Moment Of Surrender Single Edit

[gvox]

Imagine this...it's..say...mid-November 2008.

U2 has been hyping the fact that they are going to release an as-yet untitled album in the new year. We know nothing about it.

The first single drops. It is Moment of Surrender something in the vein of the video below. U2 hasn't released a song like this since One, and before that With or Without You.

Here it is...this is my edit of it. Some might not like it. I understand that a large part of the beauty of the album version is that it breathes and has so many different colors. My goal was to make a 4:30 version (I begin my fade at 4:30) that keeps all the best elements, but will still get on the radio. There is no ATM machine, sorry. Oh, and you have to ignore the first cymbal crash, I couldn't get rid of it without major work lol

U2 - Moment Of Surrender (SINGLE EDIT) - YouTube


What do you think happens, does it become a hit? Does following with Breathe shoot U2 back into the Top 10 stratosphere?

 

[PhilsFan]

It would have definitely been the best single, for no other reason than it's a good song that doesn't sound like it's trying to retread anything. It may not be a "new direction" per se, but it would have sounded like one as the lead single.

Only thing I would not have done with the edit: you can't take out that ending solo, that's the best part of the song.

 

[Galeongirl]

I would say it worked as a single, and I like the edit. But I don't think it should've been the first single. Like with One, it should be the later single that gets everyone's undivided attention after the first hit like THe Fly lured them in. For some reason I'd say Breathe would've been that first single, it's catchy and happy. Would've been enough for people to look forward to NLOTH and then WHAM everyone gets stunned by MOS.

 

[gvox]

Only thing I would not have done with the edit: you can't take out that ending solo, that's the best part of the song.

I struggled with that, in order to get it under 4:30. I think I'm going to make an alternate ending one also. I liked fading with the "oh oh ohs" trailing off..and that hint of more guitar licks teasing..almost Joshua Tree-ish

I wanted to end it on the "up" like the album, too, but I still haven't figured out a way to do that without harming Edge's beautiful solo..it's a simple solo, but man it takes me places

 

[gvox]

I would say it worked as a single, and I like the edit. But I don't think it should've been the first single. Like with One, it should be the later single that gets everyone's undivided attention after the first hit like THe Fly lured them in. For some reason I'd say Breathe would've been that first single, it's catchy and happy. Would've been enough for people to look forward to NLOTH and then WHAM everyone gets stunned by MOS.

I actually said Breathe way back when too. Then I got thinking about WOWY...and remembering that it was a very unlikely first song..and how big it exploded.

Thanks for the

You too Pfan

 

[BVS]

U2 hasn't released a song like this since One, and before that With or Without You.

How do you see this song being like 'One'?

 

[gvox]

I dunno. I just meant they haven't led off an album with a slower tempo song in a long time. I actually forgot that The Fly came first. My bad.

I think it's like WOWY in that it's anthemic in the chorus, it's not as..obvious?..a song? And sortof like what Adam pointed out about WOWY.."You don't expect it there [on radio]. In church perhaps."

 

[BVS]

I dunno. I just meant they haven't led off an album with a slower tempo song in a long time. I actually forgot that The Fly came first. My bad.

I think it's like WOWY in that it's anthemic in the chorus, it's not as..obvious?..a song? And sortof like what Adam pointed out about WOWY.."You don't expect it there [on radio]. In church perhaps."

I gotcha(yeah One was the third single actually)...

I agree with the WOWY comparison though.

 

[gvox]

Mysterious Ways second? Sounds about right.

Achtung Baby is a special case. So many tracks could have led off. I was just more thinking about NLOTH and how I love the album but think it was just handled all wrong.

 

[Roland of Gilead]

The more I hear from Eno regarding the making of NLOTH, the more I wish he had the final say. (singles, which tracks to keep, etc..)

 

[BVS]

Yeah MW was second, released just a few days after the album.

