SOE 30: With a Fanscore of 5 Bananas

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Super pumped for December 1st!! Have really loved what I've heard so far. If I had to rank the songs:

1) Get Out of Your Own Way
2) Little Things that Give You Away
3) The Blackout
4) You're the Best Thing About Me
5) American Sould (although I've only listened to it once or twice)
 
I'm going to assume Jolyon Thomas produced American Soul and The Blackout unless we know already?

I like American Soul the more I listen to it. A lot of Bono isms and basically has a volcano snippet as the chorus but for some reason I'm visiting this more than the other two from today. And I don't usually prefer the newer rocker U2 songs.
 
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rennowba said:
Is there any u2 song on record better then the live version ? Can't think of any of the top of my head. U2 take this songs and make them 100 times better live. That goes for any u2 song
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In general I agree with you 100%, almost all U2 is better live, and it's one reason why, when I listen to U2, it's almost exclusively live stuff. The studio counterparts sound flat to me by comparison. In concert is really where U2 songs take flight.

That said, there are some songs that I don't think they've quite nailed live, particularly songs like TUF and especially ASOH, whose atmospherics I don't think translate as well live. I also think Red Hill Town is better on the record.
 
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the studio version of pride is easily better than the live version, but that's the only one i can really think of.

edit: red hill mining town too, but i think that's kind of an exception considering it wasn't played for 30 years after it was recorded.
 
The drums and guitar aren't too low in the mix. It just sounds like they're EQ'd darker than we are used to. That's my only complaint with The Blackout and American Soul.
 
Nobody can honestly say U2 aren't taking the piss anymore.

American Soul is absolutely everything I hate about U2 these days. "you and i are rock and roll" as a chorus is just mailing it in. Bonus cringe points for shoe-horning the words "America" and "soul" too, since those seem to be the most prominently programmed words Bono spouts off about.

No problem, Bono. I get it that at this point in your life and state of wealth you can't be arsed any more. I wouldn't either.

... it's just that I think I would have quit a long, long time ago. I'm a quitter to begin with and I'm not even rich. What's your excuse?
 
My 2 cents:
Get Out is a pretty decent pop song. Some very catchy hooks. The rhythm of some of the lyrics is very good.
Blackout is thumping, powerful. Utterly zero fucking need for rhyming Jack and Zac etc though. And the drums are too low in the mix. Good rocking song though.
American Soul. I fucking hate this version of Bono. Jesus man, you wrote the lyrics to One. Not so worried about the Volcano rip cause I don't listen to Volcano. But, you know, they had 16 songs and couldn't choose which ones to drop. Turns out one of the 16 was Volcano 2 and they kept it... weird.

Agree with the production being 2 dimensional.

Good on them, they'll sell some records and a new tour. And there's some good stuff in there. I'm just really struggling to get past Bono on this record so far..
 
DaveC said:
the studio version of pride is easily better than the live version, but that's the only one i can really think of.

edit: red hill mining town too, but i think that's kind of an exception considering it wasn't played for 30 years after it was recorded.
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Think red hill could have been better if they had stuck with the original version instead of singing the remix up to date version.
 
kiwilad said:
My 2 cents:
Get Out is a pretty decent pop song. Some very catchy hooks. The rhythm of some of the lyrics is very good.
Blackout is thumping, powerful. Utterly zero fucking need for rhyming Jack and Zac etc though. And the drums are too low in the mix. Good rocking song though.
American Soul. I fucking hate this version of Bono. Jesus man, you wrote the lyrics to One. Not so worried about the Volcano rip cause I don't listen to Volcano. But, you know, they had 16 songs and couldn't choose which ones to drop. Turns out one of the 16 was Volcano 2 and they kept it... weird.

Agree with the production being 2 dimensional.

Good on them, they'll sell some records and a new tour. And there's some good stuff in there. I'm just really struggling to get past Bono on this record so far..
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sign me up for your point of view here, i pretty much agree with everything you said
 
lazarus said:
ISHFWILF is better on the album. And WOWY. And RTSS.
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Maybe.
No.
No.

:)

Seriously, WOWY with shine like stars? Come on man. Listen to the R&H version again or any of the great boots from that era. Or even the version from the Elevation tour.

And RTSS? You're killing me! Listen to any of the ZOOTV versions.

