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

[lazarus]

I think Laz is right to be apprehensive about the ending being somewhat shortened.

Re the lyrics, majority of the refinements in the verses are minor and probably better. Not sure how “the sand inside the pearl” fits.

What I’m most apprehensive about is a new 2020s vocal track. Bono simply can’t sing this melody that well anymore, and the emotion will be ersatz compared to whatever the original feeling was.

It’s worse than any lyric alterations, honestly.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

I don't know how you can be sure that it's a new vocal take based on 8 seconds. But ok.

 

[dan_smee]

I don't know how you can be sure that it's a new vocal take based on 8 seconds. But ok.

I am making a big assumption but I think the unboxing video or something else from the official release wording suggested it was updated and finished off with updated lyrics (which would require new vocals, at least in part).

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

I am making a big assumption but I think the unboxing video or something else from the official release wording suggested it was updated and finished off with updated lyrics (which would require new vocals, at least in part).

Which video are you referring to?

 

[dan_smee]

Which video are you referring to?

I just checked. It’s the video where they unbox the vinyl set. I may have read too much into the caption referring to Luckiest Man in the World as “familiar to many under its working title “Mercy”.

My train of thought was it was still called Mercy in 2010, and so the idea of it being the Luckiest Man in the World came after that, which would mean that the earliest that vocal take is from is the SOI sessions. I’d call that a “new” vocal when comparing it to the original.

Probably a bit of a stretch. Work is busy, I read this forum at 5am after a disrupted night with a 13 month old. That’s my excuse.

 

[david]

“Luckiest Man in the World” really does sound like a 2014 and beyond Bono song title idea.

 

[lazarus]

I don't know how you can be sure that it's a new vocal take based on 8 seconds. But ok.

I'm obviously not absolutely sure, but it's what I suspect, and if forced to put money on it, that's how I'd bet.

I think it's safe to say that at least *some* of these tracks have new vocals, because they've done that on every previous release, maybe with the exception of the ATYCLB anniversary set, but if memory serves they didn't pull anything out of the vaults for that one--every song had been previously released.

 

[DeVaul]

It's important to get the approval of the Interference Five ™

 

[BEAL]

I am pretty sure the track we all want to hear is

Stop (The Poverty!)

 

[cobl04]

My feeling is Mercy is Mercy, and Luckiest Man in the World is a modern re-recording and re-titling of the original.

 

[DomCobb]

I am making a big assumption but I think the unboxing video or something else from the official release wording suggested it was updated and finished off with updated lyrics (which would require new vocals, at least in part).

From U2songs:
“New parts were recorded recently to ‘finish’ the song, which has resulted in a few lyric changes (not many) and a new title. The original was 6:31 in length, the new is about 20 seconds shorter as well. Steve Lillywhite has told a fan that “Mercy” is on the album under a new title and “it’s the same version just finished lyrics.””

The credits for the song also imply new recordings have happened. And of course Country Mile sounds like recent Bono.

 

[Registered Dude]

I wonder what Jick thinks of Mercy?

 

[phanan]

If Bon Jovi did it he would love it.

 

[clerks]

Is the subtext of all this Mercy talk (maybe too much talk) is that Bono doesn't sing as well as he did 20 years ago? Or just different? Because of course I can hear a difference between a 20 year old and 40 year old and 60 year old voice that just changes over time....

But I swear the most amazing thing about Bono is that he still sounds amazing and in some ways he's never been a better singer.

When I saw him at the Beacon twice, he was so freaking good I cried. I mean not real tears, but inside tears.

 

[mikal]

Is the subtext of all this Mercy talk (maybe too much talk) is that Bono doesn't sing as well as he did 20 years ago? Or just different? Because of course I can hear a difference between a 20 year old and 40 year old and 60 year old voice that just changes over time....

But I swear the most amazing thing about Bono is that he still sounds amazing and in some ways he's never been a better singer.

When I saw him at the Beacon twice, he was so freaking good I cried. I mean not real tears, but inside tears.

It's for sure that he sings different, not better or worse. I actually find different bits and pieces that I like from every era of his voice, although 97 to 02 was pretty rough when it comes to live performances.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

From U2songs:
“New parts were recorded recently to ‘finish’ the song, which has resulted in a few lyric changes (not many) and a new title. The original was 6:31 in length, the new is about 20 seconds shorter as well. Steve Lillywhite has told a fan that “Mercy” is on the album under a new title and “it’s the same version just finished lyrics.””

The credits for the song also imply new recordings have happened. And of course Country Mile sounds like recent Bono.

U2Songs also said Happiness was Mercy right up until the trailer was released, and that the "happiness is for those who don't really need it" line wasn't in the original.

 

[TinKnight]

I am pretty sure the track we all want to hear is

Stop (The Poverty!)

Stop (The Poverty!) lives rent free in my head.

