Rest of U2 Survivor: Achtung Baby - Round 7

[cobl04]

You know what? I'm voting for The Fly. No bastard's gunna grind me down.

 

[The Sad Punk]

Acrobat. It's a great song, but it's one that I think could have been so much better live. I mean, it kind of plods along a bit for me these days. Most of AB does, in fact. But The Fly still sounds like a wacky apocalypse - I think it's the best song on the album for sure and I'll be very disappointed if it doesn't win, as much as I also like Acrobat.

 

[Axver]

Acrobat. It's a great song, but it's one that I think could have been so much better live.

It should be a crime that U2 haven't played it live. And by that, I mean a crime that comes with jail time in a prison with a rehearsal room so that they can learn it and avoid re-offending.

 

[phillyfan26]

The Fly: Poor album mix.

 

[djerdap]

Two of the best songs in U2's catalogue. Hard to choose, but I always thought The Fly was my number 1, so...

Two of the best songs ever, actually.

 

[phanan]

The Fly: Poor album mix.

While I agree that a song like Zoo Station suffers from the mix, I disagree about The Fly. I love how it sounds on the album.

Acrobat FTL.

 

[cruzila]

i Acrobat... but The Fly totally kicks arse!!

 

[martha]

The Fly

 

[CTU2fan]

I don't know what's more ridiculous...The Fly being in this via U2 not putting it on any Best Of, or people actually thinking Acrobat is better than The Fly. I love Acrobat, I really do, it's probably my 2nd fav song on the album, but it ain't close to The Fly. And folks making assumptions re: basing votes on the live versions...save them. The Fly > Acrobat, period. People voting otherwise are just being contrarian - they probably all think Mercy is the Best. U2. Song. Ever. (See I can make assumptions too )

Oh and how is Live Survivor going to work? How are we deciding which live versions to use and getting said versions to people before they vote? Because if we limit it to official live stuff there's going to be several holes.

 

[BonoIsMyMuse]

The Fly. I think Acrobat and Love Is Blindness are probably the two songs that best capture the album for me thematically, so I couldn't vote against either of them.

 

[Axver]

The Fly > Acrobat, period. People voting otherwise are just being contrarian - they probably all think Mercy is the Best. U2. Song. Ever. (See I can make assumptions too )

Psh. I'm sure you know I don't exactly think much of Mercy, yet I would say that Acrobat's studio version is clearly superior to The Fly's.

Oh and how is Live Survivor going to work? How are we deciding which live versions to use and getting said versions to people before they vote? Because if we limit it to official live stuff there's going to be several holes.

Well, to get people to listen, we will create packages of songs - I'd much appreciate your help in identifying representative performances. They will then be made available in a prominent link in every thread. So, for example, the JT round will have a downloadable package with one live example of each song from the album. I admit it's not going to be perfect, but I think this is more ideal than restricting it only to official live releases (which, besides its obvious holes, it also raises the issue - where do we stop? There are some official live releases out there that aren't exactly in common ownership!).

As for songs with multiple versions, we are at this stage planning on having qualifying rounds. The winning version will go on and join the rest of the album or relevant miscellaneous category. Let me use JT as an example. Prior to the commencement of JT proper, we will have the following qualifiers:

ISHFWILF: Standard electric vs acoustic (3rd leg ZooTV - I forget, was that sole first leg Elevation performance also acoustic?)
WOWY: JT/Lovetown, 1992 ZooTV, 1993 ZooTV, Popmart/Elevation/Vertigo
Bullet: JT/Lovetown, ZooTV, Popmart, Elevation, Vertigo
RTSS: JT/Lovetown/Vertigo, ZooTV
In God's Country: electric vs acoustic
Mothers Of The Disappeared: JT Tour, Popmart stripped down, Vertigo charango

Now, assuming my desired performances win, the actual JT round would have the following options, keeping in mind Streets has been disqualified and declared the winner by default:

I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For (electric version)
With Or Without You (Joshua Tree/Lovetown Tour version)
Bullet The Blue Sky (ZooTV version)
Running To Stand Still (ZooTV version)
In God's Country (electric version)
Trip Through Your Wires
One Tree Hill
Exit
Mothers Of The Disappeared (Joshua Tree Tour version)

 

[CTU2fan]

OK gotcha. I was wondering about the different arrangements too, that sounds like a plan (though choosing arrangements will make for a loooong Survivor game). Lucky there's plenty of songs like New Year's Day that have pretty much been the standard arrangement across the tours.

Happy to pick through my stuff and try to find some quality performances...maybe it would make sense to get some people to commit to doing an album or 2 apiece.

 

[An Cat Gav]

While I agree that a song like Zoo Station suffers from the mix, I disagree about The Fly. I love how it sounds on the album.

Acrobat FTL.

Agreed, The Fly album mix is perfect.

 

[theFly51]

Acrobat

 

[gareth brown]

vote for the fucking fly you pack of dogs it pisses me off that it's made it this far

 

[Salome]

so I was too late in the other poll
doesn't change that the verses of Acrobat are boring

for people who complain that Bono has started to talk his way through songs instead of singing thi ssong must be painful to listen to

 

[U2democrat]

I CAN'T DECIDE!!!!!!!!!!

 

[U2lunatic]

The Fly, Acrobat has personal meaning to me, I can't vote for it.

 

[RavenBlue]

The Fly

 

[U2democrat]

OK, I voted for The Fly. The anger and power felt in Acrobat is to amazing to pass on.

 

[Mauwer]

Completly missed round 6
Well I would`ve voted LIB anyway

This one is the toughest but I voted Acrobat.
Because The Fly is still that amazing after all this time.
And I never skip it on a cd or dvd ( boot or official )
Let`s say I never get bored with it unlike Pride and One etc...!

Cheers ,

Mauwer

 

[pepokiss]

Acrobat is the best U2 song EVER...


for me... and it should be for you



The Fly rocks live... but this is ACHTUNG BABY, not LIVE

don't let the bastards grind you down...

 

[Screwtape2]

The Fly must die.

 

[SeattleVertigo]

In the past, I would have voted to keep The Fly. But I've grown to like Acrobat more.

 

[MrPryck2U]

Both songs are great, but I like The Fly better.

 

[the tourist]

It's close. Too close. Acrobat stay. The Fly should leave.

 

[phillyfan26]

While I agree that a song like Zoo Station suffers from the mix, I disagree about The Fly. I love how it sounds on the album.

Acrobat FTL.

Once the second half the solo begins (with the falsetto), the entire mix is garbage, with about 5000 sounds all playing at once.

Live Fly FTW
Studio Fly FTAAGAA (For the Almost as Good as Acrobat)

 

[Saracene]

this is pretty clear...we're talking studio people! studio fly is lacking...

I prefer the studio version of Fly to any live version, I love it live as well, but to me it lacks the tension and muscular punch of the studio track. Plus, the kind of half-whispered vocal that Bono does in The Fly is really hard to do right live; he mostly ends up talking through it.

 

[pat132]

Acrobat, never really liked it

 

[pat132]

Acrobat. Good song, insanely overrated.