Songs of Innocence (Bonus Disc) Discussion

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Sleep Like A Baby Tonight [Alternative Perspective]
Again, album version is better. Again for the same reasons of "The Troubles". Here the lyrical issue I mentioned above is even more - the lyrics sound rushed/underworked in rhymes/metric structure. I also miss the "in yaaoouuur driiieeeams" of the album version. Plus, I like the subtle way it starts (specially with no percursion), but the mixing sounds weirder (specially in the bridge - around 3:30).

You will notice it starts the way the first perspective ends (and i think ends the way the other starts - correct me if im wrong)-remember this is not another version - it is a difference perspective.
 
Lucifer's Hands, great beginning, great end, they just had no idea what to stick in the middle there :doh:

Man Crystal Ballroom was not what I expected at all, I'm liking it alot, think this would have gone well with This is Where You Could Reach Me Now, either before or after

Sleep like a baby tonight just as good as the album version, that alternative perspective was a surprise, quite literal. Lol.

Troubles = meh, album version is the clear winner, not terrible but they definetly made the right call

As for the acoustics, i don't understand how a mid 50's Bono sounds better then late 30's/early 40's Bono, but man does he ever, especially on EBW
 
What does Raised by Wolves sound like? That seems like the one least asking for an acoustic version. Interested to learn how it works.
 
DomCobb said:
What does Raised by Wolves sound like? That seems like the one least asking for an acoustic version. Interested to learn how it works.
Click to expand...


Really good actually. One of the highlights of the acoustic tracks.


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He sings "raised..." in a different tone...the word is sung slower and more drawn out. It's a full band acoustic too, not stripped down as you might expect. I think it's pretty great and powerful version.


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Sorry if this isn't popular. But while I'm grateful for the above and beyond extras they gave us, I don't think they're that great. The 2 new song are okay, but definetly b-sides imo. Invisible deserves its own song, not just a hidden track, the new mix is incredible. I just don't think any of the acoustics, except maybe Raised By Wolves and Cedarwood Road are nearly as good as the originals. But that's mostly because I don't like either of the album versions. I'm disappointed that there's no Volcano acoustic, that would've been awesome. Just an acoustic bass and Bono, it'd be a very different kinda acoustic.


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I took some time out to write my review as I listen to the new songs.
These are just my humble opinions as a U2 fan ,
I do not work for Rolling Stone magazine!


01.Lucifer's Hands
Great rock song. Nice hard beats and a very very familiar guitar riff that many
fans have heard before in past concerts - Return of the Stingray.
This is a great rock song , sounding very much like some late 1970s songs I have
heard before.
Even though this is an entirelly new song, it has its sound roots with
music from Marc Bolan and T.Rex. If you know what I am talking about, you will
understand my point of view and why I say T.Rex.
That heavy guitar riff sound , the drumming, the bass.
To my ears its a 1970s rocker, and a damn good one too.

Many years ago U2 paid homage to Marc Bolan and T.Rex by playing "Children Of The Revolution"
Perhaps you have heard it before?
You will hear some similarities in that heavy rocking sounds in this new song too. Its Glam-rock!


02. The Crystal Ballroom
This song has a very familiar back beat style from a CLASH song, also some synthesizer-organ from a
Blondie style song . But its not Clash or Blondie, this is U2.
It´s a very electro-retro new-wave-rock type of song. Hard to describe it , really.
Very groovy, very good rock. Good vibes!
Reminds me of the late 1970s--early 1980s very much.


03. Every Breaking Wave
A piano song. A beautiful melody and this song sounds perfect with
just Bono singing to it. In the background some violins make their presence in
accompanying the piano + singer and later go into full John Williams mode!
Just beautiful and very romantic.
Hollywood directors, take notice, you will want to use this song in your next film!


04. California
A much diferent version from the already released song. This is a top notch song. Well played
and sung throughout. I like the idea of adding some trumpets and trombones to it. Spices it up
and takes it back to the late 1970s Motown sound.
The chorus part is also exceptional.


