Even Better Than the Real Thing: Achtung Baby's Most Unrated Track?

[Salome]

my least favourite U2 single

 

[Vlaco]

Oh yes, this is my favourite version

YouTube - U2 Even Better Than ... - Washington DC 08/16/1992

 

[OrARoundabout]

Oh yes, this is my favourite version

YouTube - U2 Even Better Than ... - Washington DC 08/16/1992

 

[bizkitgto]

Its pretty awesome, one of the best tracks on AB, U2's greatest album to date!!!!
However, Zoo Station is my fav track, and it's more underrated than EBTTRT.

 

[ozeeko]

I don't think any of them are very shallow, but EBTTRT is just all-around the least substantial song for me. A combination of the trite lyrics (regardless of their deeper meaning), the relative un-inventiveness of the music, and the not-very-stirring chorus.

Yes, Wild Horses is simply a mournful love song, but the music is a lot denser, and the lyrics are a lot more poetic and unique.

Ultraviolet is probably my second least favorite on the album, because by the time you hit track 10 it sounds rather derivative of other sounds you've already heard. But the emotion puts it over the top for me.

Alright then. Have to disagree with you on the lyrics, i think they contain some awesome lines. "slide down the surface of things" "free to fly the crimson sky, sun won't melt our wings tonight"(a reference to Icarus), "my head is somewhere in between" (gotta love the sexual innuendos).

I do think WGRYWH and UV also have killer lyrics, in fact Horses has one line that always sticks out - "river laughing at you and me" - always liked that imagery, plus the way it's sung.

Love all the songs, I think EBTTRT is supposed to sound like a shallow dance song on the surface, I think that was a deliberate choice. Say what you will, but Edge's guitar riff on that song blows most of the riffs on AB away.

 

[monsieur fly]

If you want earnest, forget about EBTTRT but if you want ironic, tongue-in cheek groove-flavoured rock n roll it's perfect. I love it- and I really hope they perform it live this year.

 

[Earnie Shavers]

It’s deliberately shallow. It’s about instant gratification. Instant sexual gratification. Bono – or his character or WHATEVER - is after a one night stand. So yeah, it sounds like a party, sounds excitable, and is ultimately a shallow song, or a song about being shallow. That it does so well at hitting its mark on every level though is what puts it over and above being just a thoughtless catchy single.

 

[Vlad n U 2]

Very undermentioned song indeed, I absolutely love the guitar in the chorus and the solo makes me wanna dance for some reason.

 

[boNOSE]

it's a great rocker and has plenty of depth and endurance.

But I'd say SO CRUEL, Acrobat, Love is Blindness and especially ultraVIOLET are the gems of this album, more than "One", "the Fly", or even "End of the World". UntraVIOLET I thought was a masterpiece the first time I heard it and now 17 years later (OMFG!!) I still think it is. They're aren't too many songs I can say that about, maybe a dozen or so, that have absolutely endured the test of time so far.

 

[Earnie Shavers]

Personally, I think there should be a permanent Love is Blindness Appreciation sticky at the top of this forum, and everyone should spend a moment glorifying it each and every day.

 

[branwalls]

While I have to choose "Ultraviolet" as the most under appreciated track on Achtung Baby, I have to agree that EBTTRT is pure U2 greatness. It's a shame that it has fallen out of the setlist on recent tours, but since we know Edge reads U2 forums maybe we can petition for its return.

I especially love the Live in Paris version from The Complete U2--Edge's best slide solo ever!

 

[boNOSE]

since we know Edge reads U2 forums maybe we can petition for its return.




------> Really? I'm totally surprised to hear that. I didnt know edge could read ! I though Adam was the intellectual one ! I mean, he wears glasses doesnt he? From reading so much?

------> Am I alone on this or does BONO look, move and all but except SOUND so ridiculous and pretentious in that video ?? Archtung Baby a great CD, but ZooTV? total New York and Berlin artworld crap.....

 

[the tourist]

I give it a 6. Now it's rated.

 

[OrARoundabout]

------> Am I alone on this or does BONO look, move and all but except SOUND so ridiculous and pretentious in that video ?? Archtung Baby a great CD, but ZooTV? total New York and Berlin artworld crap.....

Thats why it's so awesome

 

[BEVERLY56]

There are so many great songs on this stellar album! Many of them are underrated, including Real Thing, Wild Horses, So Cruel, Zoo Station ... to me this is the best album ever in the history of the world. It totally turned me on to U2 and I am completely in love with it. As for the video...Shiny Bono !

Oh, did I mention I like Achtung Baby? Patiently waiting for the remastered version...

 

[Yahweh]

Great song probably tied for the most under rated with So Cruel on that album.

 

[Slipstream]

Excellent song. I have the video on my phone and view to get energised when I'm sitting around at work etc.

I think it's one their top 3 best vids. I remember when it came out how many people would talk about how innovative it was and how they did the camera stuff.

