New Album Discussion 1 - Songs of..... - Unreasonable guitar album

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What’s cool about this reassembled album is that it actually works as a cohesive album. I just listened to it full on its own, and it definitely has more than a tracklist of demos feel to it.

Not feeling Treason though.
 
Man, I knew there was a lot of love for "Mercy" but been browsing Reddit for a bit and a few folks are absolutely unhinged. If you don't care for the song, cool. Not everything is for everyone. But my goodness, the entitlement is staggering
 
Headache in a Suitcase said:
assuming a fully realized Mercy is no longer the U2 fan White Whale (although a mastered original may still be for some) - what's the next white whale?

for me it's a band recording of Boy Falls From The Sky. followed by the danger mouse version of SOI.
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For me, it’s probably some of the stuff that’s been referenced from the Zooropa sessions:

The “Bono” version of the Wanderer(existence confirmed in U2 At The End Of The World) - this is probably top of the list for me.

Early versions of Wake Up Dead Man, Velvet Dress, If God Will Send His Angels, and HMTMKMKM.

Aside from that, maybe the full studio recording of She’s A Mystery To Me from R&H era.
 
namkcuR said:
For me, it’s probably some of the stuff that’s been referenced from the Zooropa sessions:

The “Bono” version of the Wanderer(existence confirmed in U2 At The End Of The World) - this is probably top of the list for me.

Early versions of Wake Up Dead Man, Velvet Dress, If God Will Send His Angels, and HMTMKMKM.

Aside from that, maybe the full studio recording of She’s A Mystery To Me from R&H era.
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Sure they had quite a lot of songs completed for Zooropa, and that they basically cut all the guitar oriented ones. Would love to hear it all, and the original Songs of Ascent.
 
My white whales:

- All My Life
- all albums since bomb pre-second guess tinkering (Morocco NLOTH, DM SOI, 2016 SOE)
- the early live recording that old mate tracked down and then hoarded for himself with Concentration Camp and the other one no one else has ever heard.
 
Drove out to Claremont California this morning at 6:30am for a 5 mile hike with my dog and gave the shadow album the “driving in the car” test.

I had these damn songs stuck in my head during the hike..

Going to listen to Bomb proper now since it’s been a while since I listened to that album in its entirety and I want to hear how the mix is now.
 
I’d love for them to do a re-release campaign for every album. Vinyl, cd and digital boxes:

- album in spatial/atmos/remastered like AB and Bomb
- all the b-sides and singles up to the next album cycle
- a demo version of the album like kindergarten (so SOI DM, NLOTH Morocco, Bomb Chris Thomas)
- a shadow album of finished off demos
- a live show we don’t have from that era.

I’d pay a lot.
 
MSU2mike said:
Man, I knew there was a lot of love for "Mercy" but been browsing Reddit for a bit and a few folks are absolutely unhinged. If you don't care for the song, cool. Not everything is for everyone. But my goodness, the entitlement is staggering
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Entitlement? Maybe because we were told 20 years ago that it was only cut due to issues of album length, Bono said it was the best B-side ever heard. And what did they do? Bury it, mutilate it, and then when they finally open the vault they can’t leave what was apparently a great thing alone, and don’t have the decency to let us hear both versions, but are more than happy to have THREE versions of Xanax/Pictures/Fast Cars available for consumption.

You’re damned right I feel entitled.
 
As for the Re-Assembled tracks:

Luckiest Man In The World - I was always a Mercy fan. I find the changes here unnecessary, but they don’t hinder my enjoyment much. Unlike the 360 arrangement, this version retains 90%+ of the original’s soul. It’s great to have a clean version of it, even if I miss some of the original lyrics.

Treason - I dig this. It’s like a Pop-era track with Bomb-era production.

Evidence Of Life - I’ll have to give it more listens, but it’s very interesting. Certainly more interesting than a couple of the tracks that made the album. I definitely to not agree with the some peoples’ criticisms of Edge’s voice. He’s great. He’s one of the more effective backing vocalists in rock imo, and he’s more than capable of taking the lead here and there. His LIB from the From The Sky Down doc is great, I enjoyed most of this singing on SOS, etc. And I think he carries this off well.

Country Road - This just feels bland. I have little desire to listen to it again.

Happiness - Interesting, but it feels kind of like Blackout to me…like they’re trying too hard to rock. I’ll give it another chance.

