Native Son vs Vertigo

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NLOTH fits the sound of the album better, so right choice by them.

But NLOTH2 is better musically (IMO). sounds like AB with the dirty guitar and all. reminds me of lady with a spinning head. when I heard this song 1st back in Feb before finding out it was the single b side version, I couldnt have been more excited for the new album.

the vocal though??? My god, its bono as alvin and the chipmunks! Id love to hear NLOTH vocals with NLOTH2 music.
 
ouizy said:
I might be in the minority here, but I really think Native Son is a better song than Vertigo.

It is clearly a working version of the song, but I really love the lyrics and think that if they brought it to fruition it would have been a better song than Vertigo. (maybe not as successful in sales)

I just love the riff, and when put to serious lyrics it is a great song - when pu to the Vertigo lyrics, it is really about nothing.

Anyone else dig the Native Son version?
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The lyrics for "Vertigo" are better. The vocal on Vertigo and Native Son are close if not equal. But the guitars and arrangment on Native Son are FAR better, to my ears.

This is where I think Steve Lillywhite watered down the tune. The bridge on Native Son is the best bridge The Who never wrote. (That is who that bit reminds me of). And that bridge is full of passion. Also, and more important to my ears, the guitars on Native Son are more raw/razor-like... dare I say 'edgey'.

I like Steve Lillywhite's work, for the most part. I do think some of the things he did on HTDAAB were watered things down. If 'radioplay' is what the aim was, well then they succeeded. But I think he drained the 'intent' of some of the tunes.

Intent? The band, around the time of HTAAB, spoke of revisiting The Clash, Buzzcocks, Siouxsie and Echo and the Bunnymen... things that excitied them in the beginning and made them want to be a band. This was lost when the guitars were watered down from Native Son and turned into Vertigo.

The same can be said by the rearranging of "Xanax And Wine" to "Fast Cars". Both good songs. Lyric might be better on "Fast Cars". But the guitars and arrangement, to my ears, is FAR more rockin' on "Xanax And Wine".
 
I've always liked Native Son more, I'm really glad they didn't just let it sit in the vault forever after releasing Vertigo. I like the arrangement (especially the delayed guitar part in the chorus not present in Vertigo) and the mix a lot more as well as the lyrics. Also, as many other have mentioned, the bridge is just killer.
 
I've been comparing these two more recently. It's only more convinced me that Native Son is so much better. Listen to that middle 8. That "free" part with that great riff against that stupid "all of this can be yours?" Those great lyrics versus the stupidity of "Hello, hello?" Native Son just kicks Vertigo's ass in every way.
 
phillyfan26 said:
I've been comparing these two more recently. It's only more convinced me that Native Son is so much better. Listen to that middle 8. That "free" part with that great riff against that stupid "all of this can be yours?" Those great lyrics versus the stupidity of "Hello, hello?" Native Son just kicks Vertigo's ass in every way.
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:yes: :up:
 
Most epic bridge EVER! Freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!! It's amazing how he holds that note so long! I'd easily take NS over Vertigo. The thing with not using NS because there's two guitar tracks and it's "too complicated live for Edge" is nonsense. I'll help Edge out w/ the second guitar. I think if they were to do NS live the energy would be off the charts!:rockon:
 
Bono's voice would go out on a nightly basis if he tried that "FREEE" scream live.
 


To me - The guitars tones are sharper, more punk-ish and energetic on Native Son. They constantly spoke of revisiting their influences while making HTDAAB.

The bridge is better on Native Son.

The lyric is better Vertigo.



Mildly related: Xanax and Wine has more rockin' guitars. To me, it is better than Fast Cars.

And The iTunes Complete U2 version of Sometimes... has some deep deep emotion in the verses that are not on the album version. But I can understand that might have been harder to sing each night. I can agree with Lillywhite that it needed a stronger chorus and the released version has that.
 
What? The biggest improvement from Vertigo to Native Son is the lyric! That's the main thing that makes Native Son better, along with the improved bridge.
 
Yeah, the lyrics of Native Son are the best part of it!

If you want a more Rockier Fast Cars, try the Jacknife Lee remix. It was the b-side of ABOY I think.
 
The "free" in Native Son is "easier" to sing, relatively, than the "feel" in Vertigo (at least, how it's sung on the original, he does mess with it a bit live). I don't think it would pose a problem for Bono.
 
i enjoy both. i still think Vertigo is better. i know it's easy and convenient to like Native Son because it's an alternate, less poppy version, but for me, Vertigo is still 10 times better.
 
phillyfan26 said:
Ease and convenience have nothing to do with it.
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sure they do. if they had released Native Son as the single, and Vertigo was the alternate version released later on, everyone would have drooled over it and damned U2 for not choosing that version.
 
mikal said:
sure they do. if they had released Native Son as the single, and Vertigo was the alternate version released later on, everyone would have drooled over it and damned U2 for not choosing that version.
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Well, I'm only speaking for me, but that's not true at all.
 
mikal said:
agree to disagree i guess. i've always felt this way since we first got Native Son. i just think it was a typical response.
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I think you're assuming an awful lot about people with a differing opinion.
 
phillyfan26 said:
I think you're assuming an awful lot about people with a differing opinion.
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don't yell at me.

really though, i'm not assuming an awful lot. just a little. normally my assumptions turn out to be correct. i'm good at assuming. i'm assuming my assumption is correct on this one. just an assumption.
 
gvox said:
Not only do I have big feet, I prefer Native Son by a long mile over Vertigo, no matter when or how the two of them came out.


:wink:
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and that's a point i guess i should have made. i'm sure that there are many people who truly prefer the song, lyrics whatever..., but i really do believe that there are those people out there who prefer Native Son mostly because it's an alternative to the poppy, ipod carrying Vertigo.

call it an assumption or whatever, i don't care.
 
I know this is a huge, HUGE bumpy (sorry) but I was walking around today and Native Son came on and I forgot how amazing it is. The bridge/"Freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee" transition to the outro is so damn amazing it took me by surprise yet again. Love the lyric in the song, even if it doesn't quite fit with the music. I understand why it could have never been the huge single that Vertigo was but damn do I love it.

I don't really like the bridge/middle 8 to Vertigo ("all of this could be yours") and overall it feels a lot more stripped back - which is fine, it works for that song. It's really for Edge to just shred and that's probably the biggest appeal of the song. But there is something so much bigger/beefier about Native Son and I keep coming back to it.

It's a bummer Bono said he didn't like singing it live because I'd really love to hear him hit that freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee in a live setting. (if he could!)

Ok that's all, sorry for the huge bump. Gonna go listen to it some more.
 
def have a point there...

I always went right to a "Native American" angle on NS so...

I love Vertigo esp live....but I love NS even more. Love the sound, music etc. A bit rawer i think

I think the lyrics for NS fit fine with the music....
 
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