1. Or maybe an encore opener.
  2. Originally posted by melon51:@kris_smith87 & @Release3,

    Had a quick go at a Seque mix of Love Is All We Have Left into Streets and made them more 'vocal-centric' (studio versions)

    [YouTube Video]

    Feel free to not like it, but it gives you an idea


    Oh god. This is great. This should have replaced COBL.
  3. Originally posted by melon51:[..]
    Edited both to make the vocals more prominent, but it's funny that you can hear that there's an enormous delay on Bono's vocals creating some sort of 'mountain echo' effect. Think they did it by doubling on a separate track with effects.

    So Rick Beato is right that Bono never doubles his vocals, but I'm pretty sure Lanois did double them for him on this track


    Discotheque , EBTTRT, CRUMBS ....all multiple Bono vocals.
  4. Think he's right though in a sense that I can't detect a lot of U2 songs with Bono doubling his lead vocal. So in a lot of songs it's a production trick. The 'mountain echo in Streets wasn't sung twice, but just parts of the same lead delayed with echo in the background. But guess we'd have to see the individual tracks to find out
  5. Read back the Summer Of Love discussion and the reactions were interesting I think. There's a difference between 'stealing' grooves uncredited and just having a producer that happens to be in a band and has a demo that you use to build your own idea of a 'song' around. That's great I think, all major pop hits are collaborative efforts but you'll see the performing artist.

    Most blatant stealing U2 did imo was during the Passengers/POP years. Do You Feel Loved and Disqotheque's groove(s) were pretty much directly lifted from uncredited tracks (Alien Groove Nation / Stone Roses). The whole of Mysterious Ways is built around the Funky Drummer beat (as were a lot of songs in the early 90's)
  6. From 1:30 onwards this is pretty much DYFL without Bono, but I'm sure that has been discussed before

  7. Originally posted by melon51:Read back the Summer Of Love discussion and the reactions were interesting I think. There's a difference between 'stealing' grooves uncredited and just having a producer that happens to be in a band and has a demo that you use to build your own idea of a 'song' around. That's great I think, all major pop hits are collaborative efforts but you'll see the performing artist.

    Most blatant stealing U2 did imo was during the Passengers/POP years. Do You Feel Loved and Disqotheque's groove(s) were pretty much directly lifted from uncredited tracks (Alien Groove Nation / Stone Roses). The whole of Mysterious Ways is built around the Funky Drummer beat (as were a lot of songs in the early 90's)
    I think you overestimate the impact of Funky Drummer. It was all over music from as far back as the mid 80's to late 90's, but to suggest Mysterious Ways is "built" around it is a bit much. I doubt it had anything to do with the lyrics or vocal arrangement.
  8. And now, my reassessment of SOE, and I'll throw in my current album rankings for fun:

    1 Achtung
    2 Joshua
    3 Pop
    4 Rattle
    5 War
    6 Zooropa
    7 Un4get Fire
    8 All That You Can't
    9 How To Dismantle
    10 No Line
    11 Boy
    12 Songs Of Experience
    13 October
    14 Songs Of Ignorance

    "Love Is All We Have Left" U2 had to join the ever growing list of older artists who absolutely had to trend follow by using auto tune. No possible way they would trust their inner creatviity. Andy set the Bar REALLY LOW on this one. What would have been an acceptable song just screams an old washed up band screaming for relevance and attention. Sad. Because it's not a bad album.

    "Lights of Home" really nice song here. It has held up well for me in the god knows how many years it has been for SOE now.

    "You're the Best Thing About Me" Decent song weakened by Teddy Bear Tedders production. Nothing like "Those Meddling Young Producers." Still, it's kinda cactchy and a fun listen.

    "Get Out of Your Own Way" See above, decent, Kendrick Lamar doesn't seem to belong in the outro/intro to Soul, but it is what it is.

