Rattle And Hum... what it could have been

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Zoots

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I'm sure there have been a million threads about it but I cannot find any recent one and I checked back a few pages here. This is the version I'm enjoying right now:

Rattle And Hum
Part I: Studio

1. God Part II It's the perfect start to the album musically and has powerful opening lyrics
2. Hawkmoon 269
3. Desire
4. Angel Of Harlem
5. Heartland
6. Love Rescue Me I love this song too much to not include it here. I put it along with Heartland in the mellow mid section of the album
7. When Love Comes To Town I know this one is not very popular either but BB King needs props! Good song.
8. All I Want Is You
Part II: Live
9. Helter Skelter Had to include this so that the crowd noise in VDL doesn't sound odd. Besides, I like this cover anyway!
10. Van Diemen's Land I like the live versions of this song but nothing beats this version I think
11. All Along The Watchtower (Dec 27, '89 Point Depot) Technically this may have been recorded after the R&H release but this version kicks so much freakin' ass!
12. Exit/Riders On The Storm/Gloria (Oct 28, '87 Chicago)
13. Freedom For My People Some may consider it disposable but I like it and it's a nice quick interlude before the awesome Silver And Gold
14. Silver And Gold
15. Pride (In The Name Of Love) This version (from the actual album) has always been a favorite for me
16. The Star Spangled Banner
17. Bullet The Blue Sky

Maybe you guys have a better version? I'd love to hear your ideas!
 
An EP consisting of

1. God Part II
2. Desire
3. Angel of Harlem
4. Heartland
5. All I Want is You


would have done me.
 
No. The ideal here would have been just the studio stuff.

1. Hawkmoon 269
2. Desire
3. God Part II
4. Silver and Gold
5. When Love Comes to Town
6. Angel of Harlem
7. Heartland
8. Van Diemen's Land
9. Dancing Barefoot
10. All I Want Is You

And yes, I know Silver and Gold was a JT B-side. I still think it works here.
 
Wrong, the ideal should have been a double CD album :drool:

Disc 1:
1. Helter Skelter
2. Van Diemen's Land
3. Desire
4. Hallelujah Here She Comes
5. Exit
6. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
7. Freedom For My People/Silver And Gold
8. Angel Of Harlem
9. A Room At The Hearbreak Hotel
10. All Along The Watchtower
11. In God's Country
12.When Love Comes To Town
13. Dancing Barefoot
14. Everlasting Love
15. Heartland


Disc 2:
1. Bad
2. Where The Streets Have No Name
3. MLK
4. With Or Without You
5. Star Spangled Banner / Bullet The Blue Sky
6. Running To Stand Still
7. Sunday Bloody Sunday
8. Pride (In The Name of Love)
9. All I Want Is You

:drool: :drool: :drool:
 
I think ideally, they'd have the 9 studio songs (with Van Diemen's land extra verse that is in the lyrics booklet), plus She's a mystery to me and Slow Dancing.

As for live stuff, a separate EP:
Bad
WOWY
I still haven't found...
Pride
Exit
 
See, those that have said you only want the studio tracks, I kinda see what you're saying.. that we don't need the live tracks. But why not take it as a second disc or second side if they are being offered an official release!? :shrug: I think the important point is the separation of studio and live tracks which they did not do. Hindsight is 20 20 anyway though. So I'm not complaining, it's just fun to make alternate versions. :drool: :wink:
 
ponkine said:
Wrong, the ideal should have been a double CD album :drool:

Disc 1:
1. Helter Skelter
2. Van Diemen's Land
3. Desire
4. Hallelujah Here She Comes
5. Exit
6. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
7. Freedom For My People/Silver And Gold
8. Angel Of Harlem
9. A Room At The Hearbreak Hotel
10. All Along The Watchtower
11. In God's Country
12.When Love Comes To Town
13. Dancing Barefoot
14. Everlasting Love
15. Heartland


Disc 2:
1. Bad
2. Where The Streets Have No Name
3. MLK
4. With Or Without You
5. Star Spangled Banner / Bullet The Blue Sky
6. Running To Stand Still
7. Sunday Bloody Sunday
8. Pride (In The Name of Love)
9. All I Want Is You

:drool: :drool: :drool:

you forgot Hawkmoon 269.
 
I think if they wanted to release live stuff, it should have been a separate release. :shrug:

And, argh, I forgot She's a Mystery to Me in mine.
 
1) Helter Skelter the only live song I want on the album -- this is a cool track and it just clears all expectations
2) Van Diemen's Land
3) Desire I much prefer the rehearsal-version in the Rattle and Hum movie --- it's faster and has a much better harmonica part.
4) Hawkmoon 269
5) Angel of Harlem
6) Love Rescue Me
7) Heartland
8) Hallelujah, Here She Comes
9) God Part II
10) All I Want Is You

That's the way --- Uh-huh, Uh-huh --- I like it.

