Winter (Song) (DISCUSSION ONLY)

[Thanksandy]

I agree that it sounds a bit too much like Coldplay in most parts, so for that reason alone I am glad it didn't make it to the album. It's a decent tune, with some nice ideas but not fully developed and I don't think the chorus is good enough, just my point of view.

 

[U2387]

The intro certainly reminds me a little of viva la vida, but overall, the songs are not similar. What about the idea I saw on youtube(of course, half the commenters there are whacked) that Eno had this intro part from U2 that he brought with him to the Coldplay recordings?? What if the idea came when working with U2?

Either way, I like the song, seems to be much more of a 2000's U2 song than NLOTH album tracks, but it does not feel 100% like that. Not as "U2-ish" if you will as Mercy, but it very well could be Mercy re worked. To me, this song sounds like a modern version of an ATYCLB or Bomb B-side, not at all out of place amidst songs like love you like mad and levitate. Not a bad thing, I actually like this song on the first few listens and feel, when we look at the Adam interview, was one of those songs he discussed as being written when the war was in a different place in the news than now. Not to go FYM here, but I think he is talking the Iraq war, as the hot as hell lines and the 'fighting a ghost' certainly seem to apply alot more to the shifting loyalties among both sunni and shiaa w.regards to the US in Iraq. Not knowing the enemy, etc. Seems to be an anti Iraq war song.

 

[ShipOfFools]

I heard it on YouTube. I like it, but I'm glad it didn't make the album; it sounds unfinished and it's very weak. Bono's singing also sounds very weak.

Everything on NLOTH, including Boots, stomps all over this song.

 

[razredge]

AS I was saying before the silliness erupted, Winter already seems to be a better ballad than MoS, much more interesting musically (even though it isn't finished). And the operatic vocalisations at the end, kick MoS tepid finishing 'ohhhs'.

And it's not like VLV, so what if it has a string intro. The arrangement, tempo, backing instrumentation etc are completely different. The feel is different too, VLV's strings are upbeat and strident, these are gorgeously elegant.

If they improve some of the lyrics it would be easily one of the best songs on the album.

 

[Rosebud]

Winter already seems to be a better ballad than MoS

blasphemy!

 

[catlhere]

AS I was saying before the silliness erupted, Winter already seems to be a better ballad than MoS, much more interesting musically (even though it isn't finished). And the operatic vocalisations at the end, kick MoS tepid finishing 'ohhhs'.

Are you for real?

 

[JUSTinPUSHPLAY]

i've been gone for a bit, did a better quality version show up? without the volume distortion?

 

[razredge]

Are you for real?

Well it is more interesting musically, and has a better chorus and vocalisations.
Lyrics could use some work though and some vocals are rough, but this isn't the finished song.

Winter has great potential.

 

[Reptile347]

Wow. If this is what the next album is going to be like I say bring it on!!!

I like this better then most everything else on NOLTH. I hope this is the direction they are going for the next album.

 

[ozeeko]

i dunno bout u guys, but MOS seems a mad departure for U2, while Winter is a total rehash of everything we've already heard before...and of course you've already heard it if you've ever heard about a little indie band called Coldplay.

hehe - MOMENT OF SURRENDER is a transcendant gutsy holy outpouring of emotions. WINTER is Coldplay meets U2 with lame and sometimes cringe-inducing war observations from Bono, as if we need another song like this when we already got Cedars Of Lebanon, a song that does the job ten times over with a detached and somewhat delerious tone not unlike Kurtz in Apocalypse now.

You're all just suffering from what i'd like to call the "Mercy" blues. Give it some time, you'll see the light.

 

[Mr. V]

I've given it about 5 or so listens and can see that it's unfinished and has a lot of potential, so I'm not going to listen to it anymore. I want to see what the band comes up with on the next album.

 

[Peterrrrr]

Anyone know if there is any better audio file out there then the mp4 file?

 

[last unicorn]

Winter may have potential, but it sure sounds unfinished. I find the chorus a little boring. Mercy is much better, as is everything on NLOTH.

 

[namkcuR]

Fuck yes. I don’t have any beef with the middle three tracks on their own, but in a block together there they’re really jarring to me. Snapping you out of the mood and feel of 1-4 and 8-11. It’s part that – the journey of the rest of the album – and part because those 8 songs are a move forward, while those other 3 are (while far better executed) a step back into Bomb territory. Honestly, nail the middle three and you have a JT/AB level album. Easy.

