5 Of My Favorite Tunes

[MrBrau1]

Acrobat : 3 piece with vocal. So simple. I think there's only 1 overdub: the guitar solo.
Everything about it is perfect. The siren riff. The constant pound of Larry and Adam.
Bono's hoarse yet passionate delivery. It's been my favorite since I first heard it in 1991.
The lyric is so mature. Life is a bitch, but you get wise. It's a complete flip from the
wide eyed naive that was so entrenched in U2's previous work.

Zooropa: The "Streets" of the 90's. I loved the long intro. Shash everywhere, the piano line.
It sounds evil. Then those neon-silk bits of light blast forth from Edge, and it's a whole new tune.
U2 using their new found groove, but Larry keeps it all grounded. Ad bit lyrics tempt over a slick
musical background, then BOOM…more light! It turns so frantic. Edge makes his guitar churn and
squawk like never before, and the band just pushes forward.
"It's cold outside, but brightly lit." The perfect lyric for a 20 yr old to hear. Completely fearless.

Gone: The “rock” song from Pop. Completely full throttle rhythm section. Edge in outer space with
that 747 sound, and the matching rhythm guitars. Lyrically it’s Acrobat’s sibling. The verses grooves,
until that 747 riff returns and propels the chorus. The beats during the bridge are the most realized
moment on Pop, Then Edge plays one of his best solos, matching Bono’s defiant vocal.
Then the song just turns into a frenzy. The crashes of cymbals go off like fireworks while Edge
rides up and down the fret board.

Crumbs From Your Table: Nice intro, especially the 12 string acoustic. If you listen close, you can hear
the click track. Then BAM! Edge seems to own this tune, riffing left and right, dirty and atmospheric,
but it’s Adam & Larry who provided the push and pull that move the tune. Bono’s double track vocal
really cuts through all the guitars while providing an ominous feel, and his lyrics are the most biting
and venomous of his career. And they top it all off by jamming out the ending, firing on all cylinders.

Kite: Synth keys play melody and counter melody, then that beautiful slide guitar riff as the band kick
in. It settles into a nice country groove, Again, a wise lyric and delivery, and it starts to open up in the
pre-chorus, as Edge’s distorted guitar notes slide up the fret board into the big payoff. Huge chorus.
Larry and Adam steady, Edge really going off and Bono in full voice. It all goes up another notch during the
bridge, as U2 come to an emotional peak bested only by Bad. The tune has a strange yet brilliant
arrangement: verse /chorus/bridge/chorus/verse. Perfect economy.

What are 5 of your favorite songs?

Why?

 

[scottyT]

Mr. Brau, this is definately my favorite post of yours. good reasoning, i'll have to think harder to get my top five.... i'm having trouble narrowing it down.

 

[MrBrau1]

Mr. Brau, this is definately my favorite post of yours. good reasoning, i'll have to think harder to get my top five.... i'm having trouble narrowing it down.

Cool, but it's not top 5 evah.

Just 5 you get off on.

 

[corianderstem]

Zooropa: The "Streets" of the 90's. I loved the long intro. Shash everywhere, the piano line.
It sounds evil. Then those neon-silk bits of light blast forth from Edge, and it's a whole new tune.
U2 using their new found groove, but Larry keeps it all grounded. Ad bit lyrics tempt over a slick
musical background, then BOOM…more light! It turns so frantic. Edge makes his guitar churn and
squawk like never before, and the band just pushes forward.
"It's cold outside, but brightly lit." The perfect lyric for a 20 yr old to hear. Completely fearless.

I was just talking with a fellow U2 fan today about how awesome Zooropa is. After hearing me blather about Pop and Zooropa on the drive to Portland the other week, she decided to give 90s U2 another try ... and now she's a convert.

Great post!

Where the Streets Have No Name I was trying to think of intelligent things to say about this one, but I keep coming back to my main reason: it makes me feel like I can do anything. It's euphoric and cathartic, and the driving rhythm just make me so happy I feel like I could burst.

 

[MrBrau1]

In A Little While: This tune. Oh lordy. This tune is ace. Steve Cropper intro. Lessons learned on Pop lead to the perfect use of beats, until Larry takes over. Raspy vocal with the perfect subject matter. Groovey as good sex, sweet as found money, with just the right mix of bitter. It just aches. The whole tune just slides Left, Right, then back again. Soul is really hard for white bands to pull off, and U2 pull it off.

This ones getting played at my wedding.

 

[corianderstem]

Electrical Storm (particularly the William Orbit mix):
It's all about the slow, steady build, and then that brilliant explosion.

Man, oh man, I love the slow, steady build.

