Alternate Tracklist SOE

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that follows U2.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
See posts with no answers
TheBrazilianFly

TheBrazilianFly

Rock n' Roll Doggie FOB
Joined
Sep 7, 2002
Messages
8,582
Location
Porto Alegre, Brasil
First, just let me say that I LOVE the record! It's an amazing one. VERY happy with it! I started listening to it as soon as it was on Spotify and been listening to it non-stop. With that said I'm sure a lot of us already have, or certainly will soon have, an opinion on the tracklist. I know it's early but it's fun stuff nonetheless. :hyper:

So, here's my favorite alternate tracklist right now:

01. Lights of Home (st. Peter's String Version)
02. Love Is Bigger Than Anything In Its Way
03. The Blackout
04. You're The Best Thing About Me
05. The Showman (Little More Better)
06. The Little Things That Give You Away
07. Get Out Of Your Own Way
08. American Soul
09. Red Flag Day
10. Summer Of Love
11. Landlady
12. Love Is All We Have Left


To me the St. Peter's version of LOH is better than the one on the album and works better as an opener. With that said LIAWHL is a perfect closer, it's a fine opener, no doubt, but works better for me as a closer. And having the first and last songs with this string/ethereal vibe feels really cool.

I really love LIBTAIIW and to me it's a perfect follow up to the slow build of LOH and as the first big up tempo song.

To me The Blackout feels a little lost on the original tracklist, it feels great as the third one, keeping the upbeat vibe and starting a more rock vibe. YTBTAM feels great right after it. On the original tracklist it ends up sounding a bit rushed following LOH.

Landlady and TLTTGYA are interchangeable. Little Things as the penultimate song is an obvious and really good place for it (because of the lyrics and vibe), but Landlady also fits beautifully in that spot, in a Cedars of Lebanon style, its ascending ending feels perfect in that spot. And I like Little Things as the first ballad.

I didn't put There Is A Light in there because I don't really get it, I think Song For Someone is much better, this song as of now feels a little unnecessary to me. Everybody seems to like it so maybe I'll change my opinion about it, but right now I feel like 12 songs is better.

Looking forward to seeing everybody's tracklist! :D :hmm: :hyper:
 
I've only listened to the album once through, but a lot of your logic makes sense to me and I want to try it this way.
 
I played through a few different track list alternatives today at work, and I'm pretty sure this is the one:

1. Love Is All We Have Left
2. Lights of Home
3. Book of Your Heart
4. The Blackout
5. Get Out of Your Own Way
6. Summer of Love
7. Red Flag Day
8. The Showman (Little More Better)
9. You're the Best Thing About Me (Sci-fi Soul Mix)
10. Landlady
11. Love Is Bigger Than Anything In Its Way
12. The Little Things That Give You Away
13. 13 (There Is a Light)
 
Tracklist is actually really good. The only thing that’s jarring is the transition between AS and SOL, so I changed the sequence of tracks 2-5 and it works really well.

Don’t change anything else but make 2-5:

Get Out Of Your Own Way
American Soul
You’re The Best Thing About Me
Lights Of Home
 
1. Love Is All We Have Left
2. Lights of Home
3. Get Out of Your Own Way
4. American Soul
5. You're The Best Thing About Me
6. The Showman (Little More Better)
7. Summer of Love
8. Red Flag Day
9. The Blackout
10. The Little Things That Give You Away
11. Landlady
12. Love Is Bigger Than Anything In Its Way
13. 13 (There Is a Light)

Just minor stuff, really, but good I think. Transition between Lights of Home and The Best Thing isn't great, so switched with GOOYOW that has a slower beginning. I like having The Best Thing and then The Showman because they are light and personal, and then you go into Summer of Love, Red Flag Day and The Blackout that are more about the state of the world. The Blackout signals somewhat of a transition to the darker, mostly slower and personal stuff at the end which is then completed by The Little Things. Beginning and ending is perfect in the original release.
 
