LP15 - We're due for a break from the norm

[mikal]

Yep. That is the only way I’ve listened to ATYCLB in well over 15 years.

 

[HansaTonImbiss]

Wow I never knew this. I'm a fan of ATYCLB, but that tracklisting makes much more sense, great flow.

If I recall, this original one was Bono's preferred track list. What ended up on the record was Edge's choice. The debate was about whether to put a series of uptempo stuff up front with a mellow middle and bid finish, or spread it out and go from BD to Stuck and load the front half with hits. I far prefer Bono's listing.

 

[lazarus]

Having the emotional/personal Stuck followed immediately by the shallowness fun of Elevation (and I like the song) is really dumb.

 

[Axver]

Both tracklists load the four singles at the front, which is one of the album's problems, so I'm not sure why everyone is high on the alternate version as a radical change.

 

[The_acrobat]

Ground beneath her feet should have been a true atyclb track, instead of being a bonus track

Peace on earth wasn’t track 5 was it? Wasn’t it towards the back end of the album ?

As far as I'm concerned, TGBHF is the final track on ATYCLB. I've always considered it part of the album, ever since I found out it was on some versions of it. Just gave this album a listen... I dunno, to me it just holds up as one of their best. It's stood the test of time for me, personally.

Bomb, on the other hand, has not. Perhaps I need to give that another listen as well.

 

[dan_smee]

Both tracklists load the four singles at the front, which is one of the album's problems, so I'm not sure why everyone is high on the alternate version as a radical change.

Yep. I like this track listing, but with New York and Elevation flipped. The trio of BD, NY then WO actually works really well, and gives the back have a bit more bite.

 

[mikal]

Both tracklists load the four singles at the front, which is one of the album's problems, so I'm not sure why everyone is high on the alternate version as a radical change.

I wouldn't say it's a radical change, it just flows better.

 

[Kieran McConville]

The Ground Beneath Her Feet does not belong on ATYCLB. At all. It makes no sense in that context. Everything about it screams 'select markets bonus track'.

I love The Ground Beneath Her Feet, but it is, as someone noted, the last gasp of 1990s U2.

 

[Axver]

The Ground Beneath Her Feet does not belong on ATYCLB. At all. It makes no sense in that context. Everything about it screams 'select markets bonus track'.

I love The Ground Beneath Her Feet, but it is, as someone noted, the last gasp of 1990s U2.

I really can't agree with this.

When I bought ATYCLB in 2000 (OK, when it was given to me for Christmas), a sticker on the cover alerted me that it contained a special bonus track for Australia. It did not, however, specify which track was the bonus. I was 13, had no other albums that advertised a bonus track, and no Internet connection. So I had no clue that TGBHF was the bonus. It was just the closer. If it had been separated by a few minutes of silence, or sounded really jarringly different, perhaps I would have made the connection. But it seemed a pretty natural track to end with.

Once we had the Internet at home in 2002 I learnt that TGBHF was not on most international editions, and became more acquainted with the notion of bonus tracks being tacked onto the end of albums. But TGBHF will always be a good option to close ATYCLB, for mine.

 

[Kieran McConville]

Well, I also bought ATYCLB in 2000, and I was well aware of The Ground Beneath Her Feet's provenance at the time. So it just sat on the end like a sore thumb. It did not help that it was obviously superior to most of the album it had been appended to (except for Beautiful Day).

I guess I could squint and see how it might work after Grace as a closer, but it's got nothing to do with the rest of the album, essentially. Apart from that, and this is the weird part considering the recording sessions were all of a year apart - Bono's voice is palpably different on most of that ATYCLB stuff than it is on most of that Million Dollar Hotel stuff. I think the latter might have been the last time he convincingly pulled off the falsetto.

 

[lazarus]

As far as I'm concerned, TGBHF is the final track on ATYCLB. I've always considered it part of the album, ever since I found out it was on some versions of it.

But officially, it's not.