    "American Soul" How many times can U2 copy old songs, or should I say remake? With this, and 13, they are really stretching here. Never like to see a brilliant artist running out of ideas, but it happens to them all, Phil Collins disease is part of being a songwriter, just ask AC/DC. But I love Collins with and without Genesis, but even Collins did not do this Still, Glatsoncano Volcanbury, uh err NO! It's American Soul. Again Kendrick Lamar doesn't really belong in the start unless it's only in the end of Way. Hard to believe they couldn't just start from scratch to put out another rocker instead of a recycled riff. As much as I love their cheesy pop side, their rock roots are nice to hear from once and a while sometimes.

    "Summer of Love" Very good song, nothing groundbreaking. Not quite as interesting as Lights, but decent album track

    "Red Flag Day" The best song so far, some of the sound harkens back to the War period a bit. One of the few songs I would skip to if I only had a few minutes to listen to

    "The Showman (Little More Better)" Another song I really enjoy that seems to get a lot of hate around here. It is the kind of self-deprecating humor I share with Bono, about the only thing we have in common other than I can't really play guitar either. This is a different song. U2 can get Phil Collins Disease as I mentioned above, and this is them sorta breaking out into something a little different. I like that.

    "The Little Things That Give You Away" A late career masterpiece for sure. Sad for me, is I go to 3 USA Joshua Tree 2017 shows, and they play it at the show before my first, and the first show after my last, but at none of the shows I am at. It has the slow simmering affect "Bad" has. Not quite as great, but maybe along with "Magnificent" the two best songs from U2 since 2005 for sure.

    "Landlady" Another different sounding thing, odd intro. Above average song that I will sometimes skip, but usually do not.

    "The Blackout" On my CD, I have this in the front. It falls short of being the great late career rocker a lot of us want, but it's still an interestng song with some cheesy lyrics about politics. Not sure democracy is flat on it's back, Steve! Then again, I live in a country where a reality TV star who had over a billion dollars somehow has more than one casino go bankrupt(not easy to do), and becomes President. Oh, I'm supposed to be reviewing the song...a nice attempt, and I like it, and the video version is even better, which should have been an audio bonus track.

    "Love Is Bigger Than Anything in Its Way" Perhaps the most overcalcuated U2 attempt at a stadium anthem, and while it is not an awful song by any means, it just sounds so overblown,overproduced and cheesy, if this was played for me in 1983 I never would have guessed it was U2. Even a stripped down hard rock version of this would not be that great, but hard to believe they have like 22 remixes of this. Really? Is there a reason that many mixes of a song that did not chart that well?


    "13 (There Is a Light)" Even though this is ok, they may as well have just put a middle section in with the Glatsonbury Volcano That Resides In American Soul Guitar. There is a decent song for someone that should have been left off the album, and this is one of them.

    "Ordinary Love" (Extraordinary Mix) Like most U2 remixes, this one is dreadful. They may as well remix all of TUF, and let Karo Syrup remix MLK with a Loop of the Fish Out Of Water Running To Stand Still mix.

    "Book of Your Heart" Next to "The Little Things." This is the should have been album masterpiece. Sure, not a perfect song, but like the SOI extras, "Ballroom" and "Hands," better than nearly everything else on the album. Did Set The Bar Low really produce this? Guess he forgot to turn on the auto tune for this, and the production is in the vein of Eno/Lanois but I would have changed a few things, but man, is this a good song or what? Maybe Bono and Edge should read my "Tracklistings For Dummies" manuel where I explain that putting the best songs on an album far outweighs every single song blending in with the others.

    "Lights of Home" (St Peter's String Version) Honestly, I want to like this version, but the strings don't make the songs better, and I have not even listened to this since maybe April of 2021 or so.

    "You're the Best Thing About Me" (U2 vs. Kygo) Another crap remix from a band that has more remixes than most dance artists. Good thing I don't complian too much about remixes!