Axver could probably list some specific tours/dates where each of those songs hit the stratosphere live.
 
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Studio vs live?

Some of the early songs where the piano is evident like on I Fall Down and the studio version of Gloria, I missed that in the live set, where either Edge was jumping between guitar and keys ala NYD, obviously in some cases he couldn't do both so they didn't bother with them at all (Gloria, Into The Heart). And that goes for most of The Unforgettable Fire, apart from Bad which while amazing in the studio became what it became as a live song. :up:

One Tree Hill is another one where the studio take surpasses the live attempts, same for All I Want Is You (that ending) and Discotheque live was a bit of let down compared to the studio version, strange because most of that record when performed was rather great (Last Night, Mofo, Please).
 
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rennowba said:
Think red hill could have been better if they had stuck with the original version instead of singing the remix up to date version.
Click to expand...

I know it is a minority position, but I get absolutely goosebumpy with the live version this tour. I have it from LA and Boston, and I play it almost in exclusion of the album version. It was my teary eye moment this tour and I love the plaintive buildup into Bono going for it on the chorus.
 
Wide Awake n AZ said:
I know it is a minority position, but I get absolutely goosebumpy with the live version this tour. I have it from LA and Boston, and I play it almost in exclusion of the album version. It was my teary eye moment this tour and I love the plaintive buildup into Bono going for it on the chorus.
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It was my favorite moment of the show.

It's my 6th or 7th favorite U2 song, and to hear it live, after all years of knowing it wasn't played and the various reasons for it. I love the tuned down approached; it sounds so triumphant.
 
patternshirt170 said:
Studio vs live?
And that goes for most of The Unforgettable Fire, apart from Bad which while amazing in the studio became what it became as a live song. :up:
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Yes.

patternshirt170 said:
One Tree Hill is another one where the studio take surpasses the live attempts, same for All I Want Is You (that ending)
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Yes to both of these as well. In God's Country is another, which always sounds rushed & truncated live. And typically the songs that have never made the regular set list that they only pull out for certain occasions (stuff like Spanish Eyes) don't sound as good live.
 
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Wide Awake n AZ said:
I know it is a minority position, but I get absolutely goosebumpy with the live version this tour. I have it from LA and Boston, and I play it almost in exclusion of the album version. It was my teary eye moment this tour and I love the plaintive buildup into Bono going for it on the chorus.
Click to expand...

I thought it was good too. Keep in mind that a "minority position" on here just means 5 people spoke out against it loudly enough from their keyboards. :lol:
 
Just read that U2 are in negotiations to play the U Arena in Paris next fall. That doesn't really add up though, as the US tour finishes end of June and we know it will be straight to Europe. Unless it's early September or thereabouts.
 
Finally heard the songs proper, and I have to say the snippets did not do them justice.

GOOYOW is pop, but it's a little more muscular than the last couple of U2 pop songs. A real grower, and could be a hit (Adult Contemporary)

The Blackout, could have mixed the drums higher in the studio mix (especially after getting the live version) but it's an excellent song. I think this album is showing REAL promise...:hyper:
 
kiwilad said:
You blasphemous swine!

Running to Stand Still, Zoo TV, Live in Sydney.

Nothing beats that.

Fanny.
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I love that performance. But for me RTSS is about the atmospherics. For such a stark, bleak song, nothing U2 can do live tops that Eno/Lanois production. The whole DEA agent/Hallelujah thing is very entertaining theatrics but it's a little too big for that song's content. I prefer the quiet poetry of the album version.

Nick66 said:
Maybe.
No.
No.

:)

Seriously, WOWY with shine like stars? Come on man. Listen to the R&H version again or any of the great boots from that era. Or even the version from the Elevation tour.

And RTSS? You're killing me! Listen to any of the ZOOTV versions.

Axver could probably list some specific tours/dates where each of those songs hit the stratosphere live.
Click to expand...

Shine like stars, as I've said before, is useless and the most ridiculous fan obsession. The lyrics are 7th grade level "summer night/winter light". It's nothing compared to how much "hear me coming" elevates One (and I do prefer various live versions of that). But even disregarding the unnecessarily coda, again it's the atmospherics. The production on WOWY is so intimate, creepy at first and then exalting. It sounds like nothing else from 1987. And I've yet to hear a live version that is better.
 
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