 

[OrARoundabout]

Excellent song. I have the video on my phone and view to get energised when I'm sitting around at work etc.

I think it's one their top 3 best vids. I remember when it came out how many people would talk about how innovative it was and how they did the camera stuff.

^How did they do the camera work? Is there a "making of" vid anywhere out there?

 

[BEVERLY56]

Camera work? I thought they spun Bono around and the camera was still.

 

[OrARoundabout]

Srsly...how did they do it?

 

[OrARoundabout]

Any chance they are gunna bring this baby back for the tour?

 

[The Sad Punk]

Srsly...how did they do it?

I briefly worked with someone at an animation studio who just so happened to be onset for the filming of the video. If I recall correctly, the band members were standing on a transparent glass floor and the camera was going around a big loop, or something. I don't know, she said it was pretty neat.

 

[jphelmet]

I don't hate the song it just does nothing for me at all, its in my bottom 15 songs for U2. I have been skipping it on AB for about 15 years now. Its sounds like a soft drink commercial, and the most blatantly pop song on an otherwise great album. Far and away my least favorite song on achtung baby. I don't think its any better live either. The live performances of it on zootv and popmart were no better than the studio take. Its like elevation, in that it should have never survived to the second tour. Hopefully elevation goes away live ebttrt did.

Please, please, please do not bring this back live. It has not aged well, and doesn't need to take up a spot when there are so many great songs to play.

 

[intedomine]

Cracking song, under appreciated maybe, though most singles tend to be underappreciated probably because we've had radio thrusting the same U2 songs (including this one) down our throats for years.

It really is a terrific tune, it fits Achtung Baby perfectly. Couldn't imagine the album without it, and it deserved to a be a single. Still can't really place it as one of my top 30 U2 songs though, just something which stops me from doing so, perhaps just as an individual song it doesn't blow my mind as much as One, Fly, Mysty Ways and Zoo Station - still a great moment in U2 history though - because it's still unique and differentiated from the other songs from the Zoo era (91-94), yet still sounds quintessentially Zoo Era.

There are only really two Achtung Baby songs I want to hear in a U2360 setlist - this and Love Is Blindness - I can live without the others.

 

[rwolins1]

EBTTRT is a great song. I personally think Wild Horses is the most underrated U2 song of all, not just on Achtung.

 

[OrARoundabout]

Please, please, please do not bring this back live. It has not aged well, and doesn't need to take up a spot when there are so many great songs to play.

While I respectfully disagree with most of your post, maybe it is better that they refrain from performing EBTTRT...

I don't think they could pull it off

 

[OrARoundabout]

I briefly worked with someone at an animation studio who just so happened to be onset for the filming of the video. If I recall correctly, the band members were standing on a transparent glass floor and the camera was going around a big loop, or something. I don't know, she said it was pretty neat.

Hrm...that is pretty cool.

 

[WCF]

I think Even Better than the Real Thing is one of the best off AB. To be honest, I don't really rank AB in my top 3 since the album feels bland to me a lot of times, but EBTTRT is really good! I think its one of U2's only truly...upbeat and danceable songs.

 

[monsieur fly]

I don't hate the song it just does nothing for me at all, its in my bottom 15 songs for U2. I have been skipping it on AB for about 15 years now. Its sounds like a soft drink commercial, and the most blatantly pop song on an otherwise great album. Far and away my least favorite song on achtung baby. I don't think its any better live either. The live performances of it on zootv and popmart were no better than the studio take. Its like elevation, in that it should have never survived to the second tour. Hopefully elevation goes away live ebttrt did.

Please, please, please do not bring this back live. It has not aged well, and doesn't need to take up a spot when there are so many great songs to play.

Somewhat misguided- and before I get the usual "music is subjective" patter let me point out a few things.

1)The whole point of the song is that it IS seedy- it's a parody of that instant-satisfaction culture in which trendy "soft drinks" play their part. Please tell me you're not one of these people who demands hearts to be worn permanently on sleeves because that is rather boring. EBBTTR- one of the greatest lines in rock music- don't knock it.

2) Blatantly pop? I would disagree. Mysterious Ways is probably more commercial and Wild Horses is certainly more pop- that is why Jimmy Iovine recommended it as a single. I wouldn't call that guitar sound blatantly pop. Nor does it sound datedas you claim- in fact the whole of AB sounds unbelievably fresh even now.

3) The live version is clearly different if you listen hard enough- the siren effect on the guitar is more pronounced and Bono sings "take me higher" in a fasletto which is the song's sleazy highlight.

So yes it is underrated. And no -it is nothing like the lyrically simple, cookie cutter rocker Elevation. That should go, EBTTR must come back!

 

[monsieur fly]

While I respectfully disagree with most of your post, maybe it is better that they refrain from performing EBTTRT...

I don't think they could pull it off

Why? It is not as if Bono is some fragile sixty-five year old. I don't like reading defeatism. It's just a song, really, it's not climbing Everest.