Any amazing U2 outtakes?

Over there long career, I was wondering if there were any songs that weren't on an album or a reissue (deluxe etc.) and just haven't be released by U2 themselves but have leaked or found themselves on bootlegs that's worth checking out.

I looked at a U2 forum before and there was a thread with all the outtakes from 1976-present and theres a lot that never even made b-sides. Like demos for record companies etc.

So I'm wondering (hoping) there's nothing worth looking into and I should stay clear from demos and outtakes and just concentrate on their b-sides?

 

I like some of Achtung Baby extras like Lady With the Spinning Head.

 

A few recent outtakes-- "Mercy" is probably the most sought after. It's from the Atomic Bomb sessions. "Winter" from No Line on the Horizon, which actually turned up in the Linear longform video. "Soon," which was on a 7" 45 RPM included in the 360 Live deluxe set. Then there's the material they played live on the latter half of the 360 Tour, some of which morphed into tunes on Songs of Innocence.

 

^^^ What bferr1 said, as far as the 21st century. Several interesting cuts from the iTunes-only box never got out in official lossless, except for fan club discs, which is a shame.

As for the 20th century, basically I'd say no, not as far as we know.
Their longstanding method of writing in-studio cuts out a lot of the potential for that, as opposed to the "we'll record 18 and pick 12" sort of approach.

Fortunately, there's a pretty rich vein of b-sides, with deep pockets in the Joshua Tree/RH and Achtung eras. You can check out the bootlegged recordings from those AB sessions (released before the record), and in retrospect it's pretty clear there were next to no hidden gems left completely behind (maybe one that finally surfaced in the AB box).

 

There is the sessions with Rick Rubin between Bomb and No Line. Was that album completed and shelved, or were the songs just abandoned? I think "The Saints Are Coming" and "Window In The Skies" came out of those sessions.

 

Yeah - Soon is a really cool song - certainly better than anything that made it onto the No Line Horizon Album - it's kind of a Beatles-esqe kind of track which probably doesn't fit with the other tracks on the album which is why it was left off - a shame that most people will never get to hear it.......

 

I would really love a high quality version of "Mercy". The reworked live version from a few years ago was ok but I prefer the studio track.

 

I'm still surprised this one never showed up on the deluxe War/The Unforgettable Fire remaster (as supposedly the song was recorded in either 1982 or 1983).

www.youtube.com/watch?v=8c5EWrV9iO8

 

I love most of the Achtung Baby outtakes. I really enjoy the bootleg 3 cd set Salome.

 

This site is not up-to-date but still it's what I used to track down the officially released stuff.

http://www.u2wanderer.org/disco/

 

The whole Passengers album

 

IIRC, originally entitled "Kingdom of Your Love," and it was meant to be on the aborted Songs of Ascent album, which would have been the companion/follow-up to No Line the way Zooropa was to Achtung Baby. I wonder what else would have been on Songs of Ascent.

 

Anyway...back to real discussion....U2 used to be one of those bands who gave away their best completed tracks on their B-sides but it seemed little else was recorded in the studio. From what I understand, they'd arrive at the studio with some almost-formed songs and a bundle of ideas they'd jam away on (like 'Rise Up' or 'Blow Your House Down'). Achtung Baby was the first album that did a lot more work on and hence the extra songs. I don't think there's a great deal more in the can other than what's already been released in archive boxes or played live (e.g. the Songs of Ascent contenders on the last tour). I think they're a band that are limited in their songwriting capabilities but are comfortable with that - there's not a lot of 'great lost U2 songs out there'.

 

Oh, Mercy. The studio version. For 10 years I've been trying to understand how they cut that from Bomb at the last minute (thanks Larry). For me, it's one of the most interesting things U2 have done this century. And it has soul, Bono sounds like he's invested emotionally. The vocals fit the song perfectly. Doesn't sound forced, like so much of their stuff does these days imo.

It's like the U2 with real soul and creativity is still in there, but it's being buried by the big bad corporate U2 monster.

 

Rather, U2 records a lot in the studio. But yes, it's mostly jams. That's how the songs slowly take shape with them. Then, near the end, they'll select the most promising tracks and shape them into complete songs. So there's probably a lot of material, but not many complete songs. The Salome Sessions/Achtung Baby Tapes give a good insight in how they work and craft songs. But that set isn't big on fully formed songs.

 

Salome set, disc 2, track 9. I get why Blow Your House Down had to go through an eventual radical change, but holy cow is that good.

 

What's the story behind Larry and Mercy?

 

Apropos of what I said, back at the time of ATYCLB they stopped adding rarities or outtakes as B-sides on their singles and remixes/live tracks started to dominate. I don't mind the latter if the material is great (and U2 have done that in the past) but bumping up the CD singles with 6 remixes when an unreleased track would have sufficed became an very irritating trend.

 

There's plenty of extra tracks that didn't make the album cut on both The Unforgettable Fire & The Joshua Tree..

 

I recall reading that Larry felt "Mercy" didn't fit on Bomb, and he convinced Bono that it should be removed at the last moment. I believe it was Bono who talked about this at some point after the release. Bono then called it one of the "best U2 songs you've never heard". I'm sure I messed up that quote.

 

Here's a quote from an interview they did with Blender magazine in 2004 (shortly before the HTDAAB album came out):
http://www.atu2.com/news/u2-walk-on-water.html

 

Both B-side tracks of "With or Without You" are very good: Luminous Times and Walk To The Water.

Deep In The Heart and Spanish Eyes are also very good and they are the B-side tracks of another Joshua Tree single, "I Still Haven't Found...."

 

Yes, it's bizarre that "Be There" has been completely forgotten about in U2's reissue programme. As far as i'm aware, it was recorded in the summer of 1982 whilst the band were touring the U.S. It was one of a couple of tracks produced by Jimmy Destri when the band were considering working with other producers. By rights it should have been included on the "War" reissue. Although not a great track, it's an interesting bridge between the sound of the "October" and "War" albums and has the same "feel" as "Drowning Man" from "War".
Another unreleased track (but played live) was "Womanfish" from the "Joshua Tree" sessions. It was played (along with the later released "I Trip Through Your Wires") on Irish TV music show "TV Gaga" on 30/01/1986 (29 years ago today -god i feel old suddenly!) :

The song is frankly a drunken rambling mess but "fun" i suppose and very unusual to hear the band perform unreleased tracks.

 

I've read a quote from Brian Eno that there is a lot of material in the can, but in years of searching, I've never found any evidence that any of it has leaked.

 

Those sessions with Rick Rubin producing and Chris Lord-Alge engineering were held to yield some new tracks to add to their "U2/18" compilation on which the songs you mentioned have seen the light of day. However, from time to time, some recordings of unreleased songs have surfaced on U2 fan sites: most of those were recorded on the beach outside of Bono's house in France when he had the stereo blasting a new song. One of those so-called "beach clips" consists of another song that comes from the Rick Rubin sessions that has not been officially released so far. The chorus goes something like "all my life I've been waiting for / this moment I'm in" The song has got a great solo from The Edge and U2 sound like the best bar band one could imagine. It's too bad this great song is still unreleased. It's not edgy, not cool, not following a trend, just good music.

On youtube, there is a video from the late 80s after the tour for the "Rattle And Hum" had already finished, and in it, you can see and hear Bono recording his vocal for a song called "Wild Irish Rose". The backing track does not sound much like U2 but the song feels really deep and great. Again, another unreleased tune.

Happy hunting!