JoRu said:
1. Love Is All We Have Left
2. Lights of Home
3. Get Out of Your Own Way
4. American Soul
5. You're The Best Thing About Me
6. The Showman (Little More Better)
7. Summer of Love
8. Red Flag Day
9. The Blackout
10. The Little Things That Give You Away
11. Landlady
12. Love Is Bigger Than Anything In Its Way
13. 13 (There Is a Light)

Just minor stuff, really, but good I think. Transition between Lights of Home and The Best Thing isn't great, so switched with GOOYOW that has a slower beginning. I like having The Best Thing and then The Showman because they are light and personal, and then you go into Summer of Love, Red Flag Day and The Blackout that are more about the state of the world. The Blackout signals somewhat of a transition to the darker, mostly slower and personal stuff at the end which is then completed by The Little Things. Beginning and ending is perfect in the original release.
Click to expand...
That's pretty good. I've replaced Lights of Home with the strings version
 
Any tracklist that doesn't include 'Book of Your Heart' is simply not the correct tracklist ;-)

It's taken a few days of experimentation, but I believe this is the best one:

1) Love is All We Have Left
2) Lights of Home (String)
3) You're The Best Thing
4) The Blackout
5) Get Out of Your Own Way
6) American Soul
7) The Book of Your Heart
8) Summer of Love
9) Red Flag Day
10) The Showman
11) The Little Things That Give You Away
12) Landlady
13) Love is Bigger Than Anything in its Way
14) There is a Light

Surprisingly, Book of Your Heart goes beautifully after American Soul. Its sonic space is like a breath of fresh air. I urge everyone to try it!
 
Here's an alternate tracklist idea that's kind of fun. I noticed some of the songs remind people of specific albums/eras, so I tried to place the songs in an order corresponding chronologically to the albums/eras.

01. Red Flag Day
02. Landlady
03. Book of Your Heart
04. The Blackout
05. Love is All We Have Left
06. Lights of Home
07. Get Out of Your Own Way
08. American Soul
09. The Showman
10. Summer of Love
11. The Little Things That Give You Away
12. There is a Light

Here's my rationale for the order:

01. Red Flag Day (War)
02. Landlady (I've seen comparisons to Promenade on TUF)
03. Book of Your Heart (been compared to Joshua Tree b-sides like Walk to the Water)
04. The Blackout (dirty sound like Achtung Baby, opening recalls Zoo Station)
05. Love is All We Have Left (ambient like Passengers)
06. Lights of Home (Pop... piano and lyric references to lights remind me of Gone, lyric addressing Jesus reminds me of Wake Up Dead Man)
07. Get Out of Your Own Way (sounds like a Beautiful Day clone to me, so ATYCLB)
08. American Soul (garage rock sound, HTDAAB)
09. The Showman (reminds me of a bouncy, tossed off track like Fast Cars... also sounds like something they might have recorded with Rick Rubin)
10. Summer of Love (lyrics refer to war/conflict, similar to NLOTH tracks like Cedars, Boots, Winter)
11. The Little Things That Give You Away (electronic drum beat and the dark feeling remind me of Moment of Surrender)
12. There is a Light (Song for Someone on SOI)

Note: The Best Thing and Love is Bigger don't feature, because I found post-2000 U2 sounds were over-represented... Get Out and American Soul are better examples of ATYCLB and HTDABB sounds, IMO.
I can definitely see arguments for certain songs being placed in different eras. For example, Little Things could fit in the '80s, and Lights of Home could fit in the '00s.
 
Last edited:
I always felt the running order for SOE was a little strange: The Blackout seems to be far too late in the album and The Little Things That Give You Away seems to early with Landlady awkwardly sandwiched in between.

