1. Most excited to hear it was rehearsed and even better when hearing the first bars through the magic of 1000mikes - different feel from the studio version but most interesting to hear how it sounds now!
  2. Studio version is superiour ...
  3. Live version is less repetitive. Like the lyrics although some of them are rather strange. The mini-solo from Edge is also nice, adds to the song.
  4. love the solo, it's so...emotional.
  5. U2 were so much more when they were down on love (Achtung Baby).

    With songs like 'Mercy' they increasingly sound like something off X Factor.
  6. Originally posted by KaiserJose:U2 were so much more when they were down on love (Achtung Baby).

    With songs like 'Mercy' they increasingly sound like something off X Factor.


    not the studio version though ...


  7. "I know i'm weedkiller honey... and you're sugar
    ....
    And with your telescope... i can see further"

    "If you're hunger... baby let me feed it
    If your heart is full... baby let me bleed it
    And happiness is for... those who don't really need it"

    Possibly the most hammy lyrics Bono has ever written.

    Oh wait..."a mole..."
  8. Originally posted by MWSAH:Live version is less repetitive. Like the lyrics although some of them are rather strange. The mini-solo from Edge is also nice, adds to the song.


    +1
  9. Originally posted by KaiserJose:[..]


    "If you're hunger... baby let me feed it
    If your heart is full... baby let me bleed it
    And happiness is for... those who don't really need it"



    I think these lyrics are great

    your'e forgetting the best one's - "love hears when i lie, love put the blue back in my eye",

    "You're gravity
    Searching for the ground
    You're silence
    Searching for a sound
    You're heart is aching
    You're heart is my home
    It's fascinating
    I know I'll never be alone"

    they are class lyrics...
  10. Sorry, hate to say this, especially after I feel happy U2 had some balls to finally play this, but the new chorus on Mercy in my opinion, sucks balls.

    Some of the arrangement of the song is better, but again, like others have already said, U2 seem on the trend of simplifying/dumbing down their songs again.

    Mercy was good because it was kinda experimental, it had a mix of old and new U2, and although some parts were cheesy, they were acceptable because it was intriguing/different. Now the song seems like it is a shadow of its former self, and I wish U2 would realise, from their audience that when people like something the way it is, there is a reason - they shouldn't keep approaching their songs in the mindset of "You like that, wait to you hear it finished". Too much, tweaking, fixing what isn't really a problem in the first place is their biggest problem right now. Sometimes some songs just 'work' and fans pretty much made it clear Mercy was one of them, despite how unfinished U2 say it is.

    Going back and fourth, messing with stuff these days seems to be what they do best with their songs today, and unfortunately is what I fear is the downfall in some of their song writing.

    Take for example, Winter, beautiful song in there, not by any means perfect, but it has a lovely atmospheric sound and melody that really emerses the listener. However due to whatever decision or reason, cheap lyrics like "butter on toast" are thrown in there, which I feel is completely out of place. Then even worse, they make a newer version of the song, which you'd expect to be better than the previous, is in fact much worse.

    Another example, when listening to I'll Go Crazy Tonight, when I got NLOTH on release, I felt like the song was started off as it was going to build into an epic anthem, like I Still Haven't Found, but instead it builds up, then destroys itself, with cheap lyrics and melodies. Too much tweaking and going back and fourth altering the song? Who knows. I felt the same with City of Blinding Lights too. When I first heard COBL, I thought "my god this is the next streets" but again spoilt by cheap "pop" lyics and melodies, which seems to be thrown in there to be catchy or "hip" with younger audiences.

    U2 can make really great songs, there is no doubt about that. Their success speaks volumes with being able to keep going on and on. However, I don't know how exactly they approach song writing these days and whether it's a deliberate change from how they did it in the past, but it just feels to me, like it's getting far too complicated for themselves, in making songs which should be on par with old greats. They have the potential, we have seen it, it's just whether they can use it properly.

    I feel if things don't change, we will end up with another album/songs like/from HTDAAB which feature cheap lyrics and melodies. NLOTH as improved as it is over an album like HTDAAB, it still echoes that familiar song writing.



  11. Originally posted by u2spear:[..]

    I think these lyrics are great

    your'e forgetting the best one's - "love hears when i lie, love put the blue back in my eye",

    "You're gravity
    Searching for the ground
    You're silence
    Searching for a sound
    You're heart is aching
    You're heart is my home
    It's fascinating
    I know I'll never be alone"

    they are class lyrics...


    If class means poor, I agree.