1. Those alternate versions and original demos are much better than the final releases, the songs like Native Son, Levitate etc. Lyrically, maybe not as much...who cares whaking a rock 'n roll album. Musically and technically...yes, they are fantastic pieces of work.

    And the decision to change Sometimes from the original version on Unreleased and Rare was Steve Lillywhite...so he, along with whoever else was producing the album really made a mess of it. If they had put Mercy on that record, it would have not been a succes as much as Vertigo, which obviously appealed to a lot of people. Why? It is too long. Audiences do not have the attention span they had back in the days of ATYCLB and Achtung.

    But how many awards did they win at the Grammys in 2005 for things relating to HTDAAB? Eight. So it did something right. It just doesn't feel cohesive, just a bunch of songs thrown together in any order - which, if put in another order, would have made it cohesive and seem more 'to the point'.
  2. I agree than some of the songs could be executed better, for example the album version of Yahweh and SYCMIOYO could be shorter, COBL shouldn't have the 'time,time,time' bit etc.

    And the early versions of All Because Of You and Fast Cars were better.
    However with regards to Levitate, I thought it was boring and way too long. What did it eventually become? or is it just an unreleased song?.
  3. Originally posted by vanquish:I agree than some of the songs could be executed better, for example the album version of Yahweh and SYCMIOYO could be shorter, COBL shouldn't have the 'time,time,time' bit etc.

    And the early versions of All Because Of You and Fast Cars were better.
    However with regards to Levitate, I thought it was boring and way too long. What did it eventually become? or is it just an unreleased song?.


    I always thought it became City of Blinding Lights or part thereof, or Miracle Drug.

    Have a look here: http://u2start.com/topic/4297/ - it may answer some of your questions as to what happened to it.
  4. Bomb should have been like REM's Accelerate if it wanted to be a down and out rocker. Great album
  5. Bomb starts promising with Vertigo but immediately sets you down when MD starts.


  6. I like Miracle Drug, one of the best songs on the album, a bit like BD though, but that's why I like it.


  7. It isn't bad, but it takes away the pace


  8. I don't know about that, I assess each song's merits individually, I don't usually listen closely to an entire album in one sitting, so I can't determine stuff like that.

    And they've not always given their tracklisting much thought either, remember JT where they just let some woman arrange the tracks according to which ones she liked best in descending order.