POP! as it was intended

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I love the album as it is. :up:

If North And South Of The River didn't have someone else co-credited for the lyrics I would be happy to see it in the place of Velvet Dress, the studio version is one of U2's most boring songs ever. However the live version is amazing and beautiful!! Maybe some years ago I would have changed Miami for Holy Joe but I quite like it now and HJ is not so strong even though it sounds great after Gone and followed by the great Playboy Mansion. U2 would never put remixes of older songs or studio covers on a new album. And what’s the point of putting remixes of your songs you haven’t released anywhere else?
 
I actually have a CDR of the way I prefer listening to Pop:

Pop Muzik (Edit)
Mofo
Discotheque
Do You Feel Loved
If God Would Send His Angels (Single Version)
Staring At The Sun
Last Night On Earth (Single Version)
Gone (Best Of Remix)
Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me
Holy Joe (Garage Mix)
The Playboy Mansion
Please (Single Version)
Wake Up Dead Man


Yeah, so Pop Muzik is a cover, but together with Mofo it was the standard opening for the Popmart tour, so I like it this way. Besides, who's to say they wouldn't have thought of setting up the album that way if given more time?

As for HMTMKMKM, sure it was out a couple of years beforehand, but can you think of any other album that song would belong on?

It's a bit different, but I like it.
 
zoopop said:
^^^^Is that true about "The Playboy Mansion"?
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Yes, leaked tracklistings for the "Hands That Built America" single included a remix of 'The Playboy Mansion." The single was quietly canned, though, and nobody's said anything about the remix since. Of course, we don't know if it was a creative rethink (like the "Dirty Day" remixes), a tweakmix (like the Pop A-sides or Best of remixes), or, hell, a dance remix.
 
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Re: Re: Re: POP! as it was intended

zoopop said:


Yep, your 100% right. I read that book too in the Vegas twilight waiting for U2 to go on and remember how proud the band was of Pop. In all the interviews Bono praised Pop so much while bashing the media for the negative reviews.

Click to expand...

Yeah; the book is just so clear. There is no doubt.

Don't get me wrong - I like Pop, but I still don't believe all the talk of it being "unfinished"...I think they fell back on that excuse when people started criticizing the album.
 
HMTMKMKM at least should have been saved for POP...it'd make a much better rock song than Last Night On Earth, which is stilted and ordinary apart from the cool intro.
 
Sleep Over Jack said:
Anyone else feel the 2nd half of POP has too many slow songs? It could really do with a rock song or 2.
Click to expand...

2nd half of POP:

Gone
Miami
Playboy Mansion
Please
Velvet Dress
Wake Up Dead Man


I don't consider, Gone, Please or Miami to be slow songs at all.
I think what slows the album down is that Please and IYWTVD sound unfinished. But then again, I like how the album progresses. As Bono said, the first 3 songs are a big party, after that the rest of the album is a big hangover.

Also, Wake Up Dead Man gets rocking toward the end and is one of U2's "heaviest" songs IMO.
 
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Gone is a rock song, but mid-tempo, Velvet Dress is slow, ditto Playboy Mansion and the two closing songs...they could have slotted one or two rockers in there, probably replacing PM, and another after Velvet Dress..I think HMTMKMKM would have been ideal for this album in terms of sound, lyrics and the fact its a monster rock and roll tune.
 
A lot of the "remixes" done for the "Best of" and CD singles may not be the DEFINITIVE versions of those songs IMO. I cite Discotheque, Gone, and Please specifically. Seemed like to me they just remixed/ remade some songs to make them sound more like the live versions. Its not like these versions are better than the album versions. I mean, I love Please from the album and I also love the live version... almost two different types of songs. Please (Live/ Single Version) is bigger and more open sounding while Please album version is darker, dirtier, and more intimate sounding to me.

