Practically flawless songs!

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LemonMirrorSky

LemonMirrorSky

War Child
Joined
Jan 18, 2013
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Location
Toronto, Ontario
I'm in an extremely U2-ey mood these days, so what better way to celebrate it than by discussing some songs that are very very close to perfection, if not absolutely flawless! :wink:

I generally prefer studio versions for this exercise but you can do it any way you want, studio or live. But these songs have to be the absolute cream of the crop... where all elements of the music, lyrics, vocals... everything should be perfect or close to it.

I'll start with a few...

1. Until The End Of The World - I love the album version almost as much as the fantastic live ones.
2. One Tree Hill - Cannot think of a single thing wrong with this song. The lyrics are maybe some of their greatest ever! And the music is divine.
3. New Year's Day - I never tire of this song ever!
4. Acrobat - Perfection! Lyrics, drumming, guitar... what more do you want? lol.
5. The Unforgettable Fire - Stunning... and so beautiful! I don't think any live version compares to the impeccable studio one!
6. Magnificent - Yes. I do think it's a good enough candidate from the 00s.
7. With Or Without You - Classic! Once again I never tire of this one like I do with SBS or Bullet.
8. The Fly - It's got everything... great vocals and falsetto, one of their greatest solos ever, excellent lyrics!
9. In God's Country - I have always loved this song dearly! I want to drive through the Mojave desert towards Vegas listening to this one.
10. Stay (Faraway, So Close!) - Along with that stylish video, it has always been one of my top favourites! Karaoke heaven!

Have at it! :D
 
Good list, and good idea for a thread.

The sublime six. U2's flawless songs.

A Sort of Homecoming
Where The Streets Have No Name
Moment of Surrender
One Tree Hill
The Unforgettable Fire
New Year's Day
 
Nick66 said:
Good list, and good idea for a thread.

The sublime six. U2's flawless songs.

A Sort of Homecoming
Where The Streets Have No Name
Moment of Surrender
One Tree Hill
The Unforgettable Fire
New Year's Day
Click to expand...

Hey, we got quite a few common ones there! :up: :)

The thing is, it is very tempting to just pick every damn song from their best albums. lol.
 
LemonMirrorSky said:
The thing is, it is very tempting to just pick every damn song from their best albums. lol.
Click to expand...

The problem is, and you weren't around for the last big polling round, but during the rate the song series (rating them from 1-10) many people passed out 10's to songs like they were candy...pretty much if they loved it it was a 10, which to me denotes pretty much perfection which is why I rarely rated any song a 10. At one point I was fairly convinced that Dig must have had a "Click here for free porn" button next to the 10 option during the Achtung Baby round.

So this thread may devolve into a Top X list rather than what people genuinely regard as "flawless".

LemonMirrorSky said:
4. Acrobat - Perfection! Lyrics, drumming, guitar... what more do you want? lol.
Click to expand...

Oh, you're going to do well here. :)
 
:lol: Is my Hive membership gonna be easy??

Nick66 said:
So this thread may devolve into a Top X list rather than what people genuinely regard as "flawless".
Click to expand...

Yeah this is not meant to be exactly your Top 10 songs or whatever thread... although some people may actually have what they think are the most flawless songs ever in their Top 10, so I dunno.

But basically what I'm saying here is that.. there should be absolutely nothing that you think is wrong or less than perfect with these songs. For eg.: Some people consider the ending of UTEOTW as less than perfect compared to the live versions. I like 'em both.
 
Nick66 said:
The problem is, and you weren't around for the last big polling round, but during the rate the song series (rating them from 1-10) many people passed out 10's to songs like they were candy...
Click to expand...

The funny thing is that I was kind of guilty of doing this myself even as I encouraged people not to. Using the whole scale of numbers instead of bunching songs up between 7 and 10 is a tough rule to follow, because it feels like the numbers have some inherent meaning, even though they don't.
 
These, however, are my absolute favorite U2 songs (in reverse-chronological order, not order of how much I like them). It gets incredibly tough for me to differentiate between them beyond this point, although I probably could, and it would probably be wise for me to if there's ever a rate the song series again. But I'll save that for another time.

