U2 should follow The Samples on this one...

[popkidu2]

The Samples (a US band who hail from the Rocky Mt. State & a favorite of U2Bama and myself) have released an album entitled "Anthology in Motion v. 1. It contains alternate takes, demo's, and other "oddity" tracks, untouched and very raw in some cases, as a three disc set. The sound quality ranges from poor to excellent studio quality. It spans the bands entire career, as far back as 1981 I believe. It's a great inside look into what writing music entails.

Now, we all know that there are bootleggs floating around (noteably the Achtung Baby Outtakes) that has this kind of stuff. But I'm guessing that in the U2 Vault (i.e. Edge's bag of studio tapes!!!!) is an unbelievable collection of stuff that never made it out of the studio.

One issue I have had with U2 is that they are perfectionists, and are very protective of their image. We've seen them edit live recordings in recent years to "fix" flubs. In the past they were a bit looser. I think back to the Live at Redrocks "Party Girl" solo, and Ultraviolet as two examples. But now, they seem so concerned about their image, that the very idea of releasing any of this "less than perfect" material would be out of the question.

I don't know that this material deserves a major release, but think about this...a box set release, available through their website for those fans who are interested, of untouched, unmixed, unmastered, unanything of demo's, outtakes and alternate versions from all available albums (including Passengers). Even if you had just one disc per album (and that's not much) that would still be an unreal amount of material.

Personally, I think it would be a fascinating look at how U2 works in the studio, and as we've seen from the Achtung Baby Outtakes, there is some great stuff that never makes it. Take that box set, include a booklett with commentary from the band and the producers/engineers, and you've got something that would be spectacular. I think it is especially relevant for U2 to do something like this considering the way they work in the studio and the way they put their songs through the mixer.

Sadly, I doubt they'll every do anything like this. Maybe we should send Principle a friendly letter signed by all of us suggesting that there IS a market for it...

hmmmm..........

 

[Hallelujah Here She Comes]

That would be awesome. Seriously, there are few things on this earth that would please me as much as U2 releasing a boxed set of rarities. Unfortunately, I don't think they're going to do so until long after the band is a working entity (which as we know is in the FAR FAR distant future )

 

[U2girl]

You know, i won't remember where i found that info right now, but i remember Edge talking about unreleased stuff (and that some of it is really good) that never makes it on the albums or B-sides or rarities etc... and that it would be nice if this stuff would be put out for the fans, at least via internet if not an official release.

Don't they plan on making a box set soon anyway? Maybe this is it.

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

i would totally love this. i wish every artist would release their demos, seriously. i would pay money to, say, have a box set of demos from each album.

some of their demos are widely released in bootleg and mp3 form, but there's so many demos from albumbs i've not heard. for example, i've got the achtung baby demos, and i think it's a good thing to listen to, to see how they got from point a (joshua tree, rattle and hum, the more rootsy stuff) to point b (far-out electronic experimentation we heard on achtung baby, zooropa, and pop) and it shows the transition. it may not get them any more fans of the album, but it could help people understand how the hell they could make such an album.

anyway, it's just my opinion...

 

[Swan269]

I go through periods where I listen to the outtakes more than the albums!