The National – Terrible Love (Alternative Version) (4AD)
3/5
By: Richard Brant
Like its counterpart, the opener of The National’s fifth studio album High Violet, ‘Terrible Love (Alternative Version)’ is the opener of the expanded edition’s bonus disc.
In keeping with the original, the alternative take is a slow building, melancholic, yet rousing piece doused in the commanding baritone of Matt Berninger. But essentially the lyrics are the same, and the tune’s the same, so what’s changed? Well, someone decided that ‘Terrible Love’ deserved a production overhaul to reveal its full grandeur, adding body and moving away from the comparatively much tinnier affair that sets the original album in to motion.
The alterations are apparent from the beginning as the caressing strings are easily heard, the kick drum is rich and thick, and Matt Berninger’s vocals stand crisp amidst the surrounding layers, clear as day. In comparison to the original, with this version you get the feeling that if someone were to drop a pin in their Brooklyn studio, it would somehow have been picked up and incorporated through the remarkable new clarity of sound they’ve achieved.
I guess the question to be asked is “why was this not the grand opening to High Violet?” Without any form of inside track, a possible reason for the choice could lie in the lyrics of angst, loss and solitude fit really rather well with the more lo fi approach grating and straining out the tune instead of letting it flow forth as it does here. A cynical view on the other hand could ponder whether the “tidy up” is to ensure the attraction of a wider audience having noted the ‘single’ potential within the tune, but this view can not detract from the fact that this new version is certainly worth yours ears’ time. It adds further dimensions, depth and decisiveness to what is, for good reason, clearly a fan favourite.
Artists in this article: The National
Your Feedback
Login to post your comment