me: Thought For The Day [snagged from someone's facebook]: Women are Angels, and when someone breaks our wings....We simply continue to fly ......... On a broomstick...We are flexible....
Tom: good. you start with your own kindeling. makes it easier for us
...this, is what I put up with. Sheer, unavoidable, obnoxious brilliance.
Labels: life in general, silliness
Uploaded this for Katie, but also for anyone else who would like:
U2 - Angel Too Tied to the Groundoh Bono. <3 title. Though really, it's Adam and Edge who are standouts on this track. Gorgeous bassline (a la New Year's Day), and the prettiest little icy piano runs.
It's an outtake from the War sessions, and I have to say it's about time they started putting these things out. ;p I knew it would happen eventually, and I know there is a MASSIVE, massive stash of perfectly beautiful songs in U2's studio stash. On top of all the half-finished things they have laying around.
And I want to hear it all. XD But really! I do. I absolutely love the rough cuts of things, hearing songs come up out of nothing. I forget what it was on (probably Making of JT video), but I remember listening to part of the session where they found a song, must've been Running to Stand Still, or maybe Exit. And it was just amazing to listen to, the evolution of these songs, from the first glimmer to the final product, and the thousand variations in between...
Uuuunfortunately for me and all the other people out there who are psycho-fans enough to want to listen to this stuff... it's been released in the money-grubbing way. Remaster an album, add a bonus disc of b-sides and unreleased goodies, and throw in a booklet with "never before seen" photos and someone's essay.
...I will admit, U2 did it right, for going that route. Edge babysat on the remastering process (which I am still so freaking happy about). The essay in the War booklet is from Niall Stokes, who's followed and written about them ever since forever. They included "Treasure (Whatever Happened to Pete the Chop)", which was one of the most obscure tracks ever (and in fact used to be my benchmark for how serious a U2 fan someone was, lmao), and a song even *I* had never heard.
What surprised me though, looking at War and Unfire at Best Buy yesterday... was just how many of the songs I already had. Yes there are four mixes of NYD and three of Two Hearts...but I totally had them already. From NAPSTER, mind-bogglingly enough. Everything else, I have on VINYL. (Well, Mom did. And she bequeathed. Hooray for parents!)
I HATE that I had to buy War again. I already had it on cd. I have it on cassette. I have it on vinyl. And now I have it on cd *again*. I'm almost enough an audiophile to care that it's remastered. (Okay maybe I am. sigh.)
I WANT. A collection of cds. Hell, I'll take mp3s at a high bitrate, or flac or ogg or whatever floats your boat. I want a big massive stack of JUST UNRELEASED THINGS. You can throw in some b-sides for fun, though after two Best Of's that had bside discs, and all these re-releases, I think that's a major copout.
I will pay! Significantly! For all those outtakes collecting dust around Larry's house. I would love them! I would love them SO much more if I didn't have to sift through all the re-re-re-re-re-released packaging that's currently around them! If all I'm getting from each re-released album is ONE track that I never had... you really couldn't offer a single disc of all those ten or eleven tracks? Really?
I understand full well that your average consumer, your casual fan, wouldn't buy an album of outtakes that are - holy crap - almost thirty years old. But they might just buy a collector-y looking item with a pretty case and extras. So you get the average joe to plunk down $30 instead of $15 or so. Congrats. I would have paid the $30 for a SINGLE disc, if you'd put a good 20, 25 tracks on it. And honestly, I think U2 has a big enough fanbase for that to be a viable thing. I stood with an AWFUL lot of people on the streets of NYC at 6am for an 8pm concert, and we talked to them about a mutual online buddy who can tell you just how many times a U2 concert has EVER opened with "Gloria".
...I did not mean for this to be a giant mega-rant. It honestly didn't pain me to plunk down the money for this thing, and I'm sure I'll eventually get around to the rest of them. I have a hell of a boxed thing for the Joshua Tree re-release. I have... let's see. "Boy": cassette (Mom's original US release), cassette (I bought in Italy, with the original cover art), CD, LP (original US release, I think, a friend bought me at a garage sale), LP (super-pretty re-release with original cover art that Mom bought me). And I will get a re-release CD because I am *absolutely* obsessed with babyU2. (I cannot wait for the day when I can buy an official, pretty, cleaned-up-audio, version of "Street Missions" and "The Fool".)
I am, in fact, the target audience for this shit, and I will, in fact, gobble it right up. damnit.
Which is why I uploaded the song online for all of you - if the $30 is spread among a little gift for a handful of people, it's not so bad. ;)
Labels: griping, music, U2 spazz