Dallas's "Unknown Caller" guitar solo comment

[bigjohn2441]

For all the guitar nerds out there like me (if there are any ):

Assuming that beach clip 1 is unknown caller and that guitar solo hasn't changed since then, do you think that is Edge's best guitar solo 'of his life" and you wont find any better on ANY other song, like Dallas said?

Personally i think that statement was BS just to create hype, but thats just my opinion.

I guess you could judge based on:

1.) How the solo fits with the song
2.) How technically difficult the solo is

A few better ones than that i can think of off the top of my head:

Street Mission
The Fool
Inside Out
Another Time, Another Place (1978 Demo)
God Part II Live
Desire Lovetown Solo
Knockin on Heaven's Door (Live Sydney 1989)
One Tree Hill (12/26/89)
Bullet (Zootv)

 

[bram]

1) 9 out of 10
2) 3.5 out of 10

I think it's a pretty effective solo, befitting of Edge despite its not sounding like anything he's recorded before. For those who haven't listened to the clip, don't expect something revelatory.

 

[bram]

For all the guitar nerds out there like me (if there are any ):

Assuming that beach clip 1 is unknown caller and that guitar solo hasn't changed since then, do you think that is Edge's best guitar solo 'of his life" and you wont find any better on ANY other song, like Dallas said?

Personally i think that statement was BS just to create hype, but thats just my opinion.

I guess you could judge based on:

1.) How the solo fits with the song
2.) How technically difficult the solo is

A few better ones than that i can think of off the top of my head:

Street Mission
The Fool
Inside Out
Another Time, Another Place (1978 Demo)
God Part II Live
Desire Lovetown Solo
Knockin on Heaven's Door (Live Sydney 1989)
One Tree Hill (12/26/89)
Bullet (Zootv)

I think the Fly is his best solo personally, although the live version of 11 o'clock Tick Tock on the October deluxe remaster gives me chills every time I listen. He makes that thing fucking scream.

 

[eas]

My guess is, it's probably been reworked.

To your other point, Edge himself said no U2 music is hard to play.

I really like to interplay between the beautiful melody played on Synth/Organ and the guitar solo in Unknown Caller

 

[eas]

I think the Fly is his best solo personally, although the live version of 11 o'clock Tick Tock on the October deluxe remaster gives me chills every time I listen. He makes that thing fucking scream.

I agree, The Fly is Edge's best solo. The melody is just part of it. His use of pedals to color the music is astounding and when the Bono's "Gospel Voice" comes in...nothing is better.

 

[SecretFly]

I think the Fly is his best solo personally, although the live version of 11 o'clock Tick Tock on the October deluxe remaster gives me chills every time I listen. He makes that thing fucking scream.

The fly is also the best in my book. Gets me pumped

 

[bigjohn2441]

I think the Fly is his best solo personally, although the live version of 11 o'clock Tick Tock on the October deluxe remaster gives me chills every time I listen. He makes that thing fucking scream.

Yeah the Fly solo is good too, while not really technically difficult, it fits the song perfectly. Edge's early guitar stuff was his most technically difficult i think. He was really on fire back then!

 

[bram]

I agree, The Fly is Edge's best solo. The melody is just part of it. His use of pedals to color the music is astounding and when the Bono's "Gospel Voice" comes in...nothing is better.

Yes, right when Bono comes back in with vocals, Edge's guitar work gets me every time. It's perfect, and I don't use that word lightly.

 

[joaoclaudiobh]

For me, the best solo is: Mysterious Ways!!! (Live)

 

[BoyOnTheHorizon]

I have a feeling that this thread will be moved to EYKIW...

 

[bigjohn2441]

I have a feeling that this thread will be moved to EYKIW...

yeah, this isnt to discuss what your favorite edge solo is, although i could talk about that for days. i wanted to see whether people thought that Dallas quote about the new song was valid or not, and if not, which solo(s) are better.

 

[bram]

For me, the best solo is: Mysterious Ways!!! (Live)

Oooh, good call. I love the Live in Sydney performance when Edge starts wailing away and Bono comes in with the falsetto and then with the "Come on Looove". Priceless.

 

[rjhbonovox]

How in the hell can you not have The Fly and Until the end of the world as 2 of Edges best solos I'll never know. They are easily 2 of his finest achievements and regarding The Fly on the studio version he has probably never sounded better in his whole life than he did on this song. Ok maybe I am a bit biased as I am a massive Hendrix fan and The Fly has a great Hendrix sounding wah wah solo but it's still The Edges greatest solo. Uteotw is pretty damn fine to!

 

[Vlad n U 2]

The Fly, Bullet and Until The End... are all classic solos, and Please. The UC solo should be up there.

 

[bigjohn2441]

How in the hell can you not have The Fly and Until the end of the world as 2 of Edges best solos I'll never know. They are easily 2 of his finest achievements and regarding The Fly on the studio version he has probably never sounded better in his whole life than he did on this song. Ok maybe I am a bit biased as I am a massive Hendrix fan and The Fly has a great Hendrix sounding wah wah solo but it's still The Edges greatest solo. Uteotw is pretty damn fine to!

see this is where you get into the whole tone, fitting the song, etc VS technical difficulty thing. While the Fly and UTEOTW are good solos that fit the songs perfectly, the aren't very difficult to play. I guess i am also biased since i play guitar and like to play stuff that is a bit more challenging than most of Edge's stuff (although i do love playing U2 too, dont get me wrong).

