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

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"beautiful Irish musicians" = The Corrs

"sci-fi Irish music" = Songs of Ascent?

Edge once descried U2 as a "sci-fi folk band," and I remember, possibly in the Flanagan book, that there was discussion of doing an "irish" album, so maybe that time has arrived.
 
There are a lot of bad U2 songs. Most are merely lame. Some are extremely lame. But the only one that offends my soul is Get Out of Your Own Way.

Anyway, Eno involvement is the best news. After all, he only produced all their best work. 😂
 
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Dreams can come true. They've got the band back together and Original Soundtracks 2 is finally coming. This is what happens when you never want to do PR with us Larry.
 
The John Tree said:
I'm not sure what "sci-fi Irish folk" entails. This band is notoriously terrible at describing their own music. HTDAAB is a lot of things, but I'm not sure I'd call it "punk rock made on Venus," for example.
Click to expand...
Yea, the only time they really got it right was Zooropa being “U2 on the Moon”, and even that mostly just describes the title track.
 
The John Tree said:
I'm not sure what "sci-fi Irish folk" entails. This band is notoriously terrible at describing their own music. HTDAAB is a lot of things, but I'm not sure I'd call it "punk rock made on Venus," for example.

I'm not even particularly sure U2-does-folk is what I'm looking for, but it's all dependent upon what their definition of Irish folk is and how they fit into it. Personally, I prefer the ethereal, experimental rock side of U2 that they excelled at in the 80s and 90s. That said, if Eno's involved, I'm in. That's a partnership that has a pretty good track record. It seems from Edge's interview here that this is currently being viewed as a project separate from U2, but I imagine like most of their projects it'll all meld into one thing eventually.
Click to expand...
Can you prove they didn't go to Venus?
 
I've listened to it a couple of times since it was re-issued on Friday. For all it's flaws I still love How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb. It was the first ever album I bought, around February 2005. (t was the soundtrack of being 14 - it rang in my ears as Liverpool marched towards Champions League triumph from late winter through Spring time 2005). But most importantly it introduced me to U2. It'd be a few years before I properly got the rest of U2 and went on a buying spree of all their albums but that only came towards the end of secondary school, aged 17 and 18. However, re-listening to this album reminded me of what I love about them in the first place. The grandness, soaring melodies in the form of Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own and Miracle Drug. The galactic sized City of Blinding Lights. The daftness and catchiness of Vertigo - the song that made me buy the album.

The beautiful thing about your first album, in an era no streaming and no Youtube is that it's really the only music that exists in your world. They were 12 songs (I had the special edition version) that I played then replayed - specifically on my dad's computer after tea on a dark night after school or on a Saturday afternoon/evening with 6 Nations rugby / football scores on the tv behind me. (foolishly, I didn't have a CD walkman of my own - any loose change saved up over time would go towards a PS2 game). This album takes me back to that time. And remembering that time makes me forgive some of the clunkier moments on the album (Crumbs From Your Table or Yahweh). I hadn't listened to some of the songs in years and I think I can count on both hands the amount of times I've listened to One Step Closer. It'd been such a while that I had to check whether the version I was listening wasn't an alternative version. I dismissed it as boring first time round but it's understated fragile vocal delivery coupled with the ethereal production made me think it was really rather lovely enough at the end of it all.

There's nothing I dislike on this album and as you can see, that's as much down to sentiment than anything else. The U2 I had yet to discover would unveil what I love about music and what I would discover there would act as a jumping off point into every other bit of music that I love. But to get to that jumping off point, you need a vehicle. Mine was How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb.
 
The John Tree said:
I'm not sure what "sci-fi Irish folk" entails. This band is notoriously terrible at describing their own music. HTDAAB is a lot of things, but I'm not sure I'd call it "punk rock made on Venus," for example.
Click to expand...
One thing I’ve found interesting about Re-Assemble is that it has retained the sense of experimentation that I imagine the sessions began with before the album was Sillywhited. I imagine punk rock from Venus was what they thought the sound of the rawer guitars with the keyboard treatments you hear on Evidence of Life and at the end of the intro to Native Son.

