What are your favorite songs, recorded later than the original recording by the same artist, but in a different way (such as live, faster, slower, etc)? Bonus if the later version was a bigger hit.

My favorites are "Rock & Roll All Nite" by KISS from KISS ALIVE and "I Want You to Want Me" by Cheap Trick from LIVE AT BUDOKAN. I find the original versions of each to be unlistenable.

I also much, much prefer Clapton's slower, acoustic "Layla" from UNPLUGGED to the dated faster original.

The earlier version of Whitesnake's "Here I Go Again" from when they were a blues band is pretty bad. I also don't like the altered solo in the music video compared to the album version.

For a more modern take (paging Bishop Hammer), my current favorite band Breaking Benjamin has a live, acoustic version of "So Cold" that's spectacular. I hear it on Pandora all the time.

Zappa's 1988 live version of Crusing for Burgers combine the best of the 67 Uncle Meat version, the 71 flo & eddie band version and the 76 Live In New York version.


The live Don't Eat the Yellow Snow from You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore vol. 1 blows away the Apostrophe (') version.

More Zappa......

Just Another Band From LA has always been one of my favorite FZ albums......and therefore prefer the 8/7/71 live versions of Call Any Vegetable and Dog Breath over the Absolutely Free and Uncle Meat albums respectively.

I also agree with I Want You To Want Me, but not Layla.

I like most of the solo Paul Weller live renditions of Style Council songs. Much prefer the rockier style.

I like the Who's live version of "Sister Disco" from the "Concerts For The People Of Kampuchea" LP.

Every track on NIRVANA UNPLUGGED is definitive.

I like DEVO's redo of "Girl U Want" from the Tank Girl soundtrack. Sounds BIGGER than the original.

The Live version of "Slippery People" by Talking Heads (from Stop Making Sense) beats the studio version. In fact, pretty much all the live versions beat the studio versions from Speaking in Tongues.

The live version of "Dixie Chicken" by Little Feat slays the studio take.

The live version of U2's "Bad" from Wide Awake in America has it all over the studio version.

I've always preferred the Who's live version of " A Quick One While He's Away" (from the Rolling Stones' Rock N' Roll Circus) to the studio version.

I tend to like a lot of punk cover of novelty/one-hit wonder songs more than the original songs. I like the versions of "Your Love", "I Melt with You", and "Don't You Forget About Me" on this compilation more than the originals.

Covers don't count - original artist only.

Oh, I see. I like a lot of Zep's live versions on "How the West Was Won" CD over their studio versions.

I think Elton John's "Grey Seal" on Goodbye Yellow Brick Road nailed the song better than the original version recorded around the time of his second album.

"Happy Meal II" by The Cardigans is better than the earlier "Happy Meal." They're the same song, but II has a tighter performance and some minor changes in the lyrics.

Any hit off Frampton Comes Alive would qualify, no?

Here's kind of an opposite thing...I prefer every original Jamaican mix on Marley's Catch A Fire: Deluxe Edition to the polished versions officially released back then. Nothing was improved, IMO.

I like the Anthology 2 version of "And Your Bird Can Sing" better than the original -- and the original's one of my favorite tracks of all time.

I like the Let It Be version of One After 909 better than the earlier 1964 recording on Anthology 1.

Anything on UFO's Strangers in the Night

I was just thinking the same thing yesterday about all the songs from that film, specifically about Once In A Lifetime. The live version has much more urgency and passion, especially towards the end.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-io-kZKl_BI[/youtube]

I prefer Todd Rundgren's solo version of "Hello, It's Me" to the one recorded when he was in The Nazz.

Deep Purple, anything on Made In Japan.
TONS of Duke Ellington
Suzanne Vega - Tom's Diner from the new remakes V.2
David Bowie - "Glastonbury" version of The Supermen

FAIL.

The original is filled with passion and desperation. The remake has a tone of resignation, which does not fit with the lyrics at all. And Jim Gordon & Duane Allman's piano & slide guitar coda is STUNNING, but it's missing from the remake.

"That's The Way The World Goes 'Round" on John Prine Live rather than Bruised Orange:

'It's a happy enchilada, and you think you're gonna drown...'

I agree with Hank, I hate the unplugged version of Layla. But to each their own.