I dropped 'When Love Comes to Town', which is a great song, but I think works better as a stand-alone single. It's replaced with the brilliant B-side 'Hallelujah Here She Comes', which also seems to fit in with the other songs better.

I don't think the live versions added a great deal to the Rattle and Hum album, and also their inclusion made the album seem less essential (since all of them are in the movie, too). In my opinion, the 10-track album that results is almost as good as The Joshua Tree. The band members seemed to have been in accord that the R&H songs were fantastic --- the most polished they'd written up to that point --- but the packaging and concept were a little wonky. So, if they'd released an album like what I suggest (and maybe got rid of the stupid book that accompanied the album and movie!) I think they'd have avoided some of the backlash circa 1989.
 
Re: 'She's a Mystery To Me' --- That's a great song that would indeed improve Rattle & Hum, but I don't think the band would have (or did) consider(ed) putting it on the album because I think they didn't want to take away attention from Roy Orbison's version. Had they put it on R&H, 10 million people would have already heard it and filed it away mentally as a U2-song when Orbison's version hit the radio --- not really what Bono and Edge had in mind when they wrote it for him.
 
65980 said:
So, if they'd released an album like what I suggest (and maybe got rid of the stupid book that accompanied the album and movie!) I think they'd have avoided some of the backlash circa 1989.

Aha but the backlash is what made them go away and dream up AB! So maybe it was for the good after all. :wink:

Good list, by the way! :up:
 
In my alternate U2 history post from a good while ago, in the place of R&H, I made an LP out of R&H studio tracks, R&H B-Sides, JT B-Sides, and Wild Irish Rose. I called it 'Luminous Times':

1.Desire
2.Sweetest Thing
3.Hawkmoon 269
4.Spanish Eyes
5.Angel Of Harlem
6.When Love Comes To Town
7.Hallelujah Here She Comes
8.Love Rescue Me
9.Van Diemen's Land
10.Silver And Gold
11.A Room At The Heartbreak Hotel
12.Deep In The Heart
13.Luminous Times(Hold On To Love)
14.Wild Irish Rose
15.Heartland
16.God Part II
17.Walk To The Water
18.All I Want Is You
 
I actually really like Rattle and Hum, but there were some awesome B-sides around at that time that should have been on the album.

Disc 1:
Angel Of Harlem
Desert Of Our Love
Desire
Luminous Times (Hold On To Love)
Room At The Heartbreak Hotel
Hallelujah Here She Comes
God Pt II
All I Want Is You
Hawkmoon
Spanish Eyes
Heartland

Bonus Second Disc:
Pride (R&H version)
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For (R&H version)
Silver and Gold (Sun City Version)
 
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Would've preferred a studio album as a separate entity, but R&H is not an album in the purest from, in the sense that it is a film soundtrack.

Even if you retain Desire, Van Dieman's Land, When Love Comes To Town, Hawkmoon, Angel Of Harlem, Love Rescue Me and All I Want Is You, and add Hallelujah Here She Comes and Heartbreak Hotel to make a pure studio release, I'd still find it a severely weak album, and by far U2's worst.
 
Something like:

Disc 1:

1. Hawkmoon 269
2. Van Diemen's Land
3. Desire
4. When Love Comes To Town
5. Angel Of Harlem
6. Love Rescue me
7. Heartland
8. God Part II
9. A Room At The Heartbreak hotel
10. All I Want Is You

Disc 2:

1. Helter Skelter
2. [Freedom For My People]
3. Silver And Gold
4. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
5. All Along The Watchtower
6. [The Star Spangled Banner]
7. Bullet The Blue Sky
8. Sunday Bloody Sunday
9. Pride (In The Name Of Love)
 
Zootlesque , would you mind sharing the Dec 27, '89 Point Depot All Along The Watchtower you mentioned ?
I really don't like to ask for songs on this part of the website so I won't leave my email , but if you don't mind sharing I'll post it later .
 
u2trinity said:
Zootlesque , would you mind sharing the Dec 27, '89 Point Depot All Along The Watchtower you mentioned ?
I really don't like to ask for songs on this part of the website so I won't leave my email , but if you don't mind sharing I'll post it later .

I uploaded it for you, since I have nothing better to do: http://www.save file.com/files/1459533
 
Anyway, what's wrong with the released version?
A double album filled with (excellent) new songs plus live versions. And a film/video/DVD filled with lots of live stuff, that you get additional plus really iconic pictures-Perfect, as it is ...
 
ZOOTVTOURist said:
Anyway, what's wrong with the released version?
A double album filled with (excellent) new songs plus live versions. And a film/video/DVD filled with lots of live stuff, that you get additional plus really iconic pictures-Perfect, as it is ...

Yeah actually I don't mind the album too much really. I was just trying to improve on it.
 
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