Discotheque, Do You Feel Loved, MOFO...?

[mrphisto]

Hey guys, I'm rearranging the track listing of some U2 albums and am having a slight dilemma between whether to keep Do You Feel Loved and MOFO as 2 and 3 respectively, or to switch around the order? I personally feel either way would have been mighty fine. Just wanted some opinions. So far (for Pop) I've got:

01 Discotheque
02 Do You Feel Loved (?)
03 MOFO (?)
04 Staring at the Sun
05 Last Night on Earth
06 Gone
07 If God Will Send His Angels
08 Please
09 Miami
10 The Playboy Mansion
11 If You Wear That Velvet Dress
12 Wake Up Dead Man

I am aware this alternate track list is biased by grouping the more popular songs together whilst singling out the weaker ones. And please don't flame, everyone is subject to what they think is good or suits them. Thanks!

 

[LemonMelon]

I don't know how it would benefit Please and Wake Up Dead Man to be apart. That transition is so powerful, and the ends the album tremendously.

I would start the album off rocking, and there's no better track for that than Mofo, as it carries emotional weight; it functions as a statement of purpose "lookin' for the baby Jesus under the trash," and its intensity carries over into Gone:

1. Mofo
2. Gone

Night falls on the record with this stretch; it has a similar intensity, but the mood eases downward:

3. Last Night On Earth
4. Discotheque
5. Do You Feel Loved

A period for reflection breaks up the two halves:

6. Staring At The Sun
7. If God Will Send His Angels

And this run perfectly summarizes the dark side of Pop; sensuous, but ultimately crushed by the weight of the world:

8. The Playboy Mansion
9. If You Wear That Velvet Dress
10. Please
11. Wake Up Dead Man

I have no use for Miami. The album is long enough as it is, and it doesn't fit smoothly into what I was trying to do, so I chopped it. IGWSHA into Playboy Mansion has some black humor about it.

 

[mikal]

LM, i have something similar as mine, except i substitute North And South Of the River in place of Miami. That song and Playboy back to back make a nice little pop punch at the end of the album.

 

[lazarus]

Gone is too important to be that early in the album, usually reserved for a more lightweight, fun track (EBTTRT, Babyface, Elevation, Magnificent).

My alt. tracklisting for Pop had Gone around #4 or #5 I think.

Last Night On Earth, which is an upbeat rocker, would be a good #2, but I think DYFL is fine where it is. You're right about MOFO as the opener, though. Track 3 has often been the ballad spot, and I think Staring At The Sun works there too.

Discotheque I had opening up "Side 2". I don't know why you'd open up a side with a downbeat track like SATS. A big no-no.

My tracklist also includes North And South of the River and Holy Joe, so there's that too.

 

[LemonMelon]

WTF is a "ballad spot?" Just stick what sounds best in whatever slot is next.

#lancesmompotential

 

[lazarus]

One
With Or Without You
Sometimes You Can't Make It
Moment Of Surrender

And I don't think yours works. You have 5 upbeat tracks before slowing it down for four consecutive songs? No.

Clearly you didn't win Ashley over with a mix CD.

 

[LemonMelon]

I have won our B&C Desert Island competition twice for constructing the best sequencing/providing comfortable indie favorites.

Throwing a ballad between rockers for the sake of tradition is moronic. LNOE into Staring At The Sun into Gone? No, no no. My construction has as much to do with lyrical themes and mood as broad tags of "upbeat" and "not upbeat."

Record company executives follow the "two fast ones, a slow one, two fast ones, a slow one, a couple slow ones, a fast one, an epic slow one" formula, but we shouldn't.

 

[mikal]

i didn't know mp3 playlists had Side A and Side B.

 

[mikal]

Here's a new take on Pop:

1. Mofo
2. Discotheque
3. Last Night On Earth
4. If God Will Send His Angels
5. Staring At The Sun
6. Do You Feel Loved
7. Gone
8. North And South Of The River
9. Playboy Mansion
10. If You Wear That Velvet Dress
11. Please
12. Wake Up Dead Man

 

[LemonMelon]

Yeah, back in the day, The Fly opening the second side of a vinyl must have been pretty badass. Today, So Cruel into The Fly kind of sucks.

 

[lazarus]

Throwing a ballad between rockers for the sake of tradition is moronic. LNOE into Staring At The Sun into Gone? No, no no. My construction has as much to do with lyrical themes and mood as broad tags of "upbeat" and "not upbeat."

Wait, I didn't say that was my final tracklist. But, I think a song with the refrain "staring at the sun/I'd rather go blind" feeds pretty nicely into a song that says "I'll be up with the sun/I'm not coming down". It seems almost like they're COMPANION pieces. And both songs are very much about the ego, no? Gone being one of his most personal?

But regardless, five slow songs followed by four slow ones just isn't good pacing. Feel free to show me a legit example where it works. This goes beyond "record company programming", which doesn't apply to most serious bands.

I don't have my home computer iTunes handy, but for what it's worth, I think I had:

1. MOFO
2. DYFL
3. SATS
4. Gone

I can't remember if I had N&S/River in the 5 spot, or if it was If God... But side 2 opened with Discotheque and aside from Holy Joe being in there somewhere was pretty close to the original, I wouldn't touch those last 3.

 

[LemonMelon]

But regardless, five slow songs followed by four slow ones just isn't good pacing. Feel free to show me a legit example where it works. This goes beyond "record company programming", which doesn't apply to most serious bands.

