Songs of _________________; New album discussion #7

[dan_smee]

Forgive my previous tone, then. The internet has trained me to be ready to fight at any moment.



I suppose what I’m saying is that I do expect some differences in the songs. I’m struggling to come up with an example in U2’s songs, but Bruce Springsteen, for example, is a master at taking his more upbeat tunes and transitioning them to a more mellow, stripped down arrangement (which is what this project is, no?). The melodies remain the same, but the arrangement is changed to work with just a guitar or piano/organ/Wurlitzer.



I don’t expect the entire melody and song structure to be different - but in the case of the version of Vertigo performed, it was a little too close for me. You were right when you called Vertigo a guitar-based cock rock song earlier, and the song is actually reliant on that, to me, so this version didn’t really land for me.



The one thing that I *did* like about the performance of Vertigo (I thought the audio in the clip was sufficient to judge it) was that Bono’s voice was in fine form and he was singing full voiced. When I heard they were rearranging their old tunes in a sparse, stripped down way, I was concerned that we were going to get low-register, breathy Bono, like we did on the acoustic version of You’re The Best Thing…, which I absolutely loathe.

All good - and I know I can come across as more blunt than I intend, so apologies for that!

My feeling is that vertigo is an odd song to reimagine to begin with. And your point re best thing is spot on, but I also feel like that is about the only place they could take this version of vertigo and that would have been worse.

 

[Hollow Island]

Lemon is the most personal lyric Bono's ever had I think. It works so much better than Iris because it's a more effective portrait of grief and reflection through the prism of one poignant moment, i.e. watching a home video of his mother in a lemon dress at a wedding. Ruminating on how that impacted him as a man and his yearning by viewing grainy footage from the past gives it that great sense of time and distance. It's the nearest Bono could get to seeing his mother again, the nearest a son can get to his mother's love and he's chasing that beauty through other means, but never quite fulfilling a childlike desire that never leaves. It's chasing innocence that he can never recapture.

Iris, much like a lot of Bono's modern day lyrics don't inspire me in such a way. It's a lovely sentiment and affecting for sure but it doesn't hold anything as poignant. What made U2 genuinely great and unique is songs like Lemon.

They miss a trick in not reinventing Lemon. It subverts the very personal lyric through it's weird and inventive production but strip it all back and there's a very stark and devastating song.

But hey ho, the band seem skewed in their mind these days as to what genuine quality is, happy to dismiss such genius and emphasise shite Hallmark card platitudes like Song For Someone. This is why haters think U2 are crap, because they only ever push this rubbish over real quality.

Mofo is also a more interesting lyric than Iris, dealing with her death, fame, self loathing, a conflicted relationship with music...a chapter called Mofo would have been pretty funny, too.

It's a shame that they chose to reinterpret some of their least interesting music instead of attacking more challenging songs but it makes sense that recent material would feature heavily since it's more representative of who Bono is now.

I still think that this project is a dumb idea, and no information that's come out has made it seem like a good idea. The book ought to be excellent though.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Right, but the band choosing which songs to rework for a new album should have been curated more carefully than "these titles worked as thematic chapters in my book", considering it's only his memoir and not theirs.



It's particularly lame to see material pulled from SOI when that album already came with a bonus disc featuring alternate/acoustic versions of some of it.

If the intention is and always was to have a band tie in to the book, then the only thing that makes sense is to use the chapters from the book.

If they were doing it just to do it, they probably wouldn't be doing it. They're doing it strictly around the book.

 

[DeVaul]

If they were doing it just to do it, they probably wouldn't be doing it.

A statement applicable to their entire career.

 

[Hollow Island]

They wouldn't do it for its own sake because it's a dumb idea. Jeff Tweedy rerecorded some Wilco songs - they're nice enough but there's no reason to listen to them instead of the originals. I suspect this will be similar. 60 year old U2 recording Bad will show nothing more than what time has done to them.

If the version of Vertigo on the album is like what Bono played live then those sessions were a waste of time for all concerned.

It would have been more interesting, and more sensible, if Bono rerecorded the songs on his own with a rotating cast.

 

[lightmyway91]

They wouldn't do it for its own sake because it's a dumb idea. Jeff Tweedy rerecorded some Wilco songs - they're nice enough but there's no reason to listen to them instead of the originals. I suspect this will be similar. 60 year old U2 recording Bad will show nothing more than what time has done to them.

If the version of Vertigo on the album is like what Bono played live then those sessions were a waste of time for all concerned.

