unreleased vs released

[digsy]

so on the "unreleased and rare" from the boxset theres quite a few previous or alternative version of songs for HTDAAB.

i was wondering what everyones opinions are ie:

Vertigo vs Native Son
Fast Cars vs Xanax and Wine
and the alternatives of SYCMIOYO, ABOY and Yahweh

Do you guys prefer the "originals" or the ones that got picked for the album?

Personally I prefer all the HTDAAB versions with the exception of ABOY ( I far prefer the unreleased versions chorus) and possibly Yahweh, although i think i quite like both versions equally... maybe the album one more... i dunno, i keep changing my mind


what's everyone else think?

 

[Lancemc]

I like all the HTDAAB versoins better myself. The only one I might even consider better would be Yahweh, but they are still pretty similar.

 

[dandy]

i almost always *prefer* the rough cuts of U2 stuff. i completely understand why they need to clean stuff up for the official releases, but i would be in heaven just listening to them jam off the top of their heads.

after hearing the unreleased stuff, i have a better understanding of and a new love for the official versions. i'm glad we have both versions.

native son and vertigo: i prefer vertigo, i think. native son has some great riffs, but it's lacking a little something.

xanax and wine and fast cars are equally amazing. xanax rocks (i love the 'save me from myself' part), but the guitar on the album version is a fresh, unique sound.

yahweh: i love the unreleased version. this was my least favourite song on the bomb until i heard the earlier version. i think they restrained it a little too much on the bomb. the unreleased version has more energy and passion.

all because of you: i love the unreleased version, but it's like native son--it couldn't have been released in that form. great guitar work, larry's drums really stand out in the first version. lyrics are better on the bomb.

sometimes: the album version nails this song. the unreleased version is great to listen to, but it's lacking in some ways: i especially miss the lines 'i know we don't talk' leading up to the 'can you hear me when i sing' part. but, my favourite version of this song is the acoustic performance on the dvd (closely followed by the SNL performance).

 

[ImOuttaControl]

Xanax and Wine and the unreleased ABOY are 10X better than than their counterparts.

I like both versions of Yahweh.

They made the right decision with SYCMIOYO and Vertigo---the album versions of these are much better. Native Son was supposed to be this "scorching 45" according to Bono

 

[Sleep Over Jack]

I much prefer Fast Cars to Xanax, its got more depth and unique-ness to it..although a finished Xanax would have worked great on the proposed rock album.

 

[rjhbonovox]

Xanax and Wine is awesome and should have been on the album. It has a great lyric, also All Because of you should have kept some of the uniqness of the original cos they seemed to turn it into a song that sounds like they have done it before where as the original didn't sound like anything they had done before. Yahweh both versions are good but I just prefer the album version, as for Native Son thats not quite as good as Vertigo and SYCMIOYO the album version is better.

 

[dobro815]

i happen to like xanax and wine a lot. I also feel native son is ok, but not as good as vertigo. I like the alternate version of all because of you. I don't like the alternate versions of yaweh, and sycmioyo

 

[If you shout...]

"Native Son" vs. "Vertigo"
I think that "Vertigo" is a heck of a lot better. I love "Native Son," and I think a lot of the lyrics are pretty cool...it's got a damn fine sound to itself. But "Vertigo" still really kicks my ass--I love it.

"Xanax And Wine" vs. "Fast Cars"
I totally prefer the harder sound of "Xanax And Wine," and I prefer the chorus a good deal, too. I always bitch incessantly on these boards about U2 needing to try new sounds and stuff, but I'll openly admit: they tried something new with the sound of "Fast Cars," and I thought it was pretty fucking disappointing. Sounded like dumb-ass Sting--it sounded different...not like a different U2. Just my opinion. That said, I will admit that "Xanax And Wine" obviously needs some polishing...that's true of all the unreleased tunes, you know? I mean, the sound quality needs to be amped up and there is still work and cleaning up to do--but the finished version of "Xanax..." which I have in my mind is far superior to the finished version of "Fast Cars" which is in my stereo.

I REALLY prefer the alternate "All Because Of You." Bono's voice doesn't sound so damned horrible (ie, "AAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLL because of you!"), and the lyrics don't make me laugh out loud and cringe at how unforgivably bad he now is at writing songs. The album version makes me embarassed to be a U2 fan--the alternate version interests me and makes me feel like there's still a lot left for this band to try, accomplish, and even fail.

