namkcuR
ONE love, blood, life
11 years ago, on March 3rd/4th, 1997, Pop was released to the world.
11 years later, Pop still rocks harder than ever
[size=+4]HAPPY BIRTHDAY, POP![/size]
Ok, I'm going paste the novel I wrote zoot's thread here - that thread was already on the downside when I posted, I think...
I still believe that Pop contains some of the finest songwriting of U2's career, and that it's arguably Bono's lyrical zenith. I love it dearly.
However...
Sometimes, it's just the little things that the album version of any given song is missing that make it so much less than subsequent versions - for example, it's amazing how much Edge's 'down's add to the chorus in Gone or how much the single version's outro adds to If God Will Send His Angels or how much Bono's 'off' note on the word 'sun' in the first chorus takes Staring At The Sun down, or how much the 'Move Me A Mountain' live outro adds to Mofo, just to name a few. Other times, it's the not-so-little things that subsequent versions improve on - for example, Please just isn't the same without the solo, Miami is just plain subdude on the album, and the middle 8 of the album version of Last Night On Earth is more 'all over the place'(that could be a good thing or a bad thing, it's a matter of opinion) than the subseqent live/single bridge.
The thing is, many of these 'subsequent' versions that improved on one aspect of the song would do so while also damaging another aspect of the song that was already fine in the album version. For example - the single version of Please gives us the solo but it totally neuters the precussion section in favor of strings. The single version of Last Night On Earth gives us the different bridge, but somehow it sounds poppier and less 'rock' than the album version. The 'new mix' of Staring At The Sun fixes Bono's 'off' note in the first chorus and adds Edge's backing vocals to the chorus, but the guitar riff that drove the chorus on the album version is nearly relegated to the background. The 'new mix' of Gone gives us Edge's 'down's but the sirens from the album version are pushed back somewhat and the backing vocals from the second half of the album version are barely audible. Albeit Gone was the song that imo was damaged the least in its 'subsequent' version. The single version of If God Will Send His Angels gave us the great outro, but the rest of it is a completely different arrangement from the album version and imo, it reeks of a cut-and-paste job done to make it more 'radio' friendly. Not to mention the badass 'whoosh' sounds immediatly preceeding the choruses in the album version are not present.
So what you end up having is the album versions, which get x right and y wrong, and the subseqent versions, which often get x wrong and y right. The point is for many of these songs, there are no versions that get x AND y right. And so for the large number of us that are sometimes not satisfied with either the album version or the 'subsequent' version of a song, there are basically two options available to hear the 'ultimate' version. One option is obviously live versions. The live versions of Please and Mofo and Miami are nearly universally and indisputably recognized and hailed as the ultimate versions of those songs. The live versions of Gone are kickass as well(although it's always bothered me the way Bono doesn't actually sing the word 'lights' in 'you can keep this suit of lights' live the way he does in either studio version). The other option is to open up a wave editor and cut-and-paste to make your own custom versions of songs. A few of us(including myself) have combined the first two-thirds of the studio version of Please and the last third of the single version to make an 'ultimate' mix. I made a version of Last Night On Earth that is essentially the album version of the single version's bridge and a version of If God Will Send His Angels that is essentially the album version with the single version's outro.
IMO, there are only four tracks on the album that are perfect(as in 'didn't need any additions, subtractions, re-mixing, or re-arranging) the first time around, and they are Discotheque(the 'new mix' improves nothing and damages everything, imo), Do You Feel Loved, The Playboy Mansion, and Wake Up Dead Man. That's only a third of the record, and that to me speaks volumes. All twelve songs are KICK-ASS imo, but only four of them were 'nailed' the first time around(that's not say the other eight album versions are bad; on the contrary, they're mostly good, just not 'complete'). To me, that is THE story of why Pop has the reputation it does.
Looking at all of this, it is clear to see that the problem was never the songs, it was the mixes, the arrangements, and production problems that hampred the project. But the heart of these songs was always there. But the band's assertion that the album was incomplete and that with a little more time it would have been better is very legitimate. After all, they proved that they COULD get everything right, just not at the SAME TIME(example: precussion in the album version of Please is right, solo in single version is right, but they're never together - vocal execution of the 'new mix' of SATS is right, the mixing of the guitar riff in the album version is right, but never together, etc). So perhaps if they HAD had more time, they would have gotten everything right at at the SAME TIME, and then they wouldn't have had to put out all of these altered subsequent mixes and the live versions wouldn't be so radically different from their studio counterparts, and then the fanbase's opinion of these songs wouldn't be so schizophrenic(i.e. album versions vs single versions vs new mixes vs live versions arguements, and people perhaps judging the album based on custom playlists that mix different versions of different songs from different sources together, effectively meaning many of us listen to a different record than anyone else but then we debate it as though it's all the same thing), and as a result the record itself would have a more stable and consistant and less polarizing reputation.
The thing that bothers me the most is the attitude that U2 seem to have taken towards Pop. They've adapted a sort of 'yeah, you were right, Pop was a failed experiment' kind of attitude, which shows in the lack of Pop songs showing up in the live set, etc. I hate that. If you listened to the interviews U2 were giving when Pop was first released, it is obvious that they were VERY excited about it and VERY proud of it, 'finished' or not. If you create a piece of art and you are proud of it and you believe in it, you fucking stand by it, you don't just say 'yeah, you're right' when a group of people say they don't like it or don't get it. That's the thing that gets me the most. I sincerely hope Pop's songs become a regular part of the set again next tour, because it's a record I love dearly, and I've been to one show each on Elevation and Vertigo and I've still never heard a Pop song live in person.
