Talk:Wide Awake in America

"A Sort of Homecoming" 'controversy'

"An alternative story from the 1985 Hot Press book "The U2 File" reported that 'A Sort of Homecoming' was rerecorded in the studio to be released as a follow up single to 'Pride.' Unfortunately the session did not go well and this plan was abandoned. The Hot Press journalist subsequently noted that the studio "single" version was in fact the version on WAIA with crowd noises overdubbed."

I'd like an author and page cite and corroborating verification, especially with this kind of wording. There's a little too much "the untold story of U2" about it.

U2 admits that the song was recorded live (during a soundcheck) at Wembley and mixed (with crowd noises dubbed in) at Good Earth Studios. Since "A Sort of Homecoming" had already been released on The Unforgettable Fire, I can't see how the single version would be different than the album version, except perhaps for time (album version 5:28).

While not live technically (no more than, say R.E.M.'s soundcheck songs on New Adventures in Hi-Fi or the "live" portion of Aerosmith's "Train Kept a-Rollin'" from Get Your Wings), it is a different version. Whether it merits note beyond what is already in the article is debatable. Fantailfan 13:23, 14 September 2006 (UTC)

Fair points - however

1 - I would have thought that the word controversy was a little over the top. To put this in context I am Irish & have been a fan since 1980, and fairly fanatical at that since 1984 when Pride was released. For this reason I can say that U2 & Bono in particular has been known to be rather loose with the truth over the years. For example, at the time of the Sun City recording in 1986, Bono claimed that "Silver & Gold" was written after a sing-song in which he couldn't contribute any singalong songs. He stayed up all night & then got Keith & Ronnie to play the song live in the studio with Bono tapping his foot as rhythm. In fact, Keith let it slip a few years later that the Stones parts were dubbed. This doesn't take away from what is a great song - it just means that the legend is a little tainted.

2 - As far as I know the U2 file is out of print & I gave mine to mt best mate of the time in 1986 & haven't seen it since. So I can't quote the page no - however is this necessary? The point you make about the song being recorded at a soundcheck is a well known story - but is also unverified.

3 - In essence the purpose of my addition is not to state that U2 are a sham - quite the opposite. I love this record ( though it has occured to me that no other recording of Bad has ever hit the heights of the version on WAIA - also this version of Bad has never been used on any collections, so I wonder if the boys are a little embarassed about it?) - but U2 entries should not be uncritical. I do believe that U2 stories can be exagerated - and some of these stories are funny and worth including. I also believe that this trait is fairly common in the Irish & is not something that we should necessarily apologise for.--Timoleague 07:54, 15 September 2006 (UTC)

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