Rattle And Hum as a studio record

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that follows U2.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

namkcuR

ONE love, blood, life
Joined
Sep 7, 2004
Messages
10,770
Location
Kettering, Ohio
Would anyone here prefer R&H if it didn't have the live stuff on it? One of the most common and consistant complaints of R&H is that it's inconsistant. Maybe if it were just the studio tracks, the flow throughout the record would be better. Bare with me. These are the studio tracks that were on R&H in chronological order...

Van Dieman's Land
Desire
Hawkmoon 269
Angel Of Harlem
Love Rescue Me
When Love Comes To Town
Heartland
God Part II
All I Want Is You

First of all, let's re-order those tracks to give it a better flow...

Desire
Hawkmoon 269
All I Want Is You
God Part II
Angel Of Harlem
Love Rescue Me
Heartland
When Love Come To Town
Van Dieman's Land

That's only 9 tracks, but there were two non-cover b-sides on the four R&H singles, 'Hallelujah(Here She Comes)' and 'A Room At The Heartbreak Hotel', so if we had them in, maybe like this...

Desire
Hawkmoon 269
All I Want Is You
God Part II
Angel Of Harlem
A Room At The Heartbreak Hotel
Love Rescue Me
Hallelujah(Here She Comes)
Heartland
When Love Comes To Town
Van Dieman's Land

Now we have a typical U2 11 song studio record with a typical U2 track order as well...the first track is a radio-friendly rock song(Desire), a radio-friendly ballad soon after(All I Want Is You), the middle of the record has some slower songs(Love Rescue Me, A Room..., Heartland) the last part of the record has another fast, catchy, radio-friendly track(When Love Comes To Town), and the record ends with a slow, dark, ballad(Van Dieman's Land).

So, what do you think?
 
Last edited:
I like it.

I think this also shows how the "Americana" infulences were starting overtake the band at that point. They'd pushed it as far as it would go. Unless they were planning on doing a soul or R&B record?:hmm:
 
Last edited:
Personally, I like the live tracks and I don't know why they are a cause of such frustration to many. But, anyway, a studio RAH needs the U2 studio version of She's A Mystery To Me.
 
Frankly I could do without some of the studio tracks like Van Diemen's Land. Love Rescue Me and Angel Of Harlem, but I can't do without the live versions of Silver & Gold and BBS. So no, I'd leave things the way they are.
 
I'd still switch Van Diemen's and All I Want is You, or at least use the edit of All I Want is You. I just don't think it would fit right as it is with the extended outro
 
I dont like the live songs on there, besides BTBS. The version of "Pride" isn't that good

As for the covers, "Helter Skelter" wasn't great and "All Along the Watchtower" is an awful cover. Take the new years eve concert in 1989, now that was an amazing version.

"Freedom for my People" is a waste and "Silver and Gold" is a great tune but I hate Bono's speech at the end, leading to Edge's solo. Uh...play the blues...its a great riff from Edge but it's not the blues.

I'm not trying to bash the record, I think it's a real gem despite the mistakes, but the mistakes do stick out a lot. The studio songs on here are classic, I mean this album had Desire, All I want is You, Heartland, Angel of Harlem, God Pt II, and more on it. What would have made it a classic is edit out most of the live tracks. Where is Sunday Bloody Sunday from Rattle & Hum? Exit? Substitute those in and we're looking at an amazing record. And of course, forget they ever made "Love Rescue Me" :wink:
 
Desire
Hawkmoon 269
All I Want Is You
God Part II
Angel Of Harlem
A Room At The Heartbreak Hotel
Love Rescue Me
Hallelujah(Here She Comes)
Heartland
When Love Comes To Town
Van Dieman's Land


excellent tracklist, but i vote to move Hallelujah out of the line-up and exchange for Jesus Christ (recorded at Sun Studio so it should somehow fit in with Love Rescue me, Angel of Harlem etc.) probably best to then move Love comes to Town up one spot.
 
Darkness falls and she...

Is there a studio version of She's A Mystery to Me with Bono on vocals?

If so, where can I find it?

Email anyone?

Thanks for any info.
 
Re: Darkness falls and she...

redhill said:
Is there a studio version of She's A Mystery to Me with Bono on vocals?

If so, where can I find it?

Email anyone?

Thanks for any info.

No. The only studio version is Roy Orbison.
 
R&H is one of my favorite U2 cds and I like it with the live songs. But here's how I would arrange it without the live songs:

Hawkmoon 269
Desire
Van Diemen's Land
God Part II
When Love Comes To Town
Angel Of Harlem
Heartland
Silver And Gold (if it hasen't been released as a b-side I think it would have been perfect here)
Love Rescue Me
All I Want Is You
 
afer closer inspection, R&H needs a big overhaul, turning it into a studio album won't do the trick.

First up, too many great tracks in the movie are not in there, what's going on? SBS, Exit and how about that raw Desire version, that is one of my fav ever...I need to get my DVD back in order...R&H is one of the top music movies of all time, and our favorite band made it, what can be cooler, the best soundtrack album ever, ever?

