Genesis of JT album (double album, etc.)

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oliveu2cm

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Originally posted by Am I Zoo:

(And anyone want to explain to me how you can record something as transcendently gorgeous as "Walk to the Water" and *leave it off the album*?)

Yeah, Bono thought the same thing at first. He said that no one would understand "With Or WIthout You" without the context of Walk To the Water as well as Luminous Times. Guess he was wrong. It's a beautiful song.. but I don't believe it's as strong as WOWY. Looking at that song you can see their path from TUF album to JT.



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You say that the river finds the way to the sea...
...and like the river you shall come to me


U2 Take Me Higher
Mr. Macphisto's Mansion
 
I forgot all about the track "Deep in the Heart." I still have this B-side on a 45, but I no longer have a record player.
frown.gif
Since I have very little memory of this song, I would appreciate what people here thought of this track and how it sounded.

Its funny how I can easily recall "Race Against Time." It seems I recall bad songs better.
wink.gif


I am going to make this double album, but I am not spending any cash on the Streets CD single just so I can have "Race Against Time." I'll be leaving that one off it.

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"Pull the trigger on a rock n' roll ****** bigger than Jesus on a bumper sticker!" -Bono, Bullet the Blue Sky.
 
I actually made the double album some time ago. What I didn't have on CD, I managed to download as mp3s, and just burn those. It's very different from the original, and I think it flows a bit better.

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Change is the only constant
 
I think that order works well except for Silver And Gold at the #2 slot. I dont think it fits well there at all. I prefer to put it between Exit and Mothers or at the least towards the end of the album. I think that flows better. Otherwise I like this order alot and that is how I burned it. Fortunately I have all the B sides on CD so I didnt have to resort to mp3's.
 
Originally posted by Roland of Gilead:
I forgot all about the track "Deep in the Heart." I still have this B-side on a 45, but I no longer have a record player.
frown.gif
Since I have very little memory of this song, I would appreciate what people here thought of this track and how it sounded.

Deep In The Heart, if I remember correctly it sounds like it should've been on Unforgettable Fire. It is similar to Edge's waining guitar sounds from Fourth of July and the rest of UF. There are harmonics scattered in the riffs of Deep. Edge's sings "It'll work out right" really deep right around the chorus. This song is very atmospheric. Adam's bass has some real strength in this song. I love Deep in the Heart.
 
I think Race Against Time should be after Streets and Silver and Gold should be between Running To Stand Still and Red Hill Mining Town.
 
I think that some of the B sides would have been included on the album if it would have been released a few years later, after the compact disc took over as the format that drove the industry. In 1987 tapes and LP records were still the primary medium, and could hold at most 45-50 minutes of music.
 
I've often heard U2 originally considered releasing The Joshua Tree as a double album. Did the band themselves ever substantiate this, or is this just a fan-generated rumor?

I seem to remember someone posting a thread on this forum (about a year ago?) with a track listing for JT as a double album. Anyone else remember that? As I recall, it was a pretty interesting running order.

I ask all this because I've been listening to the JT B-sides lately and, as usual, have been struck by their excellence. I think Edge has commented somewhere that songs like "Walk to the Water" were dropped because they wanted a more straightforward, "American" sound for the album.

Also: Was "Heartland" originally recorded for JT? It is produced by Lanois (and Eno?) and does have a very JT sound.

Okay now, people -- let's see how smart you are!
 
Yeah they originally thought about releasing it as a double album, most of the b sides that were on the singles released from the joshua tree were to be on the album.

it's planned title was "The Two Americas"

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The more of these I drink the more Bono makes sense.. - Bean from the KROQ Breakfast with U2.
 
The rumor is that it was originally planned to be a double album. There is lots more info here.

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Change is the only constant
 
Thanks for the excellent info, fellas. Only one question about that link, though -- what in the hell is that Joshua Tree article doing on a site devoted to (NASCAR driver) Bobby Labonte...?

And I'm *still* wondering about "Heartland." Anyone have the story on that song?

(And anyone want to explain to me how you can record something as transcendently gorgeous as "Walk to the Water" and *leave it off the album*?)



[This message has been edited by Am I Zoo (edited 03-26-2002).]
 
Here is some info about Heartland.....

"it was written during 1986 for JT. Recorded at Adam Clayton's home in Rathfarmham, it was one of five or six tracks that remained unfinished from those marathon sessions. When it came to the cut, the band went for "Trip Through Your Wires" in preference; it was a queston of flow and balance. "It was too laid back," reflects Bono. "We wanted stuff we could play live. On the unforgettable fire we'd gone that sort of ambient route, so on JT we wanted to toughen it up a bit."
 
This is proof that HEARTLAND should be apart of the Restored Joshua Tree album. I gather from that that they would have put it after In Gods Country. So now there is 19 tracks. I don't know if this will all fit on an 80 minute CD but certainly a 90 minute audio cassette will work! If the Joshua Tree had had these 8 extra tracks, it would definitely have been my favorite album of all time even above Achtung Baby.
 
Originally posted by Swan269:
Here is some info about Heartland.....

"it was written during 1986 for JT. Recorded at Adam Clayton's home in Rathfarmham, it was one of five or six tracks that remained unfinished from those marathon sessions. When it came to the cut, the band went for "Trip Through Your Wires" in preference; it was a queston of flow and balance. "It was too laid back," reflects Bono. "We wanted stuff we could play live. On the unforgettable fire we'd gone that sort of ambient route, so on JT we wanted to toughen it up a bit."

This is really interesting info -- where exactly does it come from (book, article)? I'd love to know more about that "marathon session" it describes, and what the other material was recorded then.

So "Heartland" was indeed a JT outtake. I wonder, then, why it wasn't used as a B-side (as the other outakes were)? Strange that it is the only one that was saved for R&H...


[This message has been edited by Am I Zoo (edited 03-27-2002).]
 
the description comes from a book about U2 songs called "Into the Heart". Some of the book is clearly opinion but a valuable resource when it just sticks to the facts. It could be argued that the JT sessions were the most creative that the band has ever had....(as far as song construction is concerned)...that is why they refer to them as the marathon sessions....they had a lot of creative juice.
 
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