Possibly the disconnect in descriptions is how they feel about the sessions before they whitewash it back? If HTDAAB had Native Son, Evidence of Life, Happiness and Treason on it I would think punk rock from Venus would be a bit strong but I’d totally understand what they meant.
 
ChurchBay said:
I've listened to it a couple of times since it was re-issued on Friday. For all it's flaws I still love How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb. It was the first ever album I bought, around February 2005. (t was the soundtrack of being 14 - it rang in my ears as Liverpool marched towards Champions League triumph from late winter through Spring time 2005). But most importantly it introduced me to U2. It'd be a few years before I properly got the rest of U2 and went on a buying spree of all their albums but that only came towards the end of secondary school, aged 17 and 18. However, re-listening to this album reminded me of what I love about them in the first place. The grandness, soaring melodies in the form of Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own and Miracle Drug. The galactic sized City of Blinding Lights. The daftness and catchiness of Vertigo - the song that made me buy the album.

The beautiful thing about your first album, in an era no streaming and no Youtube is that it's really the only music that exists in your world. They were 12 songs (I had the special edition version) that I played then replayed - specifically on my dad's computer after tea on a dark night after school or on a Saturday afternoon/evening with 6 Nations rugby / football scores on the tv behind me. (foolishly, I didn't have a CD walkman of my own - any loose change saved up over time would go towards a PS2 game). This album takes me back to that time. And remembering that time makes me forgive some of the clunkier moments on the album (Crumbs From Your Table or Yahweh). I hadn't listened to some of the songs in years and I think I can count on both hands the amount of times I've listened to One Step Closer. It'd been such a while that I had to check whether the version I was listening wasn't an alternative version. I dismissed it as boring first time round but it's understated fragile vocal delivery coupled with the ethereal production made me think it was really rather lovely enough at the end of it all.

There's nothing I dislike on this album and as you can see, that's as much down to sentiment than anything else. The U2 I had yet to discover would unveil what I love about music and what I would discover there would act as a jumping off point into every other bit of music that I love. But to get to that jumping off point, you need a vehicle. Mine was How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb.
Click to expand...

Great post. I feel much the same about Pop - I was around the same age when it came out and it remains my touchstone for the U2 I love.
 
I have sat with re assemble for a while and I quite like some of the songs and can appreciate them for what they are. I am still a little annoyed that it’s only ten tracks and ABOY was the only alternate version that showed up. Because of this I have tried to make a track list of all the demos, alternates and b sides to make a more complete reassemble. I reckon it flows pretty well too:

1. Native Son
2. Evidence of Life
3. SYCMIOYO (alternate)
4. Treason
5. Country Mile
6. ABOY 2
7. I Don’t Wanna See You Smile
8. Happiness
9. Are You Gonna Wait Forever?
10. Picture of You
11. Theme From The Batman
12. Yahweh (alternate)
13. Luckiest Man in the World
 
And on the Mercy vs Luckiest debate - I found it helpful breaking down the changes and trying to land on a call about whether the change felt better/worse from and artistic/poetic standpoint and from a logical/thematic standpoint. My gut feel is that Mercy is a better tune, but Luckiest sounds far better. As a result I’ll probably listen to Luckiest more, but I’ll never retire Mercy, in the same way that a very good soundboard performance of Streets may not be as magical musically as an all time performance on an average audience bootleg, I’ll probably listen to the soundboard version more.

I’ve only called out changes where I think the change is beyond arbitrary. You’re ice (luckiest) vs if you’re ice (mercy) isn’t worth analysing.

Verse 1 changes:
But if I’m the prosecution…. Murder.
Luckiest is better. It makes more sense (subject is sugar but would get away with murder provides a comparison that better reflects the complexity of the dynamic) and has a negligible difference poetically.

your heart has no home…. Rather be alone
Mercy on poetry, luckiest on logic. Again, the lyric change brings it more on theme, but it just doesn’t sound as good. Maybe the rather be alone bit works, but keep the other bits of Mercy? On balance, Mercy is better.

