The Unforgettable Fire without Pride.

[david]

I'm listening to The Unforgettable Fire right now and as much as I enjoy the album version of Pride, and as we all know the meaning behind the song, I sometimes feel that it would have been better off as a one off single released around the time. MLK the song is a great tribute and does fit well on the album. I think if you dropped Pride, and had Wire follow A Sort of Homecoming and throw in Love Comes Tumbling somewhere on the album you'd have a great flowing album with some nice "ethereal" tracks.

Anyone else ever felt this way?

 

[lemonfly]

It's really a testament to how incredible the first half of TUF is that you could probably take Pride out of the equation, and it wouldn't diminish my enjoyment by one iota. Now, I guess I'm far too used to Pride being there that it would feel too odd not to hear that rousing intro kick in... But if they had made it a stand-alone single? I think it woulda worked out just fine.

 

[Musikwala]

Agreed. Love Comes Tumbling is lovely and quite essential on the album.

 

[Galeongirl]

If Pride wasn't on it, they wouldn't have had a big single to push the album to the mainstream.

And it makes the album even more boring than it already is.

 

[SpiralStaircase]

I find it jarring on the album - I regularly skip it. It's not that I don't like it (although "like" is as far as I'll go with it, and if I listen to it I tend to focus on Edge's guitar) but it stands out in the other tracks' company, and not in a good way.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

The band's entire history would be different if Pride wasn't on the album.

 

[david]

The band's entire history would be different if Pride wasn't on the album.

Probably. It does seem to anchor that album.

Listening to Ordinary Love 5 times in a row tonight I get the feeling that this could be their new Pride for 2013.. but in a different way. I don't know where I am going with this.

 

[corianderstem]

I think that's the only time I listen to the studio version ... when I listen to the album! It does seem out of place, but honestly, I wouldn't take it out.

 

[jeevey]

Listening to Ordinary Love 5 times in a row tonight I get the feeling that this could be their new Pride for 2013.. but in a different way. I don't know where I am going with this.

Let us know when you get there. Could be a fascinating theory.

 

[david]

Let us know when you get there. Could be a fascinating theory.

It's going to take some more wine. But I am on to something.

 

[jeevey]

I totally want to hear it. I'll start drinking now and check back in a bit.

 

[LemonMelon]

I would rather Love Comes Tumbling replace Indian Summer Sky. I don't know what happened there.

 

[Mrs. Garrison]

It's going to take some more wine. But I am on to something.

I hate to state the obvious, but its called a buzz, not that im one to judge or anything.

 

[KUEFC09U2]

I hate to state the obvious, but its called a buzz, not that im one to judge or anything.

To be fair I hardly ever feel the "buzz" after so much alcohol I just want to sleep!!

 

[Mrs. Garrison]

for some reason im reminded of the movie where the guy has to keep going or he will die, and so as he is falling from an airplane without a parachute, he's able to call his g/f and tell her he loves her one last time before he hits the ground....splat!

That sounds so unrealistic to me, but it made that movie more interesting than had he just died in the beginning like he should have.

I don't know what that has to do with this thread. I guess you feel the most alive when you are about to about to blow yourself up.

 

[bono_212]

for some reason im reminded of the movie where the guy has to keep going or he will die, and so as he is falling from an airplane without a parachute, he's able to call his g/f and tell her he loves her one last time before he hits the ground....splat!

That sounds so unrealistic to me, but it made that movie more interesting than had he just died in the beginning like he should have.

I don't know what that has to do with this thread. I guess you feel the most alive when you are about to about to blow yourself up.

I love that movie.

Never did get around to the sequel.

 

[Nick66]

TUF is my favourite U2 record, and as much as I like Pride, I never thought it fit with the rest of those songs, either in tone or thematically. To my ears, it definitely interrupts the flow of the record. Most of TUF is just kind of like wandering around the dream landscape of a surrealist painting, and Pride, while absolutely essential for U2 at that moment as single, just isn't that.

U2 were incredibly prolific back then, and here's an embarrassments of b-sides from that era (the best of the band's career) any number of which would have plugged into that record better than Pride...but none of them had the potential for a single that Pride did, so I can't fault the band for putting it in there. And it is a great tune.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

How is it that Pride interrupts the flow but Wire doesn't? Because nobody is tired of hearing Wire live?

 

[SpiralStaircase]

How is it that Pride interrupts the flow but Wire doesn't? Because nobody is tired of hearing Wire live?

It's cos Pride is deliberately big, obvious, verse-chorus-verse-chorus singalong pop song. Wire...isn't.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

So because it has a chorus it's not allowed? I thought it was because the style of song didn't fit? Or is it just because a lot of people are tired of hearing it live?

 

[jeevey]

I think that's it. If we hadn't been hearing it live regularly I bet we'd being saying that it's "a standout" rather than "it doesn't fit."

 

[Nick66]

I'm not sure about that, I've always felt that way about Pride....loved the tune, but thought it felt out of place with the music around it. At least to me, it doesn't have anything to do with how much it's been played live...Bad was a hit and got played quite a bit live as well, but it flows with the rest of the record in a way Pride doesn't.

On the other hand, Wire (while definitely more uptempo than most of the record), fits right in to me.

 

[jeevey]

(thread derailment warning)

Wire. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldvTYPhvhTM

Back on subject, I'm not a super duper lover of Pride. I mean, it's iconic and great and all, but in listening to boots I often skip it.

 

[Nick66]

Wire. Yes. Wire.

And all the rest of The Unforgettable Fire.

 

[jeevey]

RE your avi: back to your usual smug self, I see. That didn't take long.

 

[SpiralStaircase]

So because it has a chorus it's not allowed? I thought it was because the style of song didn't fit? Or is it just because a lot of people are tired of hearing it live?

Wire has a chorus. But it's not a big, polished, made-for-radio-and-singalongs song like Pride is. Pride sticks out from everything else on the album in that respect with the exception of the title track, which despite having a catchy chorus is pretty dark and has tons of atmosphere, like much of the rest of the album.

 

[Galeongirl]

(thread derailment warning)

Wire. U2 - Trip Through Your Wires (Paris Live) - YouTube

Back on subject, I'm not a super duper lover of Pride. I mean, it's iconic and great and all, but in listening to boots I often skip it.

THat video is trip, not Wire!

 

[Nick66]

RE your avi: back to your usual smug self, I see. That didn't take long.

What do you mean, "back"? I don't remember ever being gone.

 

[ImOuttaControl]

How is it that Pride interrupts the flow but Wire doesn't? Because nobody is tired of hearing Wire live?

Agreed 100%. Wire is the most jarring part of TUF for me, followed up by Indian Summer Sky, followed by the atrocity that is EPAA. I'd prefer getting rid of Wire and adding Love Comes Tumbling to removing Pride. Hell, without Pride on this album, I doubt U2 would have ever got to the level where we are discussing them and this song nearly 30 years later.

 

[LemonMelon]

Wire is leagues better than Indian Summer Sky. The latter seems redundant, honestly.