Why did Street Mission not make it on Boy...

[Aardvark747]

I was listening to it again this morning, and was lovin it! Maybe I just hadn't ever listened to it properly before. But the young innocent vocals of one, Bono Vox and the amazing Edge solo at the end, just took me totally by suprise, and got me thinking. I dont know exactly what year Street Mission was done. 78 maybe? On some sort of demo or other? I know it wasnt on U2:3.

So I just thought, why didnt the band think it was good enough to be properly re-recorded, and included on Boy?
Id take it over, let's see.....
Shadows and Tall Trees or Twilight. I do love both of them tho.

Anyone any ideas?

 

[Axver]

Street Mission was played live on Irish TV in 1978 (I see dates as varied as March and July placed on that) and recorded as a demo sometime in the latter half of that year. From what I understand, it was a popular live track at the time, but by late 1979, it fell out of setlist rotation. If you have a look at the three pre-Boy sets we know (1979-10-05, 1980-02-03, and 1980-02-26), they all feature a large number of songs that failed to make Boy, but no Street Mission. It would seem that by the time U2 were seriously recording in the studio, they had ditched it from their live shows and left it behind in favour of other material.

Personally, I feel they had a number of excellent songs during the Pre-Boy era and really could have released another album then. I do wonder why songs such as Street Mission, The Fool, 11 O'clock Tick Tock, and Lost On A Silent Planet never found a home on an album - especially not October. I know 11 O'clock Tick Tock did appeared as a single, but considering the disaster that the October recording sessions were, I'm surprised they didn't rework it for that album.

 

[Aardvark747]

I waited for you to reply first Axver!

Im listening to it again now, and I just love it! Edge's solo at the end is fantastic. There's a few of those early songs that I picked up on a random cd a couple of years ago that are really good. Like The Fool and LOASP...there's even early recordings of Twilight and ATAP on there, which sound quite....well, vocally poor! But are fun to listen to!

Ive always wondered about the 11 o'clock... thing, as to why that wasnt ever included on an album. Considering it was such a live favourite in the early 80's. Like you say, with the October recording sessions as up in the air as they seemed to be, you'd have thought they might have used their earlier, unheard good material.

 

[TheBrazilianFly]

I love Boy the way it is. I don't think Street Missions would fit on Boy (and definitely not in the place of the great and amazing Twilight ).

However it would have been absolutely AMAZING if they had done, after Boy, an album with the songs 11 O’clock Tick Tock, Street Missions, Life On A Silent Planet, Treasure (Whatever Happened To Pete The Chop), The King's New Clothes, Jack In The Box, Inside Out (great solo) and more. I mean that would have been even more close to the punk record they say Boy is and it would have been an even more rock n' roll record. Just think of a set list with the best of the Boy songs and the best of this never done record. Man alive...

 

[Nisse]

Have you seen the photos of the stuff in the lost october briefcase?

u2log . com / archive / 002943 . shtml

there's a pic of a notebook that lists some demos like Father is an Elephant, Speed Of Life, False Prophet, Pete The Chop etc
Perhaps these were originally ment to be on October, perhaps not.