Both songs were available to fans before they were on record. I believe Gone was played at a concert in Atlantic City and a demo version of Speed of Sound circulated. I recall being enthusiastic about both in their pre-album incarnation. It's hugely disappointing when a song you get a preview taste of ends up clunking on an album.

The finished products of Gone and SOS are similarly awful. Both involve an over-performance from Ed. With Speed of Sound the over-emoting is disastrous. Comically bad, like maybe on purpose. By contrast, a few songs later on the End an emotionally poignant vocal from Ed is spectacular. So I know he still has it in him.

These two, Gone and SOS, are similar to Man of the Hour in style (which gets a pass because it's a non-album track) but it's as if Ed has gone into emotional, slow ballad mode one too many times and lost an authentic spark once the album track is laid down. Also, there's a clean, full band sound that doesn't work so well with these intimate numbers.

Anyone have an articulate, musical vocabulary to describe what might be vexing me about these two? I am a fan of latter-day PJ but after listening to their recent output again I realize I've glossed over some troubling trends. It's a side of PJ that those around here who argue they've lost it fixate on (when they're not fixated on the Fixer).

I can't really help you. I love Gone and Speed Of Sound. Though, I will admit that the Gone demo (Ed solo; on the Xmas single) is probably superior to the album cut. But just.

Speed of Sound, however - I don't hear in any real difference or lack of passion or commitment or whatever from Ed from demo to album track.

Gone is better than Tremor Christ.

I like them both. Gone from S/T I think is an improvement on what was a lovely acoustic number, but essentially an Ed solo song. I don't have any problem with the album version and the organ part of that song actually kind of makes me cream.

Speed of Sound. This made me do a WTF, but as soon as I got used to the fact that it was overproduced, shiny etc. and has lasers, I was down with it. What we have is a song which sounds like it could've been written by a different band, but is still a great song and is interesting enough to still appreciate. It's a bold move for PJ, but essentially successful as what it's meant to be, a pop song. Again, the original would have been an Ed solo song, and considering we already have Just Breathe and The End, it would've been one solo song too many. The only thing that bothers me is "Soooooouuund-UH" at the start. But that's really early on, and from then on the song simply builds in momentum. So that beginning little wobble I can forgive, because the rest I love.

I understand the vehement dislike from some people, I just don't feel it.

i hate all PJ songs equally.

Oh Scott, you silly man.

the worst thing about SOS is the way Ed says 'Sound' that second time. its hilarious to me. Such a cheeseball song in general. my record for listening to this song is 1 minute, 32 seconds.

all the crashes in Gone are annoying. Because of its lyrics, this song should get a very minimal treatment, not the overblown mess it got on the album.

I hate the album track Speed of Sound. I replaced it with the demo on my Backspacer on iTunes. I love Gone though... 4 or 5 star song to me.

It sounds like your issue simply stems from the addition of the band, which is an understandable hangup in these two cases.

You can't polish a turd.

People are always saying this. I'm going to give it a shot next time I come across one.

A lot of musicians complain that its really hard to recapture the magic of an initial demo. You get great takes and it comes together and sometimes you can't recreate that when you're in a big fancy studio trying it again. I imagine if more early demos leaked of songs in their infant stages, a lot of people would prefer those to the final takes on the studio albums.

But out of a huge catalog, that's only really two songs where you heard an early version, and then didn't like the final result. Sometimes bands just miss the mark on arrangement and production. There are those who adore Radiohead's final version of Motion Picture Soundtrack, but I'm one who can't listen to it after having first heard Thom Yorke's live solo performance of it on a radio broadcast which was just perfection with him and electric guitar.

Speed of Sound is great no matter the presentation. I personally enjoy the studio take. its nice to see the band actually do something different with an ed song instead of just playing along as if they dont give a fuck (man of the hour, gone)

Gone is an average song that is only somewhat more enjoyable live because the band gets loud.

I can relate to this. I followed Radiohead closely before Hail To The Thief and In Rainbows were released, and they played all of those songs live in the months preceeding. For the most part, I think they got it right in the studio, but I wasn't too happy about what they did to "Videotape". They took something epic like "Paranoid Android" or "Pyramid Song" with all kinds of band dyanamics and they turned it into something flat and inconsequential in the studio. I was crushed by that. I thought it was going to be a huge single and everything. It went from being my favorite new song to my least favorite song on the album! In regards to Hail To The Thief, I've never grown to like the sequencing because I thought the sequence of my advance "live" version was far better! Anyhoo....

Music fans are the worst. Just a bunch of fucking nerds with way too much time and self importance.

We are awesome.

Actually, Richard Hammond's show, Brainiac: Science Abuse, proved that you can indeed polish a turd

Gone was added late to Avocado and I think they rushed the arrangement. The drumming in the verse is stilted and doesn't suit it particularly well and the rest of the parts are all a bit generic. It's ok but they could have found a better arrangement - it doesn't flow between the verse, pre-chorus and chorus all the transitions are awkward. Compare it to given to fly where the verse really moves along through the drumming and you don't get the horrible effect caused by the movement to a straight ahead rock beat at the beginning of the chorus.

"Gone is an abortion." - someone on RM

No truer words have ever been written.

Wait... Did you just compare Man of the Hour to Gone and Speed of Sound?!