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

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So I decided to revisit the album "No Line On The Horizon" this morning. Here are some quick thoughts:

- The beginning of the album is still one of my favorite in their catalog. The opening explosion of the title track gets me every time, and the transition into Magnificent is phenomenal. Unfortunately, that's the high part of the album and it goes downhill from there aside from a few glorious moments.

- Unpopular opinion alert. MOS is boring, in a way where it should have been shorter. I like the guitar solo and the outro a lot, and it is a beautiful piece of music, but it just drags.

- UC is still good but the chorus sucks. Wish they could have had something a little less "clever" and timeless. Huge missed opportunity on this song. I think it could have been really big if it didn't have the clunky lyrics.

- Middle 3 is still really bad. Boots is probably my favorite of the 3 just because the guitar riff is pretty killer from a guitar player's perspective. I will never forgive the band for turning a killer demo (For Your Love) into SUC, easily the worst song of their career.

- Fez (Being Born) is fantastic, but following the middle 3....I don't know...I'm just tired of the album at this point. But this song is a gem on its own and probably doesn't get enough attention.

- White As Snow - zzzzzzzz...

- Breathe is good, liked it live, but doesn't even come close to giving me a goosebump. It's just good. If it comes on when I'm shuffling songs, I enjoy it.

- COL is good, no complaints at all, but by the time I got here, I was so bored with this album and it's just another low tempo song that doesn't really go anywhere.


Overall, it was kind of a sad listen to be honest. I liked the album when it first came out, as I was really into the Indie scene at the time, and it fit in with other music I was enjoying. But all in all, I think it's the weakest album of their career and they haven't been able to recapture the magic on an album ever since.

With that said, I would be ok with them working with Eno/Lanois again, but the songs actually have to be there. That's my biggest take away from this album. The hooks weren't there. No amount of production could have saved this album and I actually can see why the band panicked last minute.
 
And that's what Brian said. Despite their attempts to really explore an African sound, the songs weren't there. And they had a tour coming up and didn't want another Popmart.....so they brought in bunch of producers to try and bubblegum it up and it created such a odd listening experience.

I agree with MOS, I still like it, but it never goes anywhere. I think they were blown away with Bono's vocal and figured, why change anything? One take, done.

Also agree with it being a very tedious listen. You're exhausted. Pop exhausted me, but in a different way. Pop takes you on a journey and while the end is basically a funeral, it was a fun life lived.

NLOTH, was a bit more torture and misery. There's nothing to lift you up, just a lot of meandering songs.
 
NLOTH would work better as an old school 35 minute LP. If you're gonna verge into more experimental, meandering (great description, BEAL) territory, keep the thing short. Let it exist as a standalone oddity in the catalog, with a singular identity.

I'd go..
1. NLOTH
2. Fez-BB
3. Magnificent
4. MOS
5. UC
6. Winter
7. COL
 
Registered Dude said:
NLOTH would work better as an old school 35 minute LP. If you're gonna verge into more experimental territory, keep the thing short. Let it exist as a standalone oddity in the catalog, with a singular identity.

I'd go..
1. NLOTH
2. Fez-BB
3. Magnificent
4. MOS
5. UC
6. Winter
7. COL
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Yeah, or....dare I say if they had completely cut the middle 3, added All My Life, Boy Falls From The Sky, and had a better lyric deliver on UC, suddenly you have a completely different album. Songs like WAS and COL suddenly don't drag because you have higher highs spread throughout the album. For example:

1. NLOTH
2. Magnificent
3. All My Life
4. Moment Of Surrender
5. Unknown Caller
6. White As Snow
7. Fez - Being Born
8. Boy Falls From The Sky
9. Breathe
10. Cedars Of Lebanon
 
I feel like the NLOTH project was doomed from the start, because it fundamentally stemmed from a place (north-African influence, and experimental ENO-esque sounds) that U2 ended up deciding they just didn't love enough. It’s the sound of the band getting out of the waters after testing them. (I always find this paraphrased remark from Steve Lillywhite very telling: just as Joshua Tree was the ‘sound of America’, and Achtung Baby was the ‘sound of Berlin’, NLOTH was supposed to be the ‘sound of Fez’, but it didn’t work out.)

It was made worse by the conflicting pressures of fulfilling their role as a stadium band (writing the ‘big music’), and trying to make something new, radical, and experimental as a deliberate departure from their OO’s back to basics approach (something eno-esque). Both felt clearly at odds with each other, and the album feels like, in trying to do both, it achieved neither. There was also a little bit of a narrative of NLOTH being an Achtung Baby-style reinvention, but even though AB was a new style for the band, the new sounds were still fundamentally radio and stadium friendly (arguably more so than JT), whereas the core inspirational sounds for NLOTH faced much more of an uphill battle to become stadium music, and evidently not a battle the album won.

I still have a lot of affection for the album because it was the first album promo/launch (and tour) I experienced as a fan, and I still admire its ambition even if I don’t think it succeeded (especially with how cynical and ‘insured’ their work with Ryan Tedder feels in comparison).

But I think the only way this album would have worked is if they’d fully committed to only one of the two directions above - either go full stadium, or full experimental. Or, like Coldplay did, release NLOTH with little fanfare - a subdued announcement, with a release quickly afterwards, a few promo shows here and there, but then get right back in the studio to work on an all new, unrelated stadium album for the following year.

It might also have worked if they’d followed a similar approach to Viva La Vida - have ENO on board to inform the ‘spirit’ of the album, and encourage some adventurous sounds, but work with a more conventional producer as well, like Markus Dravs, who’s known for helping artists evolve, but who can also encourage writing discipline to ensure the songs are there and are strong, and that the experimentation doesn’t accidentally mask any shortcomings with songwriting. Incidentally, this would be my ideal version of the next U2 album: Atmospheric/experimental Eno sounds, Irish folk influence in the melodies and instrumentation, but with an emphasis on strong, powerful hooks and choruses so it can come alive in a stadium setting.
 
JamietheEdgefan said:
I feel like the NLOTH project was doomed from the start, because it fundamentally stemmed from a place (north-African influence, and experimental ENO-esque sounds) that U2 ended up deciding they just didn't love enough. It’s the sound of the band getting out of the waters after testing them. (I always find this paraphrased remark from Steve Lillywhite very telling: just as Joshua Tree was the ‘sound of America’, and Achtung Baby was the ‘sound of Berlin’, NLOTH was supposed to be the ‘sound of Fez’, but it didn’t work out.)

It was made worse by the conflicting pressures of fulfilling their role as a stadium band (writing the ‘big music’), and trying to make something new, radical, and experimental as a deliberate departure from their OO’s back to basics approach (something eno-esque). Both felt clearly at odds with each other, and the album feels like, in trying to do both, it achieved neither. There was also a little bit of a narrative of NLOTH being an Achtung Baby-style reinvention, but even though AB was a new style for the band, the new sounds were still fundamentally radio and stadium friendly (arguably more so than JT), whereas the core inspirational sounds for NLOTH faced much more of an uphill battle to become stadium music, and evidently not a battle the album won.

I still have a lot of affection for the album because it was the first album promo/launch (and tour) I experienced as a fan, and I still admire its ambition even if I don’t think it succeeded (especially with how cynical and ‘insured’ their work with Ryan Tedder feels in comparison).

But I think the only way this album would have worked is if they’d fully committed to only one of the two directions above - either go full stadium, or full experimental. Or, like Coldplay did, release NLOTH with little fanfare - a subdued announcement, with a release quickly afterwards, a few promo shows here and there, but then get right back in the studio to work on an all new, unrelated stadium album for the following year.

It might also have worked if they’d followed a similar approach to Viva La Vida - have ENO on board to inform the ‘spirit’ of the album, and encourage some adventurous sounds, but work with a more conventional producer as well, like Markus Dravs, who’s known for helping artists evolve, but who can also encourage writing discipline to ensure the songs are there and are strong, and that the experimentation doesn’t accidentally mask any shortcomings with songwriting. Incidentally, this would be my ideal version of the next U2 album: Atmospheric/experimental Eno sounds, Irish folk influence in the melodies and instrumentation, but with an emphasis on strong, powerful hooks and choruses so it can come alive in a stadium setting.
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Speaking of Coldplay, I did love the album Viva La Vida, also produced by Eno, and funny enough. It had the songs. Winter and Coldplay's title track had the same concept and Coldplay just pulled it off better.

God does Coldplay suck now, by the way. Wow talk about a downturn after that album.
 
Agreed, I think Viva la Vida reached a brilliant blend of experimentation, forcing Coldplay outside of the comfort zone of their first 3 albums, but ensuring each track at its heart had a good song.

For me, NLOTH went too far with the experimentation at the expense of the songs, but SoI and SoE went too far in the other direction - focusing on songwriting, but almost deliberately abandoning atmosphere, great guitar riffs, or that alchemy of the band jamming and making something ‘bigger than the sum of its parts’ - that the era almost feels like the other side of the same coin as NLOTH. They really need both.

I’m hopeful, based on recent interviews, that they’re finally getting the balance right again. Bono’s made clear that the ‘songs of’ era is over, and he’s mentioned that they have enough confidence in their songwriting craft that they want to start bringing back the band (and ‘big guitar’) sounds. The recent talk of getting into the studio as a band, jamming, and just seeing what happens (and acknowledging that this is what led to some of the great moments on HTDAAB), along with pursuing music with Brian Eno, makes me optimistic. But we’ll see.
 
JamietheEdgefan said:
Agreed, I think Viva la Vida reached a brilliant blend of experimentation, forcing Coldplay outside of the comfort zone of their first 3 albums, but ensuring each track at its heart had a good song.

For me, NLOTH went too far with the experimentation at the expense of the songs, but SoI and SoE went too far in the other direction - focusing on songwriting, but almost deliberately abandoning atmosphere, great guitar riffs, or that alchemy of the band jamming and making something ‘bigger than the sum of its parts’ - that the era almost feels like the other side of the same coin as NLOTH. They really need both.

I’m hopeful, based on recent interviews, that they’re finally getting the balance right again. Bono’s made clear that the ‘songs of’ era is over, and he’s mentioned that they have enough confidence in their songwriting craft that they want to start bringing back the band (and ‘big guitar’) sounds. The recent talk of getting into the studio as a band, jamming, and just seeing what happens (and acknowledging that this is what led to some of the great moments on HTDAAB), along with pursuing music with Brian Eno, makes me optimistic. But we’ll see.
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It’s not a view I’ve heard a lot from people, and not one I’m sure I agree with - that NLOTH’s flaw is being too experimental. I think it’s too awkward and misaligned from vision to execution, but for mine the actual quantum of experimentation isn’t the interesting bit. It’s more interesting to me to understand where the deviation from the vision happened and why they chose the half-pregnant option rather than go full on or start again. If they were going to wuss out they had years of “songs” from Rubin and other sessions to rely on.

I think they used experimental elements for a record that didn’t have experimental bones (or rather the other way around. It had the bones but lost the skin). You can forgive a project not having the commercial viability if it has the interest factor from a place of artistic integrity. They lost that when they second guessed the concept. The flaw was to push on with half baked versions of the concept rather than start again or just be brave and finish the job. Either would have been better.
 
I don't think U2 was ever committed to making No Line their "sound of Tripoli" album. Lanois might have been. Eno probably was. But Bono & Edge were probably just looking for a jumping-off point. IMO the songs are mostly there but SUC is overworked, Breathe just somehow doesn't quite reach its potential and, for the album to truly succeed as a U2 album, MOS needed to be a universally acclaimed masterpiece.
Still one of my favourite U2 albums.
 
dan_smee said:
It’s not a view I’ve heard a lot from people, and not one I’m sure I agree with - that NLOTH’s flaw is being too experimental. I think it’s too awkward and misaligned from vision to execution, but for mine the actual quantum of experimentation isn’t the interesting bit. It’s more interesting to me to understand where the deviation from the vision happened and why they chose the half-pregnant option rather than go full on or start again. If they were going to wuss out they had years of “songs” from Rubin and other sessions to rely on.

I think they used experimental elements for a record that didn’t have experimental bones (or rather the other way around. It had the bones but lost the skin). You can forgive a project not having the commercial viability if it has the interest factor from a place of artistic integrity. They lost that when they second guessed the concept. The flaw was to push on with half baked versions of the concept rather than start again or just be brave and finish the job. Either would have been better.
Click to expand...
I could have phrased my post better - it’s not that I think NLOTH itself is too experimental (I actually think it’s not experimental enough!), but rather I have this feeling that what drove the initial album sessions was experimentation and exploration (hence the Fez sessions), but in a fashion, and to an extent, and with a particularly inaccessible genre (for pop radio, at least), that meant that they seemed to lose sight of the songwriting, particularly making the ‘big music’ that they clearly still wanted to make. The core ethos struck me as ‘let’s make something weird’ first and foremost, and believing the songs would come naturally after that. But I feel like the big choruses, hooks and guitar riffs were notably lacking compared to their other albums, and I suspect the former influenced the latter.

Admittedly, it’s not like I was there - perhaps they did have a strong focus on songwriting from the start, or perhaps they didn’t, but all prior album sessions were like that, so there was no reason to believe it wouldn’t work again. But much of the songwriting feels almost like an afterthought to me, the shortcomings masked by the overall ‘sounds’ on display.

But my main issue is the album tries to be both experimental and groundbreaking for the band - including in ways that really struggle to lend themselves to stadium music - whilst also… attempting to be a stadium album. And in doing both, they accomplished neither. The ‘big songs’ weren’t there for me, but also, the experimentation felt timid, half-baked, and at times tacked-on and superficial; so neither compromise felt worth it. What’s frustrating for me is that it feels like they were so close (I remember thinking Breathe and the title track were absolute monsters when I saw them at Wembley), and if they’d succeeded in making mind-bending, reality-defying, massive sounds, that also had great hooks and singalong moments suited to a stadium, it could have been amazing. But I think it would’ve required different foundations, and possibly different producers/collaborators to have been achieved (more akin to Coldplays approach to Viva La Vida that I mentioned in my previous post).

You raise a really interesting question about where and why the deviation happened, when they decided to reign in the more experimental elements. Even Brian Eno admitted that the Morocco sessions weren’t as fruitful as they’d hoped, and that a lot of the North African elements simply didn’t merge with the U2 music (and that they then dropped much of it and went elsewhere). And yet, the band seemed to present this North African sound as being integral to the album - several tracks had these long, winding intros, often with Moroccan instruments or ambience, plus the promo shots and at least one music video were filmed in Fez.

So they appeared to drop the pursuit of those sounds, but didn’t want to change the identity/selling point of the album. Larry also described the making of NLOTH as difficult and a bit miserable - I wonder if, especially after having already dropped the Rubin sessions as well, the band was simply burned out, and didn’t want to start over for a third time, and so decided to just push out what they had, regardless of how happy they were with the work (Jimmy Iovine actually said they didn’t spend enough time on NLOTH!). I reckon that partly explains how they almost immediately started talking about Songs of Ascent as a quick follow up, and were working with Red One, Avicii, Danger Mouse etc very quickly. I imagine they knew pretty quickly that NLOTH was DoA, and wanted a clean slate, so they could start over and move on from a project that just never came together like they’d hoped.

(Sorry for the essay - I’m more fascinated by the making of NLOTH than I realised!)
 
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Man, reading about NLOTH and the African influence I went down a youtube rabbit hole.

A.) "Soon" always gave me a sense of what NLOTH could've been.



B.) I went from Soon to this vid of Bono and Lanois and, I know this is through the lens of youth, but damn I wish they were all just fucking around in the studio again.

 
I shared my NLOTH thoughts in a previous post. So, speaking of Viva La Vida, that certainly was the winning album out of those two bands during that general time period. I always credit it mostly to Eno because Coldplay was getting stagnant by that point. It came at a time when so many people/publications were trying to draw comparisons between the two bands to a really annoying degree. The band themselves were trying so hard to be the next U2, saying the next album would be their UF moment and so on. I had really enjoyed them up to that point; especially the first two albums, but because there was this massive U2 projection being cast on them, I just so badly wanted U2 to have the better next album. Instead we got NLOTH while VLV is both beautiful and a departure from start to finish. Like someone mentioned before, the perfect mix of both songs and atmosphere was there and something I don't feel like either band has been able to achieve since then. I checked out and didn't even listen to the next album with Coldplay because Paradise annoyed the hell out of me and I haven't really revisited them since. Everything I've heard out of them in passing just sounds like syrupy pop garbage now and hasn't drawn me back in.
 
This is a great conversation, but I can't get over the lack of love for Moment of Surrender. Not only do I think it's their best song of the past 30 years, it's also the one song that reviewers picked out as stellar, even when they were luckwarm on the album.
 
I mean... I don't really care what reviewers have to say. I've never been impressed with the song. Too long, cringy lyrics, and just boring. I think it's the second worst song on the album.

That's right. You heard me.
 
You all know how I feel about MOS. I thought maybe I just didn't "get it" or that it would grow on me. It's nice to know I'm not on an island.
 
dan_smee said:
Scrambles to work out which two of the middle three you ranked above it….
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Actually all three. I've got WAS as the worst song.

My ranking:

"Very Good" to "Great"
1. NLOTH
2. Breathe
3. Magnificent
4. Cedars

"Okay" to "Good"
5. Crazy
6. SUC
7. F-BB

"Poor" to "Terrible"
8. GOYB
9. UC
10. MOS
11. WAS

I definitely know I'm alone in having SUC so high.
 
First time poster!! Been lurking for a bit, this is where I get my “U2 News”!

I’ve been a fan since ‘84, and was really excited when NLOTH came out. I liked “Boots” initially and actually still think parts of it are interesting if it wasn’t so cluttered.

I absolutely love, still do, the one two punch of “No Line” and “Magnificent “ but have always felt like MOS was six minutes of Bono yelling at me.

And the then he does that lyric thing of like “Was I looking in the mirror or was the mirror looking at me”, or “I was driving a car, or was the car driving me” that he loves to do. Whatever that literary device is called, it’s pretty lazy and gets to me.

I dig “Breathe” a lot too, warts and all.
 
Welcome!

I'm sort of in a similar boat too. The title track and Magnificent were easily highlights for me - especially as a 1-2 punch to start the thing. But then I really didn't find myself getting into any of the other songs other than Breathe.

I do enjoy MOS for what it's worth though. And even on the first listen, when it didn't quite hit me in the hugest way, I could see why others found it to be exceptional. Unknown Caller was probably up there too, even with the disjointed chorus.

I don't think Boots is embarrassing either, although it was a bit "meh" for a new single, particularly over time. It did seem to take off better live though, which was fun. The "middle 3" get disparaged a bit in online forums, but the problem for me wasn't that they had guitars on them, but just that they were mostly average songs. And the ambient stuff I was just never able to get into. Fez has some interesting sounds on it, but it still boggles me how White as Snow and Cedars are seen as highlights, haha. They might work as unique single b-sides or something, but in terms of tracks on a full-length album, they never did anything for me as actual "songs" really. I'm glad people like them though.
 
