MEMBERSHIP HAS ITS PRIVILEGES: U2'S "U22"

I'm not just a fan of U2, I'm a member of the fan club. I was a member back in the day when the fan club was called "Propaganda." My membership has occasionally lapsed over the years, but I always re-sign up when they have something cool, like this: U22. It's a 22 track live collection, taken from U2's 360 tour (which blew my mind).

The tour focused on their latest album, No Line On The Horizon, but by the end it was really leaning on Achtung Baby. I could never understand why they didn't put out a live album after Achtung Baby, it was such a great studio album that really translated live.

So I was glad that this collection has some of the best songs from that album: "Even Better Than The Real Thing" (excellent live), "The Fly" (one of my favorites, it's amazing live) and "Ultra Violet (Light My Way)," which was a highlight of the concert.

On the other hand, Bono mangled one of my favorite songs, "Until The End Of The World," by vamping on Frank Sinatra in the middle of the song, and singing a bit of it like Sinatra. Personally, I don't care about Sinatra (I know, sacrilege, sorry, but I don't).  It just took a really intense song (and one that hasn't had a great live version on CD)  and made it sound corny.

But on the other hand, "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" (which has had a few different live versions) got yet another new one: South African trumpet legend Hugh Madekela (a solo artist in his own right, he also played on The Byrds' "So You Want To Be A Rock And Roll Star?") joined them on the song, adding a completely different dimension to it.

What are some other highlights? "Magnificent" (similar to the version they did on The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame 25th Anniversary Concert), "Stay (Faraway, So Close)," "One Tree Hill," "Beautiful Day," "All I Want Is You," "The Unforgettable Fire," "Zooropa," "Walk On," and their latest classic song "Moment Of Surrender." "Out Of Control" was a great touch also.

Is it worth the $50 annual subscription price?  Well, I'm not going to try to sell you on it, but I'll just say that the live collection is awesome.  If you're enough of a U2 fan to want to spend the cash, go here to join the fan club.

"(AHK-TOONG BAY-BI) COVERED" REVIEWED

There were so many great releases towards the end of 2011, so if you have missed this gem I'll give you a pass.  But it's time to catch up!  (Ahk-toong Bay-bi) Covered is a tribute to U2's classic Achtung Baby LP from 1991. The original is one of my favorite albums ever, so I was a bit worried about this... but the talent lineup on it is incredible.

By the way, this was originally available only in the UK, it came with an issue of Q magazine. In the US, you can download it at iTunes, with proceeds going towards Concern, an organization dedicated to working with the world's poorest people to improve their lives.

The album starts out with Nine Inch Nails covering "Zoo Station," which is surprising on several levels. One, I thought Trent Reznor was done with NIN.  I guess not?  Second, I thought he didn't like U2, although I guess if he liked any of their albums, it would be this one (when it came out, I thought it sounded like U2 were influenced by NIN's debut, 1989's Pretty Hate Machine). Third, NIN's versions is so different.  It's much more subtle, and a bit creepier than U2's.

Patti Smith, one of U2's biggest influences, honors them with her piano based cover of "Until The End Of The World." Accompanied by her sons on piano and guitar, and a bass player, it's much different and more sober, and maybe more sad, than the original.

Garbage, who opened for U2, makes their return to active duty with "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses?"  Like U2 during this era, Garbage wrestle with getting soul into the intersection of humans playing instruments and programmed computer music.  Few do it well, but U2 and Garbage both did. I look forward to hearing Garbage's comeback album.

Depeche Mode, a peer of U2's, picked the perfect song for themselves with "So Cruel." It's interesting to hear them cover something from this era, since Achtung Baby (and Zooropa and Pop) are the closest U2 came to Depeche Mode's electronic sound. I've always thought that this is one of U2's most underrated songs (if I remember correctly, it's the only song from the album they didn't play on the tour).  Depeche Mode really put their own spin on it.

