Would you like U2 to release a Springsteen like tracks ablum?

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Convoy

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Would you like U2 to release a Springteen like tracks ablum?

My two favorite bands are #1 U2, and #2 Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. Now, while listening to my Tacks Box Set, which is a four disk CD spanning Springsteen career with unreleased material, outtakes, alternate versions of songs, and B-sides.. it had me thinking, wouldn't it be extremely awesome if sometime in the future U2 would do that same?
 
YES!!! That would be incredible. :up: There are so many b-sides that didn't make it onto the Best Of second discs, and I'm sure they have tons of unreleased material.
 
only if they have the material... u2 is strange in the fact that a lot of their b-sides actually morph into other songs... acts like springsteen and pearl jam have b-sides that are some of their biggest crowd favorites at their concerts, so they can get away with putting out a Tracks album or the double-cd Lost Dogs album that Pearl Jam is putting out. :shrug: i dunno... just my .02
 
Hello,

I doubt U2 have the material for it. They create songs in a different way than Bruce Springsteen or Bob Dylan do. U2 jam and experiment, stretching jams until breaking point before going back to a loose version of some song. After a while they decide which jams to continue, to make songs out of. The Achtung Baby Outtakes showed this.
In contrast, Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan write complete songs (around 1980 Bruce even had a work ethic of writing at least one song per week) and they record them. When they have recorded 20 - 30 of those songs they pick the ones to be put on the album. With this approach you have more finished songs than with the U2 method, so you can release an outtakes album. But as I said, I doubt U2 have the songs for it. It's also interesting to note that most of the outtakes Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan released were already available on bootlegs. Apart from Be There (War sessions?), their early demo's before Boy and the Achtung Baby Outtakes I don't know of any U2 outtakes that have come into the hands of collectors.

C ya!

Marty

P.S. Don't get me wrong! If there is enough quality material for it I wholly support a U2 outtakes set. I only fear there isn't much...
 
Yeah, I don't really need the SAME songs we already have just released in a different track order. If they've got unreleased stuff we've never heard, bring it on.
 
NO!

U2 take forever to make albums for a reason - they carefully select what songs are for public consumption and what songs are not. The theft and subsequent release of the Achtung Baby Outtakes proved that U2's unfinished material is indeed not for public consumption but merely something with interesting musical fragments.

These songs are unreleased and outtakes for a reason. With a band like U2, who have been around 25 years or so, they should have had at least one official CD of outtakes or unreleased material but they don't because they are no sellouts and aren't that opportunistic with cashing in on fans like Springsteen is.

Springsteen is the ultimate in opportunism. When his career turns sour, he does mellow movie soundtracks. When that one lost its charm, he had a "desperate" reunion with his E-Street Band, and finally he cashed in on grieving America by making a 9/11 album. Springsteen is just a parody of his old self. Meanwhile, U2 are still in fine form, never desperate for cashing in like Springsteen does.

Releasing outtakes and unreleased songs is like a car manufacturer selling the junk metal scraps when the chasis was chiseled to shape. U2 writes songs, the good ones they put in the album. The not-so-good-but-good-enough ones they release as b-sides. They rest are scrap metal. I am sure everyone here will unanimously agree that taken as a whole, the album tracks are better than the b-sides. So why release something that is even more substandard than a b-side? Only desperate Springsteen would do that.

I have too must respect and love for U2 to even think they'll release something that desperate. For the love of U2, let's all hope they don't do a Springsteen. But then again, U2 members have twice the IQ of Springsteen anyway.

Cheers,

J
 
kingofsorrow said:
so jick i'm guessing you don't like springsteen?:no: :no: :lol:

Don't worry it's just J talking bollocks as usual.

"..and finally he cashed in on grieving America by making a 9/11 album."

You really are a shit for brains aren't you. I suppose that makes Americans stupid for falling for his cash grabbing stunt and actually BUYING the record. :censored:
 
A couple of things here: Popmartjin, contrary to your belief, I think that U2 has tons of unreleased, either fully finished, or nearly finished songs. Like many huge bands they archive these for possible use somewhere down the line. U2 has the best and tighest security of any major band organization, this is why fans have not gotten their hands on that kind of stuff.

Second, c'mon Jick Springsteen is not an opportunist. He was thoroughly moved by what had happened on that dark September day and wrote an album loosely based on it. He's a fine artist and continues to be relevant, even in this late stage of his career. His shows (I've heard) are only second to U2's.
 
Jick, first you say U2 are only it in for the money, and now you say they're not about "cashing in"? I remember you saying in a previous post that U2 was cashing in on Sept. 11 by using the firemen on stage and scrolling the names at the Superbowl. But now it's all on Springsteen? Please elaborate.

FYI, not ALL of Springsteen's album was written in response to Sept. 11. For example, My City of Ruin was written before, but it just became associated with Sept. 11. Kind of like Walk On....
 
Let's not veer too much off topic and make this a discussion on whether or not Springsteen did indeed take advantage of the grieving. I have my opinion, you have yours. I said mine only as far as it related to the main topic. Any further Springsteen arguments belong in a Springsteen message board.

Back to the topic, NO, NO, NO, NO! U2 should never ever release and album of outtakes and unreleased material - never! It will be a disgrace to U2 and a betrayal of their own integrity. Once again, it's like a car manufacturer selling the scrap metal.

And to be more realistic about it, U2 have historically had a hard time even making enough original b-sides to go with their singles. That's why lately they have been preferring remixes or live versions or cover versions to go with their singles. So to make an album of unreleased outtake tracks would be a stretch.

Cheers,

J
 
I think I remember an article (Rolling Stone, was it?) that said they wrote "over a 100 songs covering all genres" during recording of ATYCLB.
Now maybe not all of that was finished material, but I think some interesting material must've come up - over the years and at the making of the last album. (wasn't Edge saying they might release a box set someday? Obviously B-sides were released with both Best of's so...)
 
U2girl said:
I think I remember an article (Rolling Stone, was it?) that said they wrote "over a 100 songs covering all genres" during recording of ATYCLB.

Yeah, on a video I have, I think it was a CNN thing, they did a little bit on Bono and showed him with his computer and said he had lyrics for 100 songs on there.
 
Reggie Thee Dog said:
A couple of things here: Popmartjin, contrary to your belief, I think that U2 has tons of unreleased, either fully finished, or nearly finished songs.

But there is a big difference between a complete, finished song and a nearly finished one, especially for U2. On the Achtung Baby Outtakes there are many nearly finished songs, but while interesting for a listen, I don't think they'll hold up when released on an official album.

The band has also indicated in the past that in U2 the line between not hitting it and actually having that spark, that song finished is very thin. Substantial (in quality) but very thin (in momentum).
Still, if there is enough quality material, then I'm all for it, for releasing an outtakes album/box-set. However, the quality has to be there. One piece of criticism of the Springsteen box-set I kind of agree with is that there is no (as they say) "Blind Willie McTell on it." While the songs on them are quite nice, there's not that long lost gem on it (as was Blind Willie McTell on the Bob Dylan box-set). Just a collection of nice songs won't do it for me, you need to have some outstanding songs on them that's makes you wonder why they left it off the regular album.

C ya!

Marty (currently waiting for the promised album with new material)
 
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