I'm a bit late to this party because I don't usually check this forum on my days off (yes, I know, what a terrible worker I am).
First, I'm glad to hear everyone who's given the album proper a listen and has had great things to say about the remaster. This has made my decision to go after the single disc. Again, far from my favorite U2 album, but it would be nice to hear from a new perspective.
Now, the Reassemble. I've listened to it twice now and did a quick ranking the second time through. I'll try to keep it brief on each track. Overall, I'm glad this exists. Not even the best track here (Happiness) is a 10/10 classic, but there are perhaps a few I'd have liked to see get finished (in the way U2 of 2004 would have) and replace some of the tracks that did make the album.
From best to worst:
Happiness - Other than the annoying "Ehhhaahhhaa" at the beginning and the "get off my lawn" shouting of "Stop Talking", I love everything about this track; especially what Edge is doing, but the chorus just totally being this flowy melodic thing out of nowhere is a moment of beauty to me and I love how he does the "Hold on" instead of taking the easy way out and repeating the chorus lyrics again. Achtung style playing near the end. Hell yes. I'd probably take a more complete version of this song over every other rocker on the actual album; which isn't saying much since there are all of 3 on there.
Batman - Yeah. It's not even a full-on U2 song, but solid instrumental and a good listen
Are You Gonna Wait/Luckiest/All Because - all tied for third place. They're all in that mix of just pretty good, but not great U2 rock songs. Wait is a fun sound, but I've revisited it less than a majority of their b-sides over the years. Luckiest is about as good as original Mercy in my mind. Don't hate it. Don't love it. It's a good U2 song. Lastly, All Because is a very interesting mix of another good, but not great U2 song. I like the double-tracking on vocals there; and it's a bit less rough to listen to than the other alt-version.
Treason - Thought I was going to love this one because weird U2 is the best U2. It's...maybe not weird enough? I don't know. It's not bad at all, but it hasn't stuck with me.
Country Mile - This song is on the cusp of being something worthwhile, but this is the breaking point for me where I wouldn't want this on the album (still better than Crumbs, Yahweh, maybe even Sometimes (yes, blasphemy I know))
Picture - It's fine. I've never liked the unfinished version better than Fast Cars. So, this doesn't really do a lot for me. Side note: For a hot minute I thought Fast Cars was going to serve as a preview of some of what was coming on the next album and well, let's just say I misunderstood.
Smile - It's okay. I like it better than I used to; which back then was not much at all. I'm not used to this era of U2 telling me not to smile. It's just kinda there.
Evidence of Life - It's appearing that I'm on an island here with putting this one at the bottom. The Casio style keyboard takes me right out of it being any kind of serious effort. Yeah, I get it. It's a demo; but if you're going to do some additional work on these tracks, why would you leave that alone? Also, yeah Edge is doing a heavier guitar thing...we need more of that, but how about if it's actually a good guitar part (see: Happiness). I oddly do find myself wishing Bono was singing this one. That would've helped, but only marginally. The highlight of this is the rhythm section and even that's nothing to write home about.
![boy-angry[1].gif](https://www.u2interference.com/data/attachments/22/22428-0989b3603362a881c38048c778ac1ebc.jpg "boy-angry[1].gif")
