15 November 2020
Unos, dos, tres, catorce
Turn it up loud, captain
Hello, hello (hola)
I’m at a place called Vertigo (¿dónde está?)
It’s everything I wish I didn’t know
Except you give me something
I can feel, feel
U2: Website
Lust For Life by IGGY POP
I got a lust for life
Lust for life
I got a lust for life
Lust for life
People Have The Power by PATTI SMITH
The people have the power
To redeem the work of fools…
Pride (The Name Of Love) by U2
Free at last, they took your life
They could not take your pride
1 November 2020
Band: U2
Album: ALL THAT YOU CAN’T LEAVE BEHIND – 10th LP
Released: 30 October 2000 – 20 years ago
Score: #1 in most European countries and #3 in the US
AllMusic/Stephen Thomas Erlewine review: The title signifies more than it seems,
since the group sifts through its past, working with Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno, all in
an effort to construct a classicist U2 album. Thankfully, it’s a rock record from a band
that absorbed all the elastic experimentation, studio trickery, dance flirtations, and
genre-bending of ‘Achtung Baby’, ‘Zooropa’, and ‘Pop’.
All That You Can’t Leave Behind winds up being a work of modest pleasures, where
the way the verse eases into the chorus means more than the overall message, and
this is truly the first U2 album where that sentiment applies, but there is genuine
pleasure in their craft, for the band and listener alike.” Score: 4/5.
”
Paul David Hewson aka Bono: “The only person who ever called me Paul was
my father, so I always associate it with doing something wrong, you know.
Turn Up The Volume: Along with ‘Achtung Baby’ the Irish stadium rockers’
best album. All pop killers, no fillers. Seems like they found what they were
looking for.
Key tracks: Elevation / Kite / Grace
– ELEVATION –
– KITE –
– GRACE –
U2: Facebook
Bono speaks…
20 October 2020
Band: U2
Album: BOY
Label: Island Records
Producer: Steve Lillywhite
Artwork: The ‘boy’ is Peter Rowen, the younger brother
of Guggi then a member of the Virgin Prunes and close
friend of Bono.
Released: 20 October 1980 – 40 years ago today
Score: (only) #52 in the UK
BBC Music: “U2’s debut album, was originally to be produced by Martin Hannett, but
at the last minute he withdrew, distraught over the recent death of Joy Division’s Ian Curtis. Imagine how the universe-gobbling careers of the four boys from Dublin would have fared
in the hands of the Mancunian experimentalist… In interviews of the time the band hinted
that their collective christianity had informed the writing. It would take a few more years
before Bono’s words matched his vaulting ambitions and messianic zeal. Also, musically,
it lacks a satisfying variety, with most songs fitting the same skittering four-four pattern
shaded by the Edge’s minimal chords, arpeggios and ringing harmonics… but all the
warning signs were here in this brave, life-affirming cry of youthful defiance.”
Bono: “God’s Spirit moves through us and the world at a pace that
can never be constricted by any one religious paradigm. I love that.”
Turn Up The Volume: The first signs of messianic stadium rock.
Bono has found what he was looking for by now, with or without
you, on the streets with no name. Hallelujah, it’s a beautiful day
when we are all ‘one’.
Key tracks: I Will Follow / Out Of Control
– I WILL FOLLOW –
– OUT OF CONTROL –
(Stunning live version)
Full album…
.
U2: Facebook
Memorable festival flashes to heal this summer’s ‘no festivals’ pain…
12 July 2020
On 13th July 1985, 35 years ago, massive concert event LIVE AID was organized
by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise funds for the immensely dramatic Ethiopian
famine.
Announced as the ‘global jukebox’, the marathon was held simultaneously
at Wembley Stadium in London for 72,000 people, and at John F. Kennedy
Stadium in Philadelphia with a crowd of 89,500. And an audience of 1.9 billion
TV viewers across 150 nations, that’s nearly 40% of the world population!
One of the most memorable performances was by U2.
The Irish rockers – read Bono – stunned Wembley and
the whole wide world with epic renditions of Sunday
Bloody Sunday and Bad. Relive it here…
– BAD –
– SUNDAY BLOODY SUNDAY –
U2: Facebook
Relaxing reveries for the laziest day of the week…
Who: U2
Song: With Or Without You
Where & When: With an orchestra at the legendary
Abbey Road Studios in London in 2016. Magnificent rendition…
U2: Facebook
19 years ago today, on 5 November 2000, Irish icons U2 topped the UK album charts with ‘ALL THAT YOU CAN’T LEAVE BEHIND’, their 10th and definitely one of their best albums ever with fabulous top songs such as ‘Beautiful Day‘, ‘Elevation‘, ‘Grace‘, ‘Kite‘ & ‘Walk On‘…
You can stream the album in full here…
.
U2: Website – Facebook – All Albums
Knockouts from the past…
22 October 2019
Band: U2
Song: Desire – first No 1 UK hit for the Irish stars in October 1988
Album: Rattle And Hum – the band’s fourth No 1 album
in the UK, topping the British charts on 22 October 1988,
31 years ago today
Here we go…
U2: Facebook
You can stream their 1988 No 1 double album RATTLE AND HUM here…
13 October 2019
35 years ago today, on 13 October 1984, Irish mega rockers U2 scored their second
No 1 album in the UK with their fourth studio album ‘THE UNFORGETTABLE FIRE’.
The band hired two musical experts, Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois, to help them with
their experimentation with a more ambient and abstract sound. The album’s title is
a reference to ‘The Unforgettable Fire‘, an art exhibit about the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on 6 August 1945 by the USA. The longplayer also topped the charts in
New-Zealand and Australia and peaked at #12 in America.
The two singles…
– PRIDE (IN THE NAME OF LOVE) –
‘THE UNFORGETTABLE FIRE’
