OT: Best U2 CD/Record/Album

[saab2000]

Beyond ranking because it is just so good, influential and earth shatteringly over the top in 1980 is "Boy" but if you have rank the rest here it is.
1. Joshua Tree
2. Unforgettable Fire
3. Achtung Baby
4. Red Rocks
5. October

The rest.....

Sitting in my garage postponing cleaning the Merckx. It is filthy because I got caught in a rain shower today where it rained so hard it hurt.

[scrooge]

Rattle in Hum has to be up there somewher. IMHO, of course.

[justinf]

Gotta go old school here:

1. Joshua Tree
2. Unforgettable Fire
3. War
4. Boy
5. October
(honorable to Under a Blood Red Sky live)

I just kinda missed the later stuff, lost interest, whatever. . .

[saab2000]

Rattle the CD is good because it contains some tunes not in the film. I liked the film a lot, but at points they take themselves just a bit too seriously. Still, some of the music is really good.

I saw it in France in 1988/1989 about 5 times in the cinema and was mesmorised.

[pale scotsman]

Bro - they lost me after October and Boy, though I gotta admit Joshua Tree had some decent tunes.

[Dr. Doofus]

Negativeland -- U2

[Rapid Tourist]

I'm going to go out on a limb and say the best U2 album (other than Boy of course), has got to be imho "Wide Awake in America". Its a 4 song album from 1984 or so opening with Wide Awake. The best version of "A sort of Homecoming" I have heard. Listened to this album over and over probably 5,000 times in college and its still great.

[saab2000]

I did not expect to like "Achtung Baby" because it contains the dreadful top-40 "Mysterious Ways" but the rest of it is pretty good, though a major departure from their previous stuff.

I think they peaked with Fire and Tree and descended slightly (but more of a turn than a descent) with Baby, but they have since lost me, exept I think "Electrical Storm"is OK.

[saab2000]

I'm going to go out on a limb and say the best U2 album (other than Boy of course), has got to be imho "Wide Awake in America". Its a 4 song album from 1984 or so opening with Wide Awake. The best version of "A sort of Homecoming" I have heard. Listened to this album over and over probably 5,000 times in college and its still great.

Wide Awake is not going out on a limb. It is excellent. The only reason I don't include it is because I have heard a better version of "Bad" - Live Aid version.

But you are right about "Homecoming". Very proper.

It is in slot nr. 4 in my new GTI, so it ranks.

My copies of Boy and Red Rocks don't fit because they are vinyl.

[Rapid Tourist]

Cool I could listen to Homecoming another 5000 times or so...thanks for the memories.

[saab2000]

Cool I could listen to Homecoming another 5000 times or so...thanks for the memories.

Josh tree was college for me. I stood in the back section of the St. Paul Civic Center in 1987 to see them. There was a dude right above us who did not have a lighter, but rather some sort of aeresol can which clearly must have read "Extremely Flammable" because that was his lighter/flame thrower. I went to the concert with the best friend of the young lady who made me stutter and weak in the knees. The "one" was not there unfortunately. She might still make me weak in the knees. I think she is an MD now.

Anyway, the more obscure early U2 is the best. The best song by far from that concert was "Trip through your wires". It is the only one which stands out in my memory.

Unforgettable Fire came out when I was in high school. Bought it the first day it was available.

The first time I heard "Boy" was in about 1980 (or when it was new) and a friend had it. I could not stop listening and "I will follow" is probably worn out now by the needle.

Still waiting for a band which has that type of impact for that long.

[Elefantino]

Live At Leeds.

[JohnS]

Bono takes himself waaaay too seriously. I saw them back in the early 80's at the Fox Theater in Detroit before it was renovated. Halfway through the show, there was an "altercation" between two men in an aisle. Bono stopped the music and gave a "peace in the world...love your neighbor" speech and they immediately stopped. A few weeks later I was listening to them on King Biscuit or something and the same thing happened. That's when I knew that it was a staged put-on. I lost all respect for them right there.

[jerk]

easy.
boy

and then joshua tree for a distant second.

jerk

[manet]

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000001F3C.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

[pdxmech13]

boy should've been the only album that they should have released
I would like to hear it remastered a little. early 80's was a little twitchy..

[Serpico]

: : : paging cydewaze : : :

[BumbleBeeDave]

. . . may not be everyone's choice, but it's mine.

I was driving to a friend's wedding in Colorado from California in 1991 when I had just bought it. I will never forget humming along hiway 50 through Nevada listening to "Where The Streets Have No Name." This was the part of NV where there is absolutely friggin' NOTHING but you and the road and millions of tumbleweeds--it's been called "The Loneliest Road In America." You can look from one horizon to the other and see nothing from the hand of man except the road. Stop your car, turn off the engine, and walk 100 yards . . . once you're away from the clicking of the muffler metal cooling down, you truly learn what silence is. No sound whatsoever. No birds. No wind. Nothing.