People mention dropping songs from POP if U2 were to make a more definitive mix/ version in the future... HELL, NO. It's one thing to add songs but another thing to drop songs that gave the album its character in its first place. People hate Miami (I'm so-so to it) but the quirkiness and the hatred people feel for it makes POP what it is today IMO.
 
manwiththespinninhead said:


im not saying that i like all the new versions , its just the band must have remixed or re-recorded them for a reason , and if you put them together its nearly what they intended to do in the first place,
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How many different versions of One and Mysterious Ways are there?

Call for help man, I think this ship is about to go down......
 
This is my Pop:

Discotheque [new mix]
Do You Feel Loved
Mofo
Holy Joe [garage mix]
Levitate
Last Night On Earth [single version]
Staring at the Sun [new mix]
North and South of the River
Gone [new mix]
If You Wear that Velvet Dress
Please [single version]
Wake Up Dead Man

Just under 60 minutes. Levitate is here because of its whole techno vibe and even the lyrics "Spirit come on down/ No, I'm not coming down" feels taken from Gone. I really like Levitate on this album.
 
manwiththespinninhead said:


"ALTERNATIVE POP"

1.Discotheque (new mix)
2.Holy joe
3.Mofo(phunk force mix)
4.If god will send his angels(single version)
5.Staring at the sun (new mix)
6.Last night on earth(single version)
7.Gone (new mix)
8.Please(single version)
9.North and south of the river
10.Slow dancing(bono and willie nelson)
11.Two shots of happy one of sad
12.Happiness is a warm gun
13.Big girls are best(cos its from the pop sessions)
14.Pop musik(popmart mix)
15.Dirty day(bitter kiss)
Click to expand...

If you're going to include Big Girls because it was recorded during Pop, shouldn't you leave Slow Dancing and Two Shots of Happy back with Zooropa, when they were created? Heck, If God Will Send His Angels, Wake Up Dead Man, and North and South of the River are all from the Zooropa era as well. And Dirty Day was released on Zooropa itself, so why re-release it on Pop? And shouldn't I'm Not Your Baby be on the larger album?
 
POP's "failure"

Personally, I think the video to Discotheque is what turned people off to POP and to U2. The irony thing went too far. "Hold me, thrill me" was too good of a song to waste on a soundtrack. Imagine if that was the first release off the album...followed by SATS and the single version of Please or Gone. Even Discotheque...but no village people video needed.

So many of my friends & coworkers at the time - who mostly liked U2 - cited the video as the reason U2 had "lost it", were "gay" (I don't agree...just stating facts), and these people were turned off to U2 completely.

Personally, I like the album and was at the Clemson concert, which was one of the greatest times I've had at a U2 show. Please live leading up to Streets is one of the all time highlights for me, too.
 
djerdap said:
Pop is great as it is. Leave it alone.
Click to expand...

It is great! You're right. It is also great to have fun and mix these albums in a fresh light. There is no harm in that. My favorite, the Joshua Tree, I treat like the Bible itself. However, like the many versions of the Bible you see out there, I have a great double-album take on the Joshua Tree.
 
Roland of Gilead said:
This is my Pop:

Discotheque [new mix]
Do You Feel Loved
Mofo
Holy Joe [garage mix]
Levitate
Last Night On Earth [single version]
Staring at the Sun [new mix]
North and South of the River
Gone [new mix]
If You Wear that Velvet Dress
Please [single version]
Wake Up Dead Man

Just under 60 minutes. Levitate is here because of its whole techno vibe and even the lyrics "Spirit come on down/ No, I'm not coming down" feels taken from Gone. I really like Levitate on this album.
Click to expand...

I like this one. I'm gonna burn a cd with this tracklist. I won't use the "NEW MIX" of Gone or SATS, I prefer the album ones, but nice list.
 