It would have been more interesting, and more sensible, if Bono rerecorded the songs on his own with a rotating cast.

I have to respectfully disagree with that. I reckon the new version of bad will be much better than the original. Whether it will be as good as some of the live versions they’ve done over the years is a different matter but I really think the album version is quite weak in comparison to its live performances. I think there’s a chance for a good few of the tracks to be improved. 11 o’clock tick, stories for boys, out of control, October and bad I’m fairly certain will be more to my liking. We don’t know the song from pop yet but if it’s staring at the sun for example I think they could give us the best take on that song with a strings heavy version. Other songs on the album could be improved too if they opted for something other than Staring at the Sun. I think it will also be refreshing to hear different takes on some of the big hits that we’ve all heard numerous times. When I listen to u2 music it’s mostly live but when I dive into studio performances I suspect this reworks album might get a lot of listens from me just to hear something a little different from what I’ve been used to.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

They wouldn't do it for its own sake because it's a dumb idea. Jeff Tweedy rerecorded some Wilco songs - they're nice enough but there's no reason to listen to them instead of the originals. I suspect this will be similar. 60 year old U2 recording Bad will show nothing more than what time has done to them.

If the version of Vertigo on the album is like what Bono played live then those sessions were a waste of time for all concerned.

It would have been more interesting, and more sensible, if Bono rerecorded the songs on his own with a rotating cast.

We get it. You think it's dumb, even though you haven't heard it (aside from three low quality live performances that may or may not be on the actual album).

 

[cbanksy9]

If anyone has an extra ticket to NYC please do be kind and let a fan you know, (or see desperately posting pleas on fan sites)) know! [emoji120]

 

[womanfish]

This is where I stand on the whole SOS thing.

It could be surprisingly good. It could be completely underwhelming and cringe.

The thought that Bad will almost certainly be better is an... interesting opinion.

 

[mikal]

This is where I stand on the whole SOS thing.

It could be surprisingly good. It could be completely underwhelming and cringe.

The thought that Bad will almost certainly be better is an... interesting opinion.

I would say if anything it's a fun project that I have zero expectations for. I might think that every single remake is shit compared to the original, or I might think that a handful of songs were really well done and are nice alternate versions to add to my master U2 playlist on Apple Music, and that's good enough for me.

 

[Registered Dude]

I would say if anything it's a fun project that I have zero expectations for. I might think that every single remake is shit compared to the original, or I might think that a handful of songs were really well done and are nice alternate versions to add to my master U2 playlist on Apple Music, and that's good enough for me.

this.. it doesnt have to be a complicated thing.

I've heard some are pretty straightforward rerecordings, the kind of thing we'll probably gripe about. But then it's said that some stuff is out there - really different. It's 40 songs. Going to be all over the map.

I don't think we should be expecting some sort of unified, grand artistic statement here. This is something they didn't have to do. Even if it was to satisfy some sort of contractual obligation, they surely didn't have to release 40 songs! For whatever reason, this caught their muse.. So, cool? No? I mean, I dont think they're going to bust out Verticello whenever they play the song moving forward, or an acoustic Bad on their farewell tour however many years from now. This is just what they're doing, at this moment.

At best this will probably be a curiosity in their catalog, in retrospect. Not like the best of, 90-2000, with those new mixes where they were arguably trying to rewrite history.

 

[Irvine511]

I think I am going to like some songs, and then not like others quite as much.

 

[pacemaker]

Do we know if chapter titles/songs are chronological? Something I think could be cool would be for an anachronistic track list where the heavy amount of SOI/SOE songs are peppered throughout the other eras and not just all at the end.

A companion piece to Bono's book that got the four of them back in the studio (mostly at the same time, perhaps?) to hopefully wrap up the retrospective Songs of... era is what has me most excited. It's a heavy dose of wishful thinking, but really acknowledging their past - as opposed to all of the recent nodding at and dwelling in it - could be what they need to move forward with some late-era good good.

 

[lightmyway91]

This is where I stand on the whole SOS thing.

It could be surprisingly good. It could be completely underwhelming and cringe.

The thought that Bad will almost certainly be better is an... interesting opinion.

Bad is just so slow on the album, it drags a little and I don’t mean simply because of the length of the track. They do live versions longer, in fact most live versions are longer, but they’ve got a much better tempo to them and just generally sound much better. Bono’s vocal was strong at the time of original version but again because of the slow tempo it sounds like he’s singing in almost slow motion at times so that takes away from the power of the vocal. If they’d never played a live version of the song I don’t think I’d consider bad even in my top 50 u2 songs but the live versions make it a top 10, probably top 5. I think it would be almost impossible for them not to improve the song compared to the studio version, for my liking at least.

