Every Breaking Wave - Song Discussion

[Danny Boy]

I think some stations have been playing the acoustic version from the album.

 

[Cancer45]

Hope this helps. This is from u2wanderer.org

2015-01-23> Universal Records is starting to circulate a new version of "Every Breaking Wave" to radio. The version is similar to the performances of the song last October at the EMAs and at the Bambi Awards. It appears to be a new studio recording and is 4:36 in length. The song made it's debut yesterday on the Today FM radio station in Dublin. Expect that a commercially available version of the recording to be available soon as a single, likely only as a digital release. Original plans had called for the release to be January 12 according to the UK Promo CDR that has been circulating since November. That particular promotional CDR contains the album version of "Every Breaking Wave" with only a slight edit at the end, and not this new version. It is not known if a second promotional CDR will be pressed with this new version.

 

[Danny Boy]

Yeah, that's the version I'm talking about, and the same one that is now on YouTube and Soundcloud.

But both of those are from the same original broadcast. Just wondering if anyone has heard this new version on the radio anywhere else. I'm hoping they eventually make it available for download.

 

[gvox]

Why the fuck isn't this on my phone already

 

[Danny Boy]

I know, right?

 

[Nick66]

I'm hardly a big defender of SoI, and I mostly agree with you that people were never particularly likely to connect with SoI in the way that U2 would love.

However, I do think that the Apple debacle probably turned some people off from taking the album seriously, and the lack of a US promo tour somewhat dented U2's only hope at turning things around a bit. Not making the whole world connect with the album, but with making a non-negligible number of people interested in the album.

I agree that the release method probably turned off some people, I just don't think it "killed " the record. In other words, I don't believe a lot of people rejected U2 and their music solely because the release method turned them off. I think too much was made of that. I just don't think most people (meaning, not U2 fans) responded to the music, nor do I think the music really entered into the cultural zeitgeist the band always wants their music to. The record certainly did, but not because of the music. Of course, this is just my general sense, and I don't have any "proof" other than observing pop culture to back it up. Just my opinion.

This debate on whether the iTunes thing hurt or helped SOI has been going on here since the week it was released, and I've sort of gone back and forth on it. The argument I heard most was "no publicity is bad publicity", but I'm really staring to think that in this case that isn't really true. I used to think that U2 just wanted people to be talking about them and be "relevant"...but I'm not sure this did what they wanted. If ALL they wanted was to not be ignored (which is what I think they were afraid of) they certainly accomplished that. If they wanted to be loved and relevant again...no, I don't think so. Not relevant for the music they made, anyway.

If U2 had just released this record the traditional way, it would have made a splash to some degree since it was a U2 record. They would have sold a respectable number of copies, but probably not even as much as NLOTH (the band themselves have conceded this). Then it would have just sort of faded away.

So they did the iTunes thing, made a huge splash, got everyone talking about it, but the bulk of the buzz was negative. They really didn't sell many copies because they gave the thing away, and then it just sort of faded away.

So the end result in both scenarios is the same...the record itself never really did much, except in the latter case they had all the negative mocking to boot. I don't think most rock bands want to be in the position where they're being mocked. Hate is OK..but being mocked is not cool. Add to that that they really don't have any record sales to speak of, whereas a traditional release would have most likely at least moved a few million copies worldwide. Probably. Maybe. Financially for them I guess it's a wash and doesn't really matter, since the tour is where all the dollars, pounds and euros are anyway.

So it's hard to see the iTunes thing as nothing but a net negative...though perhaps a minor one, since the tour will do fine, which is really the point. And the tour will certainly get people talking about U2 again, the most likely in a positive way, but I don't think it will do much for the record.

And for anyone who thinks that SOI would have done better than the last record because they think the music's better, remember that every record since AYCLB has sold less than the previous one. So really, if you want to know how this record would have done had it been released the traditional way, all you have to do is look at NLOTH, then subtract.

 

[The Disciple]

CAN WE JUST DISCUSS THE DAMN SONG & SAVE THE OTHER COMMENTS FOR THE THREADS THEY BELONG ON? Jesus, I swear, this forum...

 

[CosmoKramer]

CAN WE JUST DISCUSS THE DAMN SONG & SAVE THE OTHER COMMENTS FOR THE THREADS THEY BELONG ON? Jesus, I swear, this forum...

I still love the song. The album version is amazing, the acoustic album cut is good and the new "single" acoustic cut is really good.

I initially rated this song a 9/10 but I give it a 10/10 now. In the 2000's, I would rank it in the top 3 or 4 U2 songs(hell, it would be ranked top 3 or 4 since Zooropa for me).


I really hope they do a full band "electric" version in the tour but I'm afraid that this might go the route of SATS and be stripped down only(although stripped down EBW is pretty kick ass for acoustic).

That's all I got to say about the song...


Sent from my iPad using U2 Interference

 

[ozeeko]

Let's just say that ALL these factors, the release method, the accident, the music, their age, their reputation, Edge's skullcap...all these things may have impacted the album in a negative way. Maybe some factors more so than others (like Edge's hat) <---Just kidding. In the end, who knows?

 

[Nick66]

CAN WE JUST DISCUSS THE DAMN SONG & SAVE THE OTHER COMMENTS FOR THE THREADS THEY BELONG ON? Jesus, I swear, this forum...

Yeah, it's a good song. A pretty, pretty, pretty, good tune. My favourite part is where Bono rhymes "defeat" with "feet".

What did you think of that bit?

 

[Diemen]

Time for the next thread...