You don’t even have to take anything away. Crumbs and OSC are weak compared to the rest of the album but they’re perfectly fine album tracks as far as I’m concerned.
I think if Mercy picked things back up after A Man and a Woman, the album would be better for it.
Regarding the 20th anniversary of Bomb, my thoughts are that if they include it, it will be a re-recorded take. I can’t imagine they would officially release the worked-up Mercy on Wide Awake, and then proceed to officially release a “working version” as more official content.
I hope to GOD I’m wrong because Bono’s lyric revisions for the 360 live version tanked the song. It is the most I have ever had the wind sucked out of my sails as a U2 fan.
I liked the chorus better on the 360 version. I remember hearing the 2004 version for the 1st time before it debuted in Zurich 2010. And looked at the setlist and yelled Holy shit. Bummed it was wasn't played at Anaheim 2011