corianderstem
Blue Crack Distributor
I hardly ever feel like listening to Desire or Angel of Harlem. I don't dislike them, per se, I'm just not interested.
Take out the live tracks, throw in the b-sides (and a couple covers), and you have a hell of a U2 record:
Van Diemen's Land
Desire
Heartland
God Part II
Hawkmoon 269
Angel of Harlem
Love Rescue Me
When Love Comes to Town
Jesus Christ
Dancing Barefoot
A Room At The Heartbreak Hotel
Hallelujah (Here She Comes)
All I Want Is You
Though I'd still keep Dancing Barefoot because U2 owned that cover. It's their best one, a rare example of the band actually getting a cover right.
Axver, I think I like your alternate idea better. It seems more fair to me, because otherwise, a bunch of early 80s songs that might otherwise get through will get shut out. I'm not sure how the 8/16 and 14/19 ratios were arrived at in the first place. By doing semifinal parts 1 and 2, the methodology of the 80s is kept in line with the that of the 90s and 00s, and no inherent advantage is given to either the early or late 80s other than that the late 80s had more songs go through to begin with.