Classic or Dud: U2

that 2018 version of the fly does sound really good. that one remains solidly within Bono's vocal wheelhouse, probably 3/4 of achtung baby remains well within reach for him -- wild horses, mysterious ways, and ultraviolet are the ones where he really stretched out i think but the former pair might be well-served by the lower register vox, they would prob sound better. ultraviolet is the one where i kinda wish he'd still be able to hit all the high notes.

Bono's own father pointed out early on that he was a baritone masquerading as a tenor. That being the case, a lot of U2's material had an inbuilt shelf-life. If even guys like Robert Plant lose their high notes, what chance did Bono have to still be able to sing something like "The Unforgettable Fire" by his sixties?

Bono's own father pointed out early on that he was a baritone masquerading as a tenor.

This makes sense. But did Bono take care of his voice? I feel like there's a lot of musicians for whom long-term self-care is an afterthought at best, or is maybe addressed too late to have much of an effect. I mean, Roger Daltrey is 78 and still singing "Tattoo" in its original key, and Paul Thompson is 71 and driving Roxy Music like he's 21, so it's definitely possible to retain one's strengths over the years.

Paul Thompson is 71 and driving Roxy Music like he's 21

lol he sooooo wasn't. PT is one of my all time favorite drummers, and my eyes were on him most of the show, but there was no way he was driving much anything. Still good, tho.

Daltrey, not sure he was ever much of a smoker, which may be key.

Bono def pushed his voice past its natural zone on earlier recordings and frequently sounded awkward in certain spots. i sense he probably got some vocal training after awhile which allowed him to lose that awkwardness and smooth everything out, but it all likely took its toll. He smoked for awhile too, which didn't help. He sounds good in the lower register, so it could be a net gain should he choose to go that route exclusively on future albums though who knows how many of those there will be.

as far as old timers who can still do it, Richard Thompson is in a class by himself

Andy McCluskey of OMD still has the chops, and the dancing

how many bands lowered the keys of brand-new songs (as opposed to older songs the singer may struggle with) in order to play them live?

Michael Penn recorded "No Myth" in C, but when he performed it on TV at that time he sang it in G.

regarding taking care of his voice, Bono is similar to Ewan McGregor in Moulin Rouge, he's very throaty and punches the high notes out, but his technique isn't actually very good, so no doubt he lost that range faster than if he'd sang properly - but even then, if you're operating at the top of your range in your prime and continue to tour for 100+ days a year for decades and decades, you're singing live more than the average musician, and for a longer time at each show, so the wear and tear adds up a lot quicker.

^^ that plus the fact that he did more between- (and during-) song patter than probably any vocalist of his generation, most of which was shouted. And he didn’t get any relief during the shows: it’s not like there’s any long U2 instrumentals or more than two songs that the Edge could sing on his own.

holy shit bono & edge did a tiny desk concert & it’s so great

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxo-loXdcH0

I want a Tiny Desk Concert that is just Adam and Larry.

Mission: Tiny Desk

bugger.
i hate acoustic versions so was going to avoid this album.
but yeah .. this is really good.

I checked out when boner started directing the choir

Beautiful Day had strong Flight of the Conchords vibes for me but I bailed on the rest

rmde i should have expected nothing less

had no idea that the tiny desk space isn't tiny at all, I remember a Bono interview some years ago regretting not spending more time writing and recording new stuff, would have been totally possible and legendary to play the batman song acoustic though, and with a choir!? seems like a missed opportunity

My sister and I used to joke about the day they'd do a Vegas residency.

I remember them releasing an acoustic version of "Stuck in a Moment..."on that 7 CD EP that was a Target exclusive back in the day. Not sure if they stopped doing this, but IIRC they used to do short acoustic sets of a selection of hits at all of their shows (like three or four songs), and they usually held up pretty well that way.

Dud

they also did a BBC piano room session with One, Vertigo and this, SOS by ABBA:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLbexDnt_a8

I listened to all of this yesterday. Better than I expected, not as good as I hoped it might be in the best case scenario, and it probably should just be regarded as U2: the acoustic sessions or as a bonus to Bono’s book vs any new path being charted. It’s not essential but not bad.

The last album suffered from overproduction so it’s nice to hear them a bit more back to basics. Just four two guys in a room, making music! Some of the versions are pretty stellar, some are a bit more perfunctory. I’m a completist, so I’m inclined to get this. but maybe not at the current price.

You mean the 4-cd thing? Is it like "U2: Naked," minus all the (mostly) awesome production?

More like Bono and the edge naked, in a room together, just two guys etc. etc.

boner and the wedge

I watched the Tiny Desk concert and thought it was awful. Like monumentally bad. It's time to retire and enjoy being billionaires for the rest of their lives.

Counter opinion: I thought it stripped away some of their heavy-handed seriousness, and looked like they were having fun. Note, I pretty much stopped listening to U2 circa Rattle and Hum, so I knew none of these songs previously.

It's not a completely bad idea - just to use one old example, they created a new, "less-produced" arrangement of the Pop-era B-side "North and South of the River" for a special broadcast that was held in response to the bombing in Omagh. To date, it's the only time the song's been performed live, and it's actually one of my favorites - I wish it was given an official release (it would've fit perfectly on this set had they been open to older recordings), but plenty of home recordings are out there:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueqt_KY1YlU

Having said that, most of this set is for collectors only as I can't imagine playing this whole thing ever again. It probably would've helped to make one LP of the best stuff and leave the complete four-disc set as a "limited edition" type of thing. "11 O'Clock Tick Tock," "Every Breaking Wave," and at least a few others made a nice impression, but they kind of get lost in a giant load of 40 tracks.

