Remixing "Kill Uncle" – If Ronson or Finn had been at the helm

s writes:

Kill Uncle has often been derided for its bland, undeveloped production. I’ve remixed the album and re-ordered the tracks in an attempt to bring its production quality closer to “Your Arsenal” or “You are the Quarry” (since I don’t have the original master, I couldn’t mix it as precisely as I’d like or undo the reverb on Morrissey's voice). In some cases I just filled out the sound with guitars/emulated the live version, and in others I adding new elements to enhance the song (for e.g., Driving Your GF, End of the Family Line). Hope you like it, thanks for listening either way. It's available at:

http://www.smithstorrents.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4141

Here was my approach to changes (I remastered all the songs, which improves the clarity and makes them sound consistent relative to one another):

1. Our Frank – significant changes. Original has boring, hokey production, like a Madness song. I added a number of guitars to fill out the song and make it edgier.
2. Asian Rut – no changes. The song is unusual, a storytelling in ¾ time (a waltz beat, which limited the musical possibilities). I experimented with adding guitars, cymbals, etc., but decided to leave it alone because anything I did wouldn’t be better, just different.
3. Sing Your Life – moderate changes. Original is okay but lacks “edge”. I added the strumming and distortion riff used by the band in the KROQ session.
4. Mute Witness – mild changes. Original is really well produced, just a little thin in the background. I added a couple of background guitars mimicking the original riffs to fill out the sound.
5. King Leer – moderate changes. Original lacks the swing of the band’s live version, so I sped it up and added some guitars and a small bass riff to make it closer to the live version.
6. Driving Your Girlfriend Home – significant changes. Original has boring production, lwith hardly any musical changes between the verse, chorus and bridge (like beat poetry over a jazz improv). I added guitars/harps to improve the emotional effect of the song.
7. I’m the End of the Line – significant changes. Original has terrible production (the tempo’s off, the drums and bass have no groove). I sped up the song, added a new bass line and a number of string parts to create some drama.
8. Tony the Pony (this song was on my US released CD) – significant changes. Original has okay production, though the bass line is too similar to Sing Your Life and the instrumentation is predictable. I added some guitar riffs to take it in a new direction.
9. Found Found Found – no changes. Good production.
10. There’s a Place In Hell for Me and my Friends – no changes. Original has good production, and the KROQ live version is a good alternative rock version.
11. The Harsh Truth of the Camera Eye – mild changes. Again, the song is unusual, and the production’s carnival-esque atmosphere plays off of this. I felt the tempo was languid and the intro/outro indulgent, so I sped up and shortened the song (and since I think it’s the weakest of the songs, moved it to the end of the album), but otherwise left it alone.

If you add in the singles/b-sides from this era (My Love Life, the Loop, Pregnant for the Last Time), I think it improves the album dramatically, just like the re-release of Maladjusted was improved by the various b-sides.
 
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very curious to hear it. Would you be willing to put up a post to download aside from a torrent. I am not a fan of those.
 
Can someone post this to rapidgator or one of those sites. I don't trust torrents.
 
Can't wait to hear this... Please provide instructions because following the link takes me to the smithstorrent page but there's nothing to download! Please help! Thanks...
 
Kill Uncle never sounded better.

The torrent works fine.
 
Am not the world's biggest fan of torrents , either - is some kind soul out there interested in posting this as a d/l from a file storage site ?


Am really keen to hear this homemade re-mix ...
 
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Hmm, I registered and clicked on the download option, but all I get is a Kill_Uncle_Remixed.torrent error that says "windows can't open this file. Do I need an additional software to download torrents? I am old school, CDs and such..

And these security codes are begging to piss me right off.!
 
Yes, put it on YouTube or a file sharing site! Eager to hear it, but can't be bothered with bit torrent. Welcome to the other 99% of the internet :(
 
I don't do Torrents

I like Kill Uncle as it is, heard it live

There's always someone who has a album whch is ranked lower for him/her/
,Llike me who doesn't like ROTT that much, will you make it more Arsenal?


See, oh you've done it now
 
In what way ?

It reeks of amateurism...

Songs that are sped up have been sped up too fast.
The guitar playing is not in time for most tracks.
I heard a couple bum notes that were too obvious to ignore.
The additions are lacking any cohesiveness with the rest of the material.

The songs have not been "remastered" in any sense...the volume has simply been raised on the original CD rip. Contrary to what the OP intended, these changes make this album in no way similar to the production quality of "Your Arsenal" or "You Are The Quarry"...it simply makes it a clusterf*** of sounds that do not go together at all. I liken it to listening to a song you like on Spotify while one of their ads are playing at the same time - just irritating noise superimposed over something you enjoy.
 
It reeks of amateurism...

Songs that are sped up have been sped up too fast.
The guitar playing is not in time for most tracks.
I heard a couple bum notes that were too obvious to ignore.
The additions are lacking any cohesiveness with the rest of the material.

The songs have not been "remastered" in any sense...the volume has simply been raised on the original CD rip. Contrary to what the OP intended, these changes make this album in no way similar to the production quality of "Your Arsenal" or "You Are The Quarry"...it simply makes it a clusterf*** of sounds that do not go together at all. I liken it to listening to a song you like on Spotify while one of their ads are playing at the same time - just irritating noise superimposed over something you enjoy.

I have to agree, this is total shit. Nothing sounds properly lined up, most of it is out of time and the overlays are very distracting. The guy also took too many liberties with his guitar riffs on some songs, which don't add to the quality. No one needs the songs to be re-written by some amateur. Overall, it is indeed a clusterf***, nothing flows and nothing is subtle. Kill Uncle is far from perfect, but this guy made it worse, not better. What he did with "Our Frank" is particularly sinful... it's just awful.

A straight remaster would have been better, which can be achieved (somewhat), even without access to the master tapes. The guy who did this failed to achieve the production quality of Arsenal or Quarry, and that's a good thing. It's not supposed to sound like those albums. So, while this will be a curiosity for some... I think most people will give it one listen, then instantly forget about it.
 

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