corianderstem
Blue Crack Distributor
I vote yes. Book of Your Heart and the string version of Lights of Home are worth a few extra bucks.
Shuttlecock XX - Laz Is All You Have Left
- Thread starter lazarus
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david
ONE love, blood, life
Book of Your Heart is REALLY good.
martha
Blue Crack Supplier
Hmm. Maybe I'll round out an Amazon order with it.
I was like taken back at Bono rhyming heart with shart.
I'm listening to HTDAAB for LN7's little spreadsheet ranking party, and oh my god 'turn it up loud captain". It's enough to make you punch yourself in the face. Or Bono.
Also, it's amazing how energetic this sounds after listening to a few SOE songs.
Also, it's amazing how energetic this sounds after listening to a few SOE songs.
Hewson
Blue Crack Supplier
Right.
Its better than half the material on the album, but not as crazy good as the fanatic in Cobbler's quote claims.
At least you can hear Edge in the song.
OP
OP
lazarus
Blue Crack Supplier
Yeah, Edge is actually alive on it. Great perf from Bono, too. As I said in my original review, there's a Latin vibe there at the song's climax from both of them, around the "Babe I don't belong to you..." part.
There's probably about 8 songs on SOE I like better (basically from Summer of Love to the end), but that's testament to how much of the album I really enjoy. It definitely makes my custom track listing.
There's probably about 8 songs on SOE I like better (basically from Summer of Love to the end), but that's testament to how much of the album I really enjoy. It definitely makes my custom track listing.
iron yuppie
ONE love, blood, life
I only listened to it once or twice, but mood-wise it certainly fits the album a hell of a lot better than the Blackout.
intedomine
Rock n' Roll Doggie FOB
Book of Your Heart isn't a classic but I really like it and wish it had found it's way on to the album proper.
I struggle with the track listing of SOE and find the mix of songs to be pretty all over the shop. I might need to consider creating my own version of SOE. A starting point for me would be removing Get Out of Your Own Way and American Soul. They could be better off as a standalone single (GOOYOW The A-side) which leaves mewith 12 tracks to work with. I'd probably shed Lights of Home and Love is Bigger and add in Book of Your Heart, providing a lovely little collection of 10 decent enough songs.
I struggle with the track listing of SOE and find the mix of songs to be pretty all over the shop. I might need to consider creating my own version of SOE. A starting point for me would be removing Get Out of Your Own Way and American Soul. They could be better off as a standalone single (GOOYOW The A-side) which leaves mewith 12 tracks to work with. I'd probably shed Lights of Home and Love is Bigger and add in Book of Your Heart, providing a lovely little collection of 10 decent enough songs.
Yes, removing two of the album's best songs is a brilliant idea. Let's also remove WOWY and One Tree Hill from JT to make room for Luminous Times.
OP
OP
lazarus
Blue Crack Supplier
I've been sitting on this for a while, unsure if I'd made the right choices, cuz this was a hard one to do compared to previous album.
1. Love Is All
2. Love Is Bigger
3. The Best Thing
4. The Showman
5. [Preacher's Blessing] *(see below)
6. American Soul
7. The Blackout
8. Summer Of Love
9. Red Flag Day
10. Landlady
11. Book Of Your Heart
12. The Little Things
13. Lights Of Home (string version)
14. There Is A Light
I tried to move most of the catchier up to the front, I think the Love-Love and Light-Light pairings make good thematic bookends, and Love Is Bigger just makes more sense coming off Love Is All. Both it and Lights Of Home are similar in that thematically they can work as mission statements as well as summations, so I went with what sounded more appropriate.
So you have the more personal but upbeat section in the first movement, followed by the political. I absolutely despise Get Out, but I didn't want to lose the bulk of Kendrick's speech. Luckily a new guitar line begins near the end of Get Out before he appears and if you set iTunes to start the track at 3:32:5 it picks up right there and doesn't sound abrupt at all. If for some reason you are able to stomach Get Out, I think it works fine here anyway because it fits on the release version. The Blackout's raw guitar opening segues great coming off the end of American Soul, but its ending is moodier, which makes a nice transition to Summer Of Love. Red Flag Day is a similar groove-based track so I didn't mess with that original pairing. The guitars on Red Flag and Landlady seemed complementary (the latter minus percussion at first), and since there is a romantic element in both I thought it fair to bridge those two as we move back to the personal for the album's final section. Landlady going into Book of Your Heart puts the two Ali/marriage songs together and since Book sounds so different sonically from the rest of the album I think it works best out of the relatively sparse Landlady, and its nighttime vibe goes into the long dark night of the soul depicted in The Little Things.
I never felt Love Is Bigger was enough of a showstopper number for the penultimate slot because of its too-brief crescendo and then the reprise of the introductory oh-oh-ohs robbing it of a feeling of finality. In its place as mentioned above I put Lights of Home, with the string mix giving it a sense of drama that makes it perfect for its slot. It has an equally rousing sing-along like Love Is Bigger, but is allowed to continue longer, and then you have the string outro which just sounds more appropriate for the end of an album. Last you have the typical downbeat coda of There Is A Light, which doesn't fit anywhere else and is IMO a great closer in terms of its sound and thematics.