So I dig this order a bit better since I feel it has a better flow, and it almost tells a story throughout. I also swapped out The Showman since it's my least fave:

1) Love is All We Have Left
2) Love is Bigger than Anything in its Way
3) Red Flag Day
4) You're the Best Thing About Me
5) Summer of Love
6) Get Out of Your Own Way
7) American Soul
8) The Blackout
9) Landlady
10) The Book of Your Heart
11) Lights of Home
12) The Little Things that Give You Away
13) 13
 
I think SOE makes a pretty good 10-track album, if you do a little swapping and trimming. There are a handful of songs that are in a style of U2 song that just doesn't hold my interest much; so they get axed in my version. It goes like this:

1. Love is All We Have Left
2. Lights of Home (Strings Version)
3. Best Thing (Kygo)
4. American Soul
5. Summer of Love
6. Book of Your Heart
7. The Little Things
8. Landlady
9. Blackout
10. 13 (There is a Light)
 
Cut Best Thing, Get Out and American Soul.

Replace Lights of Home with the string version.

Put Book Your Heart as track three.

Maaaaybe ditch Love is All, mainly because the opening line is very embarassing. Light of Home (St Peter) would be a massive opener...
 
Songs Of Experience:

1) Lights Of Home
2) The Blackout
3) Love Is All We Have Left
4) Get Out Of Your Own Way
5) Red Flag Day
6) Summer Of Love
7) Landlady
8) Book Of Your Heart
9) You're The Best Thing About Me
10) The Showman
11) Love Is Bigger Than Anything In Its Way
12) The Little Things That Give You Away

Starting off the album with the two rawk songs works pretty well I think. LIAWHL doesn't sound out of place not being first, and actually flows pretty well into GOOYOW.
 
Scorpionac said:
Here's an alternate tracklist idea that's kind of fun. I noticed some of the songs remind people of specific albums/eras, so I tried to place the songs in an order corresponding chronologically to the albums/eras.

01. Red Flag Day
02. Landlady
03. Book of Your Heart
04. The Blackout
05. Love is All We Have Left
06. Lights of Home
07. Get Out of Your Own Way
08. American Soul
09. The Showman
10. Summer of Love
11. The Little Things That Give You Away
12. There is a Light

Here's my rationale for the order:

01. Red Flag Day (War)
02. Landlady (I've seen comparisons to Promenade on TUF)
03. Book of Your Heart (been compared to Joshua Tree b-sides like Walk to the Water)
04. The Blackout (dirty sound like Achtung Baby, opening recalls Zoo Station)
05. Love is All We Have Left (ambient like Passengers)
06. Lights of Home (Pop... piano and lyric references to lights remind me of Gone, lyric addressing Jesus reminds me of Wake Up Dead Man)
07. Get Out of Your Own Way (sounds like a Beautiful Day clone to me, so ATYCLB)
08. American Soul (garage rock sound, HTDAAB)
09. The Showman (reminds me of a bouncy, tossed off track like Fast Cars... also sounds like something they might have recorded with Rick Rubin)
10. Summer of Love (lyrics refer to war/conflict, similar to NLOTH tracks like Cedars, Boots, Winter)
11. The Little Things That Give You Away (electronic drum beat and the dark feeling remind me of Moment of Surrender)
12. There is a Light (Song for Someone on SOI)

Note: The Best Thing and Love is Bigger don't feature, because I found post-2000 U2 sounds were over-represented... Get Out and American Soul are better examples of ATYCLB and HTDABB sounds, IMO.
I can definitely see arguments for certain songs being placed in different eras. For example, Little Things could fit in the '80s, and Lights of Home could fit in the '00s.
Click to expand...



Your linking of the sound to past albums is something I have personally heard too and I would agree with almost every comparison.
 
Album:

Love Is All
The Blackout
Love Is Bigger
The Lights Of Home
The Best Thing
Summer Of Love
Red Flag Day
The Showman
Landlady
The Little Things
There Is A Light

Bonus:

Get Out
American Soul
The Blackout (Live)
The Best Thing (Kygo)
Ordinary Love (Remix)
The Book Of Your Heart
The Lights Of Home (Remix)
The Best Thing (Acoustic)


I’ve tweaked this a few times. I feel like the album playlist flows nicely.
 