I made a mix of POP recently myself. I didn't get picky about which take of each POP track to use, I just chose the most recent studio version and I inserted some B-sides that I thought added:

1. Discotheque (New Mix)
2. Do you feel loved?
3. Mofo
4.If God Will send his Angels (single mix)
5.North and South of the River
6.Staring at the Sun (New Mix)
7.Last Night on Earth (Single Mix)
8.Hapiness is a Warm Gun
9.Gone (New mix)
10.Miami
11.Holy Joe (guilty mix)
12.Two shots of Happy, one Shot of Sad
13.Playboy Mansion
14.If you Wear that Velvet Dress (Bono and Jools Holland version)
15.Please (Single mix)
16.Wake Up Deadman
 
manwiththespinninhead said:
i have posted about this before on other forums, basically everyone knows that "pop" was never finished!
and when the band released singles from the album they were completely reworked as were songs on the last" best of " that were from "pop".

so ive compiled a version of "pop" with all the reworks and a few of the mixes from the singles.

basically its nearer to what the band intended .

here it is

"ALTERNATIVE POP"

1.Discotheque (new mix)
2.Holy joe
3.Mofo(phunk force mix)
4.If god will send his angels(single version)
5.Staring at the sun (new mix)
6.Last night on earth(single version)
7.Gone (new mix)
8.Please(single version)
9.North and south of the river
10.Slow dancing(bono and willie nelson)
11.Two shots of happy one of sad
12.Happiness is a warm gun
13.Big girls are best(cos its from the pop sessions)
14.Pop musik(popmart mix)
15.Dirty day(bitter kiss)
Click to expand...

How is this nearer to what the band intended? How would you know their intentions?

I seriously doubt they would ever intend Slow Dancing, Two Shots, Happiness, Big Girls, Pop Musik, or Dirty Day on this album at all. It would have ruined Pop. Either they don't fit, their covers, or from the wrong era.
 
Re: POP's "failure"

beLIEve said:
"Hold me, thrill me" was too good of a song to waste on a soundtrack.
Click to expand...

I don't know how "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me" would have affected POP's sales or its overall perception but if not for it being on the Batman Forever soundtrack, HMTMKMKM would probably not been as huge as it was. By the way, I hated Batman Forever.
 
It would have been cool to see Pop Muzik as the intro of POP. I wouldn't have minded if they added that?

If people are talking about including great POP era b-sides/ non-album tracks into the their mix, why are people leaving out I'm Not Your Baby? One of U2's better b-sides IMO. I believe that song would fit in more appropriately than some of the above songs even with Sinead singing.
 
Redo Pop? No way!

Pop has one characteristic as a whole that makes it different from every other U2 album - it's just plain FUN! Yeah, you got Bono's cynical self poking through on some of the lyrics, but the other guys in the band overlay that with their own little quirks. As recently mentioned in another post, Please, a very serious song, has the most unique drum track Master Mullen's ever done. And Wake Up Dead Man is backed (on the album) by a running commentary of comedy. Heck, even the video for If God Would Send His Angels lightened up the heavy lyrics considerably. Not to mention the tour...

Go back and redo Pop? How could they? I can't recall the author or the book off the top of my head, but I remember reading a new foreword to an old book where the author states that he was asked by the publishing company to 'rewrite and update' the book. He refused to do, saying something to the effect that the book was a reflection of himself at the time of writing. He couldn't rewrite the novel and keep the feeling of it the same.

It's the same with Pop - if Larry (or whoever in the band) were to go back to that old material and try to remix it, 'rewrite' it so to speak, it would not be anything close to the same album. It would lose it's unique character and become an older man's views on his past. No thanks!

just my thoughts

goat
 
Canadiens1160 said:

I hate the new mixes of most of the Pop songs :|
Click to expand...

Same, except maybe for the remix of Gone. It sounded a bit stronger to me.
 
I thought the vocal on the "new" mix of Gone was weaker than the original.

I may have to think about how to work in I'm Not Your Baby to my mix. I'll have to take something off though..North and South maybe?
 
Wasn't COBL around back in these days? if so my list wuld b...

1) Discotheque
2) Holy Joe [Guilty Mix]
3) IGWSHA [Single Version]
4) Do You Feel Loved?
5) Last Night on Earth
6) Staring at the Sun [New Mix]
7) Gone
8) HMTMKMKM
9) The Playboy Mansion
10) City of Blinding Lights
11) Please
12) Mofo
13) Miami
14) Wake Up Dead Man
 
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