The Best U