The other day my parents and I were argumenting about this topic; my father said ne has improved with the "soul" colaboration of Mary J Blidge, but my mother and me said that One has lost its quiet Achtung's atmosphere. Originally it was a quiet song, personal and intimate, but I think that Mary has f*cked it off with her screams... I like her recordings (they are very good music, she has a great voice...) but I don't like her colaborations at all...
i think it's all a matter of personal taste. i know of a few people who love the collaboration and are surprised to hear a version where bono doesn't announce, "mary..." to them that's how the song should sound.
me personally, i think the idea of the collaboration was nice, and i like how edge's guitar part is updated to sound more similar to the modern live versions, but i simply cannot listen to mary's interpretation. bono's vocal inflections, his timbre, and the original melody of the song, to me represents how One is "supposed to sound"
I really dislike it, I really dislike the fact that radio stations play this version over and over again and never play the original album version which is ten times better.
