Please v Please

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an tha

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Please v Please
« on: August 11, 2020, 12:42:48 PM »
Right - it is time to have this out once and for all.... :)

I know that people here rate the single version of Please above the album version, but I have just never subscribed to that view.....I really prefer the album version and by a long way too.

From when this has cropped up in chats before I know I am in the minority, but I want to 'have it out' on here now and make the case for the album version and discuss why we take the side we do in this.

For my money the album version is better because:

Right off the bat with it's steady disorientating build at start it hooks me more than the cheesier single opening.

It is rawer

It has due to the wonky bassline that they cleaned up for the single an uneasy, tense feel to it, that gives it an edge.

It feels tougher and more bruised.

It conveys the emotion and the feel of the song more honestly.

I love the metallic sounding lead into the 'September, Streets capsizing' part....which is polished away on single, dialled right back.

Edge is then playing a pretty 'funky' part to accompany that part...again gone on single.

The single version has been polished up too much.

It is not as good for me because:

The strings towards end after the 'november december, remember are we just starting again' are cheesy and spoil what was a really nice bit of work by The Edge which is pushed back in mix which again lended a tension and a feel to the song that felt rawer and had more grit.

The strings right at the end feel superfluous to me.

The rawness is gone.

Edge is more subdued in his delivery and that subdued state does not create the same tension and enough contrast, which the live version that they were trying to recreate had.

Bono sounds cleaner and this IMO takes away from the song....it is better with the grittier vocal of the original.

The join to the 'cos love is big' part is jarring and it is just suddenly there....the album version has a really nice lead into where it builds for that pay off. It feels badly edited in single.

Larry sounds quieter, but not in a good way....he is crisp and cracking on the album version, he is muted on single.

The single has the bigger near finish Edge riff, but it just does not work like it did live for me and i prefer the nervier, tenser less obvious album version run in to the end.

So there you have it......i fully expect to be in the minority as already discussed....

Let 'battle' commence...  8)

We all know them - but maybe back to back listens might inform the chat...

Album:


Single:

« Last Edit: August 11, 2020, 07:54:23 PM by an tha »
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MPare1966

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Re: Please v Please
« Reply #1 on: August 11, 2020, 12:53:41 PM »
Shaky internet connection where I am. Can’t elaborate much, but I will say this:

Album version is a cool little demo.

Single version is a wonderful completed song.

 :D
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riffraff

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Re: Please v Please
« Reply #2 on: August 11, 2020, 01:00:45 PM »
I would vote for album version.
Surrender, dislocate

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an tha

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Re: Please v Please
« Reply #3 on: August 11, 2020, 01:04:23 PM »
©️1972

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Neil Young

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Re: Please v Please
« Reply #4 on: August 11, 2020, 01:20:23 PM »
I prefer the album version.  Haunting, raw, more interesting. The single version feels like a polished up live edit and I guess it was inspired by how they played it live, but it’s too slick. So as a second option I would rather pick one of the many great live recordings over the single edit.

And that video has not aged well! And neither has Bono. And neither have I, come to think of it!

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THRILLHO

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Re: Please v Please
« Reply #5 on: August 11, 2020, 02:00:10 PM »
single easily.

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guest582

Re: Please v Please
« Reply #6 on: August 11, 2020, 02:12:29 PM »
Cool use of the poll function.

Please single version completely changed my entire view of the song, which went from an average U2 song on the album to one of their very best songs with the single remix.  The single version takes flight with the Edge's solo and the strings adds a dramatic element to the song.  I also like the wind chimes ending.  This is the 'finished version, how the band intended it had they had more time to finish up the album.


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Magnificence

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Re: Please v Please
« Reply #7 on: August 11, 2020, 02:22:22 PM »
album version

pop is a "raw" album in many ways, often said that it was not finished, rushed, etc

i prefer this to the over polished and overproduced puddles that u2 has put out in recent years

must have been a squirrel running across the roof, no worries

bono's voice is on occasion rough during please as well, but again, this is on par with the rest of the album, and quite fitting for the heavy lifting theme of it all

a top effort in my opinion

the live performance of please is absolutely to die for

we're all gonna die anyway, so why not...
“I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee”
Hebrews 13:5

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Acrobat

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Re: Please v Please
« Reply #8 on: August 11, 2020, 02:26:31 PM »
Album version. Not even close.
What are we going to do now it's all been said.
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an tha

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Re: Please v Please
« Reply #9 on: August 11, 2020, 02:32:01 PM »
Cool use of the poll function.

Please single version completely changed my entire view of the song, which went from an average U2 song on the album to one of their very best songs with the single remix.  The single version takes flight with the Edge's solo and the strings adds a dramatic element to the song.  I also like the wind chimes ending.  This is the 'finished version, how the band intended it had they had more time to finish up the album.

Gone off polls - they tend to shorten discussion....

Could not disagree more with your 'finished version' 'how band intended it to be' comments.

The strings for starters make it far too melodramtic, come across to me as ham fisted and cheesy and are there for sake of making it big and grand.....song was not like that they tried to make it more u2'y for the masses on the single and of course fell into the cliched trap of trying to make the song overly grand and dramatic - which ironically strips the drama away from it's original form.

They really tried to capture the feel of the live version but even back then couldn't help but polish it until it lost the gritty feel it had.....it is a desperate and bleak song telling a hard and dark tale, but the over dramatic and over polished single version turns a song that had an Iron Mike Tyson gut punch into a song with a hammy Rocky Balboa punch.
« Last Edit: August 11, 2020, 02:40:49 PM by an tha »
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Capital D

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Re: Please v Please
« Reply #10 on: August 11, 2020, 02:38:29 PM »
I prefer the album version for many of the same reasons An Tha lists.

In essence, the album version creates a feeling of tension, like the floor might fall out from beneath you at any moment, and that feeling complements the lyric much better than do the typical soundtrack-style strings they slapped into the single version.
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Are full of passionate intensity.

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guest582

Re: Please v Please
« Reply #11 on: August 11, 2020, 03:09:41 PM »
Cool use of the poll function.

Please single version completely changed my entire view of the song, which went from an average U2 song on the album to one of their very best songs with the single remix.  The single version takes flight with the Edge's solo and the strings adds a dramatic element to the song.  I also like the wind chimes ending.  This is the 'finished version, how the band intended it had they had more time to finish up the album.

Gone off polls - they tend to shorten discussion....



Afraid of the results.  Typical insecure PopMartian.


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AchtungBaby1991

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Re: Please v Please
« Reply #12 on: August 11, 2020, 03:11:20 PM »
I like both versions.
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an tha

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Re: Please v Please
« Reply #13 on: August 11, 2020, 03:30:35 PM »
Cool use of the poll function.

Please single version completely changed my entire view of the song, which went from an average U2 song on the album to one of their very best songs with the single remix.  The single version takes flight with the Edge's solo and the strings adds a dramatic element to the song.  I also like the wind chimes ending.  This is the 'finished version, how the band intended it had they had more time to finish up the album.

Gone off polls - they tend to shorten discussion....



Afraid of the results.  Typical insecure PopMartian.

You are right, John......i've grown a pair and added a poll.
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swimming sorrows

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Re: Please v Please
« Reply #14 on: August 11, 2020, 03:52:08 PM »
On relisten:

Live>Album>Single though I love the solo!

I guess the POP singles and Best of may have been the beginning of the over-polish approach