Ok, 'October' 'Where the Streets Have No Name' 'Seconds' If I remember rightly you were asking about Bluegrass a while ago so you might be interested to learn that there are two bluegrass albums available which feature bluegrass musicians playing songs by U2. They are called 'Picking on U2' (Vol 1+2) 'Pickin' on U2' (0ne) Audio CD (July 31, 2001) Label: Cmh Records Catalog: #8589 ASIN: B00005LZP8 'Pickin' on U2' (Two) Audio CD (July 22, 2003) Label: Cmh Records ASIN: B0000A0DTW Did I say that my soul was born below the Mason/Dixie line ?

"U2" by negativeland. - just kidding, but more about that in a minute. Being more of an "Achtung Baby" era fan, my favourite U2 song would probably be "The Fly". I was in my early/mid teens at the time and combination of simple but brilliant guitar solo and adventurous (for U2) sonic textures combined with the whole fun irreverence of the track really pulled me in. I particluarly loved the lines "every artist is a cannibal/ every poet is a thief/ all kill their inspiration/ then sing about the grief". It was great to see what had formerly been a slightly preachy stadium rock band take influences from the likes of My Bloody Vanlentine, Public Enemy, etc., produce something so interesting and still manage to be commercially successful. I love the whole Achtung Baby/Zooropa era, even Pop gets a place in my affections for its intent if not its execution. U2 were really taking chances back then, having fun manipulating the media. Which brings me back to Negativeland.... Before U2 decided to do the whole ZOO TV thing, an experimental sound-collage band called Negativeland were having fun manipulating the media. They created a track called "U2" which is snippets of U2 mixed with hilarious outtakes of US DJ Casey Kasem and various other inane commentary. It is quite possibly one of the funniest records you will ever hear... Except that you won't hear it without resorting to hunting it down on MP3 via Peer 2 Peer filesharing like Kazaa or Soulseek. Island records sued mainly on the basis of the cover which feaured "U2" in large letters and "Negativeland" underneath, conveniently ignoring the fact that you would have to be an idiot to mistake this for a U2 record. It nearly bankrupted Negativeland and Island even insisted on every copy of the record being recalled and destroyed. I still can't entirely forgive U2 for this, they really ought to go back and listen to "the Fly" and listen to their own lyrics again. Now I know this whole thing was mainly down to the record company and apparently Bono and the lads thought the record was hilarious, but they could have done more to stop it. Even up until now, as far as I am aware there hasn't been any attempt to make things up with Negativeland. No public show of support, no attempt to help them get back on their feet. The best way U2 could show their support would be to commission Negativeland to do an "official" remix of one of their tracks. It would certainly be more interesting than anything Paul Oakenfeld could churn out and definitely better than that awful "take me to the clouds above" trance abomination that was doing the rounds recently. /end rant

Ooohhh so many great songs to choose from.... A Sort of Homecoming was always one of my faves as well Suzy. They played it at the first Slane gig in 2001 for the first time in 15 years and I went ballistic. I've always loved the slower U2 songs like With or Without You and One. Stay ( Faraway So Close ) is brilliant as well, a very under rated song in my humble opinion.

No-one rarely mentions any songs from 'All That You Can't Leave Behind'. I think 'In A Little While' is probably my fav U2 track with 'Walk On' trailing behind along with their version of 'All Along The Watchtower' on Rattle And Hum, and of course 'One'.

All that you can't leave behind was a nice album with well crafted songs. I liked the country soul feel of some of the songs, like "wild honey". I think "Grace" would have to be best song lyrically and arguably contains a far more beautiful sentiment than "One". "One" is great song but despite all the meaning various people attached to it is basically the story of a couple having an argument. I can't help feeling that the recent direction U2 are taking is the sound of them running behind the parapet for safety after the poor reaction to "Pop". I hope the new album will be much more interesting than the epic sounding, but ultimately empty "The hands that built America" single from the gangs of New York soundtrack. I don't want another Acthung Baby, you can't repeat the past, but I would like to see them take a few chances again. On the subject of U2 cover versions, heres an interesting one. A guy who calls himself Add Music has done his own wonderfully lo-fi version of not just one song but the entire Actung baby album. I stumbled across this one day by accident while looking for stuff on character from japanese TV called Domo-Kun (don't ask). Anyway, best of all you can download it all for free: http://actdead.com/archives/000019.html

A Sort of Homecoming. "The Unforgettable Fire" is the only U2 album I can still listen to.

Wow, thanks for the info on the bluegrass U2 stuff, Jules, I'll look into it. I'd heard about the Negativland thing. I was kinda into them in the late 80's and then lost track of them later. I also lost track of U2 after Joshua Tree, although I do now have all their later stuff (I think)...and I saw them on their Achtung Baby tour. (If that was the one with the cars suspended from the ceiling.) I rarely listen to their later stuff just because it got so overplayed. I do really love the song "Walk On." It looks like Add Music has taken down his mp3's. I may try emailing him about it, though, I'd love to hear that. Edit: Actually, it looks like the link from the archive just doesn't work, but from his home page it does: http://actdead.com/

