Rate The Song: A Sort Of Homecoming

[digitize]

Finally, we have made it into the second quarter of our competition! Today we shall begin rating U2's second era of music, beginning with the first half of The Unforgettable Fire.

Please rate A Sort Of Homecoming on a scale from 0 to 10, using whatever criteria you feel allows you to best evaluate the song as a whole. I will not set criteria for people to based on, but if you feel like your best evaluation of the merits of a song comes from voting only based on, say, the studio version, go right ahead and vote that way. Full information on the Rate The Song series may be found in this thread.

Have fun! This poll will close in 96 hours.

For the record, U2 rates War as follows:
1) New Year's Day
2) Sunday Bloody Sunday
3) Drowning Man
4) "40"
5) Like A Song…
6) Two Hearts Beat As One
7) Surrender
8) Seconds
9) Red Light
10) The Refugee

In two days, when the round for the second half of unreleased songs through the War era is finished, I will release rankings for every song so far.

 

[prbiker15]

Probably one of the greatest opening tracks to any U2 album. Great riffs and vocals. Terribly love the live versions of ASOH as well. Gets a 10 from me, one of the best on The Unforgettable Fire.

 

[LemonMelon]

Uh, 10.

 

[cobl04]

Astounding.

 

[The Panther]

10, of course. It was great live, but few U2 tracks are so perfectly recorded as this is on the album.

 

[AnCatKatie]

To me it doubles as song and poetry. I gave it a 10.

 

[flybabe]

It's a very beautiful song and the lyrics are haunting. A perfect 10.

 

[coolian2]

not even my favourite song on the album, but an easy 10.

 

[gvox]

10

 

[nielsgov]

Easy 10. The whole first half of TUF will get high scores from me.

 

[An Cat Gav]

not even my favourite song on the album, but an easy 10.

Agreed.
The first U2 song I truly loved, way back in 85.
10.

 

[Globo14]

Only a 9 for me. Amazing song, but there's something about it that holds me back.

 

[Flairix]

Definite 10, a phenomenal, textural, sonic landscape that serves as a brilliant introduction to an unforgettable U2 album.

And bring it back live for the next tour

 

[Niceman]

It seems wrong to ONLY give the song a 10.

 

[corianderstem]

1,000,000

 

[Nick66]

U2's finest song on their finest album.

This point is non-debatable.

 

[digitize]

ASOH has easily moved into first place in this competition so far, followed by TUF.

 

[pcfitz80]

The live version is a 10; the studio version is only a 7.

 

[ElectricalStorm]

The live version is a 10; the studio version is only a 7.

Exactly my thoughts. I'm mostly rating the studio version (but keeping the live version in mind), so I gave it an 8.

 

[The Panther]

The live version is a 10; the studio version is only a 7.

That's interesting. I would say the studio track whoops serious ass on the live ones. Not that it was bad live, but it sounds more like a generic folk song to me (albeit with cool lyrics). Whereas on the album it sounds otherworldly and unlike any other track I've ever heard.

 

[LemonMelon]

I really like Adam's bass on the live version, but I can't think of much else to recommend it over the studio version, which is epic and dreamy and wonderful.

 

[cobl04]

Studio version's definitely better, if we're talking strictly about the music.

 

[silkensky]

Nothing less than a 10 here. Like somebody else mentioned, this song is a gorgeous piece of artwork, like an impressionist painting. Beautiful atmospherics. Edge practically uses his guitar as a paintbrush and Bono's lyrics are so richly descriptive and poetic, it all just takes you away to another place. So much love for this song.

 

[Nick66]

The live version is a 10; the studio version is only a 7.

Incorrect. Typically, I think the live versions of U2's songs are preferable to their studio counterparts (in fact I almost exclusively listen to live U2 these days).

However, in the case of this song, along with most of the others on TUF (largely b/c of the atmospherics of that album), the studio version is superior. Bono doesn't even sing the entire song on the only officially released live version of it for crying out loud, he leaves out the best part of the song.

Again, non-debatable.

 

[YBORCITY]

10....... No if's and's or but's a 10. This song takes me to a better place every time.

 

[digitize]

Incorrect. Typically, I think the live versions of U2's songs are preferable to their studio counterparts (in fact I almost exclusively listen to live U2 these days).

However, in the case of this song, along with most of the others on TUF (largely b/c of the atmospherics of that album), the studio version is superior. Bono doesn't even sing the entire song on the only officially released live version of it for crying out loud, he leaves out the best part of the song.

Again, non-debatable.

Yes, but is it remastered?

 

[Nick66]

Yes, but is it remastered?

Yes, twice in fact. And genuinely remastered both times. The best version being the MSFL Gold CD (but only just). I have them both.

This is an excellent comparison if you haven't read it already:

THE THREE SUNRISES: A LISTENER'S GUIDE TO THE UNFORGETTABLE FIRE REMASTER

 

[pcfitz80]

you're entitled to your opinion..It's a matter of personal preference so it's not really a matter of "correct" or "incorrect". It is debatable. Why do I like the live version better? It's got more kick and energy to it. The UF version is a little too sleepy and murky for my taste. BTW, when I say "live" version I'm referring to the WAA version which technically isn't live. I would strongly argue that this version is better than the studio one on UF. I don't think I've actually heard many true live versions.

I also think Bad is wayyyyyy better live though this isn't to say I don't like the UF version. The live version has more rhythm to it, the guitar riff is better, and the extra layer added by the sequencer along with the way it builds and builds to such a climatic end simply blows away the studio version. If they had done it like that in the studio and released it as a single it would have been in the top 10.

Incorrect. Typically, I think the live versions of U2's songs are preferable to their studio counterparts (in fact I almost exclusively listen to live U2 these days).

However, in the case of this song, along with most of the others on TUF (largely b/c of the atmospherics of that album), the studio version is superior. Bono doesn't even sing the entire song on the only officially released live version of it for crying out loud, he leaves out the best part of the song.

Again, non-debatable.

 

[JoRu]

Powerful, beautiful and unique all in one. Tied best opener together with WTSHNN, Zooropa and Zoo Station. The studio version is one of the easiest 10s I've given, but I've not been all that fond of the live version. It's good, but not on the same level as the studio version if you ask me, and as I base my scores on both studio and live versions (if possible) it's a 9.

 

[LemonMelon]

Someone gave this a 6? Someone needs to be banned.