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Does U2 Have Studio Weaknesses? (Close the other thread)
We often remark about how amazing U2 are live and how great their live performances have consistantly been for two and a half decades. But, is it possible that those live performances sometimes achieve such high heights because they are maximizing the potential of songs whose studio versions failed to do so?
In some cases, a tour starts just a few months after an album is released and on the first show of the tour they play a song from whatever the newest record is, differently from the album, with new stuff added in, all the stuff that makes live U2 live U2. So if they perform the song like that 3 months, 5 months, after the album comes out, why didn't they perform it like that ON the album?
Also, often times, during or after a tour, they'll try to re-record or alter a studio version of a song to reflect its live counterpart, case in point the Single version of Streets, the Single version of Please, the Best Of version of Gone, the Single version of Walk On, the Single version of OOTS, etc. Never has a re-worked studio version been able to match the live counterpart it is emulating.
These are just a few examples - I've included the year next to each to illustrate that this has been going on for their entire career:
Song - 1979: 11 O'Clock Tick Tock
Live Improvement - Better guitar, Better vocals, the 'Call out' vocal codas.
Song - 1982: Party Girl
Live Improvement - Come on, who here would actually take the studio version over the live versions, particuarly the one on UABRS? Everything is better live.
Song1984: Bad
Live Improvement - The studio version of Bad is really good, but live it is just something different, it is more aggressive, more rock, more epic. This one isn't such a big deal, really, because the studio version is amazing in its own way.
Song1987: Streets
Live Improvement - Studio Streets is an incredible rock song. Live Streets is a religious experience. With the exception of the Vertigo Tour, the intro is longer and more chill-inducing, there's Bono and Edge harmonozing on the Oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh, at the end, among other things.
Why the subsequent re-recorded version still doesn't match the live performances - The intro still isn't long and drawn out like the live version, and there's still no 'Oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh's at the end.
Song1987: Bullet The Blue Sky
Live Improvement - Edge. Solos. Enough said.
Song1991: One
Live Improvement - The 'hear me calling' vocal coda.
Song1993: Dirty Day
Live Improvement - More 'rock' live. Longer solos.
Why the subsequent re-recorded version still doesn't match the live performances - Actually, the 'Bitter Kiss' mix almost does.
Song1997: Please
Live Improvement - Absolutely incredible live. No explanation needed.
Why the subsequent re-recorded version still doesn't match the live performances - U2 manages to neuter the rhythm section while inserting an abbreviated version of Edge's solo(it really is 10 seconds longer live).
Song - 1997: Mofo
Live Improvement - The 'Move me a mountain' outro after the original 'sooth me/show me' outro. It sends chills up my spine, with Edge singing it high with Bono singing it in the low seductive voice he used a lot in the 90s...totally absent on the album.
Song - 1997: Gone
Live Improvement - Edge's 'Dooooooowwwn's live added a lot, imo.
Why the subsequent re-recorded version still doesn't match the live performances - The Best Of version of gone does an average job of inserting Edge's 'Dooooooowns'...they're absent in the first chorus and barely audible in the last chorus. And the sirens are gone.
Song - 2000: Stuck In A Moment
Live Improvement - When they played this during the Elevation Tour, after the first chorus, right before the start of the second verse, Edge plays this little mini-intro-riff that didn't exist on the ATYCLB album version. I love that. The live version during the Elevation Tour seemed to take the cheesiness out of the studio version without being acoustic. Why couldn't it be like that on the album?
Song - 2000: Walk On
Live Improvement - The Hallelujahs, oh the Hallelujahs.
Why the subsequent re-recorded version still doesn't match the live performances - The Single version of Walk On totally omits the 'Home' bridge and then the Hallelujahs just aren't as chill-inducing as they are live.
Song - 2004: OOTS
Live Improvement - Edge plays a keyboard progression during the chorus live...at least during the first leg. I haven't heard the full-band live versions much.
Why the subsequent re-recorded version still doesn't match the live performances - The Single version of OOTS lacks the keyboard progressions in the chorus that Edge played during the first leg.
Song - 2004: Sometimes
Live Improvement - The line 'I still gotta let you know/a house doesn't make a home'....live, Bono soars on the I, 'IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII still gotta let you know', but on the album it's just, 'I still gotta...'.
Song - 2004: COBL
Live Improvement - The intro is longer, the precussion is all-around better, and the song overall just doesn't seem as cheesy live.
I realize this can be HIGHLY subjective and as such, you might disagree with any portion of what I've said. I'm just starting a discussion about whether or not U2 may have some certain weaknesses where studio recordings are concerned. Certainly we are only talking about a handful of songs and for the most part they're better than fine in the studio, but for that handful of songs, listening to studio versions can be infuriating, imo. And I don't know if that can be said for other all-time great bands. Look at the Beatles. Is there a single song in their catalog for which you'd say, 'It's much better live'?