05. Cedarwood Road
A much simpler song than what was heard before, but not letting it go to waste.
Groovy guitar playing with accompaniment by some violins and cello (a quartet?)
make it sound very good.
Bonos voice is also in great form here in this song.


06. Raised By Wolves
Another stripped down version of the original. Sounding diferent but not letting go of
its power and rage. It´s still a song about a terrorist bombing. You can feel the anger
in Bonos voice and the band hits hard on the rhythm and drums when its time to hit it hard.
It also has a horn instrument section accompaniment.
Somehow I have a feeling about the horn instruments used on here, I have heard something similar before,
it reminds me of some of Bjorks songs. They sound very much alike.


07.Sleep Like A Baby Tonight (Alternative Perspective Mix)
Some diferent lyrics on this one. But its not an acoustic version, more of a dance type
version, but no Hip-Hop discoteque tune.
Very powerful sounding bass in some parts. Overall its a very good song remix.


07-b- There is a hidden track which follows the end of this song, it´s "Invisible".
Sounding a little diferent from the already heard version.


08. Song For Someone
Piano is the main instrument on this song, but the rest of the band does not keep quiet.
Once more Bonos voice is amazing with the melody of this song. If you liked the other version
already heard , you will also love this one. They could be played back to back and still sound
perfect together.


09 The Miracle (Busker Version)
An acoustic version of the rocking song already heard. Its one of those sing-a-long type of songs.
A few hands clapping will get the crowd singing to this song in concerts, for sure.
Personally I do like the reverb-echo used on the hand-claps, but that is my personal taste in
this song version. It could have been done a little diferent.
I will have to wait for the "re-mix version". Perhaps next century.

10. The Troubles (Alternate Version)
The violins and chorus is just heavenly-like on this song. I am sure Edge and 3 other
people are singing the chorus. Its just so beautiful.
The songs melody just twists and slithers around your body and head like a snake.
Of course Bono here is the snake-charmer singing to you and your troubles.
Great voice once again from the "crooner" and with some diferent lyrics too.
I´m just looping this song over an over. It is that good and sensual.


Overall, it is a GREAT second CD for this Son gs of Innocence!
Score = ********* 9 Stars (out of 10)
I will buy this record! I reccomend it!
Thank you U2 for another incredible sounding record to light up our daily lives :applaud:
 
I'd give this bonus album an 7.7/10. It's still much better than Atomic Bomb. (I know, not much of an accomplishment, if at all)


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Lucifer's Hands - Such a killer riff, love that it survived and made it into a studio recording. I also think they did a good job of building a song around it, but more so in the choruses and verses. The bridge is.... confused. Needed more time in the cooker or something. 7/10

The Crystal Ballroom - Holy hell, this song. Gents, WHY ISN'T THIS ON THE ALBUM!? Amazing track, sounds so fresh and groovy, totally new for the guys. And Edge's guitar solo is ace... the mixing here is really neat how it fades and pans from side to side. Larry and Adam also really kill it on this song, I'm really surprised at how much I'm loving this. 9/10

EBW Acoustic - Very solid, Bono's voice here is incredible. I like the arrangement, probably the best out of all of the acoustic sessions.

California - Translates better to acoustic than I would have thought, but it doesn't quite have the "warmth" that the album version does with the killer synth's. I enjoy the different take on the song, though. Great chorus.

Cedarwood Road - Again, solid arrangement. Not a lot of comments on this other than it's solid and it's nice to hear that acoustic riff come through that was present on the album.

Raised By Wolves - Starts empty but really opens up once they hit the chorus... which was intended I imagine. I think the opening section is much better with the full band version but Bono's vocals on the chorus here are incredible.

SLABT - Solid, but album version clearly surpasses it. (my personal favorite on the album) There are some things here that I like more than the album version, but some things were cut (the huge distortion on Edge's guitar when he first comes in is one of the coolest parts of the original and isn't here...) and the vocals have some awkward moment. I'm glad to have the alternate but the album version is clearly better.

Invisibile - Damn, I had forgotten how much I liked this song. The intro is something special... one of the best lead-ins to a song I think they've ever done and I'm glad they've extended it here. The outro also works well with the elongated "there is no them" bits. Good stuff, glad it made it onto the album!