 

[zoocarolina]

SOS = alternate/re-imagined versions that will never/not intended to replace the originals so bottom line we will have a new release soon which is a bonus as we wait for a new album/tour + a memoir to read as well so if there are any complaints about this then this must be how people felt about a free album, LOL! The band could put out re-imagined versions of The Wiggles Greatest Hits at this point and I’d still thx!!

 

[Registered Dude]

Do we know if chapter titles/songs are chronological? Something I think could be cool would be for an anachronistic track list where the heavy amount of SOI/SOE songs are peppered throughout the other eras and not just all at the end.

from what I heard I dont think they are completely chronological. Or at least, the first chapter discusses something more recent in his life. But from there I think the story is laid out chronologically.

That said, that doesn't necessarily mean that a chapter titled Stories for Boys has to be about events in 1980. It might be, but not sure of that.

 

[mikal]

I'll say this, it might not be "better" but I'm not totally opposed to finally having a studio version of "Bad" with the backing synths and guitar solo, if that's the route they took with the reimagined version.

Probably would have liked it more if they recorded a studio version in 87 but I'll take it.

 

[Registered Dude]

The Wiggles Greatest Hits at this point and I’d still thx!!

they would do an amazing cover of Do the Propeller.

 

[DeVaul]

I dont think they're going to bust out Verticello whenever they play the song moving forward

+1 for Verticello

 

[Hollow Island]

from what I heard I dont think they are completely chronological. Or at least, the first chapter discusses something more recent in his life. But from there I think the story is laid out chronologically.

That said, that doesn't necessarily mean that a chapter titled Stories for Boys has to be about events in 1980. It might be, but not sure of that.

It would make for a fun, surprising read if the titles weren't from the period he writes about. It would be interesting to see how a song from 1991 relates to events in 2006 or something.

 

[Hollow Island]

We get it. You think it's dumb, even though you haven't heard it (aside from three low quality live performances that may or may not be on the actual album).

A dumb idea executed well is still a dumb idea.

I am critical of the nature of the project. Why is it so hard for you to understand? I'm critical of Jeff Tweedy for doing it, I'm critical of Richard Ashcroft for doing it, and I'm critical of U2 for doing it. Quality or lack thereof is immaterial.

 

[Hewson]

from what I heard I dont think they are completely chronological. Or at least, the first chapter discusses something more recent in his life. But from there I think the story is laid out chronologically.

That said, that doesn't necessarily mean that a chapter titled Stories for Boys has to be about events in 1980. It might be, but not sure of that.

I'd have to think some of the SOI titles are early in the book (Cedarwood Road, Iris for sure), so that would take complete chronology out of play.

 

[Registered Dude]

It would make for a fun, surprising read if the titles weren't from the period he writes about. It would be interesting to see how a song from 1991 relates to events in 2006 or something.

yep. Though knowing Bono he'd opt for "clever" choices over poetic. I can see him choosing like, Wake Up Dead Man, if writing about his health scare in the late 2010s for example.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

from what I heard I dont think they are completely chronological. Or at least, the first chapter discusses something more recent in his life. But from there I think the story is laid out chronologically.

That said, that doesn't necessarily mean that a chapter titled Stories for Boys has to be about events in 1980. It might be, but not sure of that.

it would be rather awkward if the chapter titled Iris was about something late in his life just because of when the album came out.

 

[Registered Dude]

it would be rather awkward if the chapter titled Iris was about something late in his life just because of when the album came out.

that one's about the eye exam he had after he crashed his bicycle

 

[AndrewCowley]

I'll say this, it might not be "better" but I'm not totally opposed to finally having a studio version of "Bad" with the backing synths and guitar solo, if that's the route they took with the reimagined version.

Probably would have liked it more if they recorded a studio version in 87 but I'll take it.

The studio version of Bad does have the backing track.

 

[lightmyway91]

Crumbs from your table and invisible confirmed. Big fan of both but crumbs will be particularly interesting.

 

[Hollow Island]

Crumbs is a good song but they botched the recording the first time around. I'm looking forward to that one. Invisible could be interesting if they replace the guitar riff with strings or something.

 

[Hollow Island]

Word is that the Invisible chapter is about jacking off to pictures of the Invisible Woman as a lad.

 

[DeVaul]

Word is that the Invisible chapter is about jacking off to pictures of the Invisible Woman as a lad.

The Miracle (of Pictures of Lily)