Friend of U2 Gavin Friday takes one of my favorites, "The Fly," and makes it sound a bit sneakier.  It's a bit more electronic, and like NIN's "Zoo Station," mostly strips The Edge's badass riff from the song.  It almost sounds like he's covering a remix. It's very cool though.

One of my favorite artists, Jack White closes the album with a very emotional "Love Is Blindness," the closest thing to a blues song U2 has ever done.  The Edge wrote that one when he was going through a divorce, and sadly, Jack just went through one. He brings a lot of sorrow to the song,  it's the highlight of the album for me, and one of the best songs of 2011.

I don't love every song on the album, and of course you can just buy the songs you like, but because the money goes to a worthy cause, I downloaded the whole thing.

TOMORROW ON THE MORNING JOLT: REISSUES! U2, NIRVANA, ROLLING STONES, BEACH BOYS, JETHRO TULL

Tomorrow morning I'll be on SiriusXM OutQ's The Morning Jolt with Larry Flick talking about one of my favorite subjects: box sets and reissues.  It's that time of year, they make great gifts!

I've written a lot about U2 lately, and I've also written about the Achtung Baby album and the reissue.  It blew me away when I first heard it in 1991, and I've never gotten tired of it.  The super deluxe version of the box set has lots of great extras (although I balked at the $400+ uber box set, which has the same music, but does have magnets, stickers, Bono shades, etc.  Cute, but for me, not worth the money.  Really, all you need is the album itself, but I really wanted some of the extras.


I've written about the Nirvana Nevermind reissue. Well, a lot has been said about the album lately.  It really was a game changer for music. Yeah, it led to a lot of bands deciding that they had to pretend to be angst ridden, but what are you gonna do?  You can't blame all the hair metal bands on Van Halen, and you can't blame the grunge fakers on Nirvana. I bought the super deluxe version of this also.  Again, for the extras, including a live recording and also Butch Vig's original mixes of the album.  But you'd do fine with the deluxe version.  Or really, just the original, it's so powerful and still holds up today.

I've also written about The Rolling Stones Some Girls reissue. I've mentioned that it's probably my favorite Stones album, and that the outtakes are so good, I think they're better than the Stones' next album, Emotional Rescue. And they're better than most band's albums too.  When Ronnie Wood joined the band, it just worked. It was while the band were still powerful and had their swagger.  I like a lot of what they've done since Some Girls, but nothing came close to matching this LP.  I love Tattoo You and I really like Steel Wheels and A Bigger Bang, none of them come are in their neighborhood.

Jon Moskowitz (@JonMoskow) from the blog Vivoscene was nice enough to do a guest review of The Beach Boys' Smile. I don't really get the album, and I Tweeted a request for someone to guest review it for me, and Jon (who I met at a social media seminar hosted by Sree Sreenivasan aka @sree) said he'd do it.  It turns out, he doesn't really get the album either.  It's not any anti-Beach Boys bias though: we both enjoy Pet Sounds.

Finally, Jethro Tull's Aqualung. People kind of make fun of Jethro Tull, but if you think of them in the context of the time, wow, how different they must have sounded.  Fortunately for them, classic rock radio has played their records for decades.  But that can be a double edged sword.  Songs like "Aqualung" and "Locomotive Breath" and "Cross-Eyed Mary" can lose their edge after years of repetition and being played back to back with lots of the soft rockers that classic rock radio plays so much of. But this is a pretty awesome album.

DEAR BONO: I APOLOGIZE (SORT OF)

A couple of weeks ago, I had a post called "Dear Bono: Shut up." I was kind of bummed about a quote of his cited to UK publication The Sun where, in an interview about  the 20th anniversary of U2's Achtung Baby, he said, "We've been on the verge of irrelevance for the last 20 years, dodged, ducked, dived, made some great work, I hope, along the way – and the occasional faux pas."

 I had a problem with that statement, as U2's music from the past twenty years means a lot to me, up to and especially including "Moment Of Surrender" from their latest album, No Line On The Horizon.

