Shuttlecock IX: Romi and Miss Sil's Line Rules Disunion

[Axver]

I find it amazing that Another Day was the band's second single, even got played twice at a May 1980 gig, and was gone from the setlist completely before the Boy Tour began in September 1980. Its last known live performance is July 1980.

It's a decent song. Not remarkable, but decent. Don't know quite how it became second single when they had heaps of other stuff in their live repertoire though, while it had not been part of the known setlists for shows in 1979.

 

[liamcool]

Holy fuck someone get Adam a metronome.

 

[Axver]

OK, I fucking love Twilight on the Boy album, and the live versions by the War Tour were scorching (just listen to the Red Rocks performance!), and if I made a top twenty U2 songs it would probably be there, definitely in a top 30.

BUT WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS EARLY VERSION I DON'T EVEN

 

[Axver]

Twylite TWYLITE TWYLITE TWYLITE TWYLIIIIITE

*squeaky solo*

 

[liamcool]

And we have our first serving of Bongolese and it is AWFUL.

So far I have been depressingly underwhelmed by these singles. The production and the sound is SO BAD.

 

[Axver]

What makes me mad about this early version of Twilight is that there were much better songs in their repertoire when this was recorded, and given how much better Twilight got by Boy, how incredible could some of those other songs become with more work? I'd kill for Lost on a Silent Planet, The Fool, The Dream Is Over, or I Realise to have got a proper chance.

And has Shepp Daniel been stunned to silence by these awesome songs?

 

[cobl04]

Really?

https://twitter.com/TheRealPBarry/status/605889848197521409

 

[bono_man2002]

And we have our first serving of Bongolese and it is AWFUL.

Indeed. Plus the song does REALLY fall apart from then on.

 

[liamcool]

What on earth is "I Realise"?

I think The Fool would be a bit anachronistic because that was a 1978 song, yeah? But the other two, definitely.

11 O'Clock. The band is a bit better, but the production makes them sound ten times better than they are. It's no longer a band playing in a room, but a production. The drum sound is awesome. Love ya, Martin Hannett.

 

[Axver]

In an alternate universe, Edge is a nuclear scientist at a university and his research assistants are passing around these demos giggling about how "wow, this is when Professor Evans was in a band, and teehee he called himself 'The Edge'!"

Meanwhile a fat waddling Paul Hewson is playing them on a scratchy record player to try to impress his son after a hard day's work at the post office, and his father deducted £500 from the will because he was angry about never being paid back.

 

[Axver]

11 O'clock Tick Tock benefits from Hannett, but it just sounds wrong. None of the song's live glory is in this recording.

What on earth is "I Realise"?

Oh wait, that's the alternate title. False Prophet.

 

[bono_man2002]

And has Shepp Daniel been stunned to silence by these awesome songs?

Oh I am totally blown away. It's like Bono has come full circle over the years, with some of these lyrics.

I rarely have listened to some of these songs in my 15 or so years following this band.

 

[Axver]

https://twitter.com/TheRealPBarry/status/605889848197521409

I struggle to disagree really. I don't think that's transphobic; that's I don't give a shit about a random "celebrity" whose name I'd never heard before a couple of weeks ago undergoing a personal journey that need not be part of lurid headlines and should've been normalised in society a long time ago.

 

[Axver]

Oh I am totally blown away. It's like Bono has come full circle over the years, with some of these lyrics.

t-t-t-t-t-touching you

n-n-n-n-n-nineteen

He probably WAS nineteen when he wrote this too.

 

[liamcool]

I watched the Red Rocks 11'O Clock recently, and one of the things that struck me about it, is that version is both beautiful and stunning (especially through the singing and the slow mo shot of Bono dancing with that girl), but it's also a very violent song. The guitar solo at the end is like the sound of someone's soul being ripped out of their chest.

Hannett's production helps that; the vocals are detached, every snare hit sounds like a fucking gunshot, the guitar fades into the background, the tempo is methodical and measured.

I like Touch a lot! The chorus is really good.

 

[liamcool]

And the little production touches, like the bass notes in the very background that sound like a voice in the left ear, or the backing vocal, or how it speeds up towards the end. That's super neat.

 

[Axver]

I watched the Red Rocks 11'O Clock recently, and one of the things that struck me about it, is that version is both beautiful and stunning (especially through the singing and the slow mo shot of Bono dancing with that girl), but it's also a very violent song. The guitar solo at the end is like the sound of someone's soul being ripped out of their chest.

Great description.

Hannett's production helps that; the vocals are detached, every snare hit sounds like a fucking gunshot, the guitar fades into the background, the tempo is methodical and measured.

See, I just can't get into it. It makes the song too distant, and the whole thing feels flat. The guitar lacks the raw power it had live, and the fade-out and absence of the second solo or "call out your name" part is just criminal.

 

[liamcool]

Yeah, it's odd; Hannett never faded things out with Joy Division (I think Heart and Soul is the only fade out in their studio album catalogue?) so it's weird that it fades out here.

A Day Without Me is typical U2, isn't it? This is what I hear when I think Edge's early guitar sound. Distorted and echoey.

 

[Hewson]

Oh man the stupid noises Bono makes over Edge's solo in Boy/Girl! any song where Edge has a solo

Fixed.

#Bonocantsharethespotlight

 

[Axver]

A Day Without Me actually didn't seem like such a shock after those songs, not as much as I expected anyway.

Hah, Things to Make and Do, remember when U2 did an instrumental? Can you imagine Bono putting up with this now?

 

[bono_man2002]

They should totally open the i+E tour with Things to Make and Do -> The Miracle.

 

[Axver]

I actually really like the acoustic guitar in this alt IWF. I don't know what's wrong with me.

#Bonocantsharethespotlight

Hah, Things to Make and Do, remember when U2 did an instrumental? Can you imagine Bono putting up with this now?

Haha well timed.

 

[liamcool]

If Bono's voice is fucked, why can't they play an instrumental? This would be a nice call back, or they can play Stingray Guitar, or maybe even a Passengers track?

 

[liamcool]

But yeah, A Day Without Me wasn't that shocking, but it's when they figured out "their sound", I think. All of the echoing sounds interacting with each other, big drum sounds, total washes of noise.

 

[PhilsFan]

What the hell is going on?


Sent from my iPhone using U2 Interference

 

[liamcool]

WAIT WHAT, WHY IS THERE ACOUSTIC GUITAR ON I WILL FOLLOW

AND WHY DOES lT KIND OF WORK

 

[Axver]

But yeah, A Day Without Me wasn't that shocking, but it's when they figured out "their sound", I think. All of the echoing sounds interacting with each other, big drum sounds, total washes of noise.

Yeah, well put. I had it in my head that when ADWM and Boy came out people would've been all "holy fuck this band just came a long way!", but actually it feels like a natural progression when heard this way.

 

[Axver]

They should totally open the i+E tour with Things to Make and Do -> The Miracle.

End the show with Twilight (demo).

It can't do worse than ISHFWILF/One.

 

[liamcool]

...this mix of I Will Follow is a fucking mess.

 

[liamcool]

Boy/Girl has come a really long way in a year or whatever it is.