Feel free to listen to my configuration and tell me it doesn't work. Honestly, I rarely ever even notice a transition as being especially good because most albums fall into a generic "space the fast and slow ones apart" methodology that doesn't actually engage you with the album.

That style works for setlist sequencing, I'll say that. It's too physically taxing/boring to not mix them up. But to have a gentle curve that emphasizes the cohesion of the tracks makes sense for 48 minutes.

 

[lazarus]

You have DYFL as a side closer.

And SATS as a side opener.

No.

 

[LemonMelon]

i didn't know mp3 playlists had Side A and Side B.

.

 

[LemonMelon]

If it were relevant, I would shift Last Night On Earth to side B. It's the moodiest of the rockers nearer to the top.

 

[Mrs. Garrison]

i like the different "trinities" including

discoteque
do you feel loved
mofo

and then later on

staring at the sun
last night on earth
gone

This could be 2 or 3rd favorite u2 album, behind AB / JT which is probably 1-2.

But damn i really wish they would have included Holy Joe on that disc. Not sure what they take out and replace it with...but it should have been on there.

PoP was mad, insane, and the band hasn't been the same since. You are only 37 once in your life. I remember hearing this album for the first time while wandering around through the streets of Seoul, S Korea, and thinking....this is mad....WTF!

Nobody mad a sound go off in my head like this before - or since. It made since in the chaos of that city, all 4 million people trying to get to the same place at once, all the car horns and angry gestures....

IT WAS INSANE! MADNESS!

When i was 37 i think i was still throwing chairs out of windows and smashing things and making blood run from myself or others. You need a sort of chaos at times just as you need the calm.

i dont know what i would have done otherwise. PoP

 

[elevated_u2_fan]

I have no use for Miami. The album is long enough as it is

I have no use for your face

 

[gvox]

1. Mofo
2. Do You Feel Loved
3. Last Night On Earth
4. Gone
5. Please
6. Wake Up Dead Man
7. Do You Feel Loved
8. Gone
9. Please
10. Do You Feel Loved
11. Do You Feel Loved
12. Mofo


kthxbai

 

[LemonMelon]

Why is this thread still in this forum? Did Danger Mouse remix Pop or something?

 

[rjhbonovox]

No penfold has done that one.

 

[An Cat Gav]

I don't know how it would benefit Please and Wake Up Dead Man to be apart. That transition is so powerful, and the ends the album tremendously.

I would start the album off rocking, and there's no better track for that than Mofo, as it carries emotional weight; it functions as a statement of purpose "lookin' for the baby Jesus under the trash," and its intensity carries over into Gone:

1. Mofo
2. Gone

Night falls on the record with this stretch; it has a similar intensity, but the mood eases downward:

3. Last Night On Earth
4. Discotheque
5. Do You Feel Loved

A period for reflection breaks up the two halves:

6. Staring At The Sun
7. If God Will Send His Angels

And this run perfectly summarizes the dark side of Pop; sensuous, but ultimately crushed by the weight of the world:

8. The Playboy Mansion
9. If You Wear That Velvet Dress
10. Please
11. Wake Up Dead Man

I have no use for Miami. The album is long enough as it is, and it doesn't fit smoothly into what I was trying to do, so I chopped it. IGWSHA into Playboy Mansion has some black humor about it.

Everybody seems to say that Pop wasn't finished and that's why it wasn't very well recieved. No. I've just realised the only reason was because they didn't use your running order!!
Seriously, it's great LM. Though i do love Miami, your reasoning is correct.

 

[zoopop]

You know whats crazy, COBL was a Pop outtake. I see Pop & JT the closets being U2's 2nd masterpiece (AB) and feel COBL would have put POP there.

 

[mikal]

I don't know how it would benefit Please and Wake Up Dead Man to be apart. That transition is so powerful, and the ends the album tremendously.

I would start the album off rocking, and there's no better track for that than Mofo, as it carries emotional weight; it functions as a statement of purpose "lookin' for the baby Jesus under the trash," and its intensity carries over into Gone:

1. Mofo
2. Gone

Night falls on the record with this stretch; it has a similar intensity, but the mood eases downward:

3. Last Night On Earth
4. Discotheque
5. Do You Feel Loved

A period for reflection breaks up the two halves:

6. Staring At The Sun
7. If God Will Send His Angels

And this run perfectly summarizes the dark side of Pop; sensuous, but ultimately crushed by the weight of the world:

8. The Playboy Mansion
9. If You Wear That Velvet Dress
10. Please
11. Wake Up Dead Man

I have no use for Miami. The album is long enough as it is, and it doesn't fit smoothly into what I was trying to do, so I chopped it. IGWSHA into Playboy Mansion has some black humor about it.

I finally tried this and I really like it. I did actually put the Garage Mix of Holy Joe in between IGWSHA and Playboy and that worked REALLY well.

 

[Globo14]

You know whats crazy, COBL was a Pop outtake. I see Pop & JT the closets being U2's 2nd masterpiece (AB) and feel COBL would have put POP there.

I don't know how much City of Blinding Lights changed from that demo to the Bomb version, but that just doesn't seem to fit.

 

[DoctorGonzo]

I want to live in the universe where COBL and "Big Girls Are Best" ended up on Pop, and it actually worked.