We often remark about how amazing U2 are live and how great their live performances have consistantly been for two and a half decades. But, is it possible that those live performances sometimes achieve such high heights because they are maximizing the potential of songs whose studio versions failed to do so?
In some cases, a tour starts just a few months after an album is released and on the first show of the tour they play a song from whatever the newest record is, differently from the album, with new stuff added in, all the stuff that makes live U2 live U2. So if they perform the song like that 3 months, 5 months, after the album comes out, why didn't they perform it like that ON the album?
Also, often times, during or after a tour, they'll try to re-record or alter a studio version of a song to reflect its live counterpart, case in point the Single version of Streets, the Single version of Please, the Best Of version of Gone, the Single version of Walk On, the Single version of OOTS, etc. Never has a re-worked studio version been able to match the live counterpart it is emulating.
These are just a few examples - I've included the year next to each to illustrate that this has been going on for their entire career:
Song - 1979: 11 O'Clock Tick Tock
Live Improvement - Better guitar, Better vocals, the 'Call out' vocal codas.
Song - 1982: Party Girl
Live Improvement - Come on, who here would actually take the studio version over the live versions, particuarly the one on UABRS? Everything is better live.
Song1984: Bad
Live Improvement - The studio version of Bad is really good, but live it is just something different, it is more aggressive, more rock, more epic. This one isn't such a big deal, really, because the studio version is amazing in its own way.
Song1987: Streets
Live Improvement - Studio Streets is an incredible rock song. Live Streets is a religious experience. With the exception of the Vertigo Tour, the intro is longer and more chill-inducing, there's Bono and Edge harmonozing on the Oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh, at the end, among other things.
Why the subsequent re-recorded version still doesn't match the live performances - The intro still isn't long and drawn out like the live version, and there's still no 'Oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh's at the end.
Song1987: Bullet The Blue Sky
Live Improvement - Edge. Solos. Enough said.
Song1991: One
Live Improvement - The 'hear me calling' vocal coda.
Song1993: Dirty Day
Live Improvement - More 'rock' live. Longer solos.
Why the subsequent re-recorded version still doesn't match the live performances - Actually, the 'Bitter Kiss' mix almost does.
Song1997: Please
Live Improvement - Absolutely incredible live. No explanation needed.
Why the subsequent re-recorded version still doesn't match the live performances - U2 manages to neuter the rhythm section while inserting an abbreviated version of Edge's solo(it really is 10 seconds longer live).
Song - 1997: Mofo
Live Improvement - The 'Move me a mountain' outro after the original 'sooth me/show me' outro. It sends chills up my spine, with Edge singing it high with Bono singing it in the low seductive voice he used a lot in the 90s...totally absent on the album.
Song - 1997: Gone
Live Improvement - Edge's 'Dooooooowwwn's live added a lot, imo.
Why the subsequent re-recorded version still doesn't match the live performances - The Best Of version of gone does an average job of inserting Edge's 'Dooooooowns'...they're absent in the first chorus and barely audible in the last chorus. And the sirens are gone.
Song - 2000: Stuck In A Moment
Live Improvement - When they played this during the Elevation Tour, after the first chorus, right before the start of the second verse, Edge plays this little mini-intro-riff that didn't exist on the ATYCLB album version. I love that. The live version during the Elevation Tour seemed to take the cheesiness out of the studio version without being acoustic. Why couldn't it be like that on the album?
Song - 2000: Walk On
Live Improvement - The Hallelujahs, oh the Hallelujahs.
Why the subsequent re-recorded version still doesn't match the live performances - The Single version of Walk On totally omits the 'Home' bridge and then the Hallelujahs just aren't as chill-inducing as they are live.
Song - 2004: OOTS
Live Improvement - Edge plays a keyboard progression during the chorus live...at least during the first leg. I haven't heard the full-band live versions much.
Why the subsequent re-recorded version still doesn't match the live performances - The Single version of OOTS lacks the keyboard progressions in the chorus that Edge played during the first leg.
Song - 2004: Sometimes
Live Improvement - The line 'I still gotta let you know/a house doesn't make a home'....live, Bono soars on the I, 'IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII still gotta let you know', but on the album it's just, 'I still gotta...'.
Song - 2004: COBL
Live Improvement - The intro is longer, the precussion is all-around better, and the song overall just doesn't seem as cheesy live.
I realize this can be HIGHLY subjective and as such, you might disagree with any portion of what I've said. I'm just starting a discussion about whether or not U2 may have some certain weaknesses where studio recordings are concerned. Certainly we are only talking about a handful of songs and for the most part they're better than fine in the studio, but for that handful of songs, listening to studio versions can be infuriating, imo. And I don't know if that can be said for other all-time great bands. Look at the Beatles. Is there a single song in their catalog for which you'd say, 'It's much better live'?