Miracle - Meh, rotten egg of disc 2 IMO. Miracle works well enough electric because of the guitars and high energy, but it's just sort of a confused song with an unmemorable melody. Pass.

Troubles - Annnnnd the second rotten egg of disc 2 goes to this one. Song really suffers without the "somebody stepped..." refrain, and replacing that with "somebody tell me what to say" or whatever actually made me laugh. Arrangement isn't any better and Lykke's influence is clearly missing. Pass, but I love that they are giving us alternate takes at these songs. True fan service.

And that's really the bottom line, a lot of this feels like fan service. We get two really great B-sides, 6 candid and pretty raw acoustic versions of the songs on the album in order to cement them in the catalogue, and some alternate looks at two of the best songs on the album. So happy they decided to put out a deluxe version like this, I am pleased!
 
I'm glad that they gave us some interesting acoustic/alternate versions of some songs, but I'm not feeling them, as I find the original versions to be so much better.

However, the two B-sides and the "extended" version of Invisible are fantastic. :applaud:
 
Well this bonus disc is absolutely nothing to write home about. I've listened to it twice today and I doubt I'll listen to it in full again.

Lucifer's Hands and Crystal Ballroom are alright, but have pretty much gone in one ear and out the other.

Acoustic EBW is tedious, and Bono's singing is just terrible. He's all over the place, jumping higher or going falsetto for random syllables.

Really, most of the acoustic versions add absolutely nothing. Cedarwood Road, for instance, is a complete snooze, lacking any of the bite of the album version that made it one of the best things U2 have done in years. Nothing can save Song for Someone from being generic and the busker version of The Miracle is muddled. Raised By Wolves... it's not very exciting, but at least it loses the annoying breathing. California is the only one to obviously improve, thanks to that stupid intro being cut.

I have no strong opinion on the alt Sleep Like a Baby Tonight, in much the same way as I don't have a strong opinion on the album version. Invisible being tacked on as a hidden track - in the middle of the damn disc, no less - is just weird and awkward. The differences between this and the edit must be pretty trifling because I haven't noticed them.

And U2 definitely made the right decision on which version of The Troubles to put on the album. The album version wipes the floor with the alt version.
 
Where are these songs?


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Axver said:
Cedarwood Road, for instance, is a complete snooze, lacking any of the bite of the album version

And U2 definitely made the right decision on which version of The Troubles to put on the album. The album version wipes the floor with the alt version.
Click to expand...
Definitely.
 
Aygo said:

The Troubles [Alternative Version]
I only noticed now that this version is halftone(?) above the album version.
The album version is superior to me. Don't like the mixing of the tracks, don't like some of the lyrics (which sound underworked or rushed, specially in rhytmics/rhymes). But I prefer the way it ends rather than the abrupt fade out of the album version.
Click to expand...

I wonder if someone will be able to take this ending and fuse it onto the album version.
 
Is this streaming online anywhere yet?

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These acoustic sessions are actually really nice. Those complaining of Bono's voice probably never heard it this dry, I'm surprised a live recording has so little reverb. His voice actually sounds pretty good.

And for those saying they are not really acoustic, I'm curious as to why you think this?
 
BVS said:
His voice actually sounds pretty good.
Click to expand...

No it doesn't.

But then I'm one of these people who thinks he hasn't sounded particularly good since about 1993, so we're probably not going to see eye to eye.
 
It's only a few days until the physical version comes out - I'd rather just wait & hear them then. Otherwise it sort of spoils it no? :shrug:
 
My first impression is that it's alright. Just alright:

+ I'm not particularly keen on Lucifer's Hands. It meanders on forever in search of God knows what and never finds it. Very forgettable.

+ The Crystal Ballroom is pretty cool, I don't mind this one :up: The bass! I love it :D

+ The acoustic songs aren't particularly captivating or well done, the arrangements are just too simplistic to be interesting (I think California and Raised by Wolves are the best of these). They sound like half baked demos rather than stripped down adaptations.