I’m not sure whether I’m really, really happy that after the past couple of albums, U2 have put out an album that has a full 8 tracks that are as good as anything they’ve ever done, or if I’m heartbroken that it fell just three short of being perhaps even their best, and that those three do seem a bit calculated and out of place.

The defenders say the album needs a lift there, so the stop off at the U2 Karaoke Bar is essential. I agree, the album needs a lift there. You couldn’t just dump three Eno ambient tracks in there. That would bottom the album out to a place it would never return from. But feel and flow are different things. You can keep the mood and feel running through the middle without losing the right album flow. You can give it a spike of energy or whatever without it snapping you out of place. And Winter is the perfect song to cruise you down from a couple of energetic, or angry, or angsty, or, dare I say it, magnificent songs, and bring you back down to earth for the more patient/quiet landing through the end of the album.

You've been equating those middle 3 tracks with "Bomb territory" a lot and I have to say, while we agree on a lot, we don't agree on this. The biggest problems with Bomb were bad production(read: overproduction) and songwriting that sounded contrived and forced and uninteresting. All three of these songs are way, way, way beyond the scope of anything on Bomb. First off, sonically, all three are so far beyond Bomb it's beyond discussion. Furthermore, Boots is far more imaginative than, say, Vertigo or ABOY could ever hope to be. The layered melodies and harmonies in the chorus, the 'let me in the sound' chants. The whole is more artistic than arguably any other rock song they've done this decade. I also don't quite understand why you are comparing Stand Up to Bon Jovi. To me, it sounds like The Fly meets Holy Joe. I don't care about they lyrics. The music is what matters. To me, Boots and Stand Up could have just as easily come out of the Pop sessions as they could the Bomb sessions.

I think there's just some over-sensitivity resulting from the extent to which Bomb disappointed some people in relation to what those people felt U2 were capable of, and as a result, rock songs like this, particularly when they stick out like a sore thumb in the middle of an atmospheric piece like this, immediately raise the fear that U2 haven't left Bomb behind. As for Crazy Tonight, it's a great pop song. It's catchier and more intuitive than just about anything on Bomb. Again, it just sticks out more because the context of the songs around it. This isn't a problem of bad songs, or even bad selection of what tracks to put on the record. It's a problem of knowing who their audience is when they tour. They have a lot of fans who are also Radiohead fans and Arcade Fire fans who wouldn't have any problem at all if they played Fez or Winter live, but they also have a lot of fans who are also Springsteen and Green Day fans who won't have the patience for that stuff live. They couldn't release a whole album of that stuff or they'd have nothing to play live. Boots and Stand Up and Crazy are so they'd have something to play live.

For me, I'm looking at it like this: Before the album leaked, I was listening to Stateless and Your Blue Room and hoping U2 would make music like this again but thinking they wouldn't, at least not outside of B-Sides or on projects under other names. The fact that they put Fez-Being Born and Moment Of Surrender and White As Snow and Cedars Of Lebanon on a U2 record, and that they might yet still put out a song like Winter on the supposed next U2 record...is more than I ever could have hoped for at this point.

Oh, and on topic, Winter is gorgeous.

 

[U2STU]

i've been gone for a bit, did a better quality version show up? without the volume distortion?

I tried to record it myself with my iriver set at the lowest volume, it still came out somewhat distorted, very annoying, unfortunatly i don't have a dvd audio rip program.

 

[Jon Seidman]

Maybe this has been already said but I am not about to read this entire thread...

Winter reminds me of Whose Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses, especially the early renditions on the Salome Outtakes.

It should have been on the album, in place of "Crazy", "Boots", or "Comedy". I think they are all fluff tracks, well-executed but sappy, aimed at commercial success but detracting from the overall quality of the album.

 

[razredge]

I would like a audio rip of the DVD version of Winter, to see how it compares to my digital download.

Anyone have one?

 

[nextlife]

I love this song and can't wait to get a good quality rip or hopefully hear a finished version(which i am sure they have)

 

[stratocaster]

im little concerned that the audio quality wont get any better....
just watched linear and it was amazing. however soundwise i noticed winter was the same and the other tracks sounded a little rough. especially when the bass came in.
downloading the mp4 through the website now, hoping it has better sound quality and the fuzziness is only related to rushing out production of dvds.