Ok folks, I think I finally nailed it! ( for my ears at least).

Now those of you that don’t particularly like The Showman, then this one might be for you. Showman-free.

I know a few people have mentioned the Blackout. I totally agree that it sticks out like a sore thumb in the current track listing. So I moved it forward BUT, I don’t agree with it being in second positon. After reading the Lights of Home appreciation thread, it’s clear that the first two songs belong together. If any of you haven’t read it, I would check it out. Pretty heavy.

Anyway, the flow here feels right. Also I really wanted to break up the triplet of singles, Best Thing, Get Out and Am. Soul.
I feel that this track list starts out strong, gets a couple of my lesser faves out of the way early (Get Out / American Soul) and then moves along beautifully.

1. Love is All
2. Lights of Home (St. Peters String)
3. The Blackout
4. Get Out
5. American Soul
6. Summer of Love
7. Love is Bigger
8. You’re the best Thing
9. Red Flag Day
10. Book of Your Heart
11. Landlady
12. Little Things
13. 13

Interestingly, I really love the run from Red Flag on, but in particular, There is a run of three songs that are a bit of a blast to the past - Red Flag has that mid eighties feel, Book of... is straight up late 80’s U2, and Landlady has sort of an promenade/ Unforgettable Fire feel.

Hope some of you will like it.
 
Slightly altering my original tracklist, I'm very happy with this:

1) Lights Of Home
2) The Blackout
3) Love Is All We Have Left
4) Get Out Of Your Own Way
5) Red Flag Day
6) Summer Of Love
7) Landlady
8) Book Of Your Heart
9) The Showman
10) You're The Best Thing About Me
11) Love Is Bigger Than Anything In Its Way
12) The Little Things That Give You Away

Listened to it on my commute to work, and I like it. Dropped AS and 13, and I don't miss them. I'm stealing some thoughts that others have mentioned already, but:

- Lights Of Home starts off serving as Bono's bike accident, or whatever other medical issue he had
- The Blackout is him being, well, blacked out, and staring at death. The lyrics describe all the ways the world is messed up, and the "so glad that we are all still here" and the buildup into the final chorus is Bono deciding that he wants to stay and fight
- As another poster mentioned, Love Is All We Have Left is kind of a message from his soul, floating over him, before crashing back into his body and waking him up. Also, a psychological thing, but having it not first makes it seem like a noticeably longer song.
- ...which segues pretty well into a burst of joy, Get Out Of Your Own Way
- a few random songs
- The Showman is acknowledging that for much of his life and career, he's played pretend, and Best Thing is him going back to basics and recognizing who and what has made his life great. I also like how the "look so good"s of The Showman transition into "when you look so good" kicking off Best Thing
- Love Is Bigger is a continuation of that, him realizing he doesn't have to try so hard
- Yet, it still ends on a not-totally-happy note, with Bono doubting himself and coming to grips with his mortality.
 
Last edited:
1. Summer of Love
2. Lights of Home
3. You're The Best Thing About Me
4. American Soul
5. Red Flag Day
6. The Showman (Little More Better)
7. The Little Things That Give You Away
8. Landlady
9. The Blackout
10. Love Is Bigger Than Anything in Its Way
11. 13 (There Is a Light)
 
This has been tested for weeks and I'm very happy with it. I take these things very seriously and try to make decisions that are in keeping with the album's overall personality, themes, etc. as well as trying to maintain logical connections between tracks based on similarities of lyrical content and sonic character.


1. Love Is All
2. Love Is Bigger
3. The Best Thing
4. The Showman
5. [Preacher's Blessing] *(see below)
6. American Soul
7. The Blackout
8. Summer Of Love
9. Red Flag Day
10. Landlady
11. Book Of Your Heart
12. The Little Things
13. Lights Of Home (string version)
14. There Is A Light

I tried to move most of the catchier up to the front, I think the Love-Love and Light-Light pairings make good thematic bookends, and Love Is Bigger just makes more sense coming off Love Is All. Both it and Lights Of Home are similar in that thematically they can work as mission statements as well as summations, so I went with what sounded more appropriate.

