Taylor Swift - Taylor's Versions (Re-Recordings Official Thread) Album • Page 210

revisit, revise, repost ;)

 

That might be the worse possible version of Red to me haha. People are different!

 

I've noticed I have the same issue with that song and Holy Ground. Both have really great verses, especially Treacherous, a nice but kinda bland chorus, and a rather repetitive bridge that for some reason comes back a second time.

Both good songs but I've just never been able to love them like other people seem to.

 

I say this with love to @SpyKi, but I don’t think I’ve ever had more of a negative kneejerk reaction to an alternate tracklist more than I just did with that one. Cutting some all-time great Taylor songs, inserting some stuff that is very clearly b-side tier material, and completely messing with what I love about the flow of the second half of that album. Different strokes!

 

Also, I love “Ronan,” but it is a clear one-off and doesn’t remotely fit in the middle of a young adult breakup album.

 

I kind of prefer thinking of the vault tracks as their own thing to trying to fit them onto the albums they (supposedly) were written for. Like, I love “I Bet You Think About Me,” but it doesn’t quite have the right vibe for that album, IMO. “Better Man” does, but I heard the Little Big Town version of that song so many times that I still struggle to think of it as a Taylor Swift song first and foremost. Then again, Red is one of those “just about perfect” albums for me, so I wouldn’t change much even if given the opportunity.

 

I kinda feel the same way and almost left it off but it's too good to not include.

To be honest I'll probably never actually listen to this version, I like the flow of the original too, at least the first half, and what you made for the TV bonus tracks is fantastic so I'll just listen to them whenever I want to hear the record.

This is just my way of finally getting a version of Red that I love from start to finish, that fulfills the potential I've felt that album held for the last 14 years lol.

 

Yeah, I really like having the companion album playlists I made. I probably listen to those more than any alternate Taylor playlist I've ever made. Except for maybe my alt Midnights, which I love way more than the actual Midnights.

I'd say if this exercise makes for a better listening experience for you/gives you new appreciation for the album, that's awesome, no matter how much some people (me!) might think your version is wild.

 

I just always feel like I have to short change Red as an album because so much of it just doesn't work for me despite so much of it being so brilliant. Its great having so many extra songs under the Red umbrella that I absolutely adore so I can finally make a full album that would easily sit up at the top of her discography for me.

I'm just constantly surprised at how many great songs she has, after all the music she's put out this decade I think she's pretty easily the artist with the most songs that I love.

 

Taylor in the 2010s was like Springsteen in the '80s. Just a wellspring of inspiration and creativity, with a ton of songs in a lot of different modes and an incredibly high hit rate. Just like with Bruce, I'm sure there's more in the vault than we've actually heard.

 

So far with every vault and even some of the older bonus tracks that were released that I hadn't heard, I'm always surprised at certain songs not making the album vs others that did but people seem to have such wildly different takes on so many of her songs that it's probably hard for anyone to know exactly what would be the best choices. I'm just glad we actually got so much.

I'm currently loving the Speak Now one and I still have Fearless to go!