What would you change?

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SkeeK

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I would add a bit of a break after "hear the drum slowing" on One Step Closer. Like a nice cymbal crash and a bit of a stop before it kicks back in to finish up.

And I think Yahweh could be better with different production.. I dunno what it is exactly.. but I love the lyrics. Maybe it would be better if it was a bit spare.
 
Having one producer would've helped.....some songs are really atmospheric....and some have a lousy arena rock sound....I wish it was a bit more uniform as it makes the album all over the map in terms of sound.
 
The end of Miracle Drug needs to be extended by somehwhat. The momentum of the song builds up so much and it would be better if they carried it on for a while longer.

In relation to ABOY. I'm just not feeling the energy I should be feeling during the verses and chorus. The guitars needs to be much louder and heavier during the verse and Bono's higher voice (there are two) needs to be put up so much louder in the verse aswell. The drums also need to be heavier during the whole song. That's pretty much all I would change.
 
I wouldn't mind it if One Step Closer were a bit longer, and I also feel that perhaps City Of Blinding Lights should build into one final chorus or the last verse should be longer.
 
Axver said:
I also feel that perhaps City Of Blinding Lights should build into one final chorus or the last verse should be longer.

Agree.. just a couple more mumblings or scat singing from Bono would be cool... maybe live.

I also sorta think the jangly breakdown in Love and Peace coulda been melded with the rest of the stong better. It kinda sticks out too much imo.
 
This is a fantastic album but it's missing one track.

It doesn't really has an equivalent to Acrobat, Dirty Day, Exit, God Part II, Wake Up Dead Man, New York, Another Time/Another Place....one of those louder, grungy songs at the end of the album.
 
I'd remove the strings from Original of The Species, they remind me of I Am The Walrus by The Beatles.
 
There are many things I would change. I'll list it all down, give the albums a few more listens and get back to this thread. Thanks for posing the question.

Cheers,

J
 
chocky said:
This is a fantastic album but it's missing one track.

It doesn't really has an equivalent to Acrobat, Dirty Day, Exit, God Part II, Wake Up Dead Man, New York, Another Time/Another Place....one of those louder, grungy songs at the end of the album.

i personally consider that song to be "Crumbs".


someone before mentioned the ending to "Miracle Drug" and i'd have to agree. i'd even take a dreaded fade out over how the song ends.

i also was hoping for a little more punch from "ABOY". then again, the first version i heard of this song was the live version.

with that said, amazing fucking album!
 
I would change

-the cover
-the tracklist (move some songs around)
-the production (all by Steve Lillywhite)
-and some little things in all the songs

besides that, nothing really. :wink:
 
I think Edge's guitar should be a bit louder in Miracle Drug durring the sliding part :drool:
 
Since I am nothign but a fan on a message board, I think I'll go ahead and let the professionals make the decisions.

P.S. I would have put Fast Cars on the album.
 
One Step Closer would have been a bit longer and it would have built up into something awesome at the end.

Lyrically, Love and Peace would have been a bit more subtle on the subject of war. Something more along the lines of Please is what I'd prefer.

Just before the prechorus of OOTS the synthesizers sound pretty cheesy. I'd definitely fix that up. Still my favorite song on the album though.

In All Because of You the vocals in the verses could have been handles better I think. They just sound a little awkward.
 
Right now all that I would really like to change is the track list I think. I really don't like having MD after Vertigo.

Maybe make One Step Closer longer but only if there's anything good to add to it. Sometimes I feel like it's a bit too empty but maybe that's exactly what it needs since this album already got a lot of stuff happening on the other songs. Even though Love And Peace Or Else is my favorite song on the record for some reason I was expecting it to be a bit longer... I'm not disappointed at all but I wish they had done it a bit more epic like. And maybe give Yahweh a bigger ending with Bono's voice going a bit stronger and louder, it's a great song and I actually love the way it ends but I think as the closer it ends too fast. But I really love it all the way it is! :up:
 
Make the drums louder in the mix in some songs, particularly COBL which seems to sound like a mellow song because the drums aren't that prominent in the sound mix.