Moment of Surrender
City of Blinding Lights
Please
Your Blue Room
Lemon
Zooropa
Stay
Ultraviolet
One
Until the End of the World
With or Without You
Bad
The Unforgettable Fire

That list is way too long, I know.
 
a flawless song is one that when stripped backed to it's barest is just as powerful as the original recording.

Still Haven't Found might be the only one that is truly flawless for me.. a single voice alone can carry it.
 
I Still Haven't Found.. has such a killer vocal! No matter how many times I listen to the Joshua Tree... every time I hear that swirling intro building up, it is such an amazing rush up to the point where the singing starts "I have climbed......" :drool:
 
Nick66 said:
Good list, and good idea for a thread.

The sublime six. U2's flawless songs.

A Sort of Homecoming
Where The Streets Have No Name
Moment of Surrender
One Tree Hill
The Unforgettable Fire
New Year's Day
Click to expand...

Very good list. Personally I'd add The Fly, Stay and WAIA version of Bad and take out Moment of Surrender, Pride might also sneak in on a good day too:wink:
To be honest I could be here all day thinking of others but your initial 6 are pretty spot on.
 
The songs that can do no wrong for me:

A Sort of Homecoming
The Unforgettable Fire
Heartland
One Tree Hill
Acrobat
New Years Day
Where the Streets Have No Name
 
No spoken words said:
The songs that can do no wrong for me:

A Sort of Homecoming
The Unforgettable Fire
Heartland
One Tree Hill
Acrobat
New Years Day
Where the Streets Have No Name
Click to expand...

Nice list, it's really hard to argue with any of this.

There are just some songs that are separated from those we really love, and the few that just have some intangible, personal greatness that makes them special.
 
Last Night On Earth (First Night In Hell Mix)

I'm actually serious. If I were a pro wrestler, this would be my theme music.
 
Wow I was really surprised to come in here and see such long lists. Not that there's anything wrong with that, I guess I thought people were way nitpickier! But I suppose "practically" leaves some wiggle room. :hmm:

My absolutely flawless:

With Or Without You - The studio version is, truly flawless.
One - Same. I cannot find flaw, and like WOWY, it is a perfect song.

And I consider these to be practically perfect in every way:

The Fly
Bad
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
In A Little While
Vertigo

I have more very best favorites, but these probably make the top of my list. :heart:
 
LemonMirrorSky said:
9. In God's Country - I have always loved this song dearly! I want to drive through the Mojave desert towards Vegas listening to this one.
Click to expand...

You need to do it. I've done it several times, driving the desert and actually stopping at U2's original joshua tree out there, and it's magical.
 
elevated_u2_fan said:
My condolences :wink:
Click to expand...

lol. I can never quite understand what many people have against Peace On Earth, aside from the cliche sounding title of course. Lyrically I think it is pretty good and the whole song has a very sombre feel to it. It doesn't try too hard like the other ones like Elevation or Walk On. There is no bombast. In fact, sometimes I think that the song could even fit into Pop. Both this one and Cedars of Lebanon seem to have a Pop kind of feel to them.
 
bonocomet said:
You need to do it. I've done it several times, driving the desert and actually stopping at U2's original joshua tree out there, and it's magical.
Click to expand...

I've been thru' the Mojave once but a friend was driving and he wasn't into U2. :wink: So we listened to a lot of Eagles, SoCal style! But I would love to do a drive from LA to Vegas someday... and this time I'm gonna make sure I listen to lots of Joshua Tree and b-sides from that era! ;) Just thinking about listening to Deep In The Heart or Love Comes Tumbling while driving thru the vast emptiness of the desert gives me goosebumps!
 
LemonMirrorSky said:
I've been thru' the Mojave once but a friend was driving and he wasn't into U2. :wink: So we listened to a lot of Eagles, SoCal style! But I would love to do a drive from LA to Vegas someday... and this time I'm gonna make sure I listen to lots of Joshua Tree and b-sides from that era! ;) Just thinking about listening to Deep In The Heart or Love Comes Tumbling while driving thru the vast emptiness of the desert gives me goosebumps!
Click to expand...

It does, for real! :D
 
I think my "flawless" list would be short, too- WOWY and One for sure, maaaaaybe Streets. Beautiful Day if I'm being generous. Flawless is a strong word.
 
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