Destiny is now a four-way Street

 By Henry Lipput

Punk pioneer Richard Hell has been working for 40 years on a version of his Destiny Street album that he could be satisfied with.

The fascinating and comprehensive 2 -CD set Richard Hell and the Voidoids: Destiny Street Complete (Omnivore Recordings) chronicles his journey. The collection includes four versions of the album: the 1981 demos, a remastered version of the original 1982 release, the 2009 Destiny Street Repaired, and the 2021 Destiny Street Remixed. (Remixed is also available as a vinyl-only release.)

In his liner notes for Destiny Street Complete, Hell is blunt about what happened with the 1982 Destiny Street: “I didn’t even come into the studio for half of the guitar overdubbing. I tried to compensate for the aimlessness by phoning in for more guitar parts. The final mix was a morass of trebly multi-guitar blare.” And although the remastered album on Destiny Street Complete has a better sound you can still hear what he’s talking about.

A few years later, after “clearing the drugs,” Hell was “sorry about the album“. He believed the other musicians were good (guitarists Robert Quine and Naux and drummer Fred Maher) and a decent album could be made. But there was no chance of a remix because the record company had lost the 24-track masters.

However, in the early 2000s, Hell found a cassette tape from the 1981 album sessions containing just the rhythm tracks for the two guitars, bass, and drums. He realized he could add new vocals and guitar solos to make a clean version of the record. Unfortunately both Destiny Street guitarists Robert Quine and Naux died before they could add their parts. Undeterred, and using the tracks on the cassette tape, Hell organized the recording of a 2009 repaired version by bringing on guitar legends Marc Ribot, Bill Frisell, and original Voidoid guitarist Ivan Julian. The album, Destiny Street Repaired, was released that year and, as Hell writes in the Destiny Street Complete liner notes, “it made me happy.”

And then the story gets even better. In 2019 the 24-track tapes were found in an upstate New York storage facility. All but three of the ten songs from the 1982 album were on these tapes but there was also a song, “Don’t Die,” that wasn‘t used on the original album. Hell used the Repaired versions for those three songs and added “Don’t Die” as the closing track. 

Destiny Street Remixed is the album that Hell always wanted to make. I've come to realize from recent re-releases of albums by The Beatles and The Replacements there's a big difference between a remaster and a remix; Destiny Street Remixed only reinforces that view. It has a clean, crisp sound and, driven by the excellent up-front drumming of Maher, it shows what a spirited rock band the Voidoids were. And as part of the remix Hell was able to split the work of Quine and Naux from the “multi-guitar blare” of 1982’s Destiny Street, On "Ignore That Door" their solos can be heard in separate speakers and Quine’s solos are especially gorgeous particularly on "Going Going Gone" and “Time.” 

Next time: Tamar Berk: A review and an interview