The Alternate History Mix (1996-1998)

Originally posted by tkfiyah:Hi all, this is my first actual post to the regular forums so hopefully I do okay. Cheers!

So in my humble opinion, I think Pop might just be U2's most interesting album for what it might have been. In my mind, it seems like the album is split between two different themes, with some songs like Please, Wake Up Dead Man, and IGWSHA having lyrical content that seems dark, political, and full of religious doubt. And this stuff contrasts with the more tongue-in-cheek moments like Discotheque and Playboy Mansion. So being partially inspired by U Talking U2 2 Me's edited tracklisting for Pop, I went through my U2 collection to see if I could go further to "fix" the tracklist and come up with a more unified concept running throughout. What I ended up with was actually TWO albums that I tried to make favor those two disparate themes. I'm pretty happy with the result so I thought I'd share with everyone here and see what you guys think!

Some quick points to make:
-In this alternate universe, U2 is not opposed to putting cover songs on their albums for whatever reason.
-They also seem to have liked the result of collaborating with Johnny Cash on Zooropa, because they're now pulling in tons of extra help with tracks.

1. Pop (Dance Album) - 1996
Hypothetical Album Bio: After a sidestep in 1995 with the release of Passengers, U2 reconvenes to put out an album they hype up as a no-compromise dance album complete with ironic, spaced out lyrics to match their updated post-modern image. After playing the KMart show to announce the album and connected tour, they give an imminent release date. Critically, this album gets the same mixed reception as the original pop did. Some reviewers praise it for its dark art rock aesthetic and for continuing the legacy of the ZooTv era while others point out multiple weak points in the album and write it off as a trashy misfire. Regardless, the tour begins in the United States and sees a similarly mixed bag. Following this historically poor reception, U2 announce a new album in the works not even a year later.

1. PopMuzik *(Pop Mart Mix EDITED)*
2. Mofo *(EDITED)*
3. Do You Feel Loved?
4. Big Girls Are Best
5. I'm Not your Baby (with Sinead O'Connor)
6. Slide Away (with Michael Hutchence)
7. Happiness Is A Warm Gun *(The Gun Mix)*
8. Miami
9. The Playboy Mansion
10. First Night In Hell *(Last Night on Earth Remix)*
11. Discotheque
12. Holy Joe *(Garage Mix)*

Notes: PopMuzik and Mofo have been edited together by yours truly to match how they fade into each other during PopMart Shows.

2. Please (Political Album) -1998
Hypothetical Album Bio: During the South American and European legs of the PopMart tour, U2 plays a number of landmark shows in 3rd world nations, including the newsworthy appearance in Sarajevo. Seeming to capitalize on this new positive press, the band begins talking about a politically-themed album that gets compared a couple of times to War in its lyrical content. In August 1998, the band plays a small set shortly after the Omagh Bombing, and announce the release date of the new album to follow in a couple of weeks. Please is released early in September of 1998 with a controversial cover of four Irish politicians. In Ireland, the album is hailed as the most succinct statement on The Troubles to come out during the period. Elsewhere, the album is also praised for its more stripped down form, with a few critics making jabs at the band for putting another cover song on this album (Save The Children), and along with the redone version of Tomorrow, claims that the band was running out of material. Others praised the redone October track, pointing out that the 1981 album was the last time U2 had embraced its native country to this extent.

1. Please
2. Gone
3. Save The Children
4. North and South of the River
5. Staring At The Sun *(Best of Mix)*
6. Sweetest Thing *(Single Mix)*
7. Last Night on Earth
8. Tomorrow *(Common Ground Mix)*
9. Dreaming With Tears In My Eyes
10. If God Will Send His Angels
11. Slow Dancing (with Willie Nelson)
12. Wake up Dead Man
Bonus: Don't Take Your Guns To Town

Hehe, so that's what I came up with. If this interests anyone, I'd be happy to hear what anyone else's edits would be to U2 albums they think could get an alternate timeline/edit. Thanks!

Originally posted by CMIPalaeo:This is definitely an interesting concept. I'm a big fan of 'alternate history' type of thought activities like this, so I'd like to dig in a little more once I have more time. But two observations on the Please album first:

First, opening with Please, especially if it's the same as the single version, is weird to think about but it sounds like a pretty bold, cool idea. Second, I would replace Sweetest Thing with Two Shots of Happy, One Shot of Sad - a far, far superior song, and one more suited to a darker theme.

Originally posted by kris_smith87:[..]
Again I so disagree! Also I think having this poppy, happy sounding song with really sad lyrics would be a tongue in cheek nod to the previous dancey album. And perhaps a single?

Originally posted by CMIPalaeo:[..]
I suppose that's pretty fair. My main thinking was Two Shots of Happy wasn't on either album and it definitely should be. I guess you could always just add it, though.

Originally posted by Edi:Excellent thread and discussion.... Well done all !

This is right up my street. It's like the Beatles double White Album !

Firstly, I would remove The Sweetest Thing since I see that as coming from totally different sessions from the mid-80's. Unlike many on here though I like the track very much, particularly the original.

I would certainly add HMTMKMKM into this alternative-Pop.

I too miss the days of extended singles/EP's etc. They were such a rich vein of interesting tracks and alternative versions.

Also I love the Dance stuff and uber-heavy live versions of Gone, Mofo, HMTMKMKM. Disco, etc.

I strongly feel that (now?) that they seem to have lost the irony, they have lost so much potential for creatively interesting directions/diversions and collaborations (admittedly they still do a bit of this).

When was irony last deployed...Boots, The Return if the Stingray Guitar ? Maybe these are just comedic tongue in cheek songs, not a patch on the AB/Zooropa/Passengers/Pop splurge of ultimate creativity in the 90's.

The irony/whimsy/earnest/rock balance is part of the creative tension of this band.

Obviously Eno/Lanois had a huge hand in this and I would like to see them back with Eno again.