This is a tough question, because now having aged more than 20 years after having bought my first U2-album (THE UNFORGETTABLE FIRE), time in my life is more restricted than ever. So unfortunately there is a growing loss of ability listening to albums again and again - which was kind of normal in the days of good ol' records, before you could easily "skip" certain tracks of your digital data like today. I do miss these days kind of "fighting" with an album, by the way...
1. THE JOSHUA TREE
still is an album sounding perfect. On tape or MD I do listen to it in its entirety. "You can't kill poetry" Bono told us a few weeks ago in Auckland, while performing the album's center song "One Tree Hill". And he is right...
2. ACHTUNG BABY
turned it all around, as you all know. But it also turned it around for myself in having to get used to new sounds, a new decade. First I was shocked (and honesty still I am, when the band crashed in with "Zoo Station" or "The Fly" 2005/06), then I loved it after having learned the album, and what the band needed to stay hungry.
3. POP
is an album, that is so underrated these days - by the band and many fans. This is kind of a shame, because it is neither a mistake nor it needs to be re-recorded. As any U2-album it is a state of its time - and '97 U2 recorded this timeless piece of art: brilliant songs, challenging sounds. It's a whole unit, a statement, a sketch; it touches the heart and is not on the surface at all.
4. HOW TO DISMANTLE AN ATOMIC BOMB
finally got away from the super-radio-friendly production of its predecessor; it even has the better tunes, sounds - and is the 4th masterpiece you can listen to as a unit. No failures (except perhaps having erased "Mercy" from the final track list), just differences, just emotions - wow!
5. THE UNFORGETTABLE FIRE
was my first step in U2's world, which has somehow become mine too over the 23 years now. Strange, but true. Songs like "The Unforgettable Fire", "A Sort Of Homecoming" and the more obvious classics ("Bad", Bride) still belong to the best, U2 have ever recorded - please play more from this brilliant album on your next tour!
6. BOY
is an album, that still sounds fresh, perfect. A great collection of songs on the debut - and it was a more than welcome decision to play a kind of mini-BOY set on the 2005 legs of the tour.
7. UNDER A BLOOD RED SKY
belongs to the U2 albums, I also did/do listen to in its entirety. On the other hand it is not a complete concert, only a quick view inside the live atmosphere, the band once had - and might have lost in way, looking at the innocence & spirit of these early days.
8. RATTLE AND HUM
is an affair with dark & bright sides. Now, nearly 20 years after being released, I really have lost interest in the live versions, that do sound dated and surely are by far not the best versions, U2 performed in the JOSHUA times. And the choice of the live tunes is also to discuss. Apart from this compromise, the then new tracks are perfect, fresh sounding - and still belong to the best on the oeuvre. Here too there is a kind of hope, U2 might rediscover tunes like "God Part II" for their live shows.
9. ZOOROPA
Now we enter the field of albums, I do skip certain tunes regularly. Here there are "Daddy" & "Wanderer", where I donÄt like the production and the sound (not the songs/lyrics, I do appreciate). On the other hand you get gems and the sketch of a fast recorded, kind of spontaneous album. Nice, more than that. Yes, my Irish mates, you didn't need always 3-4 years for a new album...
10. ALL THAT YOU CAN'T LEAVE BEHIND
is way of overrated in my ears & eyes. The production of radio friendly hit singles does overshadow the whole album - and so the otherwise genius duett Eno & Lanois didn't achieve another masterpiece. I guess. sadly, because live some of these tunes ("Kite", "Stuck", "Walk On") lift off and show their grandness. Oh, and I fear "Beautiful Day" will become a new staple like "Pride" - don't play it to death, folks.
The other albums have their magical moments & songs, but don't belong to the Top Ten above. I just point out the highlights:
OCTOBER should be appreciated more. There is not only "Gloria". Take "Tomorrow", "I Fall Down" or the breathtaking "October" itself - and you know, what I mean. The record should be represented more often in the next concerts, I do hope. Yes, Bono & Co.: Also younger fans would have the chance to redicover this album, too.
WAR has become represented by the trilogy - but there is much more. Take the rocking "Two Hearts" or the brilliant piece "Drowning Man" - man, how I would live to see it performed on the B-stage...
WIDE AWAKE IN AMERICA is nice, but short. But "Love Comes Tumbling" still belongs to the best ones, as does the re-worked live version of "A Sort Of Homecoming".
PASSENGERS OST 1 is an experiment, even a laugh. But "Miss Sarajewo" and "Your Blue Room" are masterpieces, no doubt.
MILLION DOLLAR HOTEL doesn't do more for me; some nice tunes, mostly very laid back and a joke at the end. "Ground Beneath Her Feet" is beautiful, in its studio & live versions.
BEST OF 1980-90
BEST OF 1990-00
U2 18
are not, what I needed - but I do appreciate the "new" songs on these albums. The last example with "Saints" & the magical "Window In The Skies" dong the most for me. Keep "Window" in the set lists, folks - it will become a live favourite...
