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Sun, 20 Dec 1998 10:24:18 -0700
Copyright 1998 FT Asia Intelligence Wire
Copyright 1998 THE JAKARTA POST
December 13, 1998
A look back at the 1980s- A decade belonging to U2
JAKARTA (JP): Unlike, say, the Rolling Stones, U2 has never been accused of
living off the past.
Here is a band whom the fans and the media have built into the 1980s
paragon of virtue. A and that has continuously reinvented itself in search
of something new.
Just as the 1960s worship saw graffiti etchings of "Clapton is God" on
London walls, or sanctimonious shouts of "Judas!" as Bob Dylan picked up
the electric guitar, U2 in the 1980s became not just a band, but a religion.
There was global disenchantment when it was announced the group had
consented to a greatest hits album, compiling their best from the 1980s.
It was even more disheartening when news leaked out that it was all part of
a US(USDollar) 50 million deal for a series of three "best of" albums from
record company Polygram.
What is unique about the deal is that while major artists like Madonna and
REM have been offered contracts worth more, probably no band has been
offered such amounts for rereleasing old hits.
Maybe the group needs the money.
U2's last studio album Pop (1996) fizzled by its standards. Though
musically Pop did have its moments, commercially it was a pale comparison
to 1987's majestic Joshua Tree which sold 15 million albums and 1991's
Achtung Baby with 11.5 million.
The 14-track compilation traces the band's career from the 1980 debut Boy
to the 1989 semi-live soundtrack Rattle And Hum.
As a bonus, the initial early November release of Best of 1980-1990 was
coupled with a second disk of B-sides as a limited edition special price
compact disc.
For those too young to remember what B-sides are, there was a time not so
long ago that people bought vinyl, not CDs. Every single would have the hit
song on side A, and usually a throwaway on side B.
U2 connoisseurs will relish the 15-track B-sides collection.
Many of these are songs you probably heard once before, and several have
become rarities. Some are downright good and deserve to be more than a
curiosity.
Many who bought the single With or Without You way back in 1987 may
remember the two B-side songs Luminous Times and Walk to the Water.
Like its famous A-side, the two accompanying numbers are another example of
the dark solemn period U2 was going through.
Both are somber tunes, a shivering crawl through a sexual terrain tinged
with obsession.
I love you 'cos I need to/ Not because I need you bleeds Bono in Luminous
Time.
Another notable number on the B-side collection is Silver and Gold. A live
version appeared in Rattle and Hum. Here it appears in its original form
with Rolling Stones' guitarists Kieth Richards and Ron Wood playing backup.
The trouble with compiling a best of album for such a well known band is
not what is in it, but rather what has been left out.
Unfortunately the selection seems to be based on commercially successful
singles rather than charting the band's development.
Absent is little-known U23, the band's first ever single which was only
released in Ireland in 1979. Strangely enough, so is 11 O'Clock Tick Tock,
its first British single.
Another odd omission is 1981's Fire, U2's first U.K. chart hit.
Also left out are great songs which did not become singles, such as Exit
(from Joshua Tree) about a broken man slowly pushed into an abyss of madness.
There is also the omission of alternative versions of Sunday Bloody Sunday
and Bad.
The originals may have got the song across, but it is the live version of
Sunday Bloody Sunday in the Under a Blood Red Sky live album which people
remember.
Recorded at Red Rocks in Denver, Bono begins with the now famous line:
"This is not a rebel song!
With Bad, people are reminded how good the original version was, but
missing is the textural beauty and wide-screen sound of the live version in
Wide Awake in America.
These two performances in particular demonstrated U2's early ability to go
all-out live, invoking a silent primal scream more deafening than the
cosmetic teenage audience yells typically found in live albums.
It was the kind of insanity and nerve Pink Floyd could pinch in their 1970s
heyday, the raw emotion which only Bruce Springsteen could top in the 1980s.
These inclusions would have been crucial if the Best Of album was designed
as a journal of U2's development.
Selections also do not follow a timeline.
U2, whether consciously or not, has always brought a certain musical nuance
with every new album produced, something totally void here.
Best Of comes out like having your childhood memories as a six-year- old,
hormone-raging days of a 17-year-old and adult reflection of a 32- year-old
disturbingly meshed into one.