+ The alternate versions are ok. I don't think any of them add anything to the original, but there's nothing really offensive about them either. The main thing that stood out to me was that The Troubles really needs Lykke Li. I didn't realise how great/important her voice was until it wasn't there.

+ Invisible is just disappointing. Really, really pointless changes. The mix seems a lot clearer, which is great, but I don't think that doubling the instrumental sections was necessary. It adds nothing to song, it just stretches out parts that don't need to be stretched out.

Overall, nothing incredible and certainly nothing that should be on the album in place of anything else, but it's always great to have these things. So I'm still happy to have it! It's worth getting for the Crystal Ballroom alone, anyway. So that's something :lol:
 
Yeah, to say Bono's voice sounds great on these alternate versions is a total misstep. Not only does he sound a little off and rough on tracks like the acoustic Every Breaking Wave, but they've also weirdly turned his ragged vocals up very loud in these mixes. People due tend to confuse loudness with great singing...Bono shouts a hell of a lot in concert and it doesn't mean he's singing particularly well when he does that. His range as a performer clearly topped out in the early 90's with that falsetto on "Lemon"


The tracks:

1. Lucifer's Hands - One of the worst U2 b-sides ever recorded. Literally not one element worth writing home about. *

2. The Crystal Balllroom - Better than almost anything else they've done over the last two years. Hell, I'd only take "California" over it. Glossy production and a very sumptuous rhythm. Why they put embarrassing rockers and adult contemporary snoozefests like "Song for Someone" on the album instead of this I'll never understand... ****

3. Every Breaking Wave - Terrible vocal performance from Bono...nothing interesting being done by the rest of the instrumentation. *

4. California (Acoustic) - Not too bad. Bono sings it well. The horns don't add much, but are at least an interesting detour. ***

5. Cedarwood Road (Acoustic) - A relatively limp album track is now diluted of all of its power. Pointless take. *

6. Raised By Wolves (Acoustic) - Just shows how poor this one is from a songwriting perspective...it's only interesting to those fans that will accept U2 rocking out whenever possible. Without the same intensity and loudness of the album cut, it serves no real purpose. *

Also, this really begs the question, why the hell is Iris not on this bonus disc? If any song could have led to an interesting (and probably superior) acoustic take, it's this one.

7. Sleep Like A Baby Tonight (Alternate Perspective Mix) - I'm a fan of Mr. Tchad Blake. Well, I know he did the last great Pearl Jam record, Binuaural, and I absolutely loved the production on that one. This version basically lowers the intensity of the original by letting you dwell in everything a bit more. The music is less direct and more enveloping. It's an entirely different experience and far, more interesting from a production standpoint. But it also doesn't hold your interest nearly as much as the other take and kind of meanders too much to make an impact. I'm usually training my ears to hear the cool noises in the background than to pay attention to the actual meat of the song. That said, I'd love to see Tchad Blake take on at least an entire side of a U2 album. Would have been more interesting than SOI if this is any gauge. ***

Also, are people not getting the joke about Invisible being a hidden track? Kind of clever...

8. Song for Someone (Acoustic Sessions) - There's no salvaging this nonsense. *

9. The Miracle (Busker Version) - Already a meat-and-potatoes rocker that you would expect from the band that hit success with Elevation/Vertigo/All Because of You and then attempted to repeat that magic with Get On Your Boots...it's so U2-by-the-numbers, but really just U2-in-the-last-ten-years-by-the-numbers. The busker mix is a U2-acoustic-in-the-last-fifteen-years-by-the-numbers. Bleh. *

10. The Troubles (Alternative Version) - One of the album's better tracks, but too unfinished here and there's not enough stark differences to make this mix worth returning too. **


Tracks Worth Keeping From The Last Year:

1. Ordinary Love (Paul Epworth Remix)
2. Invisible (RED edit)
3. Every Breaking Wave
4. California (There Is No End To Love)
5. The Crystal Ballroom

Three More Interesting Ones That Aren't Fully Realized:

6. Sleep Like A Baby Tonight
7. This Is Where You Can Reach Me Now
8. The Troubles
 
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