U2 - WAR POLL 2008

I voted "Seconds." I'm not big of a U2 fan, but I love this album.

yeah i am going to vote "Seconds" I haven't heard this album in forever, but I remember rly liking that song (& wantng my imaginary band to cover it)

Bono's performance on "Drowning Man" is slightly too melodramatic for me but The Edge's E-Bow work and the string melody that comes in at the end are amazing. As for voting, I can't decide between "Like A Song" and "Two Hearts" yet.

is it the video for 'two hearts beat as one' that makes this your 'snow record'?

this album made quite an impression on me, too, and was my gateway drug. i chucked my dokken & scorpions cassettes and was soon listening to the local college radio station, wusm.

is it the video for 'two hearts beat as one' that makes this your 'snow record'?

there's also the gatefold photo

http://tralfaz-archives.com/coverart/U/U2_war_in.jpg

new year's day for sure even though i've probably heard it a few too many times.

Drowning Man - Yeah, very melodramatic but it just works.

I would also be tempted to vote for a live version of '40', cos that used to be a chill down the spine moment in the good old days when a U2 gig used to be about the band not the perfomance.

"Two Hearts Beat As One".

Not a big "War" fan though. Sounds a bit too obviously Steve Lillywhite. Getting more or less rid of Lillywhite and getting in Daniel Lanois instead was a good move.

Just what I was thinking Geir.

All responses other than New Year's Day are batshit.

I would also be tempted to vote for a live version of '40', cos that used to be a chill down the spine moment in the good old days when a U2 gig used to be about the band not the perfomance.

Oh shit yeah. I haven't seen U2 since 1987...when did they stop ending shows with "40"? When I saw them in 1985 the audience kept singing the last lines literally for about two minutes after the house lights came up. Never experienced anything like that at a show since.

'40' kills me every time, gets my vote

great album, gotta go with "like a song . . ."

pace my post above, I'll concede there's an argument for this:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fa/Sunday_Bloody_Sunday_riff_A.png

there is an argument for that, but imo it has more to do with this:

HH|-----|-----x-x---x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-----|-x-x-x-x-x-x-----x-x-x-x-x-x-----|
SN|-o-o-|-o-o-----o-------------------o-o-|-------------o-o-------------o-o-|
BD|-----|-o-------o-------o-------o-------|-o-------o-------o-------o-------|
+ 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +

(still voted "new year's day" tho)

Loved this album to absolute pieces untill I pretty much gave up on U2 ("Pop" is solemnly responsible for that. Well, that, and Bono 'This Fucking Guy!' Vox), and I haven't returned to it since. Picked 'Two Hearts' from memory, but I can definitely feel the argument for '40'.

there is an argument for that, but imo it has more to do with this:

HH|-----|-----x-x---x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-----|-x-x-x-x-x-x-----x-x-x-x-x-x-----|
SN|-o-o-|-o-o-----o-------------------o-o-|-------------o-o-------------o-o-|
BD|-----|-o-------o-------o-------o-------|-o-------o-------o-------o-------|
+ 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +

(still voted "new year's day" tho)

ha YES totally... one of the all-time great lead-ins

why the hell am I considering voting "The Refugee"

omg "the refugee"! i haven't thought about that song in years.

i voted "new year's day"

When Warren Zevon died, he was surprised to find himself in Rock ‘n’ Roll Heaven. St. Peter was showing him around, introducing him to all the departed rock stars. Visiting a fantastic music studio, Zevon marveled as he saw Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, John Bonham and many others. Suddenly, and with a flourish, Bono walked in to join the all-star jam session.
Zevon gasped to St. Peter: “I didn’t know Bono died!”
“Oh, that’s not Bono,” St. Peter assured him. “That’s God. He just thinks he’s Bono.”

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

xpost *roffle* - I might've heard that before...but it still kills....

Hahahhah look at me and my insane poll ending dates! Jesus what was I thinking? Must have been trying to get past the holidays or something.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Would have voted "Surrender" if I'd noticed this.

hate to rant, but 'new year's day' has to be one of the greatest statements of the 80s, instilled with all the passion, energy, hunger and drive which one characterised this bad, and which of course has since been completely subverted by black sunglasses, stadiums and pipe dreams.

Like a Song

gosh, you know what's fabulous? the remixes of Two Hearts Beat As One! playing them all now on Spotify.

Still my favorite U2 album. "Two Hearts.." remains their finest hour, as far as i'm concerned.

Someone in the office was playing this earlier and it's put me in the mood for hearing the first three albums, which I'll try to fit in over the weekend. I'll also check out the remixes pinefox mentions on Spotify.

I'd have voted for Two Hearts... I think.

Brilliant cover photo - that kid's now a 30-something Dublin photographer. He was paid in Mars Bars for modelling for the cover.

don't laugh: there's a ferry corsten remix of "new year's day" i enjoy quite a bit

Haha, tell me that's true about the Mars Bars.

From http://www.atu2.com/news/u2-interview-peter-rowen.html

Q: The story of how you were paid in candy bars (Mars bars specifically, if I'm not mistaken) for the U2 photo shoots is legendary. Do you have any particularly fond or funny memories of working with the band?

A: My memories of working with the band are all but gone...the only things I actually remember are me not liking the soup we were served by the photographer's wife and Bono nearly crashing into a line of traffic on the way home from the shoot!

Q: During those Boy and War photo shoots, did you try to have any input into the poses or your wardrobe, or were you agreeable to whatever they instructed you to do?

A: There was a full box of Mars bars at stake! I was up for anything!

Me being all yes-but-no-but about the record: http://nobilliards.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/u2-war.html

Love this part:

So U2 felt moved to prove they were Men. The cover star of War – Peter Rowen, who had also been the cover star of Boy some twenty-nine months earlier – was still youthful but now scowled, looked both angry and afraid, hands up behind his head as though a gun were being pointed at him. Listening to the record itself was not a dissimilar experience. It gave me a headache and felt like being hit on the head with a rolled-up copy of the Christian Science Monitor for forty-two minutes. All credit to the group for wanting to essay convincing and powerful Christian rock music without the Anita Bryant trappings in an age where it was felt smart to believe in nothing, but I felt that I was trapped in a lecture.

Album was released 43 years ago today. Trump seems to be a fan.

especially the line about the Golden Age as his administration desperately asserts

(Being sarcastic as he actually did start a war today)

And we love to wear a badge, a uniform
And we love to fly a flag
But I won't let others live in hell
As we divide against each other
And we fight amongst ourselves

(Got back into "Like a Song" recently. It was probably my favorite song on here when I was a teenager, loved its strident declaratory nonsense. Still like its energy.)

I can't believe the news today
I can't close my eyes and make it go away

(Being sarcastic as he actually did start a war today)

I got that ;)

sing this with me, this is '47'