    "The Blackout" (Jacknife Lee Remix) One of the better U2 remixes, which coming from me is more of a backhanded compliment, but a remix I tolerate is a strange thing, despite it being too repetitve. Probably been better if more of the regular mix and vocal were included, but oh well. Good thing this was a short post.
  9. I haven’t listened to the bulk of these songs for a long time. Only got love is bigger depending on my mood gets played and that’s pretty much it.
  10. Originally posted by pleasegone:And now, my reassessment of SOE, and I'll throw in my current album rankings for fun:

    1 Achtung
    2 Joshua
    3 Pop
    4 Rattle
    5 War
    6 Zooropa
    7 Un4get Fire
    8 All That You Can't
    9 How To Dismantle
    10 No Line
    11 Boy
    12 Songs Of Experience
    13 October
    14 Songs Of Ignorance

    "Love Is All We Have Left" U2 had to join the ever growing list of older artists who absolutely had to trend follow by using auto tune. No possible way they would trust their inner creatviity. Andy set the Bar REALLY LOW on this one. What would have been an acceptable song just screams an old washed up band screaming for relevance and attention. Sad. Because it's not a bad album.

    "Lights of Home" really nice song here. It has held up well for me in the god knows how many years it has been for SOE now.

    "You're the Best Thing About Me" Decent song weakened by Teddy Bear Tedders production. Nothing like "Those Meddling Young Producers." Still, it's kinda cactchy and a fun listen.

    "Get Out of Your Own Way" See above, decent, Kendrick Lamar doesn't seem to belong in the outro/intro to Soul, but it is what it is.

    "American Soul" How many times can U2 copy old songs, or should I say remake? With this, and 13, they are really stretching here. Never like to see a brilliant artist running out of ideas, but it happens to them all, Phil Collins disease is part of being a songwriter, just ask AC/DC. But I love Collins with and without Genesis, but even Collins did not do this Still, Glatsoncano Volcanbury, uh err NO! It's American Soul. Again Kendrick Lamar doesn't really belong in the start unless it's only in the end of Way. Hard to believe they couldn't just start from scratch to put out another rocker instead of a recycled riff. As much as I love their cheesy pop side, their rock roots are nice to hear from once and a while sometimes.

    "Summer of Love" Very good song, nothing groundbreaking. Not quite as interesting as Lights, but decent album track

    "Red Flag Day" The best song so far, some of the sound harkens back to the War period a bit. One of the few songs I would skip to if I only had a few minutes to listen to

    "The Showman (Little More Better)" Another song I really enjoy that seems to get a lot of hate around here. It is the kind of self-deprecating humor I share with Bono, about the only thing we have in common other than I can't really play guitar either. This is a different song. U2 can get Phil Collins Disease as I mentioned above, and this is them sorta breaking out into something a little different. I like that.

    "The Little Things That Give You Away" A late career masterpiece for sure. Sad for me, is I go to 3 USA Joshua Tree 2017 shows, and they play it at the show before my first, and the first show after my last, but at none of the shows I am at. It has the slow simmering affect "Bad" has. Not quite as great, but maybe along with "Magnificent" the two best songs from U2 since 2005 for sure.

    "Landlady" Another different sounding thing, odd intro. Above average song that I will sometimes skip, but usually do not.

    "The Blackout" On my CD, I have this in the front. It falls short of being the great late career rocker a lot of us want, but it's still an interestng song with some cheesy lyrics about politics. Not sure democracy is flat on it's back, Steve! Then again, I live in a country where a reality TV star who had over a billion dollars somehow has more than one casino go bankrupt(not easy to do), and becomes President. Oh, I'm supposed to be reviewing the song...a nice attempt, and I like it, and the video version is even better, which should have been an audio bonus track.

    "Love Is Bigger Than Anything in Its Way" Perhaps the most overcalcuated U2 attempt at a stadium anthem, and while it is not an awful song by any means, it just sounds so overblown,overproduced and cheesy, if this was played for me in 1983 I never would have guessed it was U2. Even a stripped down hard rock version of this would not be that great, but hard to believe they have like 22 remixes of this. Really? Is there a reason that many mixes of a song that did not chart that well?


    "13 (There Is a Light)" Even though this is ok, they may as well have just put a middle section in with the Glatsonbury Volcano That Resides In American Soul Guitar. There is a decent song for someone that should have been left off the album, and this is one of them.

    "Ordinary Love" (Extraordinary Mix) Like most U2 remixes, this one is dreadful. They may as well remix all of TUF, and let Karo Syrup remix MLK with a Loop of the Fish Out Of Water Running To Stand Still mix.