It is an extremely distorted portrait of the band.
Not really a surprise since Best Of is probably directed at the younger
audience who only got to know the band after 1991's Achtung Baby.
However, it would have been more apt to call the album a "singles
collection" rather than the best of U2.
U2's manager Paul McGuinness said the group always preferred to allow the
individual albums to be seen as separate pieces of work. But, he added, "it
was inevitable that we would do it sooner or later and this was a good gap.
After this many years it's fair to let people obtain the tracks on one
album".
To add a bit more salability, U2 reworked Sweetest Thing which was a B-side
to 1987's Where The Streets Have No Name as their new single.
It's a nifty, ear-catching single with a sing-along verse.
The song was written by Bono when he could not be with his wife Alison on
her birthday. A simple viewing of the video would make us think that Bono's
merely apologizing to his wife. But the number of times the word's "I'm
sorry ... I'm really, really sorry" comes out leads us to believe that U2
is aiming for a wider audience.
As if the band members are saying sorry for selling out. And, to make up
for it, U2 gives us cameos of Boyzone, the Chippendale dancers, a parade
and an elephant.
But it's difficult to stay angry for too long once you hit the play button.
For all the political posturing, caricature image they've adopted, rights
causes they've campaigned and eloquent verses, it really is just about
great music.
These tracks are testimony to Rolling Stones magazine's declaration of U2
as the band of the 1980s, or why Time put them on its cover as rock's
hottest ticket.
Enough said, the point is to just listen. With Or Without You is still as
powerful as it was a decade ago as it transcends all emotions, peaking not
in an orgasmic climax of ecstasy but a tingling relief of sincerity.
Or listen again to All I Want is You, the closing track of the Best Of
album and the last single to be released in the 1980s. An eloquent musical
summation of the band's journey in that decade.
After over three minutes of beguiling purgatorial brooding, All I Want is
You erupts in a wordless wall of sound as the Edge, Larry Mullen Jr. and
Adam Clayton conjure a musical coda of sheer unparalleled torment.
As Boy George once said: "Music is like sex. You spend more time talking
about it than you do doing it." So just listen.
-------------
Condensed from MTV Online:
Boyzone Talks About Jumping On Board "Sweetest" U2 Video
Boyzone is Ireland's contribution to the proliferating number of
cute-guy singing groups on the pop scene right now, but with their
own unique twist, as the group is able to write and produce their
own material, and have been scoring hits in Europe for the past three
years.
The vocal quintet is hoping for a U.S. breakthrough with its latest
album, "Where We Belong," but Boyzone can also be seen with
fellow Dubliners U2 on the video for that group's remix single,
"The Sweetest Thing" [28.8 RealVideo], which is featured on the
new "Best of U2" compilation.
It turns out that U2 originally offered the song to Boyzone, but the
group declined to use it on its record, even though they did cut their
own version of "The Sweetest Thing."
"We recorded the song and matched it up with the other songs on
the album," Boyzone's Ronan Keating told MTV News' John Norris,
"and it just didn't flow, sadly enough, because we would've loved to
do it."
"But you did end up in their video anyway?" Norris asked.
"They just approached us," answered Stephen Gately.
"Tell the truth, Steven," prodded Keith Duffy, "we were just walking
around town one day and we happened to be wearing white suits, the
whole lot of us. And we saw Bono in a carriage going up the street and
we ran after him, scooted on the back of the truck and went, 'Oh ho oh.'"
[28.8 RealVideo]
-------------
The Guitar World magazine interview with The Edge is available
online at
http://www.interference.com/news/u2_edge_in_guitar_world.htm
-------------
New Poll:
Last year, Bono made a comment differentiating between
"hard-core" drugs like Heroin and Cocaine, and "soft-core" drugs
like alcohol, cigarettes and marajuana. Do you agree or disagree
with his statement?
You can vote at http://www.members.home.com/u2-news/poll.html
-------------
Past 1 1/2 week's poll results:
Question: How many copies of the "Best Of" album did you purchase?
1 - 2 (344) 85%
2 - 5 (45) 11%
5 - 10 (6) 1%
10+ (11) 3%
406 Total Votes
Using the formula below 741 albums were bought by the people who
participated in the poll.
2/3 * 344 * 1 album + 1/3 * 344 votes * 2 album + 45 * 3 albums +
6 * 7 albums + 11 * 10 albums
-------------
There is a large "Best of" ad posted at the famous "Whiskey-A
-Go-Go" nightclub on Sunset Strip in LA. Thanks to Eli for this
information.
-------------
David Harth, [email protected], is featured in this months
New York Magazine! David is a long-time U2 fan, and
regularly reports to several lists about the gigs of U2 cover
band "The Unforgettable Fire"
You can see the article at:
http://www.davidgregharth.com/press/article_8.html
Congrats Dave!
-------------
(Prarit's note: Before anyone FREAKS out, RUMOUR RUMOUR
RUMOUR RUMOUR RUMOUR. That should explain things...)
>From Dotmusic:
Bumper crop of new albums for '99
Wow! It's gonna be a Happy New Year for music fans
There's a bumper crop of new albums planned for the first half of
1999 with releases from Blur, Cast, Gene, Kula Shaker, Supergrass
and Gary Barlow all scheduled before the end of June.
Thanks to our sister music industry title Future Hits, we give you this
exclusive month-by-month preview of who is bringing out what and when.
This information is so hot that many of the albums do not have a title yet!
While the actual dates of release have still to be finalised. Impress
your friends with this insider's guide to next year's top albums!
All the albums listed below comprise new studio material, none are
retrospectives or live albums. Go on, treat yourself.
Take a look at this...
January:
911: There It Is (Jan 25)
February:
The Cranberries: Promises
Beth Orton: Central Reservation (Feb 2)
Orbital: Middle Of Nowhere
The Stereophonics: Cocktails And Performance (Feb 22)
TLC: Fan Mail (Feb 22)
March:
Blur: (March 15)
Cast:
Gene
Electronic
Leftfield
Kula Shaker
Skunk
Supergrass
Ultrasound
Underworld
April:
Catatonia
Echo & The Bunneymen
Elastica
Hanson
Suede
Texas
Travis
May:
Paul Weller
Pet Shop Boys
June:
The Propellerheads
U2 (new material)
March-June (months to be confirmed)
Blackstreet: Get Higher
Gay Dad
James
Jamiroquai
-------------
Thanks to RB for the following:
There's a funny shirt available from Rock Fetish, which features
a No Bono sign(a pic of Bono with a "Don't" slash). It'll look cool
with your "Kill Bono" shirts :) ,
http://www.rockfetish.com/novelty.html
-------------
>From John Hlavaty:
Below is the most recent album and single chart news
as of Dec. 13, 1998. Some charts have not yet been
updated. As such, those charts have a "*" for the
last position. Normally, I would wait until all the
charts have been updated before posting this summary.
However, some "big" events occurred this week meriting
an earlier post. Hopefully, all remaining charts will
be updated within the week. If such occurs, I will
repost this information.
U.S.:
"Best Of + B-Sides":
#2-5-21-28-29
Now certified as PLATINUM in the U.S. with sales
over 1 million copies! This is U2's 12th album or EP (i.e.,
all of U2's releases) to reach this plateau.
"Best Of":
#57-45-68-70
"The Sweetest Thing":
10 total weeks on the Modern Rock charts, last
six weeks: #17-13-11-11-10-9(!)
Revised Hot 100 chart:
#66-69
U.K.:
"Best Of + B-Sides":
#1-2-15-21-23-25
"Best Of":
#8-9-4-8-9
"The Sweetest Thing":
#3-4-10-18-31-38-44-60
Canada:
"Best Of + B-Sides":
#1-4-11-19-*
"Best Of":
#5-8-6-*
"The Sweetest Thing":
Part 1:
#1-3-3-3-6-*
Part 2:
#3-4-2-7-7-*
Ireland:
"Best Of":
#1-1-1-*
"The Sweetest Thing":
#1-2-4-9-11-17
Australia:
"Best Of":
#1-1-1-1-3-3
"The Sweetest Thing":
#6-6-10-10-15-19-21-23
The "Best Of + B-Sides" reached PLATINUM
in the U.S. after 5 weeks. It took 9 weeks
before "POP" was cited by any source as reaching
that plateau.
-------------
Condensed from The Irish Times:
Spotlight falls on unseen Vatican figure
By Paddy Agnew
FACTFILE
Name: Diarmuid Martin.
Age: 53.
Job: Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.
In the news because: He's just been made a bishop and is now the
most senior Irish cleric in the Vatican.
SATURDAY PROFILE: On Thursday of last week Diarmuid Martin's
secretary at the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace received a
phone call from Ireland from a gentleman called Bono who wished to
talk to the bishop-elect about a charitable enterprise in which he is
involved.
Receiving phone calls from famous people is all in the line of daily
business for Diarmuid Martin. Since taking up the position of under-
secretary (subsequently Secretary) at Justice and Peace in 1985, Mgr
Martin has been a key, behind-the-scenes figure in what is one of the
most dynamic departments in the Vatican, a department furthermore
whose very raison d'�tre takes it into daily dialogue, contact and
sometimes conflict with just about every socio-political power bloc in
the modern world.
(Prarit's note: The article goes on about Martin -- no mention of why
Bono phoned.)
-------------
>From The Irish Times:
Franklin speaking
THE RECORDS
ALBUM OF THE WEEK
Kirk Franklin: "The Nu Nation Project" (Gospo Centric)
The American gospel star, Kirk Franklin, uses rap to
preach Christian values, substituting the F-word for
the Jword, and hammering the message home with
Biblethumping hip-hop beats. No humble servant of
the Lord is Franklin: he seems to revel in his
maverick status, delighting in his role as a musical
thorn in the side of Christian purists. The opening
interlude, Verdict, gleefully lists the charges against
rap's beleagured saviour: secularising gospel and
breaking down the barriers of religion. We are then
invited to judge for ourselves via the hard-hitting
polemic of Revolution and Riverside, and the
smooth, soul salvation of He Loves Me and
Something About The Name Jesus. The first track,
Lean On Me, features guest vocals by Bono, Mary
J. Blige and R. Kelly; Franklin draws excellent vocal
performances from each singer. Other musical
guests include Franklin's original group, God's
Property, Crystal Lewis, Fred Hammond, Rance
Allen and Men Of Standard, but every song is deftly
steered by the guiding, cajoling voice of Franklin,
who keeps everything on a high-minded note and
never rests on his pulpit. In another life, Franklin
could have been just an old-fashioned TV
evangelist, using CD for his own nefarious ends,
and dazzling his congregation with cheap, shoddy
showmanship; in this life, however, Kirk Franklin
delivers his musical sermons with convincing
panache, and every reading has the ring of truth.
His endless requests for a witness do grate a little
after a while, but they sure beat listening to
gangstas guffing on. - Kevin Courtney
-------------
Thanks to Elizabeth Platt for the following:
Boyzone Star Joins Ireland's Millennium Team
PA 12/10/98 12:35
Copyright 1998 PA News
By Ruth O'Reilly, PA News
Boyzone heartthrob Ronan Keating today took a seat on
Ireland's Millennium Committee and said he looked forward to
contributing the voice of Irish youth to the debate on the
year 2000 celebrations.
The 21-year-old frontman of the top-selling boy band, who
last week expressed aspirations for the Irish presidency, was
delighted to be asked onto the team headed by government chief
whip, Seamus Brennan.
Emerging from a 90-minute meeting in Government Buildings -
at the heart of Dublin's political establishment he said:
"It's just fantastic, I couldn't ask for anything better."
He joins a team which includes U2 manager Paul McGuinness,
former government ministers, members of the Irish parliament
and Northern Ireland Women's Coalition leader, Monica
McWilliams.
They are considering thousands of ideas to mark the arrival
of the year 2000 in Ireland.
Ronan said: "It will be a celebration.
"We don't want to look in the past, all the terrible events
and the bloodshed.
"It is about what Ireland can be in the next 1,000 years.
It's all there."