I was last night ripping my U2 albums for my iIriver and a few U2 gems I'd forgotten about came back to me: 'When I Look at the World' from All that you can't leave behind. A wonderful – even inspiring - lyric, sitting on top of a marvellous song that is home to a simple but classic guitar solo from the Edge. Yet it was the only track from the album that they never played live on the Elevation tour. I could never work that one out. It’s not like it’d be a difficult one to pull off live or anything. If you have the album go back and give it a closer listen. ‘If God would send his angels' from 1997’s POP. A timeless track from an album often overlooked. I have to say though that there was a better mix of this when they got around to releasing it as a single. The rush to complete the album in time for the Olive-on-a-stick tour meant that a number of tracks were not perfected on the mixing desk before the release date. This was one of them. ‘Hawkmoon 269’ from Rattle & Hum. One of the most intense tracks they’ve ever recorded. Shiver-down-the-spine stuff. Every time. ‘Stay (Faraway so close)’ from Zooropa. One of the finest SONGS (deliberate use of capitals) from them. Ever. And I had completely forgotten it existed until only last week when I stuck it on one evening without even thinking. ‘Exit’ from The Joshua Tree. Dark and dirty. Each time I hear they’re recording a new album I hope they’ll go back and rediscover the dark side of the sonic spectrum. Because when they dabbled with it in the past the results were exceptional. (and I remember on the Joshua Tree tour I saw them infuse ‘Exit’ several times with Bob Marley’s ‘Exodus’ which was powerful beyond belief). ‘Elvis Presley & America’ from The Unforgettable Fire. Completely unlistenable (it is Bono improvising over a backing track which is actually slowed down from the speed the band originally played it at). But then one day I (as you excuse the cliché) “got it”. Don’t ask. But check it out if you haven’t heard it. There was also some brilliant B-sides (like ‘Walk to the Water’ and ‘Luminous times (Hold on to Love)’, b-sides of ‘With or Without You’ if I remember correctly) which would have been forgotten about completely if it wasn’t for that excellent “B-sides” bonus CD that came with initial copies of the 1980-1990 “best of” album. And let’s not forget that U2 recorded probably the greatest Christmas song. Ever. It was a definitive version of ‘It’s Christmas time (Baby please come home)’. Recorded one steaming July evening afternoon in Glasgow at a sound check, it is nothing short of fabulous. If those cheesy Christmas compilations they play in the shops each Christmas just substituted this track for that Slade abomination our lives would improve dramatically. And then some. Bubbling under? ‘Drowning Man’ from ‘War’, ‘Promenade’ from the Unforgettable Fire, ‘Love is Blindness’ from Achtung Baby, ‘In god’s Country’ from the Joshua Tree and ‘An Cat Dubh’ sequing into ‘Into the Heart’ from Boy. I could go on. eoghan

Eoghan, when the time comes, as it surely will, YOU ARE THE MAN to compile and oversee the U2 Box Set thingy ! Holy noodles, there are some tracks in there even U2 have forgotten they recorded ! Yes, loved that ‘It’s Christmas time (Baby please come home)’. Can't seem to find it anywhere. It was on some long since deleted album. By the way, what thinketh you of Bono declining to exercise his franchise last Friday ?

Bonos a busy man ya know, hes got a business to run: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/06/16/bono_silicon_valley/

I love Running To Stand Still, One and Sunday Bloody Sunday :)

top 5 U2 1. a sort of homecoming - Bono's lyrics and voice for the first time in harmony 2. please - from Pop. the bit where he sings 'love is hard....' still gives me chills 3. acrobat - Bono's most real song 4. An Cat Dubh - Boy's innocence is still really affecting and this song captures all that promise 5. For the first time - made me cry when I first heard it - i had some issues back then - just emotional, you know...

I think at the moment it's Ultra Violet (Light My Way) It's a great song to wake up to

"Electric Co", "Fire" and "A Celebration" from the early years, can´t listen to much of the rest, just too bombastic. "Electric Co" is softer on record and has an eerie quality, "Fire" is totally different to the rest of "October", with great guitar treatments, drums and interesting lyrics (about the Stardust ballroom in Dublin which burned down in 1981 with a lot of lives lost). It is a shame as it was a great portent, and "A Celebration" was a raucous signal of the album to follow it. "A Sort of Homecoming", "The Unforgettable Fire" and "Promenade" from the "Unforgettable Fire" LP, softening the rough rumble and introducing lyrical as well as musical delicacy and dexterity. The b-sides to the Unforgettable Fire single, "The Three Sunrises" and "Love Comes Tumbling" should have been included on the album, the former with a strange serrated guitar line, the latter a soft atmospheric song with ambiguous lyrics, and an insistent bassline and chorus. And not forgetting the live version of "Homecoming", which is actually a different studio version of the song brilliantly capturing the energy of the lyrics. U2 released the best b-sides of their career with the Joshua Tree singles - "Walk to the Water" (from "With or Withour You"), "Spanish Eyes" on the b-side of "Still Havent Found" and especially the original versions of "Sweetest Thing" and "Silver & Gold" from the b-side of "Streets". "Testimony" from the 1987 eponymous Robbie Robertson album, a rock´n´roll soul burster of a song with Bono in great voice, playing bass, and a great horn section. Nothing on Rattle & Hum lived up to it. There´s another duet, "Sweet Fire of Love", a little more U2 by numbers but Robbie´s gruff drawl adds an extra dimension to it. It´s worth buying the album in itself by the way, contains the hit "Somewhere down the Crazy River". "Night & Day" from an AIDS awareness compliation album (all Cole Porter standards) released in 1990, marked a return to form after Rattle & Hum, and provided the first indication of their Achtung Baby direction. Since then...most of Achtung Baby, "Stay" from "Zooropa" and the odd song from Passengers & Pop. "All you can´t leave behind" has 3 very good songs - "Grace", "Kite" and "The Ground beneath her feet". The 2 new songs for the greatest hits album were shockingly substandard and I really hope u2 get back to form for the new album.