 

[Mrs. Garrison]

fuck radio

this song is far too special to have mixed it up with the likes of lady gaga, katie perry, kelly clarkson, kings of leon etc.

I could see putting this out there on satellite radio, xm alt nation or some other format. But the clear channel national radio formats can go fuck themselves.

 

[gvox]

I hear ya..but let's not forget that WOWY got played amidst Wham Madonna Bon Jovi etc etc many people (not me) say the 80s had the shittiest music of all time

I loved the 80s though.

 

[zoopop]

I agree gvox, I stated why U2 should have done this here:

http://www.u2interference.com/forums/f189/which-songs-should-have-been-singles-212433-2.html

Releasing MOS would have turned heads and most of everyone would have listened. While GOYB turned heads for all the wrong reasons (U2 overload).

And we would have had less of this and more of this at the end of the 360 show

 

[Mrs. Garrison]

I hear ya..but let's not forget that WOWY got played amidst Wham Madonna Bon Jovi etc etc many people (not me) say the 80s had the shittiest music of all time

I loved the 80s though.

80's had great music. Wham and Madonna were great compared to the crap played now...damn im starting to sound like my parents....shit seriously though most of "today's" music is fucking horrible.

I love a lot of the 80's new wave and 90's alternative stuff, but i draw the line somewhere in the last 10 or 15 years with mainstream corporate bullshit radio. I do enjoy alt nation style of music, but you wont hear that on free radio stations in america, and thats a damn shame. When i was a kid it seemed music was played everywhere and all the time, and DJ's and programmers had some say in what records they would spin. Not just the same 12 bullshit songs played over and over again every hour after hour.

 

[gvox]

Are there any real DJs left on radio? I thought that except for college radio they had all been replaced by automatons playing prerecorded tapes..on repeat.

 

[gherman]

I would have done the singles as this:

1.) Magnificent
2.) Moment of Surrender
3.) Crazy Tonight
4.) Get on Your Boots

 

[PhilsFan]

I think Magnificent sucks personally, but even if you're being objective, it's by-the-numbers U2, which this lead single couldn't afford to be. Same reason you don't go with Breathe. When they hype up a new direction for a whole year, they had to come out with something that sounded different. This could only have really been achieved with Moment of Surrender and maybe NLOTH.

1. Moment of Surrender
2. No Line on the Horizon
3. Breathe

Their single choices sucked, is my point.

 

[gvox]

I like Magnificent, but I agree that they had to do something different. I'm torn on Breathe, because while I feel it's a great song with hit potential, there's something about it..the chorus maybe..I dunno. While it's certainly a challenging song, I think MOS is a bit more immediate and poignant. NLOTH would be like 4th...or 5th for me, even.

 

[lazarus]

I think Magnificent sucks personally, but even if you're being objective, it's by-the-numbers U2, which this lead single couldn't afford to be. Same reason you don't go with Breathe. When they hype up a new direction for a whole year, they had to come out with something that sounded different. This could only have really been achieved with Moment of Surrender and maybe NLOTH.

1. Moment of Surrender
2. No Line on the Horizon
3. Breathe

Their single choices sucked, is my point.

Magnificent doesn't really sound like anything on The Bomb, though. So it wouldn't have sounded like they were just picking up where they left off. It probably would have been a safer single choice than Boots, even if it didn't intrigue people in the way that MOS would.

No Line alt. version, even if an impossibility, probably would have had the most success.

 

[Nick66]

Pretty nice actually, good work.

I don't think it would have made much of a difference in how NLOTH sold, however. It has nothing to do w/your edit, I'm just not sure any song off that album would have moved that record much w/the general public, and I think the band's blaming the first single is a little simplistic. Most people (outside U2 fans) just didn't connect w/the album.

there's something about it (Breathe)..the chorus maybe..I dunno

You mean the fact that it doesn't have one?

 

[bazza]

MOS CANNOT be edited - it needs to only be appreciated in its full. its not a commercial song for people with attention spans of 3 minutes.
thanks anyway...