I would have probably have had LAPOE struck off the album, or completely redone. It is an overproduced track that sounds too cluttered and incoherent. The sounds in the intro doesn't flow well the first verse. And the first verse has no drum part, and there is a long part in the bridge where there is no drum part. This song would not make a good listen in the radio and won't be a candidate for a single. With this overproduced mix of LAPOE, I would have rather struck it out and replaced it with Are You Gonna Wait Forever in the album.

Cheers,

J
 
Well, there's really a whole hell of a lot that I'd change if I had the opportunity to do so... There's a thread I just started about the tracklisting for the album which proposes some rather radical changes. As for the songs themselves, I'll break it down like this...

"Vertigo"--You wanna' know the truth? I wouldn't change a damn thing except for the whole deal with Bono singing, "Unos," to kick her off. That doesn't actually mean "one" in Spanish, so I've a bit of a problem with that; maybe it was intentional, maybe not. For now, I'll not like it.

"Miracle Drug"--Good God...I hate the lyrics. I've read a LOT of posts in a LOT of places in which people seem to feel that this song is the second coming of Christ, but I would have to disagree rather forcefully. I'm glad that some people have expressed at least SOME dissent over this song in this particular thread. So, yeah--the lyrics suck ass. I also could have gone for a longer "solo" from the Edge, though I hesitate to even call it that...as a rule, I would have really liked a bit more true solos from the Edge on this "guitar-heavy" album. His riffs were stronger than they've been in almost ten years, but his playing is still more rudimentary than it has to be.

"Sometimes You Can't..."--This is probably my second favorite track on the album, and I can just say that I think the production gets a bit overblown as the song goes on. I still love it, I still love the way it sounds, and I pretty much dig on all the lyrics and the instrumentation...but when Bono starts wailing away towards the end of the song during that final chorus, it just gets too busy. Better yet, it's not just busy: it's sometimes impossible to decipher. Maybe it's just a shady .mp3, but it's all I've got. I also really don't like the "glossy" and atmospheric guitar stabs. If there were fewer of them, I'd be a happier man. They work, but not ad nauseum.

"Love/Peace..."--Maybe the opening is a bit too dissonant for its own good, but this is my favorite track on the album. I really love the roaring guitar, but MAN could this song have used an aggressive solo, you know? I'm all about finally retiring some of the older songs when the band plays live, and I'd love to see this song be good enough to replace the still OUTSTANDING "Bullet the Blue Sky;" I still love that song, but how cool would it be if the band finally topped it? That would be raw as hell. As with most of the album, I think that some of the lyrics could use a little work; thankfully, that laughable "Zion/Abraham" sequence is treated to a powerful-as-fuck vocal by Bono. Without that, it'd be hopeless, lyrically.

"City..."--Man...this is a great track, son! I like the piano to open the song up, but I don't like how processed it sounds. Way too slick, way too shiny, way too contemporary Eno/Lanois, regardless of how much of an impact they did or didn't have on the track. Bono's delivery is here my problem--while he soars REALLY high during the, "Oh, you look so beautiful tonight" portions, his vocal is muddled, forced, and silly when he sings, "Oh, and I miss you when you're not around, etc." It just feels a bit clumsy for me. The bass line is a little safe, as well, and I could have done with FEWER OVERDUBS. As with the last album, this whole affair just has a feeling of studio-ness to it which even albums like Pop managed to avoid.

"All Because of You"--Well, the lyrics are silly once again. ...Or I think so, anyway. And while I don't really dislike it, I think it's a bit shady that the band simply lifted the closing rock-out from the PopMart versions of "The Last Night On Earth" to end the song with. Bono's vocals also seemed to not quite match up with the song perfectly in all parts (I guess I agree with our German friends on this one); also: WHAT THE FUCK IS UP WITH THE DOUBLE-TRACKED VOCALS??? I don't like it.

"A Man and a Woman"--You want the truth? This one shouldn't even be on the album. Bad lyrics, bad and crazily overcrowded production, a bad melody, a boring vocal...the list goes on. This song is a sin. I'm serious, here.

"Crumbs From Your Table"--My biggest disappointment with this song is the fact that it isn't "Heaven and Hell" from my good old "Salome" sessions. There's that line, "You take cards from all over the table," and I had hoped and prayed that the band were revisiting that magical track. Even so, I again take issue with the double-tracking on the vocal, and that, "Cool down, mama," was so fucking stupid that I laughed aloud at first hearing it. It's still a good track, though--that I can't even try to deny. A nice, simple (maybe a little too safe) mid-tempo track not at all unlike a million U2 songs before it...."Walk On," "When I Look at the World," "Dirty Day," etc. A little over-produced for me, at times (I swear I hear bells during the whole "Sister Anne" spiel).