Nm, I didn't realize there was a single disc version!

giant load you say

I enjoyed the Bono, Edge & Dave show on Disney+

I heard the full thing on release day and I may never hear it in full again but the best tracks imo are Dirty Day, Until the End of the World and the weird '93 fat lady falsetto arrangement given to Desire.

lol this version of "desire" is so weird

This is so sleepy I h a t e it

oh man this new album is so bad. There's 4 discs of it????????

The best version of "Dirty Day" was a remix that was a b-Side on the "Please" CD single

4U2 would be U8 no?

unless 2 is a power and not a multiplier

suspect i will buy this when its cheap in a years time to flesh out a deal at amazon to get free delivery.

u-cubed

Sadly this is a snooze. The takes of classic good songs aren’t any better than the originals and any hope that there’s a hidden gem amongst the more recent interpretations is soon scotched. Bono should definitely give up trying to do a falsetto.

Will make an exception for Stay (Faraway so close) which has a spectral beauty.

I think I'll take back what I said, even when you try to whittle it down to the ten best, it really is a snooze. Ah well, at least I was trying it before I actually bought it.

My daughter's at Bono's son's band tonight, wild when your kid and you are at different shows in the same city at the same time.

Someone uploaded the 1988 Grammy Awards - I skimmed through it and it’s pretty strange. I’m not sure if it’s the whole thing or not, but surprisingly U2 and Prince didn’t perform even though they were clearly there (love the look Prince gives to the camera when his AOTY nomination is announced). Most of the performers aren’t even nominees and they way they’re presented is kind of odd and primitive. Lou Reed and his band are out in some balcony entrance, then Run DMC come running out below, and Billy Crystal’s reading out the names.

U2 only appears when they win AOTY and it’s the most anticlimactic presentation I’ve seen for a top award. There’s no real build up and they just present it halfway into the show. It’s cool to see Brian Eno up there, and he even gets a special mention from Bono, who also pays respect to Prince and Springsteen. He also makes a joke acknowledging how much Christgau/The Village Voice hated them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2tiwY2LTL8

Wow that opening Whitney Houston performance is great
And the list of names of who’s appearing - wow - Steven Wright! Dwight Yoakam! Lou Reed ! Miles Davis ! Etc

I heard what sounded like a perfectly fine MOR late-era U2 song on the radio the other day, and it turned out to be by Inhaler, the band fronted by Bono's son. I think it was this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0Hilyfp_8A

Reading Bono's memoir yesterday, one of many thoughts I had was that he has bought into (and sold) the idea that everyone has that Achtung Baby was radically different and new because it was 'European', 'cool', 'futuristic', rather than 'rootsy', 'American'. OK. He even talks of how they were pursuing 'electronica' and 'dance music'.

There is clearly a kernel of truth in all this. But I also started to think that the idea quickly became a myth, which everyone has gone along with; and that it was a kind of marketing, a way of demarcating 'U2 eras' and making them easier to sell or at least describe.

How about this view: Achtung Baby was the most ROCK lp that U2 had made up to that point - save, admittedly, its immediate precursor RATTLE & HUM?

I think that's accurate.

Another odd thing, by the way, is that the idea persists that The Joshua Tree is 'about America' - again Bono himself continues to believe and promote this view. Again, at some level this must be true. But again, it's also something of an image that we've all been sold, for many years (including via literal images, cover art), and if it had been described differently we might hear it differently.

I thought about it and decided that *lyrically*, only two songs on The Joshua Tree actually mention the USA.

Two mention Central America. One is about Ireland. One the UK. One is meant to suggest Australia.

The Joshua Tree contains fewer guitar solos than Achtung Baby.

You could probably construct a counter-narrative about the LP that wasn't much about 'America' at all but about the things that people like to say Achtung Baby was about - 'European modernist soundscapes', say.

I don't mind the official standard narratives about these records, they've helped everyone 'understand' U2's career, but I can wonder whether they have limited relation to the facts of what's on the records.

Achtung Baby was radically different and new because it was 'European', 'cool', 'futuristic', rather than 'rootsy', 'American'. OK. He even talks of how they were pursuing 'electronica' and 'dance music

Perhaps somebody should have told him to purchase a David Bowie record before saying this

I feel that "Joshua Tree" was more about this romantic idea of America as a concept, which definitely lingered in the margins of "Unforgettable Fire" and was perhaps too on the nose on "Rattle & Hum." Wide open spaces, lonely highways, broad horizons, and the promises and rewards they portend (or fail to deliver), etc.

I think perhaps "Achtung" was similarly oblique about electronic music. It was more the idea of dance music than the actual execution (which sort of arrived via "Pop"). "European modernist soundscapes" does kind of broadly captures the sound of "Achtung."

The one marketing line I never understood c. "Achtung" and "Zooropa" was U2 as ironic. "Achtung" in particular has this almost oppressive dark night of the soul undercurrent to it which is the opposite of ironic, while "Zooropa" I've always thought was tinged by this pervasive sense of morning after sadness.

That's a pretty good, convincing post.

Though I would still say that the 'textures' of 'streets', 'with or without you', 'red hill mining town', are not 'American' (and that's fine).