Is it just me or was Joe's Story... not nearly as bad as people made it out to be?
Like, I went into this re-recording expecting the worst (especially since TOD is my all time favorite album), and I just came out of it thinking it was mostly fine. Granted, I don't think it's anywhere near as good as the original, and the changes that were made do come into question. At the top of my head, the new lyrics that replaced the swears from the original felt corny or awkward, and on the first verse of Connect The Dots, the lyrical delivery felt choppy and didn't flow well with the instrumentals compared to the original. Despite all of that, I still enjoyed most of my time with it. I even really enjoyed the new songs on here and I think that they would've had a more welcoming reaction if they were simply bonus tracks instead being part of a remake. I'd probably give Joe's Story like a strong 6/10 based on first listen, and I think the negative reaction was kind of overblown imo, but I do very much understand fans being disappointed, especially as a 10th anniversary celebration.
If I can make a comparison, I'd say that when it comes to remakes and the public perception, Twin Fantasy MtM and FtF is like Resident Evil 2 while TOD and Joe's Story is like Resident Evil 3. When the RE2 remake came out, it became just as beloved as the original game to the point where people argued that the remake was the better version. In contrast, the original RE3 is beloved while the remake was met with a much more lukewarm and disappointing reception kind of like how Joe's Story is being received rn.
Even though I'm pretty lukewarm about Joe's Story overall, most of the core music from the original still exists in this re-recording, so it ultimately didn't ruin TOD for me. I can still always go back to the original version whenever I like and my love for that album has not changed one bit. My only real concern is if the band will still perform the original versions of the songs live with the original lyrics, but I still have faith in them making more good music onwards.
These are just my two cents.