 

[Registered Dude]

ah in fairness I think they were clear in that they were guessing and not trying to pass that off as fact

 

[Registered Dude]

U2Songs also said Happiness was Mercy right up until the trailer was released, and that the "happiness is for those who don't really need it" line wasn't in the original.

ah in fairness I think they were clear in that they were guessing and not trying to pass that off as fact

 

[Registered Dude]

Sorry. Call me double (triple) post, McGee

 

[The John Tree]

Is the subtext of all this Mercy talk (maybe too much talk) is that Bono doesn't sing as well as he did 20 years ago? Or just different? Because of course I can hear a difference between a 20 year old and 40 year old and 60 year old voice that just changes over time....

I don’t think it’s about technical ability, so much as it is about his choices, specifically in the studio.

ATYCLB and HTDAAB eras have my least favorite Bono vocals, both live and in studio. I really struggle to listen to some of the shows from that era.

I don’t know what happened, but to my ears, his voice was far improved by NLOTH and I quite enjoyed the 360 tour. That version Ultraviolet is the gold standard for me. Similarly, I thought the Innocence and Experience albums had some fine vocal moments, along with their respective tours. So it’s not about his ability as a singer - it’s about his (and their) creative choices in the studio.

Songs of Surrender, for example. I tried, but I can only listen to it in 3 or 4 song bursts before I have to turn it off because I cannot stand the way he chose to approach those songs.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

ah in fairness I think they were clear in that they were guessing and not trying to pass that off as fact

when questioned - they claimed the two sentences about the lyric was "a typo"

 

[DomCobb]

U2Songs also said Happiness was Mercy right up until the trailer was released, and that the "happiness is for those who don't really need it" line wasn't in the original.

They never said Happiness was Mercy, they said, based on the name changes to other songs (Smile and X+W) that Happiness could be Mercy because of the lyric about happiness in Mercy. Pure speculation. And they didn't say it wasn't in the original, they just said it was in the 2010 version - which is true.

 

[Rich79]

I don’t think it’s about technical ability, so much as it is about his choices, specifically in the studio.

ATYCLB and HTDAAB eras have my least favorite Bono vocals, both live and in studio. I really struggle to listen to some of the shows from that era.

I don’t know what happened, but to my ears, his voice was far improved by NLOTH and I quite enjoyed the 360 tour. That version Ultraviolet is the gold standard for me. Similarly, I thought the Innocence and Experience albums had some fine vocal moments, along with their respective tours. So it’s not about his ability as a singer - it’s about his (and their) creative choices in the studio.

Songs of Surrender, for example. I tried, but I can only listen to it in 3 or 4 song bursts before I have to turn it off because I cannot stand the way he chose to approach those songs.

This right here.

He's lost some ability, yes. Age does that. But it's way more about the approach to his vocals that gets me. ATYCLB felt like a shift-change to a more "push the higher range as far as it can go" style to create big emotion and an anthemic feel; which to my ears moves away from edgy rock band sound into radio-friendly, pop-rock band and it seems that because it gave way to one of their most successful periods, it's kind of stuck around, save for a few examples.

By the time we get to Songs of Surrender, that real light-touch subtlety is such a foreign concept that I don't think he knows how to do it with finesse on those tracks; either that or there was a lot of "Okay, Edge. We can do the old songs, but I'm only doing one take." (I also have beef with some of the singing it differently to be different stuff, but that's another topic)

It's mainly that "soaring" stuff that has won out over the last quarter-century and I wish we could go back to more variety/nuance

 

[mikal]

About six more seconds of Mercy

 

[Scorpionac]

It's really exciting to finally hear a good quality version of Mercy. Based on the lyrics posted earlier it doesn't look too different. I guess Bono decided the song needed the "luckiest man" idea to be finished. At least it doesn't have that "you want to kill me and I want to die" silliness. Hopefully the bulk of the vocal is the 2004 take we know.

Picture of You is very strange to me. I've only been listening to Xanax and Wine as part of my alternate HTDAAB for almost 20 years lol. It seems to take the pre-chorus and turn it into the chorus, and then turns the chorus into a bridge that repeats twice, and then has another bridge later? Messy IMO.

 

[DomCobb]

About six more seconds of Mercy

Harmonies are interesting. Not sold yet but will have to hear in context.

 

[DomCobb]

Picture of You is very strange to me. I've only been listening to Xanax and Wine as part of my alternate HTDAAB for almost 20 years lol. It seems to take the pre-chorus and turn it into the chorus, and then turns the chorus into a bridge that repeats twice, and then has another bridge later? Messy IMO.

Relistened to both to confirm, but I may be the crazy one here who likes the new version (Picture of You) better. I like holding off on the chorus a bit longer, keeps the momentum going in a fun way. This might be my preferred version of the song in general (over either Fast Cars) because of this.

 

[mikal]

Relistened to both to confirm, but I may be the crazy one here who likes the new version (Picture of You) better. I like holding off on the chorus a bit longer, keeps the momentum going in a fun way. This might be my preferred version of the song in general (over either Fast Cars) because of this.

You're not alone.

 

[dan_smee]

About six more seconds of Mercy

There’s just something missing. Hard to explain. Need to hear the whole thing.