1. Love Is All
2. Love Is Bigger
3. The Best Thing
4. The Showman
5. [Preacher's Blessing] *(see below)
6. American Soul
7. The Blackout
8. Summer Of Love
9. Red Flag Day
10. Landlady
11. Book Of Your Heart
12. The Little Things
13. Lights Of Home (string version)
14. There Is A Light
I tried to move most of the catchier up to the front, I think the Love-Love and Light-Light pairings make good thematic bookends, and Love Is Bigger just makes more sense coming off Love Is All. Both it and Lights Of Home are similar in that thematically they can work as mission statements as well as summations, so I went with what sounded more appropriate.
So you have the more personal but upbeat section in the first movement, followed by the political. I absolutely despise Get Out, but I didn't want to lose the bulk of Kendrick's speech. Luckily a new guitar line begins near the end of Get Out before he appears and if you set iTunes to start the track at 3:32:5 it picks up right there and doesn't sound abrupt at all. If for some reason you are able to stomach Get Out, I think it works fine here anyway because it fits on the release version. The Blackout's raw guitar opening segues great coming off the end of American Soul, but its ending is moodier, which makes a nice transition to Summer Of Love. Red Flag Day is a similar groove-based track so I didn't mess with that original pairing. The guitars on Red Flag and Landlady seemed complementary (the latter minus percussion at first), and since there is a romantic element in both I thought it fair to bridge those two as we move back to the personal for the album's final section. Landlady going into Book of Your Heart puts the two Ali/marriage songs together and since Book sounds so different sonically from the rest of the album I think it works best out of the relatively sparse Landlady, and its nighttime vibe goes into the long dark night of the soul depicted in The Little Things.
I never felt Love Is Bigger was enough of a showstopper number for the penultimate slot because of its too-brief crescendo and then the reprise of the introductory oh-oh-ohs robbing it of a feeling of finality. In its place as mentioned above I put Lights of Home, with the string mix giving it a sense of drama that makes it perfect for its slot. It has an equally rousing sing-along like Love Is Bigger, but is allowed to continue longer, and then you have the string outro which just sounds more appropriate for the end of an album. Last you have the typical downbeat coda of There Is A Light, which doesn't fit anywhere else and is IMO a great closer in terms of its sound and thematics.
Hewson
Blue Crack Supplier
OK, so here's what U2 should have put out combining SOI and SOE and tossing out all the dreck (could have released that separately as an album call Songs of Excrement)
Using only the album tracks, and I'll do 12 tracks, averaging the 2 albums:
1. Reach Around
2. The Blackout
3. Lights of Home
4. The Troubles
5. Raised By Wolves
6. The Showman
7. Love is All We Have Left
8. Sleep Like a Baby Tonight
9. Summer Of Love
10. Red Flag Day
11. Cedarwood Road
12. The Little Things That Give You Away
Reach Around opens like it was originally intended for SOI and Little Things closes like it was originally intended for SOE.
Love Is All would open side 2 in a traditional album format.
Deluxe version would include bonus tracks Crystal Ballroom and Book of Your Heart and maybe Iris and no acoustic versions of anything would ever see the light of day,
Using only the album tracks, and I'll do 12 tracks, averaging the 2 albums:
1. Reach Around
2. The Blackout
3. Lights of Home
4. The Troubles
5. Raised By Wolves
6. The Showman
7. Love is All We Have Left
8. Sleep Like a Baby Tonight
9. Summer Of Love
10. Red Flag Day
11. Cedarwood Road
12. The Little Things That Give You Away
Reach Around opens like it was originally intended for SOI and Little Things closes like it was originally intended for SOE.
Love Is All would open side 2 in a traditional album format.
Deluxe version would include bonus tracks Crystal Ballroom and Book of Your Heart and maybe Iris and no acoustic versions of anything would ever see the light of day,
Hewson
Blue Crack Supplier
Sorry, Love is Bigger blows.
I almost gave that slot to Iris, but nothing else deserves the cut.
I almost gave that slot to Iris, but nothing else deserves the cut.
LemonMelon
More 5G Than Man
Love Is Bigger is one of the 6-8 salvageable songs across both albums.
The Showman definitely needs to go with that horrendous chorus it has. Just eww.
The Showman definitely needs to go with that horrendous chorus it has. Just eww.
Hewson
Blue Crack Supplier
The chorus is weak, but I find the verses pretty strong.
phanan
Blue Crack Addict
Love Is Bigger is ok at best; I certainly don't rate it as highly as the album's best tracks.
I prefer SOI to SOE, and would simply take SOE's three best tracks, and add them to the beginning of SOI, along with Invisible, to make one excellent album.
