Songs of Experience - 1 Year Later

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I made an alternate tracklist that has been really working well. I actually really enjoy the Kygo Mix of Best Thing, and it works really well in that spot. This tracklist keeps the energy strong throughout with a pretty epic ending.

Love Is All We Have Left
Blackout
Love Is Bigger Than Anything On It's Way
Best Thing (Kygo Mix)
Red Flag Day
Summer Of Love
The Showman
Landlady
The Little Things That Give You Away
Lights Of Home (Strings version)
There Is A Light

Oh and I didn't include Book Of Your Heart just because I have never found a place where it flows well. Plus, I've always considered it a bit unfinished.
 
Most of U2's best songs are unfinished...

Love Is Bigger.... I can't see how that flows at the front of the album...

Showman should be dumped...

otherwise that does look like an improvement. Removing AS alone improves the album by 10x...
 
Most of U2's best songs are unfinished...

Love Is Bigger.... I can't see how that flows at the front of the album...

Showman should be dumped...

otherwise that does look like an improvement. Removing AS alone improves the album by 10x...
I initially didn't even consider Love Is Bigger towards the front, but it actually works.
 
I still don’t understand the interference vitriol for gooey. It’s a nice song. Toothless is the best assessment of it. But it’s not annoying so that’s a win. Definitely forgettable.
 
I still don’t understand the interference vitriol for gooey. It’s a nice song. Toothless is the best assessment of it. But it’s not annoying so that’s a win. Definitely forgettable.

Agreed. Get Out and Best Thing are FAR from shit-tier in my opinion, but get lumped in. I have a feeling it's mostly about context... if they were one-offs or b-sides, or on an EP of sonically similar songs, I think they'd be looked at positively, or at worst, ignored. Even if they weren't chosen and pushed as singles, I have a feeling they'd maybe even be considered deep-cut hidden gems. We, as fans, definitely don't like being force-fed the poppy stuff and it usually ends up tarnishing a song beyond the actual merits of said song.
 
I still don’t understand the interference vitriol for gooey. It’s a nice song. Toothless is the best assessment of it. But it’s not annoying so that’s a win. Definitely forgettable.
That's Interference for you in a nutshell. Never a true representation of the fan base as a whole. I'm sure there were a lot of people who enjoy Get Out/American Soul, and were quite happy to see them played on the tour. Not saying if they're right or wrong. It is what it is.
 
I still don’t understand the interference vitriol for gooey. It’s a nice song. Toothless is the best assessment of it. But it’s not annoying so that’s a win. Definitely forgettable.

Possibly the worst example of trying to cram too many syllables in to the lines on the verses, as though he's just writing whatever he wants without any regard for the actual music it's supposed to be put to.

The Beautiful Day aping with Edge on autopilot, just to name one of his own tracks he's borrowing from here.

It's insipid.
 
Yeah, Get Out is just this lump of nothing. At first listen its pleasing enough, but truly falls flat after repeated listens. I put it at about a 5. a Meh. A yawn.
At least I am passionate about not liking American Soul and The Showman. LOL. Those are 2's in my opinion.
Luckily the rest of the album more than makes up for them.

My Alternate tracklist:

Love is All
Light (St. Peters String)
Best Thing
Summer of Love
Red Flag Day
Little Things
Landlady
Book of Your Heart
The Blackout
Love is Bigger
13
 
Oh and I didn't include Book Of Your Heart just because I have never found a place where it flows well. Plus, I've always considered it a bit unfinished.

I agree with you on the feeling of Book of Your Heart. I love it, because it has sort of this Rattle and Hum type, loose constructed feel. But that same thing i like about it, makes me feel like just a little more tweaking would push it to an even better place. Although who knows.

That said, i put it between Landlady and The Blackout and it flows well IMO.
 
My current SOE playlist is different from what I proposed 18 months ago. I was adamant before about switching Lights of Home and Love Is Bigger, because I was so frustrated that the latter's outro didn't go on long enough for a show-stopper, whereas Lights of Home has that longer, Hey Jude-esque outro.

But after further consideration, Lights of Home is much more of a mission statement, or more to the point, it tells the story of Bono's bike accident and having to come to terms with dying. This crisis hovered like a spectre over the sessions (and a lot of the subsequent material) so it makes sense to put it at the beginning (not to mention that Love Is Bigger is a really strong credo to leave the listener with at the end).

My one caveat, that I know a lot of people share, is that the album version doesn't quite have enough impact. I think the vocal melody is a little too staccato and not engaging enough for the first proper song on the album. So I'm using the String Version, which at least gives it more gravitas.

The only song I actively hate is Get Out, so I removed everything up until right where the guitar part that accompanies Kendrick's vocal starts, and it actually sounds totally normal as an intro to American Soul. I labeled it "Preacher's Blessing".

1. Love Is All
2. Lights of Home (St. Peter's String Version)
3. Best Thing
4. The Showman
(Preacher's Blessing)
5. American Soul
6. The Blackout
7. Summer of Love
8. Red Flag Day
9. Landlady
10. Book Of Your Heart
11. Little Things
12. Love Is Bigger
13. There Is A Light

I tried to make sure there weren't any wild stylistic variances from song to song, so it flows nicely. And in terms of lyrical content, I grouped the more personal songs at the beginning (Lights-Best Thing-Showman), then went into a political section (Soul-Blackout-Summer-Red Flag) for the middle, and then back to the personal for the last third (Landlady-Book-Little Things-Bigger-Light).