"One Step Closer"--Not all I had hoped for. I enjoyed its brevity, because some of the songs on this album seem to go on for just a few seconds longer than they should. Another disturbing trend has by now surfaced, though: too many of the choruses simply repeat the titles of their respective songs until the listener can't take it anymore. Some cumbersome lyrics ("busy intersection," you say?), but not too shabby. I like the vocal a good deal, but again...so many overdubs.

"Original of the Species"--The music box opening? Didn't work for me, but I did like the unprocessed piano which leads the song along. One more song, though, where the lyrics could have just killed me. I now fondly remember the days when Bono was comfortable SHOWING us something....now he simply TELLS us exactly what's what and what to feel, etc. Great ringing guitar on the chorus could have been louder. Again...feels a bit slick, doesn't it? Throw some dirt on the boys while they're playing or something...wasn't this supposed to be a rock'n'roll album...? PS: that "Do-do, do-do, do-do" shit is terrible.

"Yahweh"--Good stuff, no? I actually liked the lyrics, too...!!! Bono's calls of, "Yahweh!" sound an AWFUL lot like the way he used to sing the, "Midnight...MidNIIIIIGHT..!!!" lines from "Lemon" during the closing months of Zoo TV, do they not? I really liked the tone with which this song closed everything out. The album didn't grind to a halt, which was nice.

Phew...there you go. I hope somebody cares about this shit, cuz that TOOK A WHILE. Peace.
 
The more I hear Crumbs..I keep hitting replay!!

The more I hear the whole Cd..the more I fall for it!
 
If you shout... said:
Well, there's really a whole hell of a lot that I'd change if I had the opportunity to do so... There's a thread I just started about the tracklisting for the album which proposes some rather radical changes. As for the songs themselves, I'll break it down like this...

"Vertigo"--You wanna' know the truth? I wouldn't change a damn thing except for the whole deal with Bono singing, "Unos," to kick her off. That doesn't actually mean "one" in Spanish, so I've a bit of a problem with that; maybe it was intentional, maybe not. For now, I'll not like it.

"Miracle Drug"--Good God...I hate the lyrics. I've read a LOT of posts in a LOT of places in which people seem to feel that this song is the second coming of Christ, but I would have to disagree rather forcefully. I'm glad that some people have expressed at least SOME dissent over this song in this particular thread. So, yeah--the lyrics suck ass. I also could have gone for a longer "solo" from the Edge, though I hesitate to even call it that...as a rule, I would have really liked a bit more true solos from the Edge on this "guitar-heavy" album. His riffs were stronger than they've been in almost ten years, but his playing is still more rudimentary than it has to be.

"Sometimes You Can't..."--This is probably my second favorite track on the album, and I can just say that I think the production gets a bit overblown as the song goes on. I still love it, I still love the way it sounds, and I pretty much dig on all the lyrics and the instrumentation...but when Bono starts wailing away towards the end of the song during that final chorus, it just gets too busy. Better yet, it's not just busy: it's sometimes impossible to decipher. Maybe it's just a shady .mp3, but it's all I've got. I also really don't like the "glossy" and atmospheric guitar stabs. If there were fewer of them, I'd be a happier man. They work, but not ad nauseum.

"Love/Peace..."--Maybe the opening is a bit too dissonant for its own good, but this is my favorite track on the album. I really love the roaring guitar, but MAN could this song have used an aggressive solo, you know? I'm all about finally retiring some of the older songs when the band plays live, and I'd love to see this song be good enough to replace the still OUTSTANDING "Bullet the Blue Sky;" I still love that song, but how cool would it be if the band finally topped it? That would be raw as hell. As with most of the album, I think that some of the lyrics could use a little work; thankfully, that laughable "Zion/Abraham" sequence is treated to a powerful-as-fuck vocal by Bono. Without that, it'd be hopeless, lyrically.