1. Invisible
2. The Blackout
3. Lights Of Home
4. The Little Things That Give You Away
5. Iris
6. Volcano
7. Raised By Wolves
8. Cedarwood Road
9. Sleep Like A Baby Tonight
10. This Is Where You Can Reach Me Now
11. The Troubles
As a Deluxe set, I'd add the following as an EP:
1. Crystal Ballroom
2. Summer Of Love
3. Red Flag Day
4. The Showman
5. Landlady
6. Book Of Your Heart
I tried to come up with a listenable order for SOE, and unfortunately it won't work unless I put a couple of weaker tracks on there (most notably Best Thing), but it's still an improvement over the original:
1. Love Is All We Have Left
2. The Blackout
3. Lights Of Home
4. The Little Things That Give You Away
5. You're The Best Thing About Me
6. Book Of Your Heart
7. Summer Of Love
8. Red Flag Day
9. The Showman
10. Landlady
11. Love Is Bigger
12. There Is A Light
For all the flak we give them about sequencing, it really only comes down to one or two misplaced songs that tend to fuck it all up. My changes aren't as dramatic as others - moving a song like The Blackout to the front makes this gel much better. Of course, getting rid of the worst songs help.
I prefer SOI to SOE, and would simply take SOE's three best tracks, and add them to the beginning of SOI, along with Invisible, to make one excellent album.
1. Invisible
2. The Blackout
3. Lights Of Home
4. The Little Things That Give You Away
5. Iris
6. Volcano
7. Raised By Wolves
8. Cedarwood Road
9. Sleep Like A Baby Tonight
10. This Is Where You Can Reach Me Now
11. The Troubles
As a Deluxe set, I'd add the following as an EP:
1. Crystal Ballroom
2. Summer Of Love
3. Red Flag Day
4. The Showman
5. Landlady
6. Book Of Your Heart
I tried to come up with a listenable order for SOE, and unfortunately it won't work unless I put a couple of weaker tracks on there (most notably Best Thing), but it's still an improvement over the original:
1. Love Is All We Have Left
2. The Blackout
3. Lights Of Home
4. The Little Things That Give You Away
5. You're The Best Thing About Me
6. Book Of Your Heart
7. Summer Of Love
8. Red Flag Day
9. The Showman
10. Landlady
11. Love Is Bigger
12. There Is A Light
For all the flak we give them about sequencing, it really only comes down to one or two misplaced songs that tend to fuck it all up. My changes aren't as dramatic as others - moving a song like The Blackout to the front makes this gel much better. Of course, getting rid of the worst songs help.
It's almost like the backing vocals are Edge's note to self, or to Bono. "Placeholder, redo later with something a little more better."
mikal
Blue Crack Addict
Phanan, I like your tracklist. I miss GOOYOW but it looks like it would flow really well.
intedomine
Rock n' Roll Doggie FOB
Or remove One and Ultraviolet from Achtung Baby?
Love is Bigger is fairly ordinary for mine. I don't find it engaging and tend to lose interest while it plays. I need the album to keep me engaged.
I quite like Lights of Home, but it's the same deal. It's not powerful enough for me to want it to be on the album proper.
intedomine
Rock n' Roll Doggie FOB
I like the reasoning behind this track listing and it actually looks like it'd roll pretty nicely. Might give it a crack.
mikal
Blue Crack Addict
I finally got my CD from U2.com. Can’t wait to finally listen to the album today! I’ll post my review ASAP
BoMac
Self-righteous bullshitter
I got my CD as well.
I’m having a really hard time reading the liner notes, especially Bono’s letter. I tried, but eventually gave up.
Is it because the font and colour scheme make it difficult to read? Or am I getting old? I choose the former.
I’m having a really hard time reading the liner notes, especially Bono’s letter. I tried, but eventually gave up.
Is it because the font and colour scheme make it difficult to read? Or am I getting old? I choose the former.
redhill
Refugee
corianderstem
Blue Crack Distributor
I haven't heard anything from Ticketmaster about my free CDs or downloads that should have come with the tickets I bought.
Not that I'm waiting for them so I can get the CD, but LOLTICKETMASTER.
Not that I'm waiting for them so I can get the CD, but LOLTICKETMASTER.
joyfulgirl
Blue Crack Addict
- Joined
- Apr 11, 2001
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I got my two free CDs last week and have been listening in the car for a week now. That is more than I listened to SOI, so that says something. But there is nothing I love, though a lot is enjoyable, but it's hard to get past the lyrics. As others have said, I would not have given it more than a couple of listens had it not been U2. Some catchy tunes that wear thin quickly, cringe worthy lyrics throughout, and some good moments but nothing truly captivating. It all sounds kind of dated and out of step, particularly the cliché positive affirmations which I find so grating and embarrassing. Still, I can imagine some of these songs being great live, and I still look forward to seeing the tour.
mikal
Blue Crack Addict
I was listening to a playlist I made of both SOI & SOE and it hit me how lucky we are to have such a strong 2 album run so late in U2’s career. There are no songs on either album that I have any want to skip. I think I do prefer SOE just because it has higher highs and The Little Things, but SOE still has that strong run at the end.
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