Beautiful B-sides
Written: May 14 '01 (Updated May 14 '01)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: All three songs are excellent.
Cons: There are only three songs.
The Bottom Line: The Beautiful Day single contains three great songs and proves that even U2's b-sides are superior to most other bands' best work.
|
|
|
| Nathanael73's Full Review: Beautiful Day I [Single] by U2 |
I am one of those U2 fans that feels compelled to buy everything the band releases, and I’m not just talking about the albums. I’m talking about singles, videos, soundtracks, side-projects etc. Friends have often asked questions like, “Why bother buying the single when the song is on the album?” The answer to the question always has been, and always will be, “For the b-sides, of course!” Over the past twenty years U2 have recorded dozens of songs that did not make it onto any album, yet are undoubtedly of a higher quality than the best that many other bands can create. For me, that is one of the main reasons why U2 are such are great band – even their experiments are bloody good.
The Beautiful Day single comes in two formats. CD1 contains Beautiful Day and two new compositions, Summer Rain and Always. CD2 contains Beautiful Day and two previously unreleased live tracks, Discotheque (Live from Mexico City) and If You Wear That Velvet Dress (Live from Mexico City). I shall be reviewing CD1 here. For some strange reason the song was only released to radio here in the U.S. and the two CD’s can only be obtained via import. I got my English release from Amazon for about $10.
Unless you’ve been in hibernation for the past six months, you are probably very familiar with the first single from All That You Can’t Leave Behind. The song begins with some synth chords and a throbbing bass drum before Bono enters crooning,
The heart is a bloom, shoots up through the stony ground
But there’s no room, no space to rent in this town
You’re out of luck and the reason that you had to care,
The traffic is stuck and you’re not moving anywhere.
You thought you’d found a friend to take you out of this place
Someone you could lend a hand in return for grace
Then the drums kick, the cymbals crash, the bass thunders, Edge hits the power chords and Bono proclaims,
It’s a beautiful day, the sky falls
And you feel like it’s a beautiful day
It’s a beautiful day
Don’t let it get away
For me, Beautiful Day encapsulates everything that makes U2 great: insightful lyrics, soaring vocal harmonies, a fantastic rhythm section, and guitar hooks that just won’t let go. The song combines introspection with joy, power with passion. You can’t ask for any more from a rock song.
Summer Rain begins with, and is indeed constructed upon, rhythm guitars drenched with reverb. It sounds like dual acoustics, probably played by Edge and Bono respectively. The excellent lyrics are co-penned by Bono and Edge –
When you stop seeing beauty, you start growing old
The lines on your face are a map to your soul
When you stop taking chances, you stay where you sit
You won’t live any longer, but it’ll feel like it, a ha
I lost myself in the summer rain
I lost myself
I lost myself in the summer rain
In the summer rain
The song contains an acoustic guitar solo during the soaring chorus that wouldn’t sound out of place on Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks.The drums and bass don’t kick in until the second verse, and, to be frank, the song would work just as well without them. Bono’s vocals are both intimate and self-assured. Here is a man who knows that he has a great voice and knows how to use it to its best effect. He knows when to whisper, when to croon, and when to scream.
The song’s middle eight lyrics work as a kind of mantra –
Just as you find me
Always I will be
A little bit too free
With myself
- and are phrased perfectly for heartfelt singalongs in cars and living rooms around the globe. I like the song’s lyrics so much that I feel compelled to quote a few more lines:
It’s not where you’re running
Or where you’re going
It’s not what you’re dreaming
It’s not where you’re born
It’s where you belong
It’s not how weak, but what will make you strong
The song ends immediately after the last line quoted above. Summer Rain would work well live as a solo piece for Bono or as a duet with Edge replete with dueling acoustic guitars.
The third song on the disc, Always, opens with a great hypnotic bass line courtesy of Mr. Clayton, urgent drumming from Mr. Mullen, and atmospheric synths and swirling guitars from Edge, before giving way to chant-like vocal harmonies from Bono and Edge. Crashing cymbals and power-chords mark the transition to the chorus – very similar to the dynamics of Beautiful Day. Always is a b-side to Beautiful Day in more ways than one.
The lyrics change from chorus to chorus, with one constant, the refrain “always.” One of the choruses,
Get down off your lonely cloud - always
God will not deal with the proud – always
If you dream then dream out loud – always,
could well be Bono addressing himself. He has been known to be just a little egotistical at times, a trait he is no doubt well aware of. Once again Bono recycles his “dream out loud” admonition – a phrase he has used repeatedly since Zooropa.
I particularly dig the verse in which Bono sings,
Be the arrow and the target
Put your head over the parapet
Be uncool, yes be awkward
With Summer Rain and Always, U2 prove once again that their b-sides are anything but throwaway. I thoroughly recommend the Beautiful Day CD single for all U2 fans and for those music lovers who wish to learn more about one of the most important bands of the past 30 years.
If you found this review helpful, please check out my other U2 related reviews:
U2 Concert Review: Elevation Tour, Reunion Arena, Dallas, April 3, 2001 - http://australia.epinions.com/content_1388159108
Under A Blood Red Sky: U2 On The Edge Of Mega-Stardom - http://australia.epinions.com/mvie-review-27AA-ABCF8CA-3A1801FB-prod4
All That You Can’t Leave Behind: When U2 Create, The Goal Is Elevation - http://australia.epinions.com/musc-review-3CA0-4A6EA0E-3A086D7A-prod4
Recommended:
Yes
Great Music to Play While: Driving
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
Nathanael73
|
|
Location: Michigan
Reviews written: 85
Trusted by: 89 members
About Me:
Traveler Reader Writer
|
|
|
![Beautiful Day I [Single] by U2](http://img.shopping.com/cctool/PrdImg/images/pr/177X150/00/77/56/cb/40/2002176832.JPG)
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.