The Chris Thomas sessions

[Lancemc]

I want these songs sooooooooooo bad I can taste them (taste songs? why not!). The idea that the band scapped a years worth of material and start over with a new producers is still amazing, but I would serioulsy be interested in hearing what they produced that first year with Chris Thomas. I know some of the songs on HTDAAB are credited to Thomas, but I am sure that there are tons more that we have, and probably never will hear.

 

[ElectricalVoice]

Some of it is probably in the album, but we will never hear these scrapped songs. I Highly doubt it.

 

[FullonEdge2]

I think we will. Someday.

 

[ElectricalVoice]

I hope so too, FullonEdge2, but it's almost too good to be true. But with U2 that could be true ... seems like the new album is

 

[Lancemc]

exactly how many Chris Thomas songs ARE on the album? Isn't it something like 4 or 5?

 

[Sleep Over Jack]

Well if you look at HTDAAB, you have Vertigo, ABOY, LAPOE..three big rock songs...I bet with Thomas they were always going to put 'Sometimes and OOTS on the album to provide balance...so that is 5 songs. My bet is that they scrapped about 5 rock'n'roll songs from the original album.

 

[dano]

While they were promoting the last album the band did a special with LA radio station KROQ, and I remember someone asking the band if there would ever be a box set where they would release all of the material that they have ever recorded but not made available to the public. The Edge answered and said if they did something it was because they weren't happy with it and that it would remain buried in the vaults for eternity. Unless the other three members of the band override him or he's had a change of heart I doubt that will ever hear anything like the Thomas tapes or the album they made and scrapped before ATYCLB.

 

[Sleep Over Jack]

What album before ATYCLB are you referring to?

 

[Lancemc]

What album before ATYCLB are you referring to?

Yes, i've never heard anything about this?

 

[dano]

Ok, I don't remember the exact details but I remember reading, maybe even in Propoganda, that U2 had a series of recording they had made that were going to become an album and then they scratched them because they felt the songs weren't up to snuff. As far as I remember, Stuck in a Moment and In a Little While were the only two songs that survived. I'll have to do some research to find out where I read it.

 

[Lancemc]

please do. I would be very interested to read the full article or whatever it was.

 

[Sleep Over Jack]

Me too! thanks for the info..I've never heard anything about that before.

 

[U2DMfan]

Chris Thomas left in Fall '03, replaced by Lillywhite in Spring '04.
So which songs were already around before Thomas left?

Vertigo-known as Native Son
Sometimes YCMIOYO-written for Bob Hewsons funeral, possibly coupled with ATYCLB leftover 'Tough'
Love And Peace or Else-ATYCLB leftover
COBL-Pop leftover
ABOY-mentioned as far back as early 2003
One Step CLoser-the idea behind this song is old, who knows how old the actual music was, I am guessing it was worked on with Thomas at least some
Yahweh-has been talked about for over a year
OOTS-ATYCLB leftover

that's 8 of the 11 album tracks.
Of course, it's possible that they hadn't worked on COBL until Lillywhite came in, who knows?

The tracks that are apparently the newest are Crumbs, Miracle Drug, and a Man and a Woman.

I've read on this board someone said AMAAW is a ATYCLB leftover as it appeared on one of pictures of the working boards from that session. I think Miracle Drug has been around for while too, just my speculation. . Crumbs was made when they were all drunk failry recently according to Blender.

Anyhow, what I'm getting at is that all of the material seems to have been around for awhile. They probably just re-recorded a lot of it, added some new sounds, changed some lyrics etc.

I doubt any of that Thomas stuff will see the light of day, it will just become part of the mythology of the "lost U2 songs".

 

[dabiggestu2fan]

As i remember corectly they almost had the album finished but then scrapped most of the songs! I dont remeber that stuck and litle while survived, i think those wer the songs made after they scraped the other but i know for 100% sure that KITE was one song that survived and was the oldest song of the album

 

[Sleep Over Jack]

Also remember that Bono mentioned "ditching" 3 U2 songs they did in London that were string-based...