Batman - I enjoyed this. Like a Passengers track.

All Because Of You 2 - The alternate take we had with more production. I always enjoyed this as an alternate take and that hasn’t changed. I was a bit disappointed at some of the lyrical changes - “the atom split” is gone.

Pictures Of You/X&W, Smile, and Are You Gonna Wait Forever are essentially the same tracks we’ve had since 2004, and I enjoy them all(though I think I prefer Fast Cars to X&W)

Luckiest/Mercy, Treason, and Evidence Of Life are the highlights imo.
 
lazarus said:
Entitlement? Maybe because we were told 20 years ago that it was only cut due to issues of album length, Bono said it was the best B-side ever heard. And what did they do? Bury it, mutilate it, and then when they finally open the vault they can’t leave what was apparently a great thing alone, and don’t have the decency to let us hear both versions, but are more than happy to have THREE versions of Xanax/Pictures/Fast Cars available for consumption.

You’re damned right I feel entitled.
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While I agree all they needed to do was master the original version, Luckiest Man is still 90-95% of the original, and is light years better than the 360 version, so I can’t get too worked up.
 
something that's ultimately missing from the myth of mercy is the idea that, ya know, the band cut the song for length.

if they really thought it was the bee's knees, they would have cut something else.

it's clear by their constant tinkering that they didn't quite feel it was complete - otherwise they would have just thrown it out into the wild as is 20 years ago.
 
Headache in a Suitcase said:
something that's ultimately missing from the myth of mercy is the idea that, ya know, the band cut the song for length.

if they really thought it was the bee's knees, they would have cut something else.

it's clear by their constant tinkering that they didn't quite feel it was complete - otherwise they would have just thrown it out into the wild as is 20 years ago.
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What's weird about that though is that Yahweh to this day sounds less finished than the original Mercy, so in this case I really think they just made a poor decision. They should have just tacked it on the end, but if they really needed to cut one, cut Yahweh and I don't think anyone is complaining, even folks who aren't big fans of Mercy.
 
Honestly I haven't even listened to it yet.

But I just saw this clip, I had completely forgotten that Bono called it How To Dismantle An Atomic Bob. That's how he saw the album

 
Really though, at worst if Mercy had replaced Yahweh, then even those who aren't huge fans of Mercy would probably consider it an average to an above average closing track.
 
I should preface this by saying that HTDAAB is my least favorite U2 album, despite featuring two of my favorite U2 songs (Miracle Drug and SYCMIOYO). There's something about the album's sound that bothers me - for one, Bono's voice sounds shot. On ATYCLB, they managed to write songs *around* his weaker voice in a way that made his delivery sound poignant. On HTDAAB, Bono went for it, but his voice sounds shot and his tone is almost nasally. The songs started to get...generic sounding, for lack of a better term. I wasn't a fan of the garage rock direction, though I respected the effort and it was very early 2000s.

Maybe it's just the era it was released. This was when U2 started becoming something of a parody of themselves, and it bothered me.

That said, I'm fully aware that the Re-Assemble tracks are b-sides, so any lack of interest in them doesn't scare me for the future. That said, since they're promoting it as a 'shadow album' rather than a collection of outtakes, I'll review them as such:

1. Picture of You (X+W). This was my favorite HTDAAB outtake (moreso than Mercy) and I'm more offended at how they've edited it. The jarring cut after the first prechorus back to the main riff takes me right out of the song and causes it to grind to a screeching halt. It's a minor tweak that makes a major impact for me but, that said, I'm happy to have another version of this since I've lost all my "Complete U2" tracks. Also, why change the title? Was Xanax and Wine too edgy?

2. Evidence of Life. Whoa! Why the hell didn't they release this? I'll take this song over most songs that made the album. This reminds me of a more garage-rock version of a Boy song. I love this one. Edge's vocal is fine, but I'd love to hear Bono have a go at this - perhaps one that I wouldn't have minded a fresh vocal on an old track. Hell, they should have kept this one and just re-recorded it for whatever album they're releasing next. Excellent tune.

