finest performances.

So how do you think they felt about it. I hate to use the word ashamed but do you think they were upset that they let it go to press with the original. Or did they think that they just didn't have enough time to make it better back then. It must have bugged Richard until he got it right.

I'm glad he took the time to re-record this track.

 

[Harry]

Hindsight is always 20-20. Here we have an album track called "Ticket To Ride", the first single that makes its way up the charts, stopping at a respectable #53. The song gets airplay and the boss has enough faith in the duo to tell them to go ahed with another single and album to follow.

Then they hit the bigtime. "Close To You" goes all the way up the chart, "We've Only Just Begun" follows, and the second album is a smash. Their career is set and hit after hit follows.

Then, a couple of years later, it's time to put together some kind of greatest hits package. There were enough singles out there and there were no albums in the wings to keep the duo on the public's eye. Shrewd business move. In going over the songs to be included, I'm sure that as Karen and Richard listened to the playback on "Ticket To Ride", they must've looked at each other and said, "We sounded like THAT?" "Let's re-do it, since we've learned so much more about recording techniques." After performing the song day after day on tour, it was certainly still fresh in their minds. And the new recording became the first and greatest of the remix/re-records that Richard would undertake later in life. I can still recall the feeling I had as "Ticket To Ride" began playing on my new SINGLES 1969-1973 vinyl album for the very first time. Wow!

I'm of two minds on the re-record of "Ticket To Ride." Yes, it's a goosebump producer all the way, and though I appreciate how much better sounding it is, there'll always be a place in my heart for the original. Thank goodness that both are available.

Harry
...wishing SINGLES 1969-1973 were still in print, online...

 

[Jeff]

I'm also fond of the re-record. Karen's vocals seem silkier. The original showcases what was 'sure to come' and it's nice on the record it was culled from because it sort just fits there sonically. I also have an appreciation for the re-record version of TOP OF THE WORLD that appears on The Singles 69-73 as well. Sometime between 1969 and 1970, Karen's voice, as most of us know it , blossomed, matured and took on a sophistication that was to prevail throughout the rest of her life. Incredibly gifted as she interpreted so many of our cherished favorites.

High on K,

Jeff