Well, I also bought ATYCLB in 2000, and I was well aware of The Ground Beneath Her Feet's provenance at the time. So it just sat on the end like a sore thumb. It did not help that it was obviously superior to most of the album it had been appended to (except for Beautiful Day).

I guess I could squint and see how it might work after Grace as a closer, but it's got nothing to do with the rest of the album, essentially. Apart from that, and this is the weird part considering the recording sessions were all of a year apart - Bono's voice is palpably different on most of that ATYCLB stuff than it is on most of that Million Dollar Hotel stuff. I think the latter might have been the last time he convincingly pulled off the falsetto.

All of this.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Not for nothing, but Ground Beneath Her Get and Stateless were recorded during the All That You Can't Leave Behind sessions.

It's not as if they recorded these, released them, then decided to make some sudden shift.

 

[Kieran McConville]

Is that really true? I did not know that.

Still doesn't shake my impression that they did make a shift, sudden or otherwise.

 

[Axver]

Well, I also bought ATYCLB in 2000, and I was well aware of The Ground Beneath Her Feet's provenance at the time. So it just sat on the end like a sore thumb. It did not help that it was obviously superior to most of the album it had been appended to (except for Beautiful Day).

Well, yes, you were how much older and more aware than me. My point is that if you don't go in primed with the knowledge that TGBHF is an outlier, it works perfectly well. I mean, hell, this is the album that lurches from Stuck to Elevation to Walk On; Grace to TGBHF is positively seamless by comparison.

I'd suggest there are a number of other, shall we say, canonical album songs that sound much more out of place on their respective records.

 

[Kieran McConville]

Sure, that's fair enough. I can think of examples of just what you describe, for me, with other stuff, other artists.

Subjective as always.

 

[HansaTonImbiss]

Well, yes, you were how much older and more aware than me. My point is that if you don't go in primed with the knowledge that TGBHF is an outlier, it works perfectly well. I mean, hell, this is the album that lurches from Stuck to Elevation to Walk On; Grace to TGBHF is positively seamless by comparison.

I'd suggest there are a number of other, shall we say, canonical album songs that sound much more out of place on their respective records.

While I agree that at least thematically Stateless and TGBHF are a bit odd on ATYCLB (while each being spectacular in their own right), North and South of the River fits perfectly and is even more sonically aligned with the album. That right before Grace is near perfect. How they never saw the beauty of that track for a studio record is beyond me.

 

[Hollow Island]

The Pop version of that song had no place on ATYLCB and there was no reason to re-record it. They'd already done two versions of it. It ought to have been on Pop though.

 

[lazarus]

Well, yes, you were how much older and more aware than me. My point is that if you don't go in primed with the knowledge that TGBHF is an outlier, it works perfectly well. I mean, hell, this is the album that lurches from Stuck to Elevation to Walk On; Grace to TGBHF is positively seamless by comparison.

I'd suggest there are a number of other, shall we say, canonical album songs that sound much more out of place on their respective records.

Sure, that's fair enough. I can think of examples of just what you describe, for me, with other stuff, other artists.

Subjective as always.

Again, I have to agree with Kieran. The difference in instrumentation and style is much greater between TGBHF and the rest of ATYCLC than it is between Stuck and Walk On. TGBHF has an exoticism and delicacy that just isn’t present in the directness of the other tracks. The lyrics (not by Bono), the guitar, the vocals. Cut from a totally different cloth. And I’d really like to see a source for the info about the recording, because if I had to guess I’d say that and Stateless were done much earlier in the production process than anything else.

 

[djerdap]

I'm with laz and Kieran here. It's a very different song from the rest of the album. And so much better than anything from it. Would Stateless fit on ATYCLB, since it is obviously from the same cloth as The Ground Beneath Her Feet? I really don't think so.

 

[brooklynmike]

Again, I have to agree with Kieran. The difference in instrumentation and style is much greater between TGBHF and the rest of ATYCLC than it is between Stuck and Walk On. TGBHF has an exoticism and delicacy that just isn’t present in the directness of the other tracks. The lyrics (not by Bono), the guitar, the vocals. Cut from a totally different cloth. And I’d really like to see a source for the info about the recording, because if I had to guess I’d say that and Stateless were done much earlier in the production process than anything else.