3. Luckiest Man In The World. It's not bad, though I do find the edits unnecessary. I think, rhythmically, the vocal just works better with "Love will come again," and "I am gone again," rather than "sand inside the pearl," or "the luckiest man in the world." The latter line, in particular, seems a little too busy. That said, the bulk of Mercy is still there, and I still quite love it. The one thing I hate is the lower octave vocal in the chorus (is that Edge?) I don't like it at all but, if they insist on it, it's way too up in the mix, to the point where it sort of undercuts Bono's chorus. I'm assuming they thought that Bono's voice was a little too strained and so they doubled him with Edge to make up for it, but I disagree with the choice. Still, they didn't absolutely butcher it, so I'm pleased.

4. Treason. I'm going to continue to listen to this to try to get it, because it seems to be a fan favorite here but I was literally squirming in my seat at how much I hated this. Everything about it. The lyric is bad, Bono's vocal isn't great, I don't like the call-and-response vocal, and the less said about Bono's vocal at the end, the better. I'm not a fan of the most of the music either, though I do like the ending portion that Bono shouts over.

5. I Don't Wanna See You Smile. "Smile" is a better title, but I'm glad they didn't touch this one because I've always loved it. The final verse ("this smoke machine is yours, not mine...") gets me every time. Another one that could have made the album musically over One Step Closer (though it doesn't have the lyrical heft that One Step Closer does, which is probably why One Step Closer made the cut).

6. Country Mile. I don't hate this one. It's not an amazing U2 song, but I don't understand the hate it's received thus far. It certainly sounds like it could have made HTDAAB, at least - it's certainly not worse than songs like Crumbs From Your Table or Love And Peace Or Else. It's a little too reminiscent of Yahweh, and Yahweh is a better song, which is why I imagine it made the cut and Country Mile didn't. Still, this is just U2-by-numbers - which isn't the worst thing to say about an outtake.

7. Happiness. Yuck. Corny and cringeworthy. Glad this stayed on the cutting room floor.

8. Are You Gonna Wait Forever? - Re-Assemble Edition. This song was never one of my favorites, so I've only ever listened to the original version maybe twice. I listened to this all the way through and I still don't love it. Not sure if they even made any changes between versions, but it's just not for me.

9. Theme From The Batman. This doesn't even count. Fine for what it is, I suppose.

10. All Because Of You 2. The original version isn't exactly my favorite, but this one's worse. Again - I don't notice any difference between this and the version that was released with The Complete U2, but that could be because I never really liked it so I never listened to it much.
--

It doesn't shock me that the outtakes from my least favorite U2 album weren't my favorite - but there were a few pleasant surprises in there.
 
Headache in a Suitcase said:
something that's ultimately missing from the myth of mercy is the idea that, ya know, the band cut the song for length.

if they really thought it was the bee's knees, they would have cut something else.

it's clear by their constant tinkering that they didn't quite feel it was complete - otherwise they would have just thrown it out into the wild as is 20 years ago.
Click to expand...

Exactly. If it was deemed finished and release-worthy, something else would have been jettisoned. So I'm not really too surprised that they continued working on it on-and-off in the years since. If it was about as far as they could take it in their eyes, it would have been out there already.

dan_smee said:
My white whales:

- All My Life
- all albums since bomb pre-second guess tinkering (Morocco NLOTH, DM SOI, 2016 SOE)
- the early live recording that old mate tracked down and then hoarded for himself with Concentration Camp and the other one no one else has ever heard.
Click to expand...

In terms of All My Life and things like Treason/Happiness coming out, I'm sure there's certainly something out there in terms of other 2000's-era material. Particularly from the NLOTH sessions. I have a feeling they'd keep working on those though if they ever do come out.

As for "early versions" of the records, probably the closest it would come to that would be a 2013 version of SOI, which I think was being mixed in NYC before work began again? The songwriter in me thinks a lot of the early Pop or NLOTH material that's leaked out was probably rough mixes and a few half-baked ideas more than actual records. But SOI might be something close to that.

Even then, I'd have my own doubts on whether much of it would be any more listenable than what actually came out the following year. Fanbases sort of see it as a negative thing, but tinkering is basically what every musician does until something is fine in their eyes. And a lot of first attempts or initial ideas aren't really that good in the first place. But some people will ultimately prefer one version over another anyway, so we'll see...
 
A common theme on this thread lately has been that Mercy was always overhyped and was never the legendary track it's been made out to be on the internet.

Well, if that's the case, then "All My Life" is certainly that for me. I never understood the love for it, I'm glad it never came out, and I hope it never does. It's another U2 grocery-store-rock song that they've been doing a bit too much of recently, and I'm hoping they get away from that sound.
 
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