"Tunnel of love" lyrics written in stone...

[herlock]

What a great piece of news !  One of Mark's best songs ever written, musically and lyrically. Not to mention the killer guitar solo.  I'm listening to it right now !!! Love it  !!!!!!!!!!!

Which version ?
I like the monster ones but also the simple and clean sound studio version...

He will never beat the Alchemy version.

Some 85/86 live versions are just incredible.

Agreed. It is master of taste... Alchemy has a longer and better sax intro; 85 versions had the long break, a longer built to the finale (some find it more elaborated, some find it too lenghty), and some nice, albeit a bit cheesy, backing vocals.
I (slightly) prefer Wembley'85 to Alchemy, but I prefer Alchemy to Sydney'86, which has no intro, no break, a strange guitar tone, and a long solo which makes we wonder "where are we going exactly", unlike Wembley one that was much better IMHO.
But my absolute favorite would be Munich'91.... yeah, I know, romanticized with this Pensa sound.... but sooooo good

[herlock]

The only reason I

[JF]

Alchemy has a longer and better sax intro

the only reason is because it's linked to Portobello Belle.

for many years, I thought it was the TOL intro too, but it's in fact the PB outro, or at least the bridge from PB to TOL 

the "real" TOL intro begin when the drums come sin I think, so juste before the usual them, which was used from teh On location tour (longer but without sax) to the BIA tour.


it's a litlle bit like the "bridge" between SFA or OW and R&J on the BIA tour, which was later used between Heavy Fuel and R&J.
It's not really the R&J intro, which begin with the keyboards and sax

[ds1984]

I don't think TOL guitar part is too demanding for him otherwise he wouldn't play TR either.

BTW is he still able to sing it?

[lfblaauw]

BTW is he still able to sing it?

His vocals are better than ever.  It's or a emotional thing, or he can't play it anymore technically.  There are many long solos in a certain order during the outro, that leaves less space for improvisation. Without these solos it's not ToL.  And maybe he think's he can't do that anymore.

Regards
Lars B.

[Jarle]

BTW is he still able to sing it?

His vocals are better than ever.  It's or a emotional thing, or he can't play it anymore technically.  There are many long solos in a certain order during the outro, that leaves less space for improvisation. Without these solos it's not ToL.  And maybe he think's he can't do that anymore.

Regards
Lars B.

Is that possible? I have often thought the same thing, but can it really be that Mark is not longer able to play some of his songs? If you do a search on Youtube, you will find several cover versions of the song, and even I can play the outro solo, although I am no guitarist at all... Mark has played guitar for several hours every day over the last 45 years, shouldn't he be able to play Tunnel of Love? This is actually a question... I hope this year that he proves once and for all that he still can play anything

This guy, for instance. Great playing, but is he "better" than Mark is today when it comes to playing this song? Isn't Mark able to do this?

 

[Pottel]

I really think it is far simplier then that. Just like all of us, mark prefers some songs compared others. He has played it too often for his taste. Maybe it simply does not have the special place in his heart that it has for us? Maybe he really does not care and has long forgotten bout it? Guess guy is not gonna keep mentioning that all the fans want it. And I guess no one or not enough people have asked him about I directly. Most of the time the simplest solution is the correct one.

[dmg]

One of the things one must remember is that Mark is under pressure to perform well night after night and deliver his special sound without any glaring mistakes.  The audiences expect that.  He also doesn't get the chance to record another video if it all goes wrong!

I think a good point has already been touched upon in that the singing would be demanding in that it involves loud, energetic delivery and these are two adjectives not associated with MK these days!

Herlock is right too in that he was out of breath after every performance of this song and IMO he was struggling with it on the OES tour - there are a few ropey versions there.

[ds1984]

Mark still plays SOS, mistakes included. And IMHO when comes the time to go guitar soloing on it, it is a very demanding song for him, even his modern half speed version (Guy would use "groovy feel" words instead)

[sweetsurrender]

What a great piece of news !  One of Mark's best songs ever written, musically and lyrically. Not to mention the killer guitar solo.  I'm listening to it right now !!! Love it  !!!!!!!!!!!

Which version ?
I like the monster ones but also the simple and clean sound studio version...

For me, it has to be Alchemy. It's mostly the only version I listen to regularly.  I think Mark can still play anything he wants to including TOL. It's only our guess why he wouldn't play it anymore.  Perhaps he can't play it the way it used to be played, but I bet he can add some twidly bits to it  and it will sound awesome.  just like SOS these days.   

I don't remember munich 91 version.  Will check it out.

