My current SOE playlist is different from what I proposed 18 months ago. I was adamant before about switching Lights of Home and Love Is Bigger, because I was so frustrated that the latter's outro didn't go on long enough for a show-stopper, whereas Lights of Home has that longer, Hey Jude-esque outro.
But after further consideration, Lights of Home is much more of a mission statement, or more to the point, it tells the story of Bono's bike accident and having to come to terms with dying. This crisis hovered like a spectre over the sessions (and a lot of the subsequent material) so it makes sense to put it at the beginning (not to mention that Love Is Bigger is a really strong credo to leave the listener with at the end).
My one caveat, that I know a lot of people share, is that the album version doesn't quite have enough impact. I think the vocal melody is a little too staccato and not engaging enough for the first proper song on the album. So I'm using the String Version, which at least gives it more gravitas.
The only song I actively hate is Get Out, so I removed everything up until right where the guitar part that accompanies Kendrick's vocal starts, and it actually sounds totally normal as an intro to American Soul. I labeled it "Preacher's Blessing".
1. Love Is All
2. Lights of Home (St. Peter's String Version)
3. Best Thing
4. The Showman
(Preacher's Blessing)
5. American Soul
6. The Blackout
7. Summer of Love
8. Red Flag Day
9. Landlady
10. Book Of Your Heart
11. Little Things
12. Love Is Bigger
13. There Is A Light
I tried to make sure there weren't any wild stylistic variances from song to song, so it flows nicely. And in terms of lyrical content, I grouped the more personal songs at the beginning (Lights-Best Thing-Showman), then went into a political section (Soul-Blackout-Summer-Red Flag) for the middle, and then back to the personal for the last third (Landlady-Book-Little Things-Bigger-Light).
I know some people really dislike The Showman, but if you're not going to cut it, it's ridiculous to have that catchy/poppy of a song buried in the second half, so I gave it a more prominent placement. Mikal said above that Book Of Your Heart doesn't fit anywhere, but Landlady does have a spacey sound and a keyboard backing which I think goes into Book's pulsating electronic style well, and then Book's ending with Bono's dramatic vocal and that little beeping matches the processed/muffled beat at the beginning of Little Things.
Give it a try.