 

[SpaceBoy]

Maybe this has been already said but I am not about to read this entire thread...

Winter reminds me of Whose Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses, especially the early renditions on the Salome Outtakes.

It should have been on the album, in place of "Crazy", "Boots", or "Comedy". I think they are all fluff tracks, well-executed but sappy, aimed at commercial success but detracting from the overall quality of the album.

Yeah, I hear the WGRYWH vibe in the drumming. I also get a feeling similar to that of Promenade on TUF...especially when placed after Unkown Caller in the tracklist. That's just me though.

 

[RademR]

it kind of pisses me off. it has SO MUCH potential, but i guess it wasn't fully completed.

Bono definelty needs to rework some lyrics and they need to get rid of that intro, does sound too much like Coldplay

Great ending though...the chorus is golden

 

[NYRangers78]

i think this song sounds more like city of blinding lights with regard to tempo, the guitar sounds, and the verse melody and pace of the drums....but thats just me...

 

[NYRangers78]

i also might add that i skip white as snow every time it comes on....i may just make a new playlist and put winter where white as now is.

 

[Irishteen]

Just listened

Pretty meh, nothing special, glad it's not on the record

If it was between this and White as Snow, I'd pick White as Snow a million times over, such a beautiful song. Even if it's between this and Crazy Tonight, I think Crazy Tonight wins

 

[bcrt2000]

Someone mentioned that Winter's riff is closer to New York than to Mercy. I'm not musically proficient so that may be very well true. But the sonic quality of going back and forth between the two notes is something that Mercy and Winter have in common.

If they just rework the intro to Winter it would be a great single for the next album. I think the reason why I'm excited for this song is that its not a straight out rock song (Vertigo, All Because of You) nor is it a classic U2 ballad (Window In The Skies, Sometimes, With or Without You) but still could be a radio friendly song.

 

[last unicorn]

i also might add that i skip white as snow every time it comes on....i may just make a new playlist and put winter where white as now is.

You're missing out big time.

Winter is no where even close to White as snow.

 

[bcrt2000]

Everyone who is comparing Winter to White as Snow is completely off. Winter was replaced by Crazy Tonight.

 

[PowerSurge]

You're missing out big time.

Winter is no where even close to White as snow.

this.


I can't believe that I even thought that these two songs were the same in any way possible.

Its very obvious that they never were.

White as Snow is borderline brilliant, while Winter is just a mess. If Winter barely missed the cut to make this album then I'm dreading all of the others that did as well and that might be on the next album later this year or next.

I don't even know how or why they would even want to release the song in its current form. It needs so much work IMO.

 

[bcrt2000]

this.


I can't believe that I even thought that these two songs were the same in any way possible.

Its very obvious that they never were.

White as Snow is borderline brilliant, while Winter is just a mess. If Winter barely missed the cut to make this album then I'm dreading all of the others that did as well and that might be on the next album later this year or next.

I don't even know how or why they would even want to release the song in its current form. It needs so much work IMO.

From what I gather, the album was supposed to be centred around the traffic cop and the soldier.

 

[PowerSurge]

From what I gather, the album was supposed to be centred around the traffic cop and the soldier.

I was trying to figure that out myself. I still think it is to some degree, outside of the obvious inclusion of the third character on Cedars of Lebanon.

You can also make the case that in some way the album actually revolves around ONE character, who's story is organized in a Pulp Fiction sort of non linear presentation. Maybe we get that hint from the line in the title track "time is irrelevant, its not linear..." as well as all of the references to time in the various tracks. Just a thought.

For all we know, the same character (traffic cop) in NLOTH that wanted to "get away" could easily be the same soldier that dies on White as Snow. Maybe he enlisted as a way to escape his crazy life, after his ephiphany in Moment of Surrender or Unknown Caller. Who knows? Could be possible.

The more and more I delve into the strong storyline that runs through the album the more I wish that the middle three songs (Crazy Tonight, GOYB, and SUC) were excluded. They seem to be the least relevant and least important parts to the story. They sound okay, but they really don't add to the storyline in anyway IMO.