    "Book of Your Heart" Next to "The Little Things." This is the should have been album masterpiece. Sure, not a perfect song, but like the SOI extras, "Ballroom" and "Hands," better than nearly everything else on the album. Did Set The Bar Low really produce this? Guess he forgot to turn on the auto tune for this, and the production is in the vein of Eno/Lanois but I would have changed a few things, but man, is this a good song or what? Maybe Bono and Edge should read my "Tracklistings For Dummies" manuel where I explain that putting the best songs on an album far outweighs every single song blending in with the others.

    "Lights of Home" (St Peter's String Version) Honestly, I want to like this version, but the strings don't make the songs better, and I have not even listened to this since maybe April of 2021 or so.

    "You're the Best Thing About Me" (U2 vs. Kygo) Another crap remix from a band that has more remixes than most dance artists. Good thing I don't complian too much about remixes!

    "The Blackout" (Jacknife Lee Remix) One of the better U2 remixes, which coming from me is more of a backhanded compliment, but a remix I tolerate is a strange thing, despite it being too repetitve. Probably been better if more of the regular mix and vocal were included, but oh well. Good thing this was a short post.
    I enjoyed your reassessment and share many of your thoughts, including some that might not be the majority around here: like Best Thing and The Showman being good songs and Love is Bigger being a nice anthem but overblown.

    Also love "Songs of Ignorance" being at the bottom of your overall rankings.
  11. Originally posted by pleasegone:And now, my reassessment of SOE, and I'll throw in my current album rankings for fun:

    1 Achtung
    2 Joshua
    3 Pop
    4 Rattle
    5 War
    6 Zooropa
    7 Un4get Fire
    8 All That You Can't
    9 How To Dismantle
    10 No Line
    11 Boy
    12 Songs Of Experience
    13 October
    14 Songs Of Ignorance

    "Love Is All We Have Left" U2 had to join the ever growing list of older artists who absolutely had to trend follow by using auto tune. No possible way they would trust their inner creatviity. Andy set the Bar REALLY LOW on this one. What would have been an acceptable song just screams an old washed up band screaming for relevance and attention. Sad. Because it's not a bad album.

    "Lights of Home" really nice song here. It has held up well for me in the god knows how many years it has been for SOE now.

    "You're the Best Thing About Me" Decent song weakened by Teddy Bear Tedders production. Nothing like "Those Meddling Young Producers." Still, it's kinda cactchy and a fun listen.

    "Get Out of Your Own Way" See above, decent, Kendrick Lamar doesn't seem to belong in the outro/intro to Soul, but it is what it is.

    "American Soul" How many times can U2 copy old songs, or should I say remake? With this, and 13, they are really stretching here. Never like to see a brilliant artist running out of ideas, but it happens to them all, Phil Collins disease is part of being a songwriter, just ask AC/DC. But I love Collins with and without Genesis, but even Collins did not do this Still, Glatsoncano Volcanbury, uh err NO! It's American Soul. Again Kendrick Lamar doesn't really belong in the start unless it's only in the end of Way. Hard to believe they couldn't just start from scratch to put out another rocker instead of a recycled riff. As much as I love their cheesy pop side, their rock roots are nice to hear from once and a while sometimes.

    "Summer of Love" Very good song, nothing groundbreaking. Not quite as interesting as Lights, but decent album track

    "Red Flag Day" The best song so far, some of the sound harkens back to the War period a bit. One of the few songs I would skip to if I only had a few minutes to listen to

    "The Showman (Little More Better)" Another song I really enjoy that seems to get a lot of hate around here. It is the kind of self-deprecating humor I share with Bono, about the only thing we have in common other than I can't really play guitar either. This is a different song. U2 can get Phil Collins Disease as I mentioned above, and this is them sorta breaking out into something a little different. I like that.

    "The Little Things That Give You Away" A late career masterpiece for sure. Sad for me, is I go to 3 USA Joshua Tree 2017 shows, and they play it at the show before my first, and the first show after my last, but at none of the shows I am at. It has the slow simmering affect "Bad" has. Not quite as great, but maybe along with "Magnificent" the two best songs from U2 since 2005 for sure.

