Pre Release HAND

Forgive me if this topic has been talked to death here.
This is my first post, and in looking at old threads I didn't see this topic anywhere.

I got a cd of HAND about 6 months before the official release, and I was stunned when I heard the official release.

A number of great songs were cut, inferior ones put in and the mixes and changes in lyrics and production were baffling. To this day, I cannot stand listening to the official release. The original I have I consider to be the finest record they ever made. The offical one, not so much.

Anyone agree?

Aloha !

Not the finest record they made, and it's also not better than the original that's available in stores. At least they kept Unbreakable out of the original tracklisting. Have A Nice Day, the title track is slightly better than the original though.

And no, I don't want anyone to send me e-mails if I'd like to send it to them because I won't.

Salaam Aleikum,
Sebastiaan

Takes all kinds, Sonic. Unbreakable and Nothing were my favorite songs.

I also think the original mix and lyrics to HAND were better. And Complicated, Bells Of Freedom and I Wanna Be Loved. He changed POV in some lyrics, and added some cheesier lines, IMO.

Ditching Keith Urban was a great idea though. I could barely tell them apart.

I am so glad I have the pre release.
It is my favorite thing they have ever done.

Aloha !

Complicated should never have seen the light of day, it's just as worse as Unbreakable. I agree about Nothing though, that one should have been on the original.

That the final result is cheesier is true though. I don't understand why the lyrics of HAND were changed anyway. They're not better and sound more like they're rehashing old lyrics (again)...

Salaam Aleikum,
Sebastiaan

I liked the original version of Have A Nice Day in parts - I like the short, quiet break after the solo - but prefer the final lyrics in the chorus.

I have the orignal versions of Have A Nice Day, I Want To Be Loved, Complicated, Bells Of Freedom, Nothing and Who Says w/Keith Urban. As for the other tracks however, are they at all different to the final released album?

well, Wildflower, Last cigarrette, Story of my life, and Novocain wernn't written yet.
Also Dirty Little Secret was written after Jon took the album to be reworked.

Yeah, Nothing should definitely have made the cut. An enormous mistake IMO.

Ofcourse, but I meant the songs that are on both albums - Welcome To Wherever You Are, Last Man Standing, I Am and Who Says (non-Keith Urban).

I'm not sure.
I know that I wanna be loved had some changes in the lyrics, the ones before were a bit braver. HAND we all know how that changed, bells has some better lyrics now, Who says is the same. Complicated is exactly the same except for one line, and the song sounds a bit rougher or faster in the earlier version.

That's really all I can tell, Last man standing is practically the same aswell.
But the mix on the earlier version does sound rougher, a bit more rockier if you will.