I listened to Rattle And Hum all the way through the other day for the first time in ages. Solid album, but messy. Of course, that was the band's intent but with the triple whammy of the double record, theatrical movie and book U2 set themselves up for a backlash, which they received. All of this tended to overshadow the record itself, and in particular its strongest new songs.
I rather liked their concept of mixing some live tracks with new ones, but frankly some didn't come off for me and there are some bad moments ("OK Edge, play the blues" being the worst). With all of this in mind, it occurred to me to make my own Rattle And Hum. Here is how I would do it, and I welcome your alternative suggestions. [The rules are, R&H movie and album tracks are fair game, as well as single B-sides. Any live track not already on the record or in the movie is not eligible.]
1) Helter Skelter (great, if weird, opener -- sloppy but exciting)
2) Van Diemen's Land
3) Desire (but I prefer the rehearsal in the movie to the single, which has rather bad harmonica solos by Bono and is slower)
4) Hawkmoon 269
5) Angel Of Harlem
6) Everlasting Love (B-side cover -- their most joyous track ever?)
7) Sunday Bloody Sunday (live movie version, from Denver)
8) Heartland
9) Love Rescue Me
10) God Part II
11) Hallelujah Here She Comes
12) All I Want Is You
There we go. I like When Love Come To Town but it just doesn't work in the context of the LP for me. It's fine as a single but pretty awkward on here. Silver and Gold is great but by this point it's already been on The Sun City album and the B-side of Streets, not to mention Bono's speech in the Denver version is annoying and a bit silly. The other live tracks on the official album are unnecessary. I realize they probably didn't put Sunday Bloody Sunday on it since it had already been officially released on two albums, but the live version in the movie is so riveting it needs to be there.
I rather liked their concept of mixing some live tracks with new ones, but frankly some didn't come off for me and there are some bad moments ("OK Edge, play the blues" being the worst). With all of this in mind, it occurred to me to make my own Rattle And Hum. Here is how I would do it, and I welcome your alternative suggestions. [The rules are, R&H movie and album tracks are fair game, as well as single B-sides. Any live track not already on the record or in the movie is not eligible.]
1) Helter Skelter (great, if weird, opener -- sloppy but exciting)
2) Van Diemen's Land
3) Desire (but I prefer the rehearsal in the movie to the single, which has rather bad harmonica solos by Bono and is slower)
4) Hawkmoon 269
5) Angel Of Harlem
6) Everlasting Love (B-side cover -- their most joyous track ever?)
7) Sunday Bloody Sunday (live movie version, from Denver)
8) Heartland
9) Love Rescue Me
10) God Part II
11) Hallelujah Here She Comes
12) All I Want Is You
There we go. I like When Love Come To Town but it just doesn't work in the context of the LP for me. It's fine as a single but pretty awkward on here. Silver and Gold is great but by this point it's already been on The Sun City album and the B-side of Streets, not to mention Bono's speech in the Denver version is annoying and a bit silly. The other live tracks on the official album are unnecessary. I realize they probably didn't put Sunday Bloody Sunday on it since it had already been officially released on two albums, but the live version in the movie is so riveting it needs to be there.