But in a cover story with British magazine Q, Bono had a similar quote (maybe The Sun nicked it?). The rest of the quote says "Lots of people have U2 albums -- why they would want another one is a reasonable question.  I don't know if it's possible for us to make something current that is meaningful, not just to our audience but to the times we live in. But that's kind of the job for me and I'm not ready to give it up.  I think it's unlikely that we'll pull it off, but then, so has the last 20 years been unlikely."

For some reason, I feel a little less annoyed by seeing his quote in this context.  I can understand wanting to transcend the fanbase to do something that resonates with everyone.  On the other hand, if Bruce Springsteen retired because he'll (probably) never match the reach of Born In The U.S.A., we would never have gotten The Rising, We Shall Overcome or Magic.  Or look at Bob Dylan: he doesn't care at all what the larger culture likes or doesn't.  If he did, and retired because he didn't have any more songs like "Blowin' In The Wind" or "Like A Rolling Stone" or "The Times They Are A' Changin'" or "Hurricane" or "Subterranean Homesick Blues" in him, we would never have gotten Time Out Of Mind or "Love and Theft" or Modern Times or "Things Have Changed" or Together Through Life. What a shame that would have been.

In the Q feature, the band touch on the different albums they are working on, and I really look forward to hearing what they do with Danger Mouse. Based on the stuff that he has done with The Black Keys, I think he has to potential to craft a great, funky album around some cool songs.  Of course, U2 has to come with the songs.  Hopefully DM will be able to tell them to return to the drawing board if the songs don't measure up.  I have faith that they've got at least another great album in them.  And what is U2 about, if not faith?

P.S. Q put together a great Achtung tribute, Ahk-toong Bay-Bi.  It was available with the magazine in Europe, and is available to buy on iTunes. With artists like Nine Inch Nails, Garbage, Depeche Mode, Patti Smith, Damien Rice and Jack White, it's really worth a listen.

#20YRSAGO: U2 - ACHTUNG BABY (+ boxset review!)

The first post in my #20yrsago series -- celebrating some classic albums that came out in (or around) 1991 - was Chris Whitley's debut Living With The Law. Now, I'm going to write about an LP that is a little more well known (but both albums have involvement from Daniel Lanois, so there is a common thread).

I don't know that my mind has ever been as blown as it was when I first turned on U2's Achtung Baby. Yeah, I've been knocked out by many artists the first time I heard them... but by an artist who I had been following for years?  I have never been so surprised by a group's "new direction" as I was when I put Achtung Baby into my CD player.

This was, of course, before the web, and I don't think that I knew too much about what U2's "new direction" would be like.  In the years since, The Edge has often talked about performing encores on U2's last '80s tour with opener B.B. King and then going back to his dressing room and listening to KMFDM. But I didn't know about any of that at the time.

There were hints.  On the 12" of Rattle and Hum's "When Love Comes To Town," their collab with B.B. (a song which marked the peak of their explorations into American roots music), the B-side was a cover of Patti Smith's "Dancing Barefoot" as if to remind us of their post punk roots.

But the next new release by the band was a cover of Cole Porter's "Night and Day," from the Red Hot & Blue collection, the first CD compiled by the Red Hot organization.  I saw the video on MTV.  U2 still looked like their Joshua Tree selves - Bono with no shades, no makeup, long hair, The Edge with long hair and the doo-rag.  But they didn't really sound like U2.  It was darker, funkier, and synth-ier.  It reminded me a bit of Depeche Mode.

U2's 360 TOUR RETURNS TO NJ

Giants still walk the earth, and I'm not talking about a sports team.  Last night, U2's concert at the New Meadowlands Stadium was one of the best concerts I've ever seen. I've seen lots of U2 shows: I've seen every tour since 1985.  This may well have been the best one.

For the past twenty years, I've felt that the band have had a hard time aligning their two sides: the rootsy, earnest Joshua Tree guys and the edgier, darker guys who chopped that tree down with Achtung Baby. Put another way: their '80s material didn't always fit into their shows in the '90s, and then in the '00s, post-All That You Can't Leave Behind, it sometimes felt like the '90s material didn't totally make sense in their sets.  On the 360 Tour, everything seems to work. Their gigantic stage is a visual assault with both heart and mind. I saw the earlier part of the tour, and this time the show was even better.