So you have the more personal but upbeat section in the first movement, followed by the political. I absolutely despise Get Out, but I didn't want to lose the bulk of Kendrick's speech. Luckily a new guitar line begins near the end of Get Out before he appears and if you set iTunes to start the track at 3:32:5 it picks up right there and doesn't sound abrupt at all. If for some reason you are able to stomach Get Out, I think it works fine here anyway because it fits on the release version. The Blackout's raw guitar opening segues great coming off the end of American Soul, but its ending is moodier, which makes a nice transition to Summer Of Love. Red Flag Day is a similar groove-based track so I didn't mess with that original pairing. The guitars on Red Flag and Landlady seemed complementary (the latter minus percussion at first), and since there is a romantic element in both I thought it fair to bridge those two as we move back to the personal for the album's final section. Landlady going into Book of Your Heart puts the two Ali/marriage songs together and since Book sounds so different sonically from the rest of the album I think it works best out of the relatively sparse Landlady, and its nighttime vibe goes into the long dark night of the soul depicted in The Little Things.

I never felt Love Is Bigger was enough of a showstopper number for the penultimate slot because of its too-brief crescendo and then the reprise of the introductory oh-oh-ohs robbing it of a feeling of finality. In its place as mentioned above I put Lights of Home, with the string mix giving it a sense of drama that makes it perfect for its slot. It has an equally rousing sing-along like Love Is Bigger, but is allowed to continue longer, and then you have the string outro which just sounds more appropriate for the end of an album. Last you have the typical downbeat coda of There Is A Light, which doesn't fit anywhere else and is IMO a great closer in terms of its sound and thematics.
 
I originally only played around with songs from SOE (deluxe edition) for an alternate tracklist, but realized I would enjoy it more if the songs from SOI that never really found a home were included. I don't feel this is some kind of blasphemy, as it all draws from the same songwriting "stew" that produced both records. Yes, there are some production differences, but they can be smoothed out a bit if the tracks flow well with others. Below is what I currently have spinning as an album I call U2 - Inexperience (for laughs). I don't want to knock the people that enjoy the grand "our music can save the world" anthems; but I mostly left those off because they just aren't the U2 style I prefer most.

1. Love is All
2. Lights of Home (Strings)
3. Best Thing (Kygo)
4. Summer of Love
5. Crystal Ballroom
6. Book of Your Heart
7. Ordinary Love
8. Lucifer's Hands
9. The Little Things (Spotify single version)
10. Landlady
11. Blackout
12. There is a Light

I'm enjoying this quite a bit and if it were the "real" SOE, it'd definitely drag it out of (currently) being in last place for U2 albums in my book.

I was never especially tempted to mess with SOI because I think it holds together well. So, the stray tracks from that time-period fit somewhat nicely here.
 
1 Love Is All We Have Left
2 Lights Of Home
3 The Best Thing
4 Get Out Of Your Own Way
5 Red Flag Day
6 Summer Of Love
7 The Showman
8 The Little Things
9 The Blackout
10 Landlady
11 Book Of Your Heart
12 Love Is Biggger Than Anything In It’s Way

First single teaser - The Blackout
Second single album promotion - Red Flag Day
Third single post release - The Best Thing
 
lazarus said:
This has been tested for weeks and I'm very happy with it. I take these things very seriously and try to make decisions that are in keeping with the album's overall personality, themes, etc. as well as trying to maintain logical connections between tracks based on similarities of lyrical content and sonic character.


1. Love Is All
2. Love Is Bigger
3. The Best Thing
4. The Showman
5. [Preacher's Blessing] *(see below)
6. American Soul
7. The Blackout
8. Summer Of Love
9. Red Flag Day
10. Landlady
11. Book Of Your Heart
12. The Little Things
13. Lights Of Home (string version)
14. There Is A Light

I tried to move most of the catchier up to the front, I think the Love-Love and Light-Light pairings make good thematic bookends, and Love Is Bigger just makes more sense coming off Love Is All. Both it and Lights Of Home are similar in that thematically they can work as mission statements as well as summations, so I went with what sounded more appropriate.