-------------
I've added in the $5.00 off to the With Or Without You Japanese
Single available from CDNow. The link is:
http://www.cdnow.com/switch/from=sr-1349749/target=buyweb_purchase/ddcn=MSI-M120686
-------------
The RA of the U2 Legends episode can be found at:
http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Venue/1905/legends.htm
-------------
Thanks to Stale Bjordal for the following:
The following editorial is from a Christian Norwegian news paper (11/26/98)
U2 has been labeled that (WORLD GREATEST BAND) for a majority of the 24
years they've been together, and definitely during the period that is now
summed up on The Best of 1980-90. For what other bands write songs like
Sunday Bloody Sunday, Where the Streets have no Name, and Still haven't
found what I am looking for? What other band manages to reach in and touch
the soul of so many people?
Axl Rose, the controversial vocalist in Guns 'n' Roses burst into tears
when he for the first time heard One. The message and mood in the song
helped him putting important pieces of his life back together again, he
later said. Therefore he also sent Bono a letter of thank-yous.
The editor for the music magazine, Puls (sic), Arild Ronsen was so
touched by Achtung Baby that he proclaimed it his own little Bible, and
played it twice a day for a whole year, at least. Ronsen was ofcourse right
when he predicted that U2 would enter the history of rock side by side with
the greatest: Elvis, Rolling Stones and Beatles.
Why? Because the music from the Irish 4 has a dynamic lift and a
carrying power that is so far beyond most of what's being played on MTV and
other Popvideo-channels the recent years. And let's not forget the
embarassing hip-hopers where they, in lack of creativety, rap to old hits
from the 60's and 70's.
THE ROCK GAINED A CONSCIENCE
U2 will be written with gold-paint first and foremost because they
helped lifting the rock from a self-absorbing and narrow pop music world,
to a political and religious reality. U2 were important contributers when
the rock gained a conscience! U2 also gained respect in circles where rock
was looked upon as entertainment and puberty protest.
When Bono jumped down from the stage at Kalvoya (venue) a warm
summer nite in 1983, grabbed a white flag, and ran across the fields while
the psalm 'Gloria' was blasting out in the Oslo Fjord and the masses of
people, I remembered the singer's word from a lecture in Ireland from a
year before: "I believe God has a very special plan with U2. But we need
prayer; if not, we're finished. We don't want to preach or give the 'right'
answers, we'd rather ask the important questions that can touch something
in people's life."
KNOW THE NEED
U2 has indeed taken up on the last part of the speech, and then some: They
have put on radiation suits and 'visited' restricted areas as a part of
their ongoing combat for nature. Bono brought his wife to Ethiopia's worst
hunger stricken areas, lived there for weeks to help and support, and to
see the hunger up close and personal. The same man has also called Heads of
States and other important politicians from stage during long tours and
said: "Now listen up", and was heard. In the background he was an important
part in the successfull peace traty in Northern Ireland. It was also
recently known that Salman Rusdie sought shelter for many years at the U2
lead singers house in Dublin.
(CHURCH) POLITICALLY INCORRECT
Bono asked for prayers. U2 have always had and have many people
praying for them. Surprizingly many of the people involved in the U2
machinery are Christians, and also part of the English Green Belt festival.
But many Christians have turned their back on U2, because Bono, Edge and
Larry in their eyes have been church politically and Christian morally
incorrect. For that reason these individuals have stripped them (Bono, Edge
and Larry) for any credibility as speakers for God, yes, as Christian
individuals, and consequently mis-interpreted their un-traditional methods
of preaching.
U2 broke away from the charismatic congregation, "Shalom", very
early. They found their own way in the Christian fellowship. More down to
earth than before, but still looking up to God. More than once have they
spoken against TV-evangelists and clergymen, for forgetting the second part
of the Golden Rule: "You shall love your neighbor like yoursolf." This is
what Martin Luther King did, and U2 honored him in the song Pride (In the
nake of Love) from the album "The Unforgettable Fire: (1984)
End of Editorial
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sorry for any in-coherant sentences and gramatical mistakes, Translating
involves more than just substituting words for other words....;-)
-------------
Prarit.....
[email protected]
http://www.members.home.net/u2-news/u2.html
This page is brought to you by the letter "U" and the number "2".
-- Prarit....[email protected] U2 news: http://www.members.home.net/u2-news/u2.html U2 NEWS is MOVING -- AGAIN!!!!
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