A short time back, we did an R.E.M. anthology. For me, there are a lot of parallels between the two bands. I'm not usually on the cutting edge of the music scene, but I was there at the beginning for both of them, working at a college radio station in a po-dunk Georgia town in the early 80s. Big, big favorites from the get-go.
Similar career trajectories for both, from humble beginnings to international superstars. Great album after great album with very few clunkers along the way. And I followed every twist and turn along the way. I reached a musical dead end sometime in the mid-90s, with a wife and kids and money too tight to spend on a lot of albums and concerts, but I still made the effort for R.E.M. and U2 until...I just didn't anymore. Maybe we (the bands and I) just got old.
Rattle and Hum was the first U2 album that didn't WOW me. A couple of the songs are among their best, some of it was okay, some I didn't like at all. (They might have stolen Helter Skelter back if Bono had gotten the damn lyrics right.) I remember a scene in the movie where they were talking about closing this chapter of their career and starting a new one. For me, this new chapter started out great, but it just reached a point where that connection wasn't there anymore. I stopped listening.
This U2 anthology challenge has been a great opportunity to go back and follow their evolution. Listen to old favorites, listen to some that didn't work for me back in the day with fresh ears, listen to some of it for the first time. I haven't heard the last few albums all the way through until now. I already like some of it a lot more than I did back in the day and the some of the new-to-me stuff more than I thought I would.
Anyway, here's my list:
Boy:
The Electric Co.
Out of Control
Stories for Boys
A Day Without Me
October:
Is That All?
Rejoice
With a Shout (Jerusalem)
Stranger in a Strange Land
War:
Like a Song
Red Light
Two Hearts Beat as One
Seconds
Under a Blood Red Sky:
The Electric Co. -- had to pick it again, the live version is so good
Party Girl
Gloria
The Unforgettable Fire:
The Unforgettable Fire
Wire
Elvis Presley and America
Bad
The Joshua Tree:
In God's Country
Where the Streets Have No Name
Red Hill Mining Town
With or Without You
Rattle and Hum:
Heartland
Desire
Hawkmoon 269
All I Want Is You
God Part 2
singles and b-sides:
Treasure (Whatever Happened to Pete the Chop)
A Celebration
Boomerang II
Stories for Boys
singles:
I Will Follow
11 O'Clock Tick Tock
b-sides 85-89:
Love Comes Tumbling
Dancing Barefoot
Spanish Eyes
Bass Trap
Achtung Baby:
The Fly
Until the End of the World
So Cruel
Acrobat
Zooropa:
Numb
Lemon
Zooropa
Dirty Day
Pop:
Do You Feel Loved
Gone
Discotheque
Mofo
All That You Can't Leave Behind:
Elevation
Beautiful Day
New York
In a Little While
How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb:
All Because of You
Fast Cars
Vertigo
Love and Peace or Else
No Line on the Horizon:
FEZ / Being Born
Magnificent
Stand Up Comedy
I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight
Songs of Innocence:
Raised by Wolves
Every Breaking Wave
Cedarwood Road
The Miracle (of Joey Ramone)
Songs of Experience:
The Blackout
Red Flag Day
Landlady
American Soul
singles and b-sides, 1991-97:
Alex Descends Into Hell...
Your Blue Room
Salome
I'm Not Your Baby
singles and b-sides, 1998-2018:
Invisible - (RED) Edit
Lucifer's Hands
Electrical Storm (William Orbit Mix)
Are You Gonna Wait Forever?
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