Sorry, but as much as I think No Line was an ultimately failed project that the band sabotaged, I don't like these repeated assertions that "the songs weren't there" or not strong enough. How many of the tracks on TUF wouldn't qualify as proper songs? At least 3 by my account. And composition/structure wasn't the be-all, end-all of Zooropa, either. I won't bring Passengers into it because of its mission as film accompaniment, but I think you get the picture.

If No Line was meant to be a left turn after 2 back-to-basics albums, I think it's totally fine for there to be tracks that are more sketched out, or those that meander. The misstep was the lack of conviction and the failure to follow through, the second guessing, the retreat to Lillywhite and the middle 3. If you remove those and stick on Soon and Winter (either version), you have an album that might still not be a classic, but at least has an internal integrity.

I still listen to it (or at least my custom version) more often than ATYCLB or either of the Songs albums.
 
lazarus said:
Sorry, but as much as I think No Line was an ultimately failed project that the band sabotaged, I don't like these repeated assertions that "the songs weren't there" or not strong enough. How many of the tracks on TUF wouldn't qualify as proper songs? At least 3 by my account. And composition/structure wasn't the be-all, end-all of Zooropa, either. I won't bring Passengers into it because of its mission as film accompaniment, but I think you get the picture.

If No Line was meant to be a left turn after 2 back-to-basics albums, I think it's totally fine for there to be tracks that are more sketched out, or those that meander. The misstep was the lack of conviction and the failure to follow through, the second guessing, the retreat to Lillywhite and the middle 3. If you remove those and stick on Soon and Winter (either version), you have an album that might still not be a classic, but at least has an internal integrity.

I still listen to it (or at least my custom version) more often than ATYCLB or either of the Songs albums.
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For me, it's not about the composition or structure, it's about them being good. The songs on Zooropa and UF were good.
 
PookaMacP said:
Breathe is such a missed opportunity. It starts off really well and the verses are great, but the chorus is mediocre and there's just a little too much chimey Edge guitar.
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Granted, I am a hard rock guy, but I really felt like Edge could have added more gain to the guitar during the intro/verses. Every time I hear it, I want the guitar to slap me in the face but it doesn't quite get there. POP era U2 wouldn't have been afraid to turn that shit up.
 
mikal said:
Granted, I am a hard rock guy, but I really felt like Edge could have added more gain to the guitar during the intro/verses. Every time I hear it, I want the guitar to slap me in the face but it doesn't quite get there. POP era U2 wouldn't have been afraid to turn that shit up.
Click to expand...
I remember downloading a version of breathe that just had the rhythm guiar,one of the channels was removed.

It weirdly rocked harder just having the raw guitar,and not the "chimey" bits.
 
super fly guy said:
I remember downloading a version of breathe that just had the rhythm guiar,one of the channels was removed.

It weirdly rocked harder just having the raw guitar,and not the "chimey" bits.
Click to expand...
Would love to hear that

I still listen to the beach clip
 
In most ways NLOTH was POP 2.0 from a release/promotion stand point. There was quite a bit of hype for the album as it was the longest stretch between any U2 album. 5 years!! And again U2 fumbled the start with GOYB. I remember wanting to like it so much & like many around here it just didn't connect. Throw in the Grammy fiasco.

I always enjoyed the first 4 tracks. Strong opening but then it turns into a mess with the next 3. I can stand Crazy Tonight after UC but the Boots/SUC combo is too much. The album never recovers after that. I love Breathe too. And yes the guitar never takes off after the start. Crank it up Edge!!