I think both versions of "Yahweh" are good....I guess I'll just go with the album version, although it sounds a bit too soft. I get the feeling that if they cleaned up the alternate, it might be a bit too hard--I'll err on the side of caution for this one.

"Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own," then...

Well, apparently you sometimes can't write a good song without Steve Lillywhite. The alternate version is one of the more unlistenable pieces of U2's music that I've ever heard. It was a jumbled, incoherent, pointless mess of a song--terrible chord progressions, too mock-theatrical, a bad/almost nonexistant chorus, and just some LAZY musicianship all around. Another one that I openly laughed at. I have to credit the band: the final version is one of my favorite songs the band has EVER recorded, but I admit that if I had been in the studio with the band, I would have tried to convince them to simply abandon the song if I'd only heard this alternate version. There is NOTHING redeeming in this song, as far as I see it...I praise them WITH GREAT ENTHUSIASM for making something so spectacular out of something so ugly, messy, and directionless. Great stuff...fun to hear them go from shit to gold.

 

[Sleep Over Jack]

Fast Cars sounds nothing like fucking Sting....its quite odd really, people ask U2 to experiment and when they do, they get slated. If this song was on POP, you'd hail it as a masterpiece no doubt.

 

[If you shout...]

Ha ha ha ha! Me v. Jack, again...

No, I wouldn't think "Fast Cars" was a masterpiece had it been on Pop. I do REALLY like most of the lyrics--my only complaint is with the chorus: I don't dislike it, I just don't like it AS MUCH as the chorus in "Xanax And Wine."

But I do think the music sounds like Sting...sorry! I admitted in my post, too: I always complain that the band doesn't experiment, anymore. Like I also said: they did experiment, here...but I don't like it that much.

It wasn't on the album, either way, so it doesn't matter all that much; the album is still very un-new sounding. Even if I did like exactly where they went with this song, it still wouldn't mean that the album was daring or adventurous in any way.

Something else that I say a lot is that I'd rather see U2 experiment and perhaps fail than to watch them simply sit back and write the same tunes over and over again....and I'll stick to that. If there was a WHOLE ALBUM that was in the vein of "Fast Cars," I don't think that I'd be so disappointed. Again: a full album of "new" sounds that doesn't quite pull it off would be cool. But to only get one song that sounds new and to see it not really work...that disappoints me a bit.

Either way, I DO enjoy the new album and I DON'T hate "Fast Cars." The only songs from this era that I think I truly HATE are "A Man And A Woman" and the alternate version of "Sometimes..."

 

[Axver]

I think all of the songs that U2 released are better. Xanax And Wine is pretty damn cool, but Fast Cars is even less like anything they have done.

 

[Sleep Over Jack]

To me, the music is more reminscent of Led Zeppelin's acoustic forays, think "Friends" rather than Sting and the odd little distortion sounds coming in at various points are really cool. Also, Bono's lyrics are really good, more like Achtung Baby days, quite smart, and he spits them out fast. So like I say, I'm not seeing the Sting comparisons.

 

[digsy]

i really love fast cars, its a great sound whether you wanna call it sting ot led zep!

that said i really like Xanax and Wine too and had fast cars never even existed and i had never heard of it i would have been very happy with xanax as a song on the album and probably have loved it.
but with a choice between the two, i think its the "unusualness" of fast cars that tops it for me.

 

[iota]

Except for the alternate versions (being mostly unformed versions of the songs they were becoming) the unreleased stuff is much better. They are GREAT songs, they are sloppy and they sound much more effortless than the very calculated direction these songs finally went. I wish U2 would get sloppy again.

 

[iota]

And the reason Xanax is obviousy superior to fast cars is that fast cars sounds to much like a novelty song. "U2 doing arabian music." It seems like the entire song is a gimmick, whereas Xanax sounds more like real real U2 song.

 

[Sleep Over Jack]

Surely then you could say POP and Zooropa were "gimmick" albums. ie the "U2 do techno-rock albums"

 

[quadcaster]

if the unreleased versions from the collectors box were better, they would have been like that on the album......

 

[Roland of Gilead]

The only thing I can honestly say about this whole unreleased vrs. released bit is that both versions of Yahweh are fantastic.

Oh, and how they left Smile for futures (B-sides/another album/etc...)!!!