So you have the more personal but upbeat section in the first movement, followed by the political. I absolutely despise Get Out, but I didn't want to lose the bulk of Kendrick's speech. Luckily a new guitar line begins near the end of Get Out before he appears and if you set iTunes to start the track at 3:32:5 it picks up right there and doesn't sound abrupt at all. If for some reason you are able to stomach Get Out, I think it works fine here anyway because it fits on the release version. The Blackout's raw guitar opening segues great coming off the end of American Soul, but its ending is moodier, which makes a nice transition to Summer Of Love. Red Flag Day is a similar groove-based track so I didn't mess with that original pairing. The guitars on Red Flag and Landlady seemed complementary (the latter minus percussion at first), and since there is a romantic element in both I thought it fair to bridge those two as we move back to the personal for the album's final section. Landlady going into Book of Your Heart puts the two Ali/marriage songs together and since Book sounds so different sonically from the rest of the album I think it works best out of the relatively sparse Landlady, and its nighttime vibe goes into the long dark night of the soul depicted in The Little Things.

I never felt Love Is Bigger was enough of a showstopper number for the penultimate slot because of its too-brief crescendo and then the reprise of the introductory oh-oh-ohs robbing it of a feeling of finality. In its place as mentioned above I put Lights of Home, with the string mix giving it a sense of drama that makes it perfect for its slot. It has an equally rousing sing-along like Love Is Bigger, but is allowed to continue longer, and then you have the string outro which just sounds more appropriate for the end of an album. Last you have the typical downbeat coda of There Is A Light, which doesn't fit anywhere else and is IMO a great closer in terms of its sound and thematics.
Click to expand...

What’s your track list for SOI?
 
I like the tracklist Laz, but it’s tough to delete Get Out. I guess the good thing is that it fits ok after Showman.
 
I posted this a few weeks back in a thread, but I'll post it here.

I used the Deluxe tracklisting and removed a few songs. Primarily I tried to get a good in/out flow of the songs. Sensing tone and tempo and trying to find matches.

1. Love is All We Have Left
2. Bookf of Your Heart
3. Get Out of Your Own Way
4. American Soul
5. Red Flag Day
6. The Showman
7. Little Things
8. Summer of Love
9. Landlady
10. 13 (There is a Light)
11. Lights of Home - Strings Version
12. The Blackout

Here's a Spotify link to my playlist: https://open.spotify.com/user/kilowattson/playlist/7fvt3dkBSB1SPausQCuMuU
 
I would have dropped LIAWHL, Lights of Home and 13. I would have started the album with Lights of Home (Strings) and ended with either Love is Bigger(12 Song Album) or Book of your Heart(13 Song album).

I would also have dropped Ordinary Love from the deluxe album and put in the alternate versions of Summer of Love, Blackout and Showman that were heard in the Linear video , 13, acoustic Best Thing, Little Things piano version and the LOH(Haim version). If there are other alternate versions then include them too.

If you want people to buy albums, that is a great value add(don’t make the deluxe tracks available for streaming).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

dan_smee
I listened to No Line on the Horizon right through tonight for the first time in about 10 years…
2 3
Replies
83
Views
2K
lazarus
lazarus
Headache in a Suitcase
The Little Things That Give You A Mercy Rip Off
2
Replies
31
Views
3K
lazarus
lazarus
B
Can someone help me identify this U2 song? Has anyone else heard of this song?
Replies
14
Views
536
clerks
clerks
P
PEDRO G NEWBEE HERE. PLEASE BE GENTLE.
Replies
3
Views
180
clerks
clerks
O
Better late than never “they” say…
Replies
1
Views
277
Headache in a Suitcase
Headache in a Suitcase

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom