Do you guys consider country-specific bonus tracks as part of an album?

[Canadiens1131]

I was just reading a thread concerning Fast Cars, and I am wondering if everyone considers reigon-specific tracks like The Ground Beneath Her Feet, and Fast Cars, the end of their respective albums?

I just honestly can't say the last track of ATYCLB is The Ground Beneath Her Feet, it just feels tacked on and not part of the tracklisting because it isn't really. Same with Fast Cars, I can't see why it is discusses as part of the album when Yahweh is the natural closing track.

 

[Pero]

I really can't tell, i heard The Ground Beneath Her Feet and it's not so good as everyone praises it.
Didn't hear Fast Cars, but the title sounds like i made the song.

 

[doctorwho]

Yes and no.

I don't consider "Ground..." as part of ATYCLB because it was officially released on another CD.

However, I do consider "The Fly" as part of the 90's "Best Of" collection and I definitely consider "Fast Cars" as part of HTDAAB. Likewise, I consider "One Tree Hill" as part of the 80's "Best Of" collection. The "Best Of" additions should make sense - and "Fast Cars" wasn't previously released (hence why I feel it is part of HTDAAB).

 

[Axver]

Yes, I consider The Ground Beneath Her Feet to be an important part of ATYCLB and I absolutely cannot imagine it ending with Grace. I got ATYCLB in 2000 whereas I didn't have the Internet and wasn't a fanatic until 2002, so I had no idea that other countries didn't have that track. There was a sticker on my album cover that said it contained an exclusive bonus track, but I never really gave it much thought and didn't think which would be the bonus - especially not as I found TGBHF to be very natural at the end.

 

[Canadiens1131]

Yeah, I'm in North America so I have no Fast Cars bonus track.

I just couldn't imagine finishing up with Original Of the Species, then the spiritual Yahweh, feeling all musically satisfied, and then being thrown Fast Cars - would feel weird to me.

 

[Axver]

I just couldn't imagine finishing up with Original Of the Species, then the spiritual Yahweh, feeling all musically satisfied, and then being thrown Fast Cars - would feel weird to me.

Same here ... and I'm in Australia and I have Fast Cars. But it feels separate from the album for me, as there's the long gap of silence. TGBHF comes directly after Grace like an ordinary album track.

 

[God Part III]

I wouldn't call them country-ish at any point.

The Ground Beneath Her Feet is not on my copy of All That You Can't Leave Behind. It's from my soundtrack, so I don't really consider it as a part of the album.
Fast Cars however is featured on my Bomb album, so thereby I consider it as a part of it. Funny, no?

Anyway, both albums are much weaker without the bonus tracks.

 

[Canadiens1131]

Look at it this way, though. Think of the Jushua Tree, with a bonus track after Mothers of the Disappeared, or Achtung Baby with Salome as the bonus track track, that just feels wrong. They're not part of the natural progression of the album as the band planned them, they're tacked on extras. My 2 cents anyway, I couldn't have Fast Cars after Yahweh, though I adore Cars.

 

[typhoon]

Is it so hard for them to give these bonus tracks proper places in the tracklisting instead of just tacking them onto the end? I mean, they're going to have to print up different discs and packaging anyway, they may as well do a decent job of it.

I don't consider any of these bonus tracks part of their respective albums because of this. Does anyone consider the Guilty Mix of "Holy Joe" a good closer for Pop because it's on the Japanese edition?

The annoying part is that these bonus tracks would otherwise be fine additions to the albums.

 

[Mark Freedman]

My album has "Mercy" on it, and the last song is "Are You Gonna Wait Forever", so I can't answer this question.

Seriously, though, I think the "meant" versions of these albums ended with "Grace" and "Yahweh", because the majority of listings and pressings ended up like that, and "Ground" and "Fast Cars" were actually presented as "bonus tracks". So, officially, bonus tracks are just that -- additions to the original intention.

 

[beli]

The Ground Beneath Her Feet and Fast Cars are the last songs on the albums I own so to me these songs are very much part of their respective albums.

 

[namkcuR]

I don't think of either of them as proper closers, but as part of the album in general, I absolutely consider TGBHF a part of ATYCLB and Fast Cars a part of HTDAAB. For me taking either one out of their respective albums would be like taking Acrobat or Until The End Of The World out of Achtung Baby. You get the point.

 

[Party Boy]

Having bought ATYCLB and HTDAAB in the UK, both Ground Beneath your feet and Fast Cars are as part of the album as Walk On or Crumbs. The album was NOT marketed in the UK as ATYCLB plus Ground or HTDAAB plus Fast Cars. For you guys outside UK or Europe where the special addition was available, you can have that discussion.. for us in the UK, its not an issue! Fast Cars and Ground Beneath.... is as part of the album as the other songs...

 

[indra]

I tend to think of an album as whatever version of the release I had first and grew to know. However, sometimes there really is a tracklisting which flows and the addition of any other songs screws it up. When that happens I really appreciate a several minute gap between the album proper and the extra tracks. Just makes for a better overall listening experience.