I know some people really dislike The Showman, but if you're not going to cut it, it's ridiculous to have that catchy/poppy of a song buried in the second half, so I gave it a more prominent placement. Mikal said above that Book Of Your Heart doesn't fit anywhere, but Landlady does have a spacey sound and a keyboard backing which I think goes into Book's pulsating electronic style well, and then Book's ending with Bono's dramatic vocal and that little beeping matches the processed/muffled beat at the beginning of Little Things.

Give it a try.
 
I loved Experience and had it on repeat for a month. I haven’t listened to it since. Sad.
 
I shall be listening to "Songs Of Experience" soon. I love all the albums [that I've listened to] of U2. These are:

1. Achtung Baby
2. Pop
3. The Best Of 1980 - 1990
4. The Best Of 1990 - 2000
5. How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb
6. Songs Of Innocence
7. All That You Can't Leave Behind

I love all these albums, but no. 7 is my favourite. It speaks from Bono's heart and just is emotional and heartfelt. My absolute favourite by U2. I am going to be listening to their entire catalogue, too. And that is in no way boring.
 
Remember after SOI when Bono was hyping SOE to come, he talked about a new format-changer technology they were working on (hinted that it was along with Apple) for SOE that would change how albums are experienced and tracked (at the time, it sounded to me like viewable artwork along with the audio, and/or something about each listen being tracked (aka streaming) for smaller bands to use to figure out their demographic etc).

.........
 
Remember after SOI when Bono was hyping SOE to come, he talked about a new format-changer technology they were working on (hinted that it was along with Apple) for SOE that would change how albums are experienced and tracked (at the time, it sounded to me like viewable artwork along with the audio, and/or something about each listen being tracked (aka streaming) for smaller bands to use to figure out their demographic etc).

.........

They must have hidden that with the HBO documentary they announced alongside I+E Live in Paris
 
Speaking of I+E live in Paris, whatever happened to E+I live in Berlin?

I can understand why the home video release of JT30 was delayed (you don't want to give Oceania and Asia a reason to skip seeing the show in person), but surely the window on SOE interest isn't staying open indefinitely.

It makes no sense to me why E+I didn't come out earlier this year. They were doing nothing for 6 months in 2019 before this tour extension/reboot/desperation jukebox was announced.
 
Speaking of I+E live in Paris, whatever happened to E+I live in Berlin?

I can understand why the home video release of JT30 was delayed (you don't want to give Oceania and Asia a reason to skip seeing the show in person), but surely the window on SOE interest isn't staying open indefinitely.

It makes no sense to me why E+I didn't come out earlier this year. They were doing nothing for 6 months in 2019 before this tour extension/reboot/desperation jukebox was announced.
Because they don't want to release it prior to the announcement of next year's e+I+a tour
 
SOA winds up getting delayed 3 years after Trump's re-election so the band can make sure the material is POLITICALLY RELEVANT.

Muldfield :sad:
 
Speaking of I+E live in Paris, whatever happened to E+I live in Berlin?

I can understand why the home video release of JT30 was delayed (you don't want to give Oceania and Asia a reason to skip seeing the show in person), but surely the window on SOE interest isn't staying open indefinitely.

It makes no sense to me why E+I didn't come out earlier this year. They were doing nothing for 6 months in 2019 before this tour extension/reboot/desperation jukebox was announced.

recall that the 360 Rose Bowl video was delayed significantly because of editing issues, or something like that. and instead of ultimately getting a great video that benefitted from the extra production time, instead we got a shit, lame DVD that cut the opening song of the show. A disgrace.

these guys can't stop twittling with anything. in the search for perfection they suck the life out of their albums, too many of their live shows and as of late their video releases as well.

meanwhile, other bands are out there releasing huge amounts of their live catalogues - warts and all - because that's part of the live experience... and U2 do the opposite.... it's depressing...

ok, rant over.
 
Remember after SOI when Bono was hyping SOE to come, he talked about a new format-changer technology they were working on (hinted that it was along with Apple) for SOE that would change how albums are experienced and tracked (at the time, it sounded to me like viewable artwork along with the audio, and/or something about each listen being tracked (aka streaming) for smaller bands to use to figure out their demographic etc).

.........



Yup, still waiting for whatever that was/is, Bono never exaggerates now does he. :)
 
recall that the 360 Rose Bowl video was delayed significantly because of editing issues, or something like that. and instead of ultimately getting a great video that benefitted from the extra production time, instead we got a shit, lame DVD that cut the opening song of the show. A disgrace.

these guys can't stop twittling with anything. in the search for perfection they suck the life out of their albums, too many of their live shows and as of late their video releases as well.

meanwhile, other bands are out there releasing huge amounts of their live catalogues - warts and all - because that's part of the live experience... and U2 do the opposite.... it's depressing...

ok, rant over.

I think you often go overboard with your criticisms, but you're right on the money here. I never thought Breathe was a good opener, but you'd think they'd have the courage of their convictions and not drop it from the official release. What idiocy.
 
I have been accused of worse...

what got me thinking more about the frustrating U2 approach to everything (over-production, copy/paste live shows, holding back old live recordings) was this article on Neil Young.... a fascinating read.... I love his philosophy on music and you can almost hear his disdain for much of the modern music industry (incuding U2, but not specifically called out) flow through the article.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/20/magazine/neil-young-streaming-music.html?searchResultPosition=1
 
I think you often go overboard with your criticisms, but you're right on the money here. I never thought Breathe was a good opener, but you'd think they'd have the courage of their convictions and not drop it from the official release. What idiocy.

I was thinking, which (if any) of their live concert releases are not unaltered or copy and pasted in some way. Only one I can think of is Mexico PopMart.

It is just their way and it’s not going to change.
 
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