North Star decent version?

[Von Schloopen]

you posted on a message board but don't want comments? That doesn't make sense.

 

[corianderstem]

I didn't even listen to this clip. My opinions on the song are based on the live version from the tour.

Oh noez, omg, etc.

 

[Von Schloopen]

never mind that, I'm enthralled with this dude singing to a painting of a female demon with a vagina in her chest.

You don't see that every day.

 

[LuckyNumber7]

The song has a cool name?

 

[popacrobat]

Shaun is back baby! awesome

 

[corianderstem]

Keep your comments to yourself, popacrobat!

 

[popacrobat]

even if they're positive? darn.

I will return to my corner and continue drinking. as you were, interference!

 

[shaun vox]

@popacrobat yes im back..let the fun begin!

 

[dan_smee]

Song has lots of potential - we just need to keep U2 out of their own way now!

 

[mama cass]

i like it, you bunch of misery guts!

 

[Galeongirl]

I didn't even listen to this clip. My opinions on the song are based on the live version from the tour.

Oh noez, omg, etc.

I did enjoy it live a lot, but that was the good, electric guitar European version. The Acoustic NA version? Ruined!

But yea, doesn't surprise me that there's this much hate over a snippet.

 

[gvox]

LOL North Star - YouTube

Good grief!

 

[Rachel D.]

It doesn't sound like Achtung Baby and it's not depressing, so Interference hates it already.

 

[LemonMelon]

It doesn't sound like Achtung Baby and it's not depressing, so Interference hates it already.

Fourty-five light years from home
Is where you are
And where I want to be
Beside you
Looking for directions
Stars are your reflection
To the space between you and me
I, I can’t wait any longer for your love
I can’t wait, I can’t wait

And, what we have to look forward to when it's finished:

Here I am, a space cowboy
Looking out for love and logic
In the universe, yeah, yeah



Yeah, it's nothing like Achtung Baby. I find it pretty depressing though.

 

[topplehatU2]

I really really would love to have studio recordings of the new songs they did on the late 360 shows. They weren't the greatest songs ever, but I still enjoyed them.

 

[Irvine511]

can i say that i think Mercy (old and, yes, new) is pretty great and EBW is on it's way to being great?

it's just this one that sounds like Diane Warren.

 

[corianderstem]

Oh good, I was starting to think I was the only one who likes the new Mercy.

 

[gvox]

2 ain't exactly a crowd..

 

[JamietheEdgefan]

can i say that i think Mercy (old and, yes, new) is pretty great and EBW is on it's way to being great?

it's just this one that sounds like Diane Warren.

Totally agree. The new mercy sounds decent (and i think actually benefited from being chopped down and given new lyrics), and every breaking wave sounds really special.
But north star just has nothing going for it imo. I really hope it isn't released as anything more than a b-side, let alone as a single.

 

[Von Schloopen]

I like Mercy as well. Either incarnation.

 

[JamietheEdgefan]

Although i like Mercy, i still kinda want u2 to abandon it - firstly, the studio recording's been around for years, and i feel that if they put it on the next album then it means sacrificing space that could have gone to a song we've not heard before.
Secondly, although it's good, it's nothing new or special, and sounds very much like '00's' u2. I think they need something more innovative, and imaginative with which to forge a new album.
Part of me suspects the reason the mid-360 tour album never happened was because they realised key new songs they were playing (mercy, ebw, possibly even north star) were simply out-takes and rejects from previous albums, and thought they needed something new and special to offer rather than just spruced up b-sides (i actually think the idea of a low key, mid-tour album/ep consisting of re-worked outtakes is a great idea, but i'd guess after NLOTH, u2 are more focused on a massive comeback than a low key release).

 

[Von Schloopen]

I could care less if it's innovative. It's one of those U2 tunes with so much terrain I'm always finding new aspects of it to dig. It's a tune we got on accident. Then that launched a reworked live version was more bonus sex.

Then again, U2 are not a band I turn to when I want innovative stuff. I want guts from them. Blood and guts.

 

[LemonMelon]

You don't throw out a great song. Whether or not one considers it great is irrelevant; U2 thinks they're onto something, and in my humble opinion, they absolutely are.

I think old Mercy is very, very close to being one of U2's best. It was honest, emotional, sprawling and it grabbed you, for better or worse. New Mercy summed up U2's fear of negative space pretty well...trim all the fat off, have no less than 95% of the song dedicated to Bono's vocals, dumb down the arrangement and you'll have a hit. Bullshit. 6 1/2 minute Mercy had a lot of great sparks and interesting avenues to head down, whereas 4 minute Mercy was just another song.