Rock on, Pop. 
11 years and going strong!
11 years later, Pop still rocks harder than ever
[size=+4]HAPPY BIRTHDAY, POP![/size]
Ok, I'm going paste the novel I wrote zoot's thread here - that thread was already on the downside when I posted, I think...
I still believe that Pop contains some of the finest songwriting of U2's career, and that it's arguably Bono's lyrical zenith. I love it dearly.
However...
Sometimes, it's just the little things that the album version of any given song is missing that make it so much less than subsequent versions - for example, it's amazing how much Edge's 'down's add to the chorus in Gone or how much the single version's outro adds to If God Will Send His Angels or how much Bono's 'off' note on the word 'sun' in the first chorus takes Staring At The Sun down, or how much the 'Move Me A Mountain' live outro adds to Mofo, just to name a few. Other times, it's the not-so-little things that subsequent versions improve on - for example, Please just isn't the same without the solo, Miami is just plain subdude on the album, and the middle 8 of the album version of Last Night On Earth is more 'all over the place'(that could be a good thing or a bad thing, it's a matter of opinion) than the subseqent live/single bridge.
The thing is, many of these 'subsequent' versions that improved on one aspect of the song would do so while also damaging another aspect of the song that was already fine in the album version. For example - the single version of Please gives us the solo but it totally neuters the precussion section in favor of strings. The single version of Last Night On Earth gives us the different bridge, but somehow it sounds poppier and less 'rock' than the album version. The 'new mix' of Staring At The Sun fixes Bono's 'off' note in the first chorus and adds Edge's backing vocals to the chorus, but the guitar riff that drove the chorus on the album version is nearly relegated to the background. The 'new mix' of Gone gives us Edge's 'down's but the sirens from the album version are pushed back somewhat and the backing vocals from the second half of the album version are barely audible. Albeit Gone was the song that imo was damaged the least in its 'subsequent' version. The single version of If God Will Send His Angels gave us the great outro, but the rest of it is a completely different arrangement from the album version and imo, it reeks of a cut-and-paste job done to make it more 'radio' friendly. Not to mention the badass 'whoosh' sounds immediatly preceeding the choruses in the album version are not present.
So what you end up having is the album versions, which get x right and y wrong, and the subseqent versions, which often get x wrong and y right. The point is for many of these songs, there are no versions that get x AND y right. And so for the large number of us that are sometimes not satisfied with either the album version or the 'subsequent' version of a song, there are basically two options available to hear the 'ultimate' version. One option is obviously live versions. The live versions of Please and Mofo and Miami are nearly universally and indisputably recognized and hailed as the ultimate versions of those songs. The live versions of Gone are kickass as well(although it's always bothered me the way Bono doesn't actually sing the word 'lights' in 'you can keep this suit of lights' live the way he does in either studio version). The other option is to open up a wave editor and cut-and-paste to make your own custom versions of songs. A few of us(including myself) have combined the first two-thirds of the studio version of Please and the last third of the single version to make an 'ultimate' mix. I made a version of Last Night On Earth that is essentially the album version of the single version's bridge and a version of If God Will Send His Angels that is essentially the album version with the single version's outro.
IMO, there are only four tracks on the album that are perfect(as in 'didn't need any additions, subtractions, re-mixing, or re-arranging) the first time around, and they are Discotheque(the 'new mix' improves nothing and damages everything, imo), Do You Feel Loved, The Playboy Mansion, and Wake Up Dead Man. That's only a third of the record, and that to me speaks volumes. All twelve songs are KICK-ASS imo, but only four of them were 'nailed' the first time around(that's not say the other eight album versions are bad; on the contrary, they're mostly good, just not 'complete'). To me, that is THE story of why Pop has the reputation it does.
Looking at all of this, it is clear to see that the problem was never the songs, it was the mixes, the arrangements, and production problems that hampred the project. But the heart of these songs was always there. But the band's assertion that the album was incomplete and that with a little more time it would have been better is very legitimate. After all, they proved that they COULD get everything right, just not at the SAME TIME(example: precussion in the album version of Please is right, solo in single version is right, but they're never together - vocal execution of the 'new mix' of SATS is right, the mixing of the guitar riff in the album version is right, but never together, etc). So perhaps if they HAD had more time, they would have gotten everything right at at the SAME TIME, and then they wouldn't have had to put out all of these altered subsequent mixes and the live versions wouldn't be so radically different from their studio counterparts, and then the fanbase's opinion of these songs wouldn't be so schizophrenic(i.e. album versions vs single versions vs new mixes vs live versions arguements, and people perhaps judging the album based on custom playlists that mix different versions of different songs from different sources together, effectively meaning many of us listen to a different record than anyone else but then we debate it as though it's all the same thing), and as a result the record itself would have a more stable and consistant and less polarizing reputation.
The thing that bothers me the most is the attitude that U2 seem to have taken towards Pop. They've adapted a sort of 'yeah, you were right, Pop was a failed experiment' kind of attitude, which shows in the lack of Pop songs showing up in the live set, etc. I hate that. If you listened to the interviews U2 were giving when Pop was first released, it is obvious that they were VERY excited about it and VERY proud of it, 'finished' or not. If you create a piece of art and you are proud of it and you believe in it, you fucking stand by it, you don't just say 'yeah, you're right' when a group of people say they don't like it or don't get it. That's the thing that gets me the most. I sincerely hope Pop's songs become a regular part of the set again next tour, because it's a record I love dearly, and I've been to one show each on Elevation and Vertigo and I've still never heard a Pop song live in person.
Rock on, Pop.
11 years and going strong!