Clearly, Achtung Baby was on the band's collective mind: they are about to release a 20th anniversary edition of that album, and they opened up with four songs in a row from the LP: "Even Better Than The Real Thing," "The Fly," "Mysterious Ways" and "Until The End Of The World." The songs sounded better live than they ever have: they've lost some of their techno sheen, replaced by a roaring garage rock sound. When those songs first came out, they sounded like a real departure from "rock" music, but last night they all sounded like stadium anthems.

Speaking of anthems: from there they went into "I Will Follow," which still sounds so fresh. I've never gotten tired of this song. It struck me that this must be so much fun on "Rock Band," especially on drums. Listen to this song, you'll understand why U2 should have been called The Larry Mullen Band. His playing is so cool, but he doesn't try and call attention to himself.  You notice it if you're paying attention.  Larry and Adam Clayton really held it down last night: Adam sounded more funky and aggressive than ever.  He's probably getting more girls than ever (Bono remarked that he still thinks that being in the band is a "great way to meet girls"). You can hear it in his playing.

It's the end of the tour, and they've dropped a few songs from No Line On The Horizon. But they did play "Get On Your Boots" (which doesn't really work for me, it always struck me as an attempt to repeat the similar but cooler "Vertigo," which they also played), the remix of "I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight" (also didn't really work, but they segued into "Discotheque," which is a much better dance jam), and "Magnificent," which is a classic.

There were some of the colossal hits: "Pride (In The Name Of Love)," "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For," "One," "With Or Without You" and "Where The Streets Have No Name." All were incredible as always.

On this tour, they've brought back "Walk On," one of my favorites.  They have Amnesty International volunteers on stage with candles in honor of recently freed Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi, (read more about her here). Aung San Suu Kyi addressed the audience via video after the song.  It's one of those powerful moments that U2 pull off so well.  Another moment was astronaut Mark Kelly's video intro to "Beautiful Day," where he floated flash cards with the lyrics before the song, and then quoted Bowie: "Tell my wife I love her very much: she knows." How could you not get a lump in your throat! Kelly read some of the lyrics during the song also. He is already home from his space mission, but still, wow. That moment could have overwhelmed the song, but it didn't.  "Beautiful Day" is that rare rock song about, well, beauty... but played with Zeppelin-esque power.  And last night's performance was righteous, as was the performance of its album-mate, "Elevation," which followed.  I know The Edge isn't a typical "guitar hero," his playing is so rocking while also being zen. Like Larry's drumming, you never feel like The Edge is trying to call all the attention to himself.

Some surprising '90s moments: "Miss Sarajevo" and "Zooropa," both of which were excellent. Bono even sang Pavarotti's part of "Sarajevo," and pretty much pulled it off.  He was in amazing vocal form, and of course, was incredible as a frontman (a great moment came when he read a setlist from a U2 show from The Fastlane, 30 years earlier).  Also, "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me" from the Batman soundtrack was great, proving that not all of U2's superhero collaborations aren't disasters.  Although the folks at Marvel Comics probably weren't psyched that "Hold Me" made the playlist ("How about 'Rise Above 1?').

The show ended with No Line On The Horizon's "Moment Of Surrender." My opinion: it holds up with the band's best songs.  Check it out if you haven't.  It's a soul music classic.

And that's the way the show was supposed to end. But Bono says "One more!" And so it was that they launched into "Out Of Control." A song I've always loved and have never seen them perform in the 26 years I've been attending U2 concerts. It's amazing that they are still surprising me after all that time, both with old classics and with their ability to continuously add to their catalog, already bursting at the seam with an embarrassment of riches.

(a few other notes: the show was opened by Interpol, a very Joy Division sounding band, who are no match for Muse, who opened last time. The top photo here was taken by my lovely wife, and the second photo is by my dear friend Ashmi, follow her on Twitter.)