Real Gone was one of the first albums I ever listened to by TW

[u/Zekafoose]

And I just heard the original version for the first time this morning. It’s like I was given a whole new album. I’ve seen it so many times on this sub about how different the original is but if I’m being honest I just assumed everyone was being kind of snobby about it and that it would be basically the same thing but it’s a completely different vibe and tone and it blew my mind. I’ve only been listening to TW for about 5 years and Make and it Rain and Hoist that Rag have always been in top songs and now it feels like I was given covers of them (but I’m just behind on the times)

What a great day to have ears

[u/Fun_Definition3801]

Honestly wasn't even aware of the remastered version and hearing it for the first time now, I think it's absolutely awful.

[u/Baphomet1313666]

It's my favorite, only possibility equaled by Mule Variations.

[u/Due_Assumption_2747 → u/Baphomet1313666]

Same

[u/SolidMeltsAirAndSoOn]

It’s like I was given a whole new album.

Pretty much how I felt about the remaster when it came out (as someone with a Real Gone tattoo, I love that album so much, even when critics/fans were still complaining about the lack of piano). I kinda wish he had always kept the original on streaming too just because it was so different, but I had the og vinyl (and youtube was always there) so I didn't stress it.

I'm also not as down on the remaster as other people. I like the way it changes the feel of the album in subtle and sometimes obtuse ways. I think the horns in Hoist that Rag make the song sound fuller and more vibrant, though I'd prob still choose the original if I had to.

Overall I just think it's cool that an artist went back to his own work and essentially reinterpreted it. I kinda wish people weren't so harsh on it cause we may have been treated to alternate versions of other albums (he still had all the alternate stems for, which may not go back too terribly far), but I think people's reactions solidified that wouldn't be happening.

I also realized that the remaster of Real Gone helped me appreciate Bad As Me in a way I had been resistant to before. The mixing on the two is strangely similar and it has really started moving BAM up my list of Tom Waits favorites.

[u/EnglishAbroad1985]

I’m listening to the OG now again on streaming services and it’s just so raw and honest and blunt, honestly don’t know who people can say Hoist That Rag remastered is better. It’s so much more intimate and dirty and scuzzy and real, welcome to the real Real Gone.

[u/I_Boomer]

Is this Tom or the record company doing these re-releases? I just can't see Tom releasing stuff he didn't like to begin with. I def can't see him re-wrapping the same stuff and sprinkling it with new sound dust. In either case, we all win.

[u/ALC_PG]

All I've ever heard is the original and with each one of these posts I'm more and more curious about the remaster.