[dmg]

Munich 11.10.91 is okay, but he didn't quite nail it that night.  Surely there are many, many better versions than that?

[herlock]

Munich 11.10.91 is okay, but he didn't quite nail it that night.  Surely there are many, many better versions than that?

I find the finale very emotional. I know that many (including you, dmg, probably ) think that the pensa is not the right guitar for that solo, and that the Log/BIA tour versions are better, but I just can't help finding the 91/92 versions very moving.
By the way, dmg, I know you prefer the BIA tour versions to the Alchemy version (and I tend to agree, only by a small margin, at least for Wembley), but what is your second best ? 91/92, or Alchemy ? do you prefer Sydney'86 or Alchemy ?

[dmg]

Munich 11.10.91 is okay, but he didn't quite nail it that night.  Surely there are many, many better versions than that?

I find the finale very emotional. I know that many (including you, dmg, probably ) think that the pensa is not the right guitar for that solo, and that the Log/BIA tour versions are better, but I just can't help finding the 91/92 versions very moving.
By the way, dmg, I know you prefer the BIA tour versions to the Alchemy version (and I tend to agree, only by a small margin, at least for Wembley), but what is your second best ? 91/92, or Alchemy ? do you prefer Sydney'86 or Alchemy ?

Oh, that's a toughie!  Sydney '86 or Alchemy...    Although I probably prefer the arrangement of the LOG tour better, I still think that Mark was a better guitarist on the BIA tour and the way he built up the final solo - you know the fine, delicate parts - he could do far better.  It just sounded so lovely, the way he found those beautiful sounds for the right moment.

[herlock]

Munich 11.10.91 is okay, but he didn't quite nail it that night.  Surely there are many, many better versions than that?

I find the finale very emotional. I know that many (including you, dmg, probably ) think that the pensa is not the right guitar for that solo, and that the Log/BIA tour versions are better, but I just can't help finding the 91/92 versions very moving.
By the way, dmg, I know you prefer the BIA tour versions to the Alchemy version (and I tend to agree, only by a small margin, at least for Wembley), but what is your second best ? 91/92, or Alchemy ? do you prefer Sydney'86 or Alchemy ?

Oh, that's a toughie!  Sydney '86 or Alchemy...    Although I probably prefer the arrangement of the LOG tour better, I still think that Mark was a better guitarist on the BIA tour and the way he built up the final solo - you know the fine, delicate parts - he could do far better.  It just sounded so lovely, the way he found those beautiful sounds for the right moment.

Well, I follow your meaning, but I also think the BIA tour was not homogeneous: the arrangements on Wembley 85 are wonderful, agree, the guitar tone is slightly overdriven and its smoothen the song... but on Sydney'86 I just find that the guitar tone is very different and not right, and that the solo is too convoluted for me - in this particular case I prefer Alchemy. Don't you think ?
And what about 91/92 vs. Alchemy ?

[dmg]

Munich 11.10.91 is okay, but he didn't quite nail it that night.  Surely there are many, many better versions than that?

I find the finale very emotional. I know that many (including you, dmg, probably ) think that the pensa is not the right guitar for that solo, and that the Log/BIA tour versions are better, but I just can't help finding the 91/92 versions very moving.
By the way, dmg, I know you prefer the BIA tour versions to the Alchemy version (and I tend to agree, only by a small margin, at least for Wembley), but what is your second best ? 91/92, or Alchemy ? do you prefer Sydney'86 or Alchemy ?

Oh, that's a toughie!  Sydney '86 or Alchemy...    Although I probably prefer the arrangement of the LOG tour better, I still think that Mark was a better guitarist on the BIA tour and the way he built up the final solo - you know the fine, delicate parts - he could do far better.  It just sounded so lovely, the way he found those beautiful sounds for the right moment.

Well, I follow your meaning, but I also think the BIA tour was not homogeneous: the arrangements on Wembley 85 are wonderful, agree, the guitar tone is slightly overdriven and its smoothen the song... but on Sydney'86 I just find that the guitar tone is very different and not right, and that the solo is too convoluted for me - in this particular case I prefer Alchemy. Don't you think ?
And what about 91/92 vs. Alchemy ?

Well, as I've said before I think there are a few ropey versions from the OES tour, mainly early on in the tour.  In saying that, there are also some wonderful versions and he really knew how to build up the solo with some delightfully delicate touches by this stage too so I have a slight preference for a good OES version.  Anyway, is there ever really a bad version of this song?

Highlights probably for me:

BIA:  Seattle 20.09.85
OES:  East Rutherford 23.02.92