Beach Clips Revisited

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Mark Freedman

War Child
Joined
Aug 26, 2000
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750
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Well, for some reason, I could never get a handle on the "beach" clips. But since the 22 second clips came out, I've re-listened to the beach clips reposted on YouTube, and now they all seem very clear to me. And it's gotten me more excited for the album than ever before.

Breathe - the clip is not representative of the better parts of this song, and is definitely one of those examples where the clip is misleading. I really, really like this song based upon the beach recording. It actually reminds me of Acrobat in a way. I can see this becoming a fan favorite in the same vein.

Magnificent - I think we're going to have to hear the high quality full version to see if this will be thought of as an "epic", on the same level of WOWY or One. From the beach recording, I'm seeing it more in line with Miracle Drug or Kite, both great, but which are one step down, IMO. Hard to hear any of the subtleties from the muffled sound, and without that, it just seems a tad repetitive. Great, classic Edge sound, though.

Unknown Caller - now this one seems more interesting than Magnificent. Another example of how the 22 second clip is not representative of the full song. The beach recording is definitely incomplete, but it appears that the 22 second clip is part of the intro. I love the driving bass on this one. Adam's song.

NLOTH - if the mood I hear on the 22 second clip is representative of the album version of the song, together with the B-side full recording mix we've heard, this will be a standout. Yes, I get some of the negative things people are saying about the B-side, but I have the feeling it'll be a lot better on the album based upon the clip.

Overall, from what we've heard, this album definitely seems to be a lot moodier and deeper than the last two albums. They appear to have shaken any tentativeness I've sensed when re-listening to ATYCLB and HTDAAB, and have approached the level of abandon they had in the JT / AB days. Exciting stuff.

I can't believe we were actually surprised that they still had it in them when ATYCLB came out almost a decade ago. They are very far from done, and I would be hard pressed to ever write them off again.
 
The beach clip for Breathe was bloody brilliant when the chorus kicked in. The walmart clip was indicative that it was still the same song, but it cut off before the chorus. Hopefully they kept it intact.

Also the Beach Clip for Magnificent shows his strongest voice yet (compared to every other clip and to be honest the clearest his voice has been in awhile) It reminded me of when he sang the Pavarotti verse for Miss Sarajevo in Vertigo Milan.

Skip to :56 on the magnificent beach clip and that's where you'll hear it.
 
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