 

[DevilsShoes]

I'm glad Breathe was never released as single, to my ears it's just way too cumbersome. The chorus in particular sounds very awkward, I don't find it either melodic or memorable, just a bit forced. I can't see it having a much of a life on any future tours.

Still, I like that MOS edit, more immediate and purposeful than the album version which can drag a little.

I kind of agree with those that say there wasn't a single on NLOTH, I love Magnificent but feel any success would have been limited by the fact that it sounds very much like the kind of stuff U2 had been producing since the start of the decade.

I tend to think that truly great albums find a way to make a mark, no matter how little or well-known the artist, so in the end I feel it was a lack of good songs that let NLOTH down.

 

[lemonfly]

The single edit of Paranoid Android clocked in at 6m 23s. I'm not comparing MOS to PA (nor the modus operandis of U2 and Radiohead), but it you lop off three minutes from PA it pretty much wrecks the song. It loses it's essence. If U2 were going with MOS as the lead single, I think they needed to be a brave enough and cut off one minute AT THE VERY MOST.
It wouldn't have gotten much airplay, but for music fans with taste it would have made an impact. You can hear radio presenters going "And now, we have a very special piece of music which we don't get to play much...I hope you like it because I certainly do - U2 and Moment Of Surrender. Sit back and enjoy". It would be one of those songs that you specifically leave the radio on in hope of catching.

 

[BVS]

The single edit of Paranoid Android clocked in at 6m 23s. I'm not comparing MOS to PA (nor the modus operandis of U2 and Radiohead), but it you lop off three minutes from PA it pretty much wrecks the song. It loses it's essence. If U2 were going with MOS as the lead single, I think they needed to be a brave enough and cut off one minute AT THE VERY MOST.
It wouldn't have gotten much airplay, but for music fans with taste it would have made an impact. You can hear radio presenters going "And now, we have a very special piece of music which we don't get to play much...I hope you like it because I certainly do - U2 and Moment Of Surrender. Sit back and enjoy". It would be one of those songs that you specifically leave the radio on in hope of catching.

Different times, different formats. PA only got airplay because of an interesting video, very few radio formats even played it.

Unfortunately, no 6 min+ song would be played on any format now, unless it's a choose your own type of format.

Those days are dead.

 

[last unicorn]

fuck radio

this song is far too special to have mixed it up with the likes of lady gaga, katie perry, kelly clarkson, kings of leon etc.

I could see putting this out there on satellite radio, xm alt nation or some other format. But the clear channel national radio formats can go fuck themselves.

I agree. I hold MOS close to my heart and would hate to hear it struggling to get into the top 20 among all those horrible songs.

I hear ya..but let's not forget that WOWY got played amidst Wham Madonna Bon Jovi etc etc many people (not me) say the 80s had the shittiest music of all time

I loved the 80s though.

I love the 80s, too, and I personally don't think it was THAT bad a decade for music. 80s music, bands, style etc. may be considered ackward and embarrassing now, but compared to today's music it at least had style.

But yes, a song like WOWY was indeed something totally different and Bono has said many times that it was very unusual having a song like WOWY played on radio back then. I still think MOS is something completely different and I would hate to have a radio edit, because I feel this song is so special because of it's full length.

Maybe it's just hard to imagine a radio edit if you only know the album and an amazing live version of a song.

 

[digitize]

I thin that MOS in any form would have been the ideal single - preferably not edited, actually, though. The point wouldn't be to get on KISS FM. The point would have been to pander to serious "music people" and let word slowly leak out that U2 are releasing a credible new album.

 

[The Panther]

At the end of the day, I just don't really like 'Moment of Surrender'.

 

[elevated_u2_fan]

Thanks for sharing...

I would have lead off with Magnificent followed by MOS and then Breathe.

 

[Nick66]

At the end of the day, I just don't really like 'Moment of Surrender'.

Except that it's just the single best thing 00's U2 did.