    "Landlady" Another different sounding thing, odd intro. Above average song that I will sometimes skip, but usually do not.

    "The Blackout" On my CD, I have this in the front. It falls short of being the great late career rocker a lot of us want, but it's still an interestng song with some cheesy lyrics about politics. Not sure democracy is flat on it's back, Steve! Then again, I live in a country where a reality TV star who had over a billion dollars somehow has more than one casino go bankrupt(not easy to do), and becomes President. Oh, I'm supposed to be reviewing the song...a nice attempt, and I like it, and the video version is even better, which should have been an audio bonus track.

    "Love Is Bigger Than Anything in Its Way" Perhaps the most overcalcuated U2 attempt at a stadium anthem, and while it is not an awful song by any means, it just sounds so overblown,overproduced and cheesy, if this was played for me in 1983 I never would have guessed it was U2. Even a stripped down hard rock version of this would not be that great, but hard to believe they have like 22 remixes of this. Really? Is there a reason that many mixes of a song that did not chart that well?


    "13 (There Is a Light)" Even though this is ok, they may as well have just put a middle section in with the Glatsonbury Volcano That Resides In American Soul Guitar. There is a decent song for someone that should have been left off the album, and this is one of them.

    "Ordinary Love" (Extraordinary Mix) Like most U2 remixes, this one is dreadful. They may as well remix all of TUF, and let Karo Syrup remix MLK with a Loop of the Fish Out Of Water Running To Stand Still mix.

    "Book of Your Heart" Next to "The Little Things." This is the should have been album masterpiece. Sure, not a perfect song, but like the SOI extras, "Ballroom" and "Hands," better than nearly everything else on the album. Did Set The Bar Low really produce this? Guess he forgot to turn on the auto tune for this, and the production is in the vein of Eno/Lanois but I would have changed a few things, but man, is this a good song or what? Maybe Bono and Edge should read my "Tracklistings For Dummies" manuel where I explain that putting the best songs on an album far outweighs every single song blending in with the others.

    "Lights of Home" (St Peter's String Version) Honestly, I want to like this version, but the strings don't make the songs better, and I have not even listened to this since maybe April of 2021 or so.

    "You're the Best Thing About Me" (U2 vs. Kygo) Another crap remix from a band that has more remixes than most dance artists. Good thing I don't complian too much about remixes!

    "The Blackout" (Jacknife Lee Remix) One of the better U2 remixes, which coming from me is more of a backhanded compliment, but a remix I tolerate is a strange thing, despite it being too repetitve. Probably been better if more of the regular mix and vocal were included, but oh well. Good thing this was a short post.
    Love Is Bigger was a number one dance single, hence all the remixes. So saying it didn’t chart well isn’t close to being correct. https://www.nastylittleman.com/2018/07/20/u2-love-is-bigger-than-anything-in-its-way-1-on-billboard-dance-club-songs-chart/
  12. I never understood all of the hate for SOE. It's a good album because of the sum of its parts IMHO. SOI is an album with more epic songs that don't fit well together in their original running order. I guess I am in the minority here as I also love NLOTH and think it's U2s last great album and a mini-masterpiece. For context, I have seen 34 shows beginning with Zoo TV. There is no album in U2s catalogue that even comes close to Achtung Baby and The Joshua Tree in terms of sheer EPIC GREATNESS. Both of those albums are pure ART that whose impact and power transcend music. Although HTDAAB has deep personal meaning for me since my Father passed away a year before its release and STYDMIOYO has elements of my story as well, and I had the privilege of talking with Bono about our Father's, HTDAAB is a bit flat for me overall. Mercy and Xanax and Wine should be on that record as well. I tend to listen to SOI and SOE way more than HTDAAB these days and although not close to perfect, the music is more adventurous and interesting to me than HTDAAB. The Vertigo tour was Phenomenal however. Thank you if you are still reading. Sorry if this turned into a bit of an unfocused rant.