Secondly, where have all the covers gone, apart from the aforementioned Watchtower, Skelter and Jesus Christ, there 's Dancing barefoot, Paint it Black, Fortunate Son (oops those are not R&H...what is wrong with my brain?) I meant Everlasting Love, Unchained Melody. Badly needed: an Elvis cover (not tribute), a Bruce cover (darkness?), a Doors cover (5-to-1 ?), and Since Watchtower counts as a Dylan cover, even if he had his lead vocals remoived from Love rescue me, and Star Spangled Banner is not technically a Hendrix cover, I submit we have the boys cover Crosstown Traffic (stop the traffic?)

Thirdly, the album whas somehow marketed as a soundtrack, establishing an excuse to include Freedom for my people, random interview snippets, and cutting the end off "Van Diemen's Land" but doesn't include essential movie tracks (see point 1
also 'streets, anything else?)

Lastly, it is over 15years old, some artist put out 2 restrospectives in a career that doesn't even last 10years, so I see no harm in U2 rereleasing a full and proper R&H, repackaged, with DVD, Phil can earn some cash redoing editing, director's cut, whatever...

</rant mode off>

in the locust wind comes a...

edited to include mentioning Hendrix (need we're not worthy smiley)
 
Last edited:
Great tracklisting of Rattle and Hum...

1. Desire
2. Hawkmoon 269
3. Angel of Harlem
4. When Love Comes to Town
5. Love Rescue Me
6. Heartland
7. Van Demain's Land
8. A Room at the Heartbreak Hotel
9. God Part 2
10. Hallelujah (Here She Comes)
11. Silver and Gold
12. All I Want is You
 
First thing: you HAVE to end the album with AIWIY. No ifs, ands, or buts. That string section outro doesn't work anywhere else and is just an awesome close. I think Desire fits better at the beginning than Hawkmoon (as suggested above), which is amazing but doesn't grab the listener from the opening.

I know it's lame to have the singles back to back at the top of the album, but Angel of Harlem is a #2 song if there ever was one. Love Rescue Me would fit well in the tried and true ballad spot at #3, then while you're in gospel mode you bring in Jesus Christ.

I'm keeping Silver and Gold off, as it was a JT b-side. It's important not to sandwich something really personal and/or deep between two shallower songs, which is why I like Hawkmoon & Heartland next to each other. Hallelujah is one of those lighthearted Trip Through Your Wires/Tryin' to Throw Your Arms/Wild Honey second half mood lifters.

Heartbreak Hotel is a little dark (the edgier stuff usually works better on the second half), and has a nice build to it, so it fits well there. I considered putting it closer to the end, but as God Part II is somewhat of a bridge to Achtung Baby, I think it belongs in the traditional second-to-last hard/dark spot (JT, AB, Zooropa, POP, ATYCLB, and HTDAAB all have a quiet, fairly short coda after a louder song at the end). Because AIWIY is so epic, there's not really a need to preceed it with another showstopper like Hawkmoon.

Here's what it looks like:

1. Desire
2. Angel of Harlem
3. Love Rescue Me
4. Jesus Christ
5. Hawkmoon 269
6. Heartland
(side break, as this album came out in 1989!)
7. When Love Comes to Town
8. Hallelujah Here She Comes
9. A Room at the Heartbreak Hotel
10. God Part II
11. All I Want is You

any comments welcome


laz
 
Last edited:
lazarus said:
First thing: you HAVE to end the album with AIWIY. No ifs, ands, or buts. That string section outro doesn't work anywhere else and is just an awesome close. I think Desire fits better at the beginning than Hawkmoon (as suggested above), which is amazing but doesn't grab the listener from the opening.

I know it's lame to have the singles back to back at the top of the album, but Angel of Harlem is a #2 song if there ever was one. Love Rescue Me would fit well in the tried and true ballad spot at #3, then while you're in gospel mode you bring in Jesus Christ.

I'm keeping Silver and Gold off, as it was a JT b-side. It's important not to sandwich something really personal and/or deep between two shallower songs, which is why I like Hawkmoon & Heartland next to each other. Hallelujah is one of those lighthearted Trip Through Your Wires/Tryin' to Throw Your Arms/Wild Honey second half mood lifters.

Heartbreak Hotel is a little dark (the edgier stuff usually works better on the second half), and has a nice build to it, so it fits well there. I considered putting it closer to the end, but as God Part II is somewhat of a bridge to Achtung Baby, I think it belongs in the traditional second-to-last hard/dark spot (JT, AB, Zooropa, POP, ATYCLB, and HTDAAB all have a quiet, fairly short coda after a louder song at the end). Because AIWIY is so epic, there's not really a need to preceed it with another showstopper like Hawkmoon.