I don't know what any of this has to do with North Star, except that I would even take new Mercy over North Star.

 

[Von Schloopen]

I'm not sure it's accurate to say U2 have been avoiding negative space. There's been loads of it on recent albums. New York, Love And Peace, Moment Of Surrender, Breathe all come to mind. Mercy did suffer from bloat and I think it needed to have a point put on it. Though it would have been nice to hear these versions in reverse live. I love their stretching out live arrangements.

 

[LemonMelon]

Yeah, U2 embracing minimalism, even tentatively, is part of what made NLOTH special. MOS is an excellent example of that, as is Fez.

Of course, I'm not sure a more overstuffed song than Get On Your Boots exists this side of Meatloaf. They have a while to go yet.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

I like new mercy.

Old mercy is a pile of dog shit.

 

[JamietheEdgefan]

I could care less if it's innovative. It's one of those U2 tunes with so much terrain I'm always finding new aspects of it to dig. It's a tune we got on accident. Then that launched a reworked live version was more bonus sex.

Then again, U2 are not a band I turn to when I want innovative stuff. I want guts from them. Blood and guts.

Fair enough! I actually agree with you that it's got a lot of good 'terrain' (the background synths are one of my favourite u2 backing tracks), and getting the song at all, let alone twice, was awesome.
Again, i do like the song, i just don't think it's anything special (for u2). As i've said before, one of my favourite aspects of u2 is when they seek new ground, and for me mercy instead just epitomises the 00's sound. So, yeah, i'd like to get a proper studio release of it, but i wouldn't want it to be a lead single, or to represent where they're going with the next album, in the new decade. And innovation aside, imo it's good but not great just as a tune, so i don't see it as u2 'playing to their strengths'. The guitar riff in the chorus has been used so much already - from with or without you to crazy tonight, albeit slightly altered - that i think it's earned the title of generic by now; at least when it's used in, say, ultraviolet, it's one of many elements, but relying on it in mercy as the main chorus riff screams 'out of ideas' to me.
Then again, it could morph into something completely different with danger mouse or redone...

 

[Von Schloopen]

Then again, it could morph into something completely different with danger mouse or redone...

Yeah.

I'm still amazed the kindergarden version of "Love Is Blindness" wound up becoming what we have on the album. I love both of them and the transformation is fascinating and startling. That's one of my favorite back to back song selections. I marvel at it. There's so much guitar work in the demo version that wound up as vocal melodies in the album cut. It's cool to see the pieces actually come together. Yet they have completely different identities as songs.

great band.

 

[JamietheEdgefan]

This is why i don't see the (possibly) new studio recordings we have as any indication of where they're going - they develop, tear apart, and rebuild song ideas like lego blocks, they put one song idea in one end and it comes out as something with, as you said, an entirely new identity. If mercy, ebw and north star can be re-worked like that by danger mouse or whoever, then my perception of them could completely change - i might end up loving mercy and hating ebw.
... i'll probably still hate north star though

 

[Von Schloopen]

This is why i don't see the (possibly) new studio recordings we have as any indication of where they're going - they develop, tear apart, and rebuild song ideas like lego blocks, they put one song idea in one end and it comes out as something with, as you said, an entirely new identity. If mercy, ebw and north star can be re-worked like that by danger mouse or whoever, then my perception of them could completely change - i might end up loving mercy and hating ebw.
... i'll probably still hate north star though

They have a couple of tunes like that. Where you can hear the growth in the tune. "No Line On The Horizon" is one. Maybe growth isn't the right word since I don't know which version came first, but hearing the same tune in 2 different colours is a trip.

Ah, "Arms Around The World." The change in that tune from the Kindergarden version to the album cut. It's like they renovated a house, but kept the old furnace. I love that. Oooh! "Even Better Than The Real Thing."I love the transformation that sound took. It took 20 years to bake, and that "Fish Out Of Water" thingy is amazing. I still like the album recording, but that song is basically 2 completely different people now. One of this bands most creative transformations. Do that song back to back. Your head will spin.

That's kinda what I think when I hear something like "North Star." It's a nice little gift. Maybe I'll get to hear it grow and change like some of those other tunes. Maybe not. It's nice if you don't anticipate it.

Plus it's still a shit recording. How anyone can judge a tune without proper fidelity is beyond me. It's rock and roll after all. Sonics matter. You can't play this recording of "North Star" loud and get anything from it. Too much compression. Sonics are 1/2 of it. "Until The End Of The World" wouldn't be nearly the song it is if I couldn't feel the push and pull of Adam's bass and Larry's kick drum.