 

[U2DMfan]

I have no idea what dano and dabiggestu2fan are talking about, but I'd love to read that article. They were in the studio for a long time for ATYCLB and wrote a LOT of material.

 

[Sleep Over Jack]

100 songs were demoed for ATYCLB right?

 

[U2DMfan]

Yeah, something like that. But it's not that many in reality, where a lot of them probably ended up in the same vein or as the same song.

You can never tell with U2, they spend hours and hours in the studio and record constantly, improvising and rewriting etc.

I think we will get a box set one of these days, but not any time soon. Probably more like 10, 15 years down the line.

 

[chocky]

We know of (or have) a bunch of unreleased tracks. Some were finished, others just demos.

Releasing box sets of unreleased songs has become fashionable: The Clash, The Cure, Adam & the Ants, Simple Minds, Springsteen etc.

I still hold out hope to one day seeing this stuff (and more) released officially on CD:

the Eammon Andrews demos
the Old Grey Whistle test performances
Boy/Girl, Touch, Things to Make & Do, A Celebration
Be There
Poison Glen
Womanfish
more songs from Bono & Edge's A Clockwork Orange soundtrack (where Korova 1 came from)
the 2 unreleased "band" versions of I'm Not Your Baby

 

[Reggie Thee Dog]

After reading the Time magazine article, I'd love to hear the Chris Thomas songs. It sounds like Bono and Edge got along just fine with Mr. Thomas. I wonder what those songs ended up sounding like. I'm very interested in hearing "Native Son".

 

[TheBrazilianFly]

Hopefully some of those songs will be among the 25 unreleased songs on the U2 iPod.

 

[jick]

The liner notes credit Thomas as producing SYCMIOYO, One Step Closer and Yahweh, while he had other joint production credits on other tracks. So if you like Yahweh and One Step Closer, chances are you'll dig Chris Thomas' work.

Cheers,

J

 

[innocent_eyes]

Maybe alot of this stuff will resurface and be used for the next album, similar to Love and peace or else, city of blinding lights, a man and a woman, etc...were all worked on before but never made it to ATYCLB!

Also, anyone know who produced Mercy...was this a Thomas song? It seems like the magic is right there, but JUST short, cause the song is great but may not fit the album and with some tweaking could have been AMAZING!!!! The chorus if incredible!

 

[Sleep Over Jack]

Ok, I don't remember the exact details but I remember reading, maybe even in Propoganda, that U2 had a series of recording they had made that were going to become an album and then they scratched them because they felt the songs weren't up to snuff. As far as I remember, Stuck in a Moment and In a Little While were the only two songs that survived. I'll have to do some research to find out where I read it.

Found anything yet?

 

[KevLW]

Just been scanning back through the Propaganda's leading up to the release of ATYCLB. Song titles from those sessions that didn't show up on that album are:

Original of the Species
Yesterday and Tomorrow
Sometime
Home
The Sun, the Moon and the Stars
Jubilee
Bulldozer
Love and Peace
Stranded

At least 2 of those made it this time that we know of.

 

[Sleep Over Jack]

Thanks Kev. I think Bulldozer could be Vertigo or LAPOE, but perhaps it is another song... didn't Home become part of Walk On?

 

[KevLW]

They were speaking very highly of "Home" in Propaganda so it would be a surprise if it wasn't included in some form. That it could be "Walk On" of course makes sense.

 

[Sleep Over Jack]

Yes I remember someone from the band (Adam I think) saying they took part of Home and merged it with a piece of another song to create Walk On.

 

[dano]

Found anything yet?

No sorry I haven't. My computer at home died which means I can only check every so often at work. That's slowed my progress. I'll check and see if its in any of the magazines I have at home.

I can't believe no one else remembers this.

 

[IrishDawg]

Star Struck was mentioned on the Jo Whiley show this morning. She made it sound like it would turn up being a b-side