Here's what it looks like:

1. Desire
2. Angel of Harlem
3. Love Rescue Me
4. Jesus Christ
5. Hawkmoon 269
6. Heartland
(side break, as this album came out in 1989!)
7. When Love Comes to Town
8. Hallelujah Here She Comes
9. A Room at the Heartbreak Hotel
10. God Part II
11. All I Want is You

any comments welcome


laz


Well, if you are gonna include Jesus Christ, why not Dancing Barefoot, Everlasting Love, and Unchained Melody? They are all covers.

Obviously, U2 never includes a cover on their studio albums. Then again, if I were making a studio Rattle And Hum, I'd include them all since they are from that time period, but that's just me.
 
I think the double album w/ 1 being live tracks, and the other being the studio tracks was a great idea

Live Tracks Needed: Silver and Gold, Exit, Desire, Streets, With or Without You, Helter Skelter, Bad, Pride...ladifrickinda, u get the point

and w/ the studio tracks, I think putting Silver and Gold here is a good idea, mayb reworking it a bit, like how Sweetest Thing was reworked for the Best of 80-90 so it wasn't exactly like the b-side
 
I think releasing it as a double disc set would work now, but THEN, Lp's were still quite common, and R&H would've ended up a triple vinyl set, which would've been seen as superarrogant. A cheap double live document in early 88 would've been very useful and avoided the needed for me to use my skip button : I NEVER listen to the live songs, they've got no place on a U2 album and they make R&H sound like a bad fan-made compilation and not a U2 record.

I'd put the songs in the following order :

Hawkmoon 269
Desire
God Part II
Heartland
Love Rescue Me
A Room At The Heartbreak Hotel
Angel Of Harlem
When Love Comes To Town
Hallelujah Here She Comes
Van Diemens Land
All i Want Is You

Hawkmoon was a set opener (and used on the "LoveTown" video) where it was fantastic. It also keeps with the tradition of scenesetting intros the band have been using since UF. Whilst Gpt2 is a forerunner of the AB sound, there's no other song it sounds right sitting behind but "Desire". The strong bassline in "Heartland" keeps the thread running from "Gpt2", and so son and so on.

Would be nice to hear the extra verse on VDL though.
 
Rattle and Hum at the moment is unquestionably my least favourite u2 album and even if it was a studio album, i don't think my opinion would change, yet I'd prefer a tracklisting like this.

1. Hawkmoon 269
2. Desire
3. Heartland
4. Hallelujah
5. Love Rescue Me
6. Angel of Harlem
7. When Love comes to Town
8. Van Dieman's Land
9. God Part 2
10. Heartbreak Hotel
11. All I want is you

Still an extremely ordinary album in my opinion, yet seems logically and more coherently structured in my opinion.

The Live album should maintain the tracks already on rattle and hum (eg. BTBS, Pride)...

and also songs like bad, indian summer sky, mlk and exit.

Under a Blood Red Sky part 2 if you like....
 
phanan said:
I think an expanded two disc set (one that is studio, one that is live) would work very well.
now that's what i'm talking about! that's the only thing that's ever bothered me about rattle and hum, was the switching from studio to live and back again. basically, keep rattle and hum's songs as is, but change the track listing around to go studio songs then live songs.
 
I made my own CD called Heartland that was somewhat similar.......more roots focused......mine has all of the R and H studio tracks, excluding God Part II along with additions of "Jesus Christ", "A Room At The Heartbreak Hotel", "Dancing Barefoot", "Everlasting Love" and "Hallelujah (Here She Comes)"

1) Desire
2) Van Diemen's Land
3) Hawkmoon 269
4) Angel of Harlem
5) Heartland
6) Dancing Barefoot
7) When Love Comes To Town
8) Everlasting Love
9) A Room At The Heartbreak Hotel
10) Hallelujah (Here She Comes)
11) Love Rescue Me
12) Jesus Christ
13) All I Want Is You
 
A couple of months before R&H came out, there was an article in Australian "Juke" magazine that said that U2 were releasing 2 albums, one called Desire with 11 new original tracks and another called Rattle & Hum with 11 live tracks.

I wonder if U2 actually intended it to be that way?
 
Well, if Rattle And Hum is a derivation or an audio version from the documentary, and if it contains studio and live material, in my opinion, it would have been a good idea of its releasement as a double album: CD1 - the Sun City Sessions and the studio material; CD2 - the live performances and the extras. So I made a quick list of what could this idea get shape:

CD1

1. Van Diemen's Land
2. Desire
3. Hawkmoon 269
4. When Love Comes To Town
5. Jesus Christ (ok, I know it's a cover, but it fits well here...)
6. Love Rescue me
7. A Room At The Heartbreak Hotel
8. God Part II
9. Heartland
10. Angel Of Harlem
11. All I Want Is You

CD2

1. Helter Skelter
2. Silver And Gold
3. Pride
4. Bad / Ruby Tuesday / Sympathy For The Devil
5. Freedom For My People *
6. Running To Stand Still
7. All Along The Watchtower
8. MLK
9. Bullet The Blue Sky
10. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For


What do you think?
 
Back
Top Bottom