I agree with all of this.

If TGBHF and Stateless were truly recorded during the same sessions as ATYCLB, I have to think they were the first two recorded and shipped knowing it would be a different feel from the rest of the new album. Those songs sound like a transition phase from POP to ATYCLB. They’re also awesome songs.

 

[Hollow Island]

they were recorded during the sessions and not used on the album because U2 had a "no salads" rule (what they call ballads). Clearly there were exceptions to that rule on ATYCLB...

 

[Registered Dude]

they were recorded during the sessions and not used on the album because U2 had a "no salads" rule (what they call ballads). Clearly there were exceptions to that rule on ATYCLB...

I recall an interview from years ago where the band said that most of the MDH soundtrack material came from the early days of recording. Eno proposed that they write and record the whole album in an extremely short window with he and Lanois at the helm.. of course they didnt see it through - but a few of those fragments evoled to be the soundtrack material. GBHF (basically , Lanois' The Messenger rewritten) Stateless, Dancing Shoes, etc

definitely a great glimpse into an alternate timeline, where U2 went another direction.

even the unreleased stuff like Jump Start My Heart sounds like ti could have been something.. despite the awful title

 

[Kieran McConville]

I don't know what it was like in America (or wherever), but the 'change of direction' with ATYCLB was actually a bit of a shocker over here in Australia, as both Stateless and The Ground Beneath Her Feet for whatever reason got a fair bit of airplay around early 2000 on our local version of what I guess you yanks would call college radio (ie. Triple J, which was at that time, a very different station).

So some of us - me anyhow - were primed for a rather different direction. Beautiful Day did not immediately upset that apple cart, as it too differs a bit from the album it heralded.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

U2 did have recording sessions immediately after PopMart ended... the only song to come out of these first sessions I believe was Kite.

The original release date was in 1999 but Bono spent too much time making videos with Wyclef and playing a half empty Giants Stadium, so recording stretched into early 2000s.

They did pause briefly to record the non U2 tracks for the Million Dollar Hotel soundtrack - which also heavily feature Eno and Lanois.

The book The Ground Beneath Her Feet wasn't released until April 1999. I believe at one point the band thought they'd have the album ready around the same time or shortly thereafter and could release the single at the same time Rushdie released the book.

I believe this is all spelled out in U2 By U2 but I'm not home till tomorrow evening so someone else will have to check

 

[Registered Dude]

U2 did have recording sessions immediately after PopMart ended... the only song to come out of these first sessions I believe was Kite.

The original release date was in 1999 but Bono spent too much time making videos with Wyclef and playing a half empty Giants Stadium, so recording stretched into early 2000s.

They did pause briefly to record the non U2 tracks for the Million Dollar Hotel soundtrack - which also heavily feature Eno and Lanois.

The book The Ground Beneath Her Feet wasn't released until April 1999. I believe at one point the band thought they'd have the album ready around the same time or shortly thereafter and could release the single at the same time Rushdie released the book.

I believe this is all spelled out in U2 By U2 but I'm not home till tomorrow evening so someone else will have to check

Yeah that sounds right..

Love how we can remember all this random u2 lore, but I can't remember where I left my wallet each morning

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Yeah that sounds right..

Love how we can remember all this random u2 lore, but I can't remember where I left my wallet each morning

I can't even remember what I did yesterday

 

[allaras]

I agree with all of this.

If TGBHF and Stateless were truly recorded during the same sessions as ATYCLB, I have to think they were the first two recorded and shipped knowing it would be a different feel from the rest of the new album. Those songs sound like a transition phase from POP to ATYCLB. They’re also awesome songs.

I wonder if that's the direction they would have went in had Pop and the Popmart Tour had been the huge sucess in America they were expecting and they didn't second guess themselves.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

I'll lean forward and you crouch down and we'll look like we're almost the same height.

 

[Mack_Again]

that's the whitest thing ive seen in a while

 

[mikal]

Is Bono floating?