Another thing, just because you like a particular solo doesn't mean it is "better" than any other one. that shouldnt even factor into the dicussion. I can like the 5 second Desire guitar solo on Rattle and Hum the most, but that doesnt mean it is "better" than the Fly or Bullet live.

But the original point of this thread to compare the Unknown Caller, which Dallas (edge's guitar tech for 20+ years) claims is the best he's ever done, to all of Edge's other guitar solos that could be "better", whether technically or fitting the song better.

The guitar solo that has the best balance of fitting the song the best while still being impressive technically (by Edge standards, he's not gonna break out any Steve Vai shit ) should be the winner. So is that Unknown Caller like Dallas says, or something else?

 

[U2387]

I am skeptical of making any judgements about the beach clips based on the quality and on the fact that they have certainly changed since, some considerably.

With that in mind, looking at the original post on Dallas' comments, I do not see an unaltered beach clip 1 as being the best solo Edge has done. It is very good and it seems to fit in well with unknown caller as we have heard it, but the best, I dont think so. I believe Unknown Caller has the potential to be a great song nonetheless.

The reason I dont think this will be his best solo is because it has to beat:
11 O clock tick tock live, another time another place, Electric co, Desire Lovetown, Love is Blindness live(this is his best), the fly, until the end of the world, zoo tv bullet and even Vertigo.

 

[bigjohn2441]

how does a thread about a song from the new album get moved from a board about the new album to general U2?

 

[MikeyJB]

My favourite Edge solos -

Out of Control
Bullet the Blue Sky (ZOO TV)
One Tree Hill (Lovetown)
The Fly (Zoo TV & Elevation)
Dirty Day (ZOO TV)
Even Better Than the Real Thing (awesome slide solo!)
Mysterious Ways (live verson)
Desire (Lovetown)
Silver & Gold (live)
All I Want Is You
Sunday Bloody Sunday (live)

 

[paco_one]

I Will wait for the leaked song, with the better audio, until now, the best is street mission, technicaly, and the fly solo fit perfect w/the song.
I always say, that the edge ''chose'' be a minimalist guitar player, he got the balls, he coul'd be a virtuose, if he want.

 

[zwervers2]

party girl has the best guitarsolo ever done by man.







In reality: his best work was during he begining of the 90's till 1997 when it commes to guitarwork. After that it became mediocre which is a shame.

 

[djerdap]

The solo in Unknown Caller is pretty good, similar to his Kite solos in the 2006 versions, but it's far from being his best. That's just the good old silly new album hype IMO.

Apart from The Fly, ZooTV Bullet, did somebody mention Love is Blindness? Check out the Birmingham 1992 version. Amazing.

 

[van]

The Fly.....Bad...All I Want is You.....but definitely The Fly

 

[subnet]

best edge guitar solo: lady with the spinning head (extended dance mix) at 3:14


EDIT:
or if you want to go there: the Wake Up (Pt 1) track on the axtung beibi salome outtakes that became The Fly and Lady With The Spinning Head (extended dance mix)

 

[europop2005]

The Fly and the Electric Co

/thread

 

[waynetravis]

For me, the best solo is: Mysterious Ways!!! (Live)

Best first post ever

 

[The Disciple]

Street Mission is Edge's defining solo, IMO... SO underrated.

 

[Tim Wallach]

For me, easily his best are the Fly and All I Want is You.

The Live Zoo TV Bullet is astounding as well.

One thing I've always had trouble with though is the concept that something has to be hard to play or technically difficult to be considered good. Since when did degree of difficulty have anything to do with how good it sounds?

Music is about appeal to the ears, not athletics. (To paraphrase Edge).

Hence, some of his simplest stuff ever (outtro to With or Without You) is amongst the best guitar moments you'll ever hear.

 

[bigjohn2441]

if you wanna hear probably one of Edge's best technical solos, listen to Another Time, Another Place from this show.

U2 start.com | Bootlegs | 1979-02-00 - Dublin, Ireland - Eamon Andrews Studios


the version on the boy album is exactly 40 seconds long. this one is about 55 seconds long and has SIGNIFICANTLY more notes in it. it's like nothing he has ever done before because instead of typical guitar scales (penatonic minor, major scale, dorian, etc.) this solo uses some kind of exotic gypsy/spanish licks played pretty fast. (you'll know them when you hear them because they werent on the album version).

of course the lyrics were much better on the album than this version

 

[bigjohn2441]

One thing I've always had trouble with though is the concept that something has to be hard to play or technically difficult to be considered good. Since when did degree of difficulty have anything to do with how good it sounds?

are you a guitar player? if not, then you just answered your own question.

its all a matter of personal preferences.

 

[BonoIsMyMuse]

Dallas doesn't strike me as the type to BS. But he's also probably pretty biased, considering he's been working with the Edge since 87, I believe.

My Edge solos are Until the End of the World and The Fly, though I also love Popmart-era versions of Bullet the Blue Sky.