Have U2's 21st century releases done irreparable damage to their legacy?

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Irvine511 said:
I bought a CD of the Dublin show a store that sold bootlegs and weed and listened to it obsessively on my Sony discman in high school.

Obsessively.

His voice is phenomenal on this recording, especially on Ultraviolet.

All of which is to say that I believe the show was broadcast ont he radio in order to give the fans something to record on their cassettes, and I believe Propaganda even sent out a case liner or something with show deets.

But I could be wrong.
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My GOD. Just listening through this while working. The setlist was just fucking unreal for these shows. Ultraviolet is really good on this one. Pretty much had chills over and over through the whole thing and love the big Elvis note belted out at the end.
 
womanfish said:
My GOD. Just listening through this while working. The setlist was just fucking unreal for these shows. Ultraviolet is really good on this one. Pretty much had chills over and over through the whole thing and love the big Elvis note belted out at the end.
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It was that big note at the end that made teenage Irvine believe that Bono could basically do anything as a performer. I assumed his voice would keep getting better.

It was like they had just hit the central artery of their limitless possibilities as a band — they could go anywhere, do anything. They seemed invincible. I remember those long, long years from ‘94-97 and wondering what they could possibly do next.

Then we got Pop. And while I know it’s popular on here, it was a clear step down from these 1993 heights.
 
womanfish said:
If you want the mp3 of it, lemme know.
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Passengers was so exciting for me because it was them doing something different. I came to appreciate it more as time went on and I got in to ambient music and soundtracks.

I think we've seen with AB that we've got all there is and tbh, listening to the interviews recently, we've pretty much heard all there is to hear about it. I'd love to get an official indoor Zoo TV release of some sort as those shows were amazing.

Speculating... I think from what has been said, there should be decent early/alternate versions of those Pop tracks which could make for an interesting reissue.

NLOTH I'm less optimistic about because they don't like to release anything that's not been polished in to a fully formed track. So while there might be lots of early jamming from those Moroccan sessions, I'm not sure what they'd be willing to release. Although there is the chance that SOA might exist and be something they'll just release in this sort of package?
 
Headache in a Suitcase said:
the problem with U2's fandom is that some people think Passengers is incredible and some people think Passengers convoluted horse shit - and this was true even in the late 90s. their genius was that they were able to toe the line between those two parties, but i think it's kind of inevitable that the "passengers is incredible" folks were to be the ones who would fall off the bandwagon, as U2, if nothing else, has always been about being big, and every change, shift or move they've made was calculated around being big (yes, even Achtung Baby).


regarding them going balls to the wall for JT30 and not AB30 - welp, there's a few things wrong there, too.

first, ya know, we're still sort of in a pandemic. so even if they wanted to do a big ole blow out anniversary tour, the landscape has changed. perhaps everyone in the band or even the crew, as they're a notoriously tight-knight touring crew, isn't comfortable with it yet.

regarding the album release - they did kind of already blow out Achtung Baby on the 20th anniversary - full length documentary, kindergarten AB and even an album full of other artists covering AB front to back. it was also the central part of their Glastobury set, and took over a large swath of the biggest tour ever (fuck off, Ed Sheeran).

for JT30 they did, what, a new live concert and a few dodgy remixes? whoopity doo.


so yea - they've done the big Achtung Baby blow out. would i have liked to see a rerelease of From The Sky Down in higher (digital) quality? sure. i wouldn't have minded another live release either, but to be fair, we already have official releases of Sydney and Dublin. SO what, a US show? I guess.
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Har har, ya i know we're in a pandemic. Who's calling for a fuckin tour?

The quality of Passengers didn't matter - what matters is that it was yet another unpredictable move. The kind they dont make any more.

It also doesn't matter that there wasn't much new on JT30. What matters is that it exists, that they pressed it on vinyl, and that they released a different live show. You might say "whoopity doo" but that's not bad for the second reissue of an album, and collecting the bsides and outtakes on vinyl was great. But the important thing is that it's something. For Achtung, there's nothing. Repressing LPs doesn't really count because it would have happened anyway.

Sydney is the only officially released Zoo TV show.
 
cobl04 said:
What's the quality like?
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Sounds great - like a CD-quality direct-from-radio rip (my preferred U2 bootleg quality). And it's just one file that's less than 200 MB, so low committal on your HD if you wanna preview it.

Thanks, womanfish! Somewhere I have this show on a 3xCD bootleg called The Fly that came in a fancy printed box made of thick glossy cardboard. I'm so glad we don't have to pay $30 per disc for bootlegs anymore, but boy do I miss the effort some of those companies put into the packaging.
 
cobl04 said:
What's the quality like?
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Its alright. I think Pacemaker is correct in his assumption on the source. You hear a few parts of lower volume here and there. I think the "remaster" may have taken out some noise, but also may have lost a bit of fidelity in the process.
 
Hollow Island said:
Har har, ya i know we're in a pandemic. Who's calling for a fuckin tour?



The quality of Passengers didn't matter - what matters is that it was yet another unpredictable move. The kind they dont make any more.


.
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Oh so it's okay if it's a mostly boring pile of shit, just as long as it's unpredictable. Duly noted going forward. I'll try to keep up.

As for who is calling for a tour - you said JT30 was "blown up." I would hardly call the music release alone being "blown up." Was it more than Achtung Baby's 30? I mean barely. Fine, they issued a new show. If that's your sticking point then I guess you've got me there. But the only thing "blown up" about JT30 that was significantly beyond what they just did for AB30 was the tour - which they may very well still do.
 
Headache in a Suitcase said:
Oh so it's okay if it's a mostly boring pile of shit, just as long as it's unpredictable. Duly noted going forward. I'll try to keep up.

As for who is calling for a tour - you said JT30 was "blown up." I would hardly call the music release alone being "blown up." Was it more than Achtung Baby's 30? I mean barely. Fine, they issued a new show. If that's your sticking point then I guess you've got me there. But the only thing "blown up" about JT30 that was significantly beyond what they just did for AB30 was the tour - which they may very well still do.
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You don't think a vinyl, cd and digital box set with:
The Joshua Tree
B sides
Outtakes
A previously unreleased live show
Remixes
A new book

isn't significantly more than repressing Achtung Baby - which they would have done anyway! - and making some stuff available on spotify? In what world are those reissues not significantly different from each other?

Most of that was previously released but all of that, aside from TJT, was new to vinyl. And that's certainly a lot more than a simply repressing an album.

And Passengers isn't a boring pile of dogshit. It's infinitely more interesting than their last several albums. But the point is that they were willing to try something different that and you never knew what they'd do. Even if you think it was a failure, who cares? There's always the next album and it's better to try new things and sometimes fail than to play it safe. They were daring and unpredictable, and now they're as predictable as Pearl Jam.
 
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Hollow Island said:
You don't think a vinyl, cd and digital box set with:
The Joshua Tree
B sides
Outtakes
A previously unreleased live show
Remixes
A new book

isn't significantly more than repressing Achtung Baby - which they would have done anyway! - and making some stuff available on spotify? In what world are those reissues not significantly different from each other?

Most of that was previously released but all of that, aside from TJT, was new to vinyl. And that's certainly a lot more than a simply repressing an album.

And Passengers isn't a boring pile of dogshit. It's infinitely more interesting than their last several albums. But the point is that they were willing to try something different that and you never knew what they'd do. Even if you think it was a failure, who cares? There's always the next album and it's better to try new things and sometimes fail than to play it safe. They were daring and unpredictable, and now they're as predictable as Pearl Jam.
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ohhhh it was new to vinyl. i stand corrected.

and that pearl jam shot is not the insult you think it is.
 
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