Teen Of Denial (Joe's Story)
by Car Seat Headrest

From MadhattanJack 05/28/2026 06:13 | #314626

"Joe's Story" is one of those "reimagined" versions of a previously-recorded/released album that so many recording artists are doing these days, presumably to wring as much streaming and sales potential as possible out of their existing material. Normally I would ignore this sort of release, but the original album is so highly ranked here on BEA, I just felt that some details about the version differences would be helpful. I'm nothing if not helpful!

Tracks 1-4, along with tracks 6, 7, 9, and 12, are essentially identical between versions, though there's been some subtle remixing going on. I think most of the remixing (where it's noticeable) has been to make the guitars less scratchy and more "earthy," basically losing some of the treble in the EQ settings. In some cases they've been mixed down in terms of overall volume as well, but not to the point where they disappear completely. There's also some double-tracking added on some of the lead vocals, but not much. That's also subtle, and really an improvement in most instances.

Supposedly, the theme of the album has also changed because of the song swaps and lyric changes. Since I have no idea as to what the original theme was, and very little to go on regarding the new theme, I'm just going to skip critiquing that. I will say, however, that the marketing for the new version claims there are "three brand new songs," when in fact there are only two, along with two others that now have different lyrics (and vocal tracks, obviously).

Track 5: "Optimistic Son" replaces "Not What I Needed"
"Not What I Needed" has some shouting in it that probably causes CSH frontman Will Toledo a certain amount of "cringey" feelings, due to it sounding amateurish, hammy and immature. There's also the noisy interlude about two-thirds of the way in, which probably felt "experimental" at the time (the way a Sonic Youth outro would have in the 80s, for example) and now maybe sounds a little stale. "Optimistic Son" is a good song, but it's definitely more conventional too, with fewer bits that he's going to be embarrassed about later on. I wouldn't have made this swap, personally, but since this was the track that forced the album recall (when it was called "Just What I Needed/Not Just What I Needed"), maybe swapping it felt cathartic for him.

Track 8: "Joe Drives Again" replaces "Unforgiving Girl (She's Not An)"
Neither of these are great, at least in my estimation. But the new track is more like straightforward guitar pop, whereas "Unforgiving Girl" is a somewhat ham-fisted loud-quiet-loud effort, and it has that dorky-sounding talk-over part about halfway through that I'm sure Toledo really got tired of doing live after the first two or three times. I prefer the way "Unforgiving Girl" finishes, but not so much that I'd insist on keeping it just for that.

Track 10: "The Ravenous House" replaces "The Ballad of the Costa Concordia" (but not really)
In this case, Toledo seems to have just changed the lyrics (and the title) and recorded a new vocal track. There are some differences in the mix throughout, but again, they didn't re-record the song itself. Do I prefer one version of the lyrics to the other? Maybe in the second movement (or whatever we're calling it) I prefer the new lyrics, but aside from that, they're both fine.

Track 11: "Connect the Dots (Song of Secretariat)" replaces "Connect the Dots (The Saga of Frank Sinatra)"
Another new vocal with new lyrics, with mostly the same melodies/harmonies, but definitely an improvement here since I greatly prefer Secretariat (or just about any horse) to Frank Sinatra. That doesn't mean I "hate" Frank Sinatra, though. He's okay. I just prefer horses.

If you're a downloader, then assuming they let you buy the two new tracks separately, I'd just do that and treat them as "bonus tracks." Or don't! To my ears, this album isn't a "reimagining" so much as a "correction" — but most people aren't going to know what was "wrong" with the original album in the first place, so I doubt this new version will amount to much in the end. Still, the physical repackaging is supposed to be really impressive on the vinyl version, so if you've got lots of money, hey, why not.