"City..."--Man...this is a great track, son! I like the piano to open the song up, but I don't like how processed it sounds. Way too slick, way too shiny, way too contemporary Eno/Lanois, regardless of how much of an impact they did or didn't have on the track. Bono's delivery is here my problem--while he soars REALLY high during the, "Oh, you look so beautiful tonight" portions, his vocal is muddled, forced, and silly when he sings, "Oh, and I miss you when you're not around, etc." It just feels a bit clumsy for me. The bass line is a little safe, as well, and I could have done with FEWER OVERDUBS. As with the last album, this whole affair just has a feeling of studio-ness to it which even albums like Pop managed to avoid.

"All Because of You"--Well, the lyrics are silly once again. ...Or I think so, anyway. And while I don't really dislike it, I think it's a bit shady that the band simply lifted the closing rock-out from the PopMart versions of "The Last Night On Earth" to end the song with. Bono's vocals also seemed to not quite match up with the song perfectly in all parts (I guess I agree with our German friends on this one); also: WHAT THE FUCK IS UP WITH THE DOUBLE-TRACKED VOCALS??? I don't like it.

"A Man and a Woman"--You want the truth? This one shouldn't even be on the album. Bad lyrics, bad and crazily overcrowded production, a bad melody, a boring vocal...the list goes on. This song is a sin. I'm serious, here.

"Crumbs From Your Table"--My biggest disappointment with this song is the fact that it isn't "Heaven and Hell" from my good old "Salome" sessions. There's that line, "You take cards from all over the table," and I had hoped and prayed that the band were revisiting that magical track. Even so, I again take issue with the double-tracking on the vocal, and that, "Cool down, mama," was so fucking stupid that I laughed aloud at first hearing it. It's still a good track, though--that I can't even try to deny. A nice, simple (maybe a little too safe) mid-tempo track not at all unlike a million U2 songs before it...."Walk On," "When I Look at the World," "Dirty Day," etc. A little over-produced for me, at times (I swear I hear bells during the whole "Sister Anne" spiel).

"One Step Closer"--Not all I had hoped for. I enjoyed its brevity, because some of the songs on this album seem to go on for just a few seconds longer than they should. Another disturbing trend has by now surfaced, though: too many of the choruses simply repeat the titles of their respective songs until the listener can't take it anymore. Some cumbersome lyrics ("busy intersection," you say?), but not too shabby. I like the vocal a good deal, but again...so many overdubs.

"Original of the Species"--The music box opening? Didn't work for me, but I did like the unprocessed piano which leads the song along. One more song, though, where the lyrics could have just killed me. I now fondly remember the days when Bono was comfortable SHOWING us something....now he simply TELLS us exactly what's what and what to feel, etc. Great ringing guitar on the chorus could have been louder. Again...feels a bit slick, doesn't it? Throw some dirt on the boys while they're playing or something...wasn't this supposed to be a rock'n'roll album...? PS: that "Do-do, do-do, do-do" shit is terrible.

"Yahweh"--Good stuff, no? I actually liked the lyrics, too...!!! Bono's calls of, "Yahweh!" sound an AWFUL lot like the way he used to sing the, "Midnight...MidNIIIIIGHT..!!!" lines from "Lemon" during the closing months of Zoo TV, do they not? I really liked the tone with which this song closed everything out. The album didn't grind to a halt, which was nice.

Phew...there you go. I hope somebody cares about this shit, cuz that TOOK A WHILE. Peace.



And you are??
 
one4u2 said:




And you are??

Me? A crazy fan, I guess...;) I typically don't dig on forums and stuff, so I've never done the whole Interference deal. Quite frankly, I think I'd been a bit mislead about this place; I've read for years that this was a God-forsaken abode of the damned, but the last couple of days have proven otherwise. This is by far the most tightly-knit online U2 community that I've ever observed. I figure I'm hear to stay, you konw? Gotta' toss in my first two cents at some point...don't worry: you got a few more bucks on the way. Peace.
 
Murray said:
I would change

-the cover
-the tracklist (move some songs around)
-the production (all by Steve Lillywhite)
-and some little things in all the songs

besides that, nothing really. :wink:

I've got no real problem with the production (I'm probably not a big enough techie to critique). But I'm not sure the black and red grungy cover fits with album. It fits with Vertigo and a couple other songs (Love and Peace or Else and maybe All Because of You). It just feels a little too broody when a lot of the songs are more hopeful and joyous.
 
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