 

[U2girl]

No.

Ground beneath her feet wasn't an all versions All that... (plus it was on that soundtrack before), Fast cars is also not on all versions of How to... (I don't really know where it'd fit).

 

[miss becky]

No. My bonus track with ATYCLB was Summer Rain on a separate CD, so I never even knew Ground Beneath Your Feet was included on some discs.

But I do consider Fast Cars to be part of HTDAAB. Probably for the reasons that others have mentioned. It is on the same disc, and it has never been released anywhere else.

 

[solar]

I really can't tell, i heard The Ground Beneath Her Feet and it's not so good as everyone praises it.
Didn't hear Fast Cars, but the title sounds like i made the song.

Ovo ti je link za Fast Cars, samo makni razmake između slova!



[link removed. Please don't post links to official tracks on the forum - neutral]

 

[saltines17]

I may be in the minority, but I always feel like I need another song after Yahweh. It's not that it's not a good ending, my problem is that it's too much of a good ending, so that it's almost a cliched ending. I like having it end, then have the rougher, more unpolished Fast Cars at the end as kind of an afterthought, but in a good way. That didn't make any sense, I'm tired. But maybe someone else'll understand what i mean?

 

[lazarus]

No offense to those of you in Europe or Japan or wherever, but your feeling doesn't change the facts: those songs are BONUS TRACKS. They may be attatched to the end of your CD, but they are NOT part of the album proper as intended by the band.

Some artists just put out collections of songs. U2 are very specific in the way their albums are laid out in terms of the tone presented by the tracklisting. I'm not saying you should stop your CD before the bonus track every time you listen to it, but you have conditioned yourselves to the WRONG experience. Besides, you think the rest of the world is getting the INCOMPLETE album? That doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

I think Ground Beneath Her Feet and Fast Cars are better than most songs from their respective album sessions. But they were left off the album proper for a reason, however dubious the decision. Plain and simple.

To be completely honest, my copy of ATYCLB has a different tracklisting than the release version. After I found out the order was changed at the last minute, I burned a new copy with the original order and have NEVER listened to the other one again. As Bono feels that a slow song shouldn't be in the track 2 slot, I'm going with what he probably preferred.


laz

 

[TheBrazilianFly]

No, I don't. And the fact that they have always been the last one and don't seem to flow with the rest and are not good songs to finish an album just makes my opinion stonger.... to me of course. I think it's cool to have additional bonus songs but neither Fast Cars or TGBHF feel right at the end of their albums and I don't think they would really feel right anywhere else on the album.

 

[TheBrazilianFly]

No offense to those of you in Europe or Japan or wherever, but your feeling doesn't change the facts: those songs are BONUS TRACKS. They may be attatched to the end of your CD, but they are NOT part of the album proper as intended by the band.

Some artists just put out collections of songs. U2 are very specific in the way their albums are laid out in terms of the tone presented by the tracklisting. I'm not saying you should stop your CD before the bonus track every time you listen to it, but you have conditioned yourselves to the WRONG experience. Besides, you think the rest of the world is getting the INCOMPLETE album? That doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

I think Ground Beneath Her Feet and Fast Cars are better than most songs from their respective album sessions. But they were left off the album proper for a reason, however dubious the decision. Plain and simple.

To be completely honest, my copy of ATYCLB has a different tracklisting than the release version. After I found out the order was changed at the last minute, I burned a new copy with the original order and have NEVER listened to the other one again. As Bono feels that a slow song shouldn't be in the track 2 slot, I'm going with what he probably preferred.


laz

By the way what's the other tracklisting of your ATYCLB copy?

 

[Pero]

Solar, pošalji mi na email: lovro_njavro@net.hr ,e i pošalji mi onu stranicu na kojoj su značenja pjesama, please

 

[lazarus]

Here's the ORIGINAL tracklisting for ATYCLB. It was changed at the last minute. Apparently there was a similar argument over the new album, where Edge wanted a ballad in the #2 slot and Bono claimed that you couldn't have a slow song in that place. I'm assuming Bono won, as Miracle Drug couldn't really be described as a ballad despite the slow start. Perhaps Bono lost the previous time.

1. Beautiful Day
2. Elevation
3. Walk On
4. Stuck in a Moment
5. Peace on Earth
6. Kite
7. New York
8. In a Little While
9. Wild Honey
10. When I Look at the World
11. Grace

The biggest differences are Elevation at #2, which makes a lot more sense. It's a lightweight song along the lines of EBTTRT or DYFL. It's really schizophrenic to go from BD to Stuck to Elevation to Walk On. Also, New York is a very poor second-to-last track as those are usually darker, or more "important" songs thematically (Please, Acrobat, Exit). WILATW is certainly deeper than NY, and might have a better reputation were it left in its original place. A very underrated track.


laz