The album just doesn't have that U2 magical moment(s) like every other U2 album. It almost does w/ the UC intro, Fez, & MOS but just falls short. Something is missing. POP doesn't really have that moment either but I always associated that with the tone/themes of POP (though the outro of IGWSHA always gets me). Since NLOTH, U2 hasn't really had that magic on an album except during the 'Little Things'. In some ways I hope they can get it back. (Live is a different story, they always deliver in that area)
 
super fly guy said:
I remember downloading a version of breathe that just had the rhythm guiar,one of the channels was removed.

It weirdly rocked harder just having the raw guitar,and not the "chimey" bits.
Click to expand...
I think that was the version I did. I got so frustrated with parts of NLOTH and the mix has instruments entirely separated and placed in left and right channels, so I created three versions. One entirely left, one entirely right, and then a “hybrid mix” where I tried to build some more dynamic range into the songs by using the left and right channels differently - sometimes a verse was just left, chorus just right, final chorus both. I think I’ve lost the full left and full right ones, but a good chunk of the hybrid one is still on my phone.

I’m just listening to the hybrid mix of Breathe now. No Cello in the intro or verse made it punch more. The piano is still there because it was in the same channel. First chorus has more edge vocal prominence.

I think I remember thinking that if the album wasn’t going to be experimental it needed to feel more raw in parts, and have more range in the production. They just went wall of whatever noise the song was - start to finish. It annoyed me.

The transitions are clunky and I am limited to only three options - all left, all right or both. I can’t bring just cello into the right channel or whatever.

To Mikal’s issue - the rhythm punch is watered down by the tone of the lead. When the lead comes back in in my mix it just feels like wet newspaper.
 
For anyone interested: 94.93 MB file on MEGA

NLOTH – Hybrid Version

01 – No Line On the Horizon

Open with both channels. First verse is stripped back to have both the left and right channels playing only what was on the original left channel. The right channel comes back in after the first chorus to amplify the punch of the distorted guitar.

02 – Magnificent

Magnificent has had a similar treatment to No Line on the Horizon. The right channel was removed (and the left channel duplicated to play on the right as well) to strip back the first verse. The right channel re-enters at the first chorus.

03 – Moment of Surrender

Wasn’t touched.

04 – Unknown Caller

The right channel was removed for the first verse to remove the ‘clunky’ guitar part and focus on the softer guitar which now has a chance to add some texture.

05 – I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight

As both channels were vastly different, I decided to go with the left, as it was darker and removed all of the ‘poppy’ acoustic. However this removed the lead guitar from the chorus, so I have put it back in.

06 – Get On Your Boots

Didn’t touch. There was so little difference between the left and right channels that it wasn’t really worth it.

07 – Stand Up Comedy

I enjoy both the left channel and right channel mixes so much more than the album mix. I tried to keep this as much as possible. I used the left channel as a base, and only added the right for Edge’s main riff. This seemed to funk up the verse a bit more, and removed some of the cheesiness. Focuses things so much more on secondary guitars that were buried in the original mix.

08 – Fez-Being Born

Wasn’t touched

09 – White As Snow

It was beautiful that the left mix really brought out the acoustic underlay. I have again used this as a base and only brought in the right channel to dramatically amplify the atmosphere of the song at key moments

10 – Breathe

Left mix is very primary colours. I only deviated from this to add some meat to the pre-chorus and break-down. I have removed the lead riff from the chorus and the first musical break (pre-breakdown). This makes the song more of a bare-bones rock song, without losing the complexity that makes it quintessentially U2.

11 – Cedars of Lebanon

The left mix had only Edge singing the backing for the “return the call to home” line. This was really haunting, and seemed to go much better with the song thematically. Aside from this, the song is relatively in tact.

12 – Winter

The Linear mix of Winter is split nicely like the others. May main worry with the Linear version of Winter has always been lack of range. It seems to hit one pace from the outset, and doesn’t go anywhere. The lead riff is all in the right channel, and the strings mostly in the left. I have staggered the introduction of each into the song more to provide some much needed texture.
 
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