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  1. I have no idea why they dropped Breathe or Unknown Caller?
    The only problem with Unknown Caller was the stupid karoke bit - if they left that out it'd be great stadium epic. I have honestly no idea why they play stuff like TUF which Bono cannot sing at all when they could play UC which they did a great job performing.
  2. Originally posted by vanquish:I have no idea why they dropped Breathe or Unknown Caller?
    The only problem with Unknown Caller was the stupid karoke bit - if they left that out it'd be great stadium epic. I have honestly no idea why they play stuff like TUF which Bono cannot sing at all when they could play UC which they did a great job performing.

    That karaoke bit is absolutely pointless. Sing along about computers...now there's a novel idea.

    ''Move to trash, reboot'' - that shouldn't have even been in the final song. The only redeeming bit about it is the guitar solo and the choral parts, the other lyrics than that are great as long as they don't involve anything about computers and other technologies. The biggest lyrical blunders come from that very song.

    Bono could sing TUF very well had he sang in tune, in time and not attempt a falsetto. But he does have to remember it's not just the smoking that's done it to his vocals, it's age. Find me a 50-year-old singer who's been going for 30 years and can still sing as well as they did when they sang the song originally. Not easy.
  3. I left in Boots and took out Cedars (a great song) because of the feeling that the album sitll has to have some upbeat rock songs to balance out the slower, more meditative ones. But you all are probably right that it should be included. So here is a revision:

    1. No Line On The Horizon
    2. Magnificent
    3. Moment of Surrender
    4. Unknown Caller
    5. Crazy Tonight
    6. North Star
    7. Get On Your Boots
    8. Fez/Being Born
    9. Winter
    10. Cedars of Lebanon
    11. Soon/Breathe
    12. Mercy
    13. Every Breaking Wave
    (White As Snow: Bonus Song -- like Always/Summer Rain on ATYCLB)

    The reason I started the thread is because U2 had all these songs going into NLOTH (including, apparently, a revised Mercy) and I think the album they actually put out was not the artistic and commercial juggernaut that it could have been. I like all the songs except for Stand Up Comedy (which has atrocious lyriics and upsets the feel of the album). But depending upon what Songs of Ascent ultimately ends up looking like (as a kind of NLOTH part 2), I may end up changing my mind. I may meant to raise discussion only, not cause offense...
  4. ''Commercial and artistic juggernaut''

    That doesn't seem possible. NLOTH could have been artistic (early versions of Unknown Caller and Magnificent sounded great) but the album we ended up with way way over produced. They are U2. The commercial will always kick the artistics bollocks.

    Still a better album than I had expected.


  6. Artistic and commercial: The Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby.

    There are ways of combining both, by for example including songs that are radio-friendly with more experimental and atmospheric tracks, like Fez/Being Born, Soon and (IMO) Unknown Caller. I just they think they could have really made NLOTH something special, but botched it for stupid reasons (like having to stick to 11 tracks and 60 minutes. Please).
  7. Isn't that exactly what they did - combining "radio-friendly" songs with more atmospheric stuff?

  8. Yep. The problem was that both kinds were mostly poor songs.


    But the album is good as it is. It's the best of the decade, even with the strong weak points we all know. But has some gems here and there. Moment Of Surrender, Cedars, some parts of Breathe, the title track... Better than I expected? No. But better than the previous stuff? hell, yeah.
  9. right now I think NLOTH is their best work to date. I can't stop listening to that album.
    What pisses me the most is the last track, not that its a bad song its just way too dark and hard to listen sometimes. Therefore I usualy dont listen to Cedars. They should have put Winter/Mercy/EBW instead.
  10. Compare No line with Dismantle.... it's shit to be honest.
    I mean c'mon people... we all like U2 and most of their music is good, but with No line they just made big mistakes and left out songs that should have been on it, they admitted it.
    There is maybe a few songs on No line that really got the U2 sound I think.
    Just think back about the time when songs came out from The Joshua Tree, AB, LEave behind or Dismantle.. damnn

    Leave TUF, Ultra Violet, Until the end of the world, Bad, Mysterious ways and all the other classics they put in the setlist out and you just have a shitty setlist with the new album songs like Boots and the others.
    It's just not IT.

    When singles came out from ''Dismantle'' or ''All that you can't leave behind'' or ''Achtung Baby'' or ''The Joshua Tree'' stuff got really mad.
    Singles of those albums sold out straight away and the songs emmidiately got respected by the fans or when they saw them for real in a live concert.
    I hope they throw out a lot of No line and throw some new stuff like unplayed old classics in.


  11. Originally posted by Jerry:
    I mean c'mon people... we all like U2 and most of their music is good, but with No line they just made big mistakes and left out songs that should have been on it, they admitted it.


    Source?



  12. About the songs I am just guessing that they made mistakes, but they did admitted No line was a flop.
    Can't get on the site now where I got the info from, but I will come back to you once it's up (dutch U2 fanclub site).
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U2start is run by fans for fans. Help us reduce personal costs. Consider to make a donation to support us.
U2start is run by fans for fans. Help us reduce personal costs. Consider to make a donation to support us.