Zion and Face and Ghost Options

[PillarOfDavidson]

Forgive me if this has already been discussed on the forum. But I was listening to Zion earlier and this thought came over me because I knew the song sounded familiar. I just figured it sounded similar for some general reason, such as Ed's voice sounding good like it used to... but then for whatever reason I went to listen to some Live and thought "I haven't heard Face and Ghost in a while... let's spin that."

Wow... was he trying to rip himself off? I mean, damn... I know there are obviously some differences. The chorus to both songs goes in somewhat different chordal directions and Zion has more of a peppy tempo to it, but the similarity in overall structure, the lyrical theme, and the identical Em-to-Asus2 chord progression (tuned down half-step) in the intros/verses are impossible to ignore.

Face and Ghost is hands down the better song. It's hauntingly deep and powerful. I don't want to disparage Zion too much because it is one of two songs I actually tolerate listening to off Alive because they remind me of vintage Ed. But Ed really needs to stretch his creative boundaries out just a bit for his next album...

[Pokey]

I can see similarities and I do enjoy both songs (F&G is one of my absolute favorite Live songs), and I am all for artists pushing their boundaries and growing ... but considering everything else on Alive was unlistenable to me I'd prefer him to delve back into what worked for him.

[PurdueSteve]

You are right Sheptical, the Em to Asus progression and strumming pattern are very similar. F&G does the pull-off with the ring finger on the Asus and I don't think Zion does. They are so similar that in one of his acoustic bootlegs when going into the 3rd verse on F&G Ed sings "take me" and then stops himself and while continuing to strums admits that he was about to "break off into a new song, but it is my song". I think it was in the bootleg he gave away for free (Wateratts).