Ripping the stitches… relics of your love
Luckiest for mine. Two hands to rub, someone else’s luck. It’s sketch work, albeit great Bono sketch work. The line is now complete, makes sense and has more impact IMO

Sand inside the pearl, you were the luckiest man in the world.
Oh the whole I give this to Mercy, BUT for the one chorus I kind of love this. I would think they’d made the song measurably better if this line was used for the last part of the second chorus with the “you didn’t want to be” bit, but the original was kept for the rest.

I’ll be there to bleed it.
Mercy. Unnecessary change that doesn’t enhance understanding and reduces poetic impact.

You can love me….. without trust
Mercy. No question on artistic grounds. I see why the change was made for the theme, but it is so much less impactful.

Feel nothing…
Mercy. They cut out the atonal long feeeeeeeeeeeel. It hit so hard. The vulnerability in singing it with such raw passion was one of the things that made the original so magical.

The whole last bit from these golden days.
Mercy. I think if they kept the changes I called out above then this last bit from Mercy would have hit so much harder. I don’t think it’s bad having the chorus back. The golden days line is fine but doesn’t quite land, and missive the raw simplicity of the original.

So on the whole - my feeling is that it isn’t a clear cut case of mercy better lyrics/song, luckiest better sound. I think some of the changes have absolute merit. A would love someone with more advanced tools than I to make a hybrid version that has luckiest as the backing track and uses these lyrics:

I was drinking some wine... and it turned to blood
What's the use of religion... if you're any good?
I know i'm weedkiller honey... and you're sugar
But if I’m the prosecution... you’d get away with murder
If you were ice... i'm water
And with your telescope... i can see further
We're binary code... a one and a zero
You wanted violins... and you got nero
You're gravity... searching for the ground
You're silence... searching for a sound
Your heart is aching... your heart is my home
It's fascinating... but you’d rather be alone

I'm rippin' the stitches
You’ve been bandaging up
I'm digging the ditches
For relics of your love

Love hears when I lie
Love puts the blue back in my eye
Love will come again
I'll be gone again... again

If you hunger... baby let me feed it
If your heart is full... baby let me bleed it
And happiness is for... those who don't really need it
You love me... too much
You always loved me... too much

I'm rippin' the stitches
You’ve been bandaging up
I'm digging the ditches
For relics of your love

Love hears when i lie
Love puts the blue back in my eye
Love has come again
I am gone again
Love's got to be with the weak
Only then love gets a chance to speak
The sand inside the pearl
You were the luckiest man in the world
You didn’t want to be

I... i can't escape myself
I hear you talk
Feeling nothing
I fear nothing
Feel....
I can hear so much
Fear nothing
I feel so much
Fear... nothing

Love has come again
I am gone again

Love is the end of history
The enemy of misery
Love has come again
I am gone again
Love is justice, not charity
Love brings with it a clarity
Love has come again
I'm alive again
Alive...

I am alive, baby i'm born again and again
And again, and again and again and again
Again
 
dan_smee said:
I have sat with re assemble for a while and I quite like some of the songs and can appreciate them for what they are. I am still a little annoyed that it’s only ten tracks and ABOY was the only alternate version that showed up. Because of this I have tried to make a track list of all the demos, alternates and b sides to make a more complete reassemble. I reckon it flows pretty well too:

1. Native Son
2. Evidence of Life
3. SYCMIOYO (alternate)
4. Treason
5. Country Mile
6. ABOY 2
7. I Don’t Wanna See You Smile
8. Happiness
9. Are You Gonna Wait Forever?
10. Picture of You
11. Theme From The Batman
12. Yahweh (alternate)
13. Luckiest Man in the World
Click to expand...
Perhaps it was on purpose because it's a cover, but I'd add Neon Lights.
 
dan_smee said:
Love is the end of history
The enemy of misery
Love has come again
I am gone again
Love is justice, not charity
Love brings with it a clarity
Love has come again
I'm alive again
Alive...
Click to expand...
I can appreciate this analysis. Of all the alterations, the only things that bother me are the lower octave vocal in the chorus and the fact that they cut the above alternate chorus at the end. “Love is the end of history…” that section is great. It’s like the dam breaking after the more restrained and spacey “love hears when I lie” of the first two choruses.
 
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