How Music Learns

 

Remixes and rearrangements are frequently better than the original versions. Joe Cocker's version of Ringo's "Try With a Little Help..." made it infinitely better, adding a soulfulness that was latent in the original. The fact that Cocker used a triple meter in place of Ringo's dotted shuffle feel was more of a resolution than a transformation, making it less clunky and square. Power Pop from the 80s also did this to some 70s top-40 songs, giving them a sharper and darker edge. In fact, music has been doing this continuously since the 60s, redefining the edges to look more menacing or sinister. (Art isn't supposed to be conservative, at least not the vanguard.)

On the subject of production, I had the idea recently to delete complete multi-track sessions and reconstruct them from memory, just to see how things get rebuilt and how they stack up against the original version. It's one thing to rewrite with a backup to revert to, and another to not have a restore point.