This is a – sort of – corollary to the thread where it was principally decided that our elder pop heroes might consider calling it a day simply because, in many cases, their voices were shot. The version of Wuthering Heights from Kate Bush’s The Whole Story came up on my shuffle – the one with the new vocal – and it occurred to me that the industry is missing a trick by not trying to flog us our old favourites with new, improved, vocals. The fact is that it is geriatrics like us who are the ones actually paying big dollar for music because we get a tingle when a Beatles album we already own gets a makeover. I presume that’s the reason for all the “It’s Al Green’s Greatest Hits, Now With Added Orchestra!” style albums they keep pumping out (“This is the kind of shiz the olds like”). A feature of the multi-decade careers our idols have now is that, in many cases, they get better at singing* their earlier material as they mature (or take lessons). Leonard Cohen’s performances in his last years were acclaimed. Partly because his older stuff never sounded so good? Nobody really » Continue Reading.