I blame Mike Hedges!

[philod]

Hey guys and gals,

As a first-time poster, I am sorry if I've already missed the boat on this (after all, it is 2 years old!), so feel free to direct me to an archived thread, but.......

....in my feverish excitement for new U2 music, I finally bought the Best of 1990-2000 yesterday, in the hope of hearing some new takes on old songs from Pop, courtesy of Mike Hedges madspit

However, I REALLY didn't like what they'd done to Discotheque and Staring at the Sun. Discotheque has none of the industrial background noises it had before (nor some of the cool riffs), and the beginning is now ultra-feeble, whilst Staring at the Sun has become a complete plod-a-thon.

They seemed to have applied the stripped-down nature of the production of ATYCLB to all these songs, and whilst they did put some extra things into Gone (although there are still things which I miss there ), they just seem to have taken out almost everything from these 2 songs.

Anyway (rant over), I was wondering if you guys thought that this approach to mixing the songs in this way was more indicative of how the band approached these songs having just recorded ATYCLB (i.e. due to the Eno-Lanois influence), or whether this represents a new approach more generally to production, and how that might influence the sound of the new album?

Thanks for letting me share.

 

[brownda7]

Hi and welcome,

This is discussed all the time so I'm sure you'll find plenty of people who agree with you and dissagree.

I actuallly prefer the remixes of discotheque and gone but do agree with you on SATS.

I thought that the band simply thought that these (best of 90-00) are the finished versions of the songs since they didn't complete the album.

 

[philod]

Thanks for the welcome.

I like Gone about the same as before, but Discotheque sounds to me like they just tried to capture the live (Popmart) version in the studio. Now usually I'm a fan of that, but because it was a b-stage song they decided to strip it right down, and it almost flies in the face of their stance of using the studio 'as an instrument'.

Maybe it would be easier to take if I had never heard the original verison........

 

[bcrt2000]

actually i said previously that i liked the SATS remix, I take it back, but I do like the Gone remix

 

[U2girl]

I enjoy all those remixes. Discotheque finally sounds like an actual band playing, Gone got the live energy, SATS got more Edge vocals and some cool rhytms added.

 

[philod]

I have to say I don't hear the cool rhythms in SATS, but I do agree the Edge vocals are cool (maybe even a little too low in the mix?). Gone I think is good - more prominent bass and the guitar overdub in the chorus.

I just thought the opening/closing of Discotheque were cool as they were, and some of the little riffs have also been taken out. It is very much a 'band' sound though, and maybe that is the vibe they were going for. Having said that, they have long spoken of their intention to use the 'studio as an instrument' and that seems to fly in the face of this mix......

 

[rjhbonovox]

Got to agree about The Staring at The Sun remix on best of. Compared to the original its crap.

 

[philod]

But I have no takers for the poor Discotheque remix??

Does anyone out there prefer the Pop version?

 

[bcrt2000]

Everyone likes the boom-chas of the original version

 

[philod]

What about the original Pop opening? Surely better than a single keyboard chord......

 

[philod]

....and the cool effects on Edge's riff, not to mention Larry's cool fill straight after that......Man I love Pop.

 

[Roland of Gilead]

Gone and Discotheque were great remixes on the Best Of. That being said, I love the original versions too. The remix of Numb was the only one I can truly say was miles better than the album version. As for SATS, well, that remix I find I skip a lot.

 

[Flying FuManchu]

I can't ever understand why I can't get into SATS... Either version... the lyrics are great, the guitars sound great... its a mid tempo song which U2 pretty good at, yet I always skip it.

However I continually play the accoustic version... go figure...

 

[Flying FuManchu]

I lenjoyed all the remixes and looked at all of them as "live band" mixes b/c they sounded like their live counterparts. IMO Gone's remix was a huge improvement and Discotheque was alright but I missed the intros, the closing with the boom chas, some guitar bits/ produced bits, and I guess scat type singing.

I wonder if anyone asked the Edge this... whether or not the remixes are supposed to be the definitive versions or just remixes....

 

[elfyx]

I think the new album will feature some of that. I think we are in the ATYCLB song-writing trilogy or era. I could be wrong of course, but that's what I see. One more album after HTDAAB with this style of recording / songwriting and then either retirement or off to a whole new style or amalgamation of songwriting- I don't know.

I always liked the cohesive albums more than the collection-of-singles type albums but that's also just my opinion. I think it would be cool if this current trilogy they are on starts off very stripped down (ATYCLB), gets a little more cohesive with HTDAAB, and by the time of the next album we will see a collection-of-singles type album that is VERY cohesive and then on to something new.

just my rambling.

 

[rjhbonovox]

....and the cool effects on Edge's riff, not to mention Larry's cool fill straight after that......Man I love Pop.

Yep me too, it's a great album, and unfinished....pah!

 

[SpaceBoy]

I prefer all the original versions of the songs from Pop that Hedges remixed.

 

[UnforgettableLemon]

I prefer the original discotheque, although I like the intro on the Best of. As far as Staring at the Sun, I favor the original immeasurably. I think the best new mix was Gone, bar none. Gotta love the Hedge backing vocals. The numb remix was alright, too, though not from Pop. Anyone made a "special edition" of Pop CD with the new mixes, the Jools Holland Velvet Dress, and the single mixes?