 

[MrBrau1]

Electrical Storm (particularly the William Orbit mix):
It's all about the slow, steady build, and then that brilliant explosion.

Man, oh man, I love the slow, steady build.

I've always prefered the "Rock" mix, but that one has been growing on me lately.

 

[Zoots]

Mr. Brau, this is definately my favorite post of yours.

Yeah, this is definitely one of your good threads!

I agree whole-heartedly about Acrobat, Gone, Zooropa and Crumbs! Kite, to me is ruined by some of the lyrics... esp. the ending!

In fact, come to think of it.. Crumbs is one of my, if not THE favorite song for me from HTDAAB!

 

[corianderstem]

I've always prefered the "Rock" mix, but that one has been growing on me lately.

I like the dreaminess of the Orbit mix, the way Bono's voice just floats over the top of the first verse.

 

[MrBrau1]

Drowning Man: The vison of things to come from U2. Edge is insane. Electric guitar swells,
acoustic harmonics, and the martial beat of Larry and Adam. Bono really comes into his own
as a singer on this song. He's wide-open. Heart on sleeve.

And those child-vocals... "Take My Hand."

They were 22-23 when recording this tune? And they came up with something like that?

 

[MrBrau1]

Bad I used to share a cassette copy of UF with my brother. It spent alot of time in our walkmen, and this tune is probably why.
That simple, rhythmic, pattern Edge plays is magic, I could listen to it for hours. Adam just glides around doing his root note
thing, and Larry just builds. He really goes nuts at the end, in a time before pro-tools time correction.

But Bono really makes this song. He paints such a vivid picture, and sings like he never had before, or since. They get so much
emotion and power out of 3 chords and really master dynamics on this tune. It starts so delicate, but it becomes a roar.

 

[God Part III]

Song - favourite part.

Zooropa - The sound when "part 2" of the sound begins and you sort of delve into the song. It feels like falling, but then starting to fly. Edge is a genius.

Until The End Of The World - The emotion.

Sunday Bloody Sunday - When the "toooniiiight!!!" part kicks in, or the "wipe your tears away"

Stay - "oh-oh ooooooh oooooooh oh ooooh."

I Will Follow - "your eyes make you so cold" Great bass line. Really captures the "Boy" theme, so simple, so Edge.

It could be switched with 11 O'Clock Tick Tock, but these days I tend to favour I Will Follow.

 

[MrBrau1]

Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me: I love the guitar. Big, meaty power chords, especially the way Edge accents them.
This tune has them in abundance. I love the whammy bit. I love the chorus lead. I love the 12 string acoustic that drives
through the whole song. I love the whammy solo that weaves in at the end. Plus, Adam and Larry have gotten really good.
The feel is so dirty. U2 in full T.Rex groove, with a lyric right out of 2am in the big city. If U2 were a glam band in 1973,
this is what they'd have sounded like.

 

[annie_vox]

The Unforgetable Fire - I love the introduction, very calm and beautiful. And then when the drums enter it gets even better. The "sighs" on the backgroung ad a certain credibility to the lyrics. The second chorus is amazing at every levels... the little falseto, the guitar... The instrumental part is very beautiful and changes a little bit wich is good. The "and if the montains should crumble" till "don't push me too far" part always sends shivers to me... and then there is a very subtle end.

 

[MacPhistoPT]

I'll say seven songs

1. Where the streets have no name
Probably my favourite song ever. Feels like anything is possible. The intro is incredible. And when the guitar enters in... you know what I mean. It's magic. And then... the live performances This song grows even more... the ZOO TV Sydney or the Popmart performances are just... Honor too for RTSS and Please which made a great segue into Streets.

2. Bad
All about atmospherics and beauty. Magic again. I had not got into the song on the first listenings but when I got into it... Edge's delay-chiming guitar at his best, Bono with incredible vocals, strange but touching lyrics... Simply love this song. And just like Streets it is even better live, even if the album version is already bloody incredible.

3. The Fly
The phone call from hell... The song that started a new phase to U2. It took me a lot to get into this song but there was a moment when everything got clear... and I realized this was one of the best rock songs I've heard. The intro riff is just addicting, the drums are awesome and the solo finishing in the falsetto and in the big chorus it's probably my favourite U2 moment. They played this song in three diferent tours, in different ways, and all are awesome.

4. Until the end of the world
This was a favourite of mine since the first listening. I Love the lyrics. The intro is mindblowing and the main riff addicting just like The Fly. The solo is simple but great... Oh well, 04:40 of great music.

5. The Unforgettable Fire
Just like 2. it's U2 at their best. It's an incredible atmospheric song... listening this in bed, or in a dark room, or in headphones while travelling... it's something I can't describe!!

