This could equally well be applied to our own photography, but specifically this blog is about reviewing and revisiting our own work. I do this all the time, applying current skills to old images, many of which were passed over first time around. I alluded to this process when describing the release history of The Four Seasons' "Genuine Imitation Life Gazette", unsuccessful originally, but now highly rated as being ahead of its time. Contemporary to that is the other album that band songwriter/producer/keyboardist Bob Gaudio produced at the time, "Watertown" by Frank Sinatra. I was very excited to find the vinyl LP in a record shop just after its 1969 release and always liked it, a concept album that was certainly ahead of its time and unfortunately new and unfamiliar territory for Sinatra fans. Well established artists find it very difficult to progress and develop as the audience doesn't necessarily want them to.
Needless to say, I bought the CD when it came out, along with bonus track! Now, we have the inevitable modern remix and I've just bought that as well. I am a source of cash for those things I like.....But there are several bonus tracks, and I particularly like the alternate session takes, even the ones where a sublime performance (the orchestra recorded live) ended abruptly when somone hit a duff note just at the end.
Now for the bad news, and that is that the modern remix is far too hard and brittle in its sound. Some may argue that modern photography has become far too in our faces in terms of saturation and oversharpness. It may be that tastes have changed, it may be that our own level of sophistication has developed and what was hidden in previously muddy recordings is now revealed in all its gritty reality. Who knows? However, beauty remains in the eye of the beholder so bring it on, musically or photographically, we can take it!
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