Well, I believe they've done it again. I've been listening to the beach recording (18+ minutes) constantly lately (after I swore I wouldn't), and although it does sound like ATYCLB / HTDAAB period stuff, I hear a progression moving towards the Mercy direction we were lucky to get a taste of.
MrBrau1, I believe this IS progressive, although not as dramatically as in the past. They are changing more slowly now, but the quality remains amazing.
Track 402 I dismissed at first, because it reminded me too much of Stuck for some reason. I no longer feel that way. This is a great track, and you can tell that there will be a lot of details to hear instrumentally in this one when we finally get to hear the real thing, which we cannot make out from these recordings.
Track 404 will be incredible, and sounds like the possible lead single, from this...EP...
Yep, I think this will definitely be a Zooropa-type of release (expanding to a full album with some "experimental" material also).
But I do NOT think that Mercy will be on it. My hunch is that after the leak, they saw our reaction to that song (they definitely have their ear on the Web), and changed their minds about being a B-side. They will want to continue to tweak it, and we'll probably hear an amazing (but a bit shorter) version on the next "full" album. We may see a version very close to the one we now know on a B-side as a remix after the album version becomes a single in 2009 or so.
Back to this recording -- track 400 is beautiful, and I fully expect a lot more significant piano like this, based on Bono's lessons, etc. But I believe Edge will play the piano parts on the album. I think Bono wanted to learn just for the creative process.
I like track 403 a lot better than I initially did. It may indeed be an album closer, as several people have suggested. There are some very interesting parts in that song.
I'm positive Bono planned on this leak. It's obvious. He knows people hang out there waiting for something. He knows they'll get immediate feedback from the Web community. They're no dummies. I wouldn't be surprised they offered up some Strokes promotion there, knowing we'd be all over it along with these tracks.
But I'm excited for the official release. It sounds incredible.