And if the mountains should crumble
Or disappear into the sea
Not a tear, no not I.
Stay this time, stay tonight in a lie.
Ever after is a long time



6. Stay (faraway, so close!)
One? With or without you? Good... but Stay it's the best U2 ballad in my books. One of the few U2 songs that really touches me, don't know why. During that 5 minutes I'm taken to another place. Songwriting at its best.

And, if you listen, I can't call.
And, if you jump, you just might fall.
And, if you shout, I'll only hear you.

If I could stay, then the night would give you up.
Stay, and the day would keep its trust.
Stay with the demons you drowned.
Stay with the spirit I found.
Stay, and the night would be enough.

7. Even Better Than The Real Thing
After the beautiful and important songs, I had to find my fun song. And here it is. I love, love, love, love this song. The wah-wah intro... This song just makes me wanna jump and dance around, like no other. I'm really sad they don't play it this tour, okay, it is overplayed, but I only saw U2 this tour and I'd love to see this song live someday. Hopefully next tour. See this song live would be the epitome of madness to me

Give me one last chance, and I'm gonna make you sing
Give me half a chance to ride on the waves that you bring
You're honey child to a swarm of bees
Gonna blow right through ya like a breeze
Give me one last dance, we'll slide down the surface of things

If I had even more time to waste, the next ones would be Walk On, Kite, Out of control, One tree hill, heartland, gloria,...

 

[cjboog]

Vertigo : I love how much fun this song is, it makes me feel good. I love the "HELLO HELLO! HOLA!" and when Bono screams "FEEEEE-EEEE-EEEEL!" I get goosbumps. The guitar is awesome and I like the "electric shock therapy" during the verses with Adam layind down a cool bass. Although the "all of this" bridge doesn't really do it for me, I like the guitar explosion in "check mated, hours of fun, mumble mumble..." Finally the song builds into a blaring conclusion with guitar, drums, bass, and vocals all belting together. "Lights go down and all I know is that you give me something I can feel." Vertigo is not some deep sonic tune, it is a loud in your face rocker that demands your attention. I like that.

Beautiful Day : This one is hard to put into words. I went and saw my grandma recently (who has alzheimer's disease) and felt very down after visiting her. She has had this disease for years and can't speak or do anything on her own. I felt very sad about seeing her and when I got into my car I immidiately put on Beautiful Day. It is an emotional tune that always reminds me to see the good over the bad. Love it.

City Of Blinding Lights : This song is U2 in a nutshell. I love the sonic guitar and the lyrics are perfect. City of Blinding Lights is awesome live. It starts slow as Bono goes through the first verse "The more you see the less you know, the less you find out as you go". Finally we get a taste of what is to come with an "ooooooo-ooo-oooo" and "Oh you look so beautiful tonight". By the time we reach the "time" bridge the song erupts into an all out anthem with 3 "Oh you look so..."s. This song is a little different from others on the album in that after its blazing conclusion, Bono comes back with more great lyrics "Blessings are not just for the ones who kneel, luckily". City of Blinding Lights does justice to the term "Beautiful Sonic Architecture".


These 3 songs are my favorites but I can come up with about 7 more that I would classify as absolute awesome songs: Pride, Streets, ABOY, Desire, Sometimes, Crumbs, Zoo Station....It's impossible to come up with only 5.

 

[DignityPassesBy]

One - The first U2 song that i ever heard and is a song that i can listen to over and over and never get sick of its probably my all time favourite U2 song.

Sunday Bloody Sunday - Its so angry and is really fun to play on guitar lol

Please - Very desperate lyrics by bono on this one and the music is I want to hear it live but i dont think they'll ever do it again

The Wanderer - Perhaps Bonos best ever lyrics its just a shame that he didn't sing it. Its a great song that grows and develops like every great song with each listen

Levitate - Probably should have been on ATYCLB but is better suited to POP. Perhaps a sign of what U2 has got to come for the next album. I don't know why but i really like this song

 

[heyho_letsgo]

Seconds
War was the first U2 album I really got into (it may have helped that I owned War for like, a week, before I acquired Achtung Baby), and it took me about a month to realize Edge was the one who was singing, and that was onlt because of liner notes. Needless to say, this was rather boggling, as I had a really really hard time telling the difference. All of this is pointless backstory. The big drum at the beginning, the riff just automatically makes me move my head along to it, and live it just kicks ass. Plus during the little breakdown, when it goes, "I'm gonna live a life of danger!" I think I enjoy it a little too much.

In a Little While
This was, oddly enough, my favorite U2 song for a very long time... I think it held the spot about a year before Streets bumped it. I don't know why I like it so much (the Elevation tour helped, but I liked it before that) but there's something about it... it's one of those songs that makes me smile, calms me down, makes me want to dance with someone, and perhaps take a rocket ship into the sky.

Zoo Station
I am so so happy that Zoo Station won the AB round of Survivor. It's just in this entirely different world, it's distorted, it's dark, it's just got this unresistable something. And I love it. It also meant that when I went to Berlin (and stayed at the A&O Hostel at Zoo Station) I got to take a ridiculous amount of pictures of both Zoo Station and the U2 line, and pictures of the U2 line sign AT Zoo Station. I hope I'm not the only one that did that.

Streets
No other song can make me cry with such alarming frequency. I cry watching DVDs. I cry listening to bootlegs. And it's just from this feeling, this build-up, this release that you get from Streets.

Zooropa
It just feels like it's from another planet, if not an entirely different solar system. It's better by design.

 

[namkcuR]

Elvis Ate America: This is a masterpiece. Everything about it from the soothing, soaring vocal track to the profound, insightful lyrics, to the cathartic guitar solos. Rightfully considered as U2's crowning achievement, as well as one of the crowning achievements in the history of rock and roll. Right up there with Stairway To Heaven, Eleanor Rigby, and Light My Fire in terms of importance and significance to rock music.

 

[MrBrau1]

Tomorrow: The pipes at the beginning get me every time. One of the few times U2 sound Irish. The intro establishes that
ominous tone that's matched by the fear and grief in the lyrics. Then that good old acoustic starts strumming, electric chords
slash, Larry plays an odd beat, and the whole thing opens up. The wails. The celtic inspired slide guitar. It just pours out.

20 year olds made that. Amazing.

 

[1stepcloser]

In A Little While
As perfect a pop song U2 have ever written in my opinion. Why they didn't release this as a single baffles me. It's my favourite song from ATYCLB. I sent this to two of my U2-bashing friends and they both loved it. The guitar hook is beautiful and it's catchy as hell. Love it.

The Fly
I got into U2 through the 'Best of's and i was enjoying both CD's well enough but this was the one song that made me want to go and explore U2's back catalogue. Only later did i realise the significance of this song and the whole re-invention process that went with it. Great riff, great lyrics, a bizarre but beautiful chorus and it just fucking rocks really. Enough said. Probably my favourite U2 song ever.

 

[MrBrau1]

Red Hill Mining Town: Clean arpeggios, dirty chords announce the song. Larry and Adam
in pure economy mode, which leaves lots of room for Edge to drop icy chords, and Bono
to wail. BIG, BIG, BIG chorus. Nice high backing vocals from Edge, Eno, and Lanois. The
band really restrain themselves, and let Bono tell a tale with his words and voice, until the
final chorus when everythig is chugging along like a steam train on full throttle.

 

[Zoots]

Elvis Ate America: This is a masterpiece. Everything about it from the soothing, soaring vocal track to the profound, insightful lyrics, to the cathartic guitar solos. Rightfully considered as U2's crowning achievement, as well as one of the crowning achievements in the history of rock and roll. Right up there with Stairway To Heaven, Eleanor Rigby, and Light My Fire in terms of importance and significance to rock music.

 

[namkcuR]

It was a joke.

 

[Zoots]

It was a joke.

I know! That's why I did an eeklaugh and not plain eek!

 

[namkcuR]

I know! That's why I did an eeklaugh and not plain eek!

Gotcha

 

[the rockin edge]

because i'm lazy, i'll do the 3 that come to mind

Streets: This song is one of U2's greatest, especially live. starting with the synths, then larry counting off and cymbols, then edge's chiming guitar. and it builds until 2/3 of the way through where it peaks (a truly uplifting experience) and then ends the way it began with those same guitar notes


Bad: one of the best if not the best live U2 song, it's a masterpeice in it's simplicity with the same guitar riffs repeated throughout, the song builds momentum and fades several times and the lyrics go perfectly with the music.

New Years Day: this song has it all: classic & brilliant bass line, edge on guitar & piano, great drumming & awesome lyrics. i've always loved the piano bit into the guitar solo in the middle, one of my fav parts of any U2 song

 

[MrBrau1]

It's nice to see a few of us here actually like songs U2 wrote and recorded.

 

[Zoots]

It's nice to see a few of us here actually like songs U2 wrote and recorded.

I don't know if you're referring to me but I could name a TON of songs from Boy to Pop especially that I actually like!!!

 

[the rockin edge]

It's nice to see a few of us here actually like songs U2 wrote and recorded.

indeed we need more threads like this