Thread by @u2gigs

Will anyone get upset if I say the upcoming re-release of ATYCLB is a big disappointment? I look at the big 5-disc version and it's just... lazy.

I keep trying to think of ways to describe it, and I keep coming back to lazy. #U2

Look, no casual fan is going to go out and buy the digital 4-disc or physical 5-disc. A casual will pick up the single or 2-disc versions. These bigger ones are aimed at the collectors like all of you and me. And there is nothing enticing on it.

Let me go through it #U2

Okay, the remastered album on the first disc. That's great and expected. It may not have needed a remaster as much as the earlier reissues (or Rattle & Hum and Pop), but quality is always appreciated. Plus it has Ground Beneath Her Feet. No issue here #U2

The 2-disc release is where I start raising an eyebrow. Okay, this is aimed at the casual fan instead of us but you've still cut a third of the live tracks from the concert. I'll be generous and won't even include the single verse of Wake Up Dead Man as a missing song. #U2

Now we get to the 4-'disc' digital and 5-disc physical release, and this is where I really start having a problem with the effort in this. First, let's not get sidetracked into thinking that the 5-disc has more music. The only difference is the concert is split into two CDs #U2

Lets look at the B-sides disc first. It has 9 songs on it. None are new. All are easy to find. Most of these you could get on the CD singles; I just checked eBay and most of them are about $5, probably about the same price as when they were sold twenty years ago. #U2

If you bought the singles, you have them. If you bought The Complete U2, you have them. If you're an @U2 subscriber and got Medium, Rare + Remastered (available multiple years), you have them. I got most of them on iTunes for $0.99 a few years ago.

So 9 songs, all available #U2

@U2 Let's compare to the other reissues here:
ATYCLB: 9 songs, 0 new
JT2007: 14 songs, 4 new
Boy: 14 songs, 5 new
October: 17 songs, 8 new
War: 12 songs, 3 new
TUF: 16 songs, 4 new
JT2017: 15 songs, 2 new (not including 07 tracks)
AB: Not even worth comparing
#U2

@U2 On to the remixes. Here we have 11 songs, four of them new. Okay, that's not as bad as it could be. It isn't good, but it could easily be worse. At a glance it is missing at least 2 remixes though, the Nice and Nasty mixes of New York. Any others? #U2

@U2 So we come to the live disc, which might be where my biggest issue with this release lies. At a glance it is clear that this is just a rip of the Elevation Boston video. First, it is still missing the three cut songs from that release: Mysterious Ways, Pride, and One. Why? #U2

@U2 Second (and this is the pedant in me), Wake Up Dead Man can hardly be called a live track here. It's a single verse snippet cut in from the end of One (in the video you can still see the buffalo on the screen). #U2

@U2 And last... look, nobody likes a pirate. But the audio from this concert has been ripped from the DVD and floating around online for almost 2 decades now. Anybody who wants this concert on audio already has it. I've had it on CD in my car for at least five years. #U2

@U2 Now this is not an endorsement or encouragement at piracy. And yes, this is the first time the AUDIO of this concert is legally available. But while audio of ZooTV, Slane, and 2/3 of PopMart has been released, Boston was always left unavailable. #U2

@U2 So if people want to listen to the Boston audio, of course they look online for it. Maybe it is not the most ethical, but when there is no legal way to listen for almost 2 decades people will download. Heck, you can even use freeware to do it yourself. #U2

@U2 Again, my point here is not to endorse illegal downloading. Nor is it to try and justify it to myself. My point is, anybody who wanted the audio of this concert already has it. And probably for quite a few years by now too. #U2

@U2 And given the controversy of this particular set of shows... honestly I'm surprised that the band would even want to release it. We know that most shows get recorded. The Elevation tour had 113 of them. #U2

@U2 Hell, the VERY NEXT concert, also in Boston, had 11 O'Clock Tick Tock, Sweetest Thing, The Ground Beneath Her Feet, and the one after that (still in Boston) had a twisted set with Pride at the beginning, Beautiful Day at the end, and Party Girl in the middle. #U2

@U2 And also the last 'regular' live performance of Even Better Than the Real Thing, for those who care. Every performance since has been the Fish Out of Water mix which lacks the "crimson sky" couplet. Oh, and Out of Control too. u2gigs.com/show1111.html #U2

@U2 You know what, I'm not even going to get into the stuff from the ATYCLB era that was released but isn't included.

A brief summary? The Farmclub songs, the Irving Plaza songs, the Manray club, Stay from Toronto, some more remixes... #U2

@U2 So let's close this out with a look at the physical goodies. There's a 32-page photo book which is good, and a 2-sided poster.

If history is anything to go by, that poster will be so full of creases and folds that it isn't even worth using. And you can only use one side. #U2

@U2 So! After all of this, what do we have for the non-casual U2 fan/collector that is new in this big 5-disc release?

4 remixes and a folded piece of paper. #U2

@U2 So to close this long thread off I go back to the very first tweet, and looking at this release what do I think?

Lazy.

The only word that fits is lazy. #U2

(The previous thread/rant was posted by Matkin. The views within are not necessarily endorsed by U2Gigs).