Which 5 songs to make TJT a double:

In 1987 a double could be only 16 songs - 4 songs on each side.

As far as I know the following 9 songs were finished or being worked on -

Heartland
Sweetest Thing
Silver and Gold
Spanish Eyes
Deep in the heart.
Walk to the water
Luminous times.
Three sun rises
Love comes tumbling.

Which 5 songs would you choose. Or would you choose all 9?

For me it is about damage limitation, unless songs had improved greatly.

Fans and critics would be pleased it was a double, but some of TJT is now album filler.

I would put all the B-sides from TJT there.

I would choose -

Heartland.
Silver & Gold.
Spanish Eyes.
Deep in the heart.
Three Sun Rises.

They could safely be tucked away within the classics. Not causing any offence.

Luminous Times is a hell of a song and is a lost classic. Edge wanted it on the album but it wasn’t finished in time.

Luminous Times is a hell of a song and is a lost classic. Edge wanted it on the album but it wasn’t finished in time.

This song will be the soundtrack to our FaceTime with Martin.

Think U2 would have chosen -

Sweetest Thing
Heartland
Silver and Gold
The 3 sunrises
Love comes tumbling.

Or if they had decided to go for a double, chosen all 9 songs.

Not sure how much longer U2 could have delayed TJT release & still get a summer stadium tour. Two months?

A lot of good work could be done to some of these songs in that period. In 86/87 they were in the song writing groove.

Three or four more classics in a 16 song album & there would be no argument about what the best album of all time is.

Including my 5 songs the track listing would be -

Streets
ISHFWILF
WOWY
Heartland

Bullet
RTSS
Silver & Gold
Deep in the Heart

RHMT
IGC
Trip
Three Sunrises

OTH
Spanish Eyes
Exit
Mothers

Songs such as Silver & Gold & Spanish Eyes would be easy to play on TJT tour. Edge can 'play the blues'.

Not sure 5 would have done it, and some of the 5 listed by some here were not ready in 1987 or had already  been release on the Wide Awake EP.

Walk to the Water
Silver and Gold
Luminous Times
Deep in the heart
Sweet fire of love (may not have been ready in time)

For me, there's a better case for Unforgettable Fire being a Double than JT......

Wide Awake came out after TJT in the UK. But if it was released beforehand it was not an option.

Did U2 continue recording after TJT release. On the songs that were B sides to the 3 singles?

Wonder when they decided it would not be a double.

A couple of months before the 3rd March. Realising they did not have enough time, even if delaying the release. Or was it a last minute decision?

Either way it was the right decision.

The Amnesty tour cost them valuable recording time.

They could have kept the songs & worked on them for the next album. But in the end the songs found there right home - B sides.  The exception being Heartland.

B sides had not been a major event since The Beatles. However U2 were so big in 87 there would have been some interest in them. I bought the 3 singles just to hear the B sides.

Heartland
Silver and Gold
Spanish Eyes
Walk to the water
Luminous times

Wide Awake came out after TJT in the UK. But if it was released beforehand it was not an option.

Did U2 continue recording after TJT release. On the songs that were B sides to the 3 singles?

No it Didnt. It came out about 1985. I had it in school. I left when i was 16. I was 17 when TJT came out

The Three Sunrises and Love Comes Tumbling, really do not have the vibe required for TJT album. Especially the former