Search - Bob Welch :: Greatest Hits & More

I Do & I Don't

PHILIP S WOLF | SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, CA. USA | 07/01/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is a wonderful idea for a recording project. To go back and re-record your songs to increase sound quality of those songs with today's equipment. But, there is also a price to be payed after the new sound is introduced to your ears. After so many listens to the original versions, the new versions will be at least a bit uncomfortable to your brain.



Take a song like: Future Games. Will a modern version of this song that changed this band so much, sound better than the original version from 1971? The answer is both YES and NO. This production that Bob has built on a monster multi-track digital board, is a HUGE musical soundscape. But, even with a less than steller mix in 1971, there is more depth and downright soul to be found in the mirky earlier edition. And when the lead guitar bursts forth outta the sludge at 5:31 minutes into Future Games {the 71 version} it is nothing short of majestic. Your ears perk up, and grasp at every note, you are soaring here. In the new version Bob, changes some of the lead playing, and you are left wanting to hear what you would expect to be there, and it's gone.



The Good: "Oh Well" shows Bob, to be a guitar player of some great talent, {as good as Peter Green, yes I said as GOOD as Peter Green!} and when he rolls into Part 2, the notes and the that he selects are nothing short of glorious, this is an incredible version of this classic. The mix is alive and spacious....everything get's BIGGER.



The Bad: "Hypnotised" was a bad mix in it's original form in 1973, but under all that sludge, the song has such a 'feel' that cannot be denied, and it does pull you along, and when you throw in Christine McVie's dreamy harmonies, it is BLISS. The new one, sounds like it was recorded on this planet, it is bright as sunlight, but it can't find the groove and escape from that computer, it feels sparse, when it should be surrounding you like a blanket. The brain, is searching for what ISN'T there.



I am mixed on this CD, as I will say Bob, has done quite a lot of work here in the presentation of his music and brings forth a modern interpretation of his art. The big sound is sometimes great to hear, but it can also be unsettling to have something so comfortable become so altered. This is still great music, and Bob has improved greatly as an artist. But, for me, there will be a process of getting used to these changes to his music. This will take some time to grow into the changes that I found here in these familar favorites....

Four Stars."