Later in the same trip I was driving down from Silverton to Ouray, past the remains of so many old mines with their rainbow-hued piles of tailings, and listening to "Red Hill Mining Town" . . .

We'll scorch the earth
Set fire to the sky
We stoop so low to reach so high
A link is lost
The chain undone
We wait all day
For night to come
And it comes . . .

I will never forget that album or that trip, each because of the other.

BBD

PS . . . While on that same stretch of route 50, at least 50 miles from anywhere, a cycling team passed me going the other way. All in matching kit, no team car in sight. I hope they got where they were going . . .

[taz-t]

ya know... I would've thought 'Pop' or 'Zooropa' would fit this crowd. Has that whole Euro-trash, fin de siecle thing going on.

- taz

[Argos]

Wide Awake in America
Boy
October
Pop
War
Zooropa

If you like Pop and Zooropa at all, you should check out this album:

Passengers: Original Soundtracks 1

The credits say,

Music by:
Brian Eno, Bono, Adam Clayton, The Edge, Larry Mullen Jnr.
and featuring extra passangers Luciano Pavarotti, Howie B, Holi

Technically it's not a U2 Album, cause of Brian Eno, but whatever, It's totally a U2 Album, and even if it only had the Song 'Miss Sarajevo' on it and nothing else, it's still one of their best works, imho, timo, aycttttb,j!

It would go right above 'Pop' in my list.

[Argos]

Anyway, the more obscure early U2 is the best. The best song by far from that concert was "Trip through your wires". It is the only one which stands out in my memory.

Crap. now I gotta listen to all of my U2 tomorrow. That song is incredible. They have so much powerful music spread thick over a lot of great albums. I was this close to getting that special iPod, but I was hoping it would be in a box,wrapped for my birthday.http://forums.thepaceline.net/images/icons/icon9.gif Maybe next year.

[tmanley]

About 10 years ago I found a bootleg double CD set at a small record store in Bend, OR. Being a huge U2 fan and having every album, I was in heaven.

What I ended up purchasing was a digitally remastered CD of their Zooropa tour stop in Dublin! I just listened to CD1 while driving up to Eureka, CA, yesterday and I'll put CD2 in on my way up to Portland, OR, tomorrow. I've only seen one other copy of this same concert...and that was from my old college roommate who picked it up while traveling through Europe. The only difference was that mine had a 'DDD' rating (i.e. all digital) while his was 'ADD' (i.e. analog to digital). I'm not 100% up to speed on my recording technology or acronyms, but I think mine sounded better when we cranked it up on my stereo.

I think it would be really cool if U2 put on their own type of Lalapoluza, but have them be the only band. I'd pay top dollar to be at a concert where you knew they'd be playing for 6 hours and cover all their material. But as my wife mentioned when I floated this idea to her, there probably would be somebody who would walk away without hearing a specific song they felt was 'better' then all the rest. Oh well...

[shinomaster]

I just gotta say that U2 is one band that never sucked. They always rocked, and for so many years.
Zooropa is a really cool album.

[classic1]

Achtung Baby, then Zooropa.

The rest of their albums are like a mogadon.

[fierte58]

Unforgettable Fire/Joshua Tree/Zooropa- all good stuff.

An abiding memory from my trip atound Europe in 1987 was sailing into Dublin Harbor on a ferry from Holyhead in Wales listening to "A sort of Homecoming" on my Walkman -just like in the video clip.

[scooter01]

I have said before here that Im a big U2 fan. I bought the complete U2 collection for my i pod, this collection is over 400 songs, about 170 of these are live- not on any current album. Even though their are several repeats of the same song from different concerts they are all great! For the past few months this is all I have listen to.

Even my daughter (10) is becominig a fan as well! " Daddy is this Bono?"

Oh yeah.

[scpknees]

1. the unforgettable fire- my favorite lp ever
2. war
3. boy
4. october
5. a b

[davids]

http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drf600/f614/f61420ywknd.jpg

[Dr. Doofus]

right here

[Argos]

Re: Negativeland.....

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/3.01/negativland_pr.html

[taz-t]

right here

casey kasem fan, huh?

- taz

[mosca]

Joshua Tree, hands down. In fact, it's probably my #1 record period.

U2 lost me about halfway through "Rattle and Hum", but I love the earlier stuff. I remember wearing out my vinyl copy of "October" - back then I couldn't get enough of that bombastic Steve Lillywhite production. And his 12" remixes were the best!

[andy mac]

i went down to argentina for new years eve 2000 with a work buddy who was originally from BA. he's a real dude - all the girls love him. i didn't realize he was from a wealthy family.

my recollections from new years eve 2000 - sitting on a small island off the coast, dinner party for around 20 people. all the chicks were super, super hot, wearing thongs and heels. we cooked a ton of meat on the bbq and ate fred flintstone style - then his buddy a great musician brought out his guitar, harmonica and a whole lot of percusion instruments. only 2 people spoke english but we were all able to sing U2 songs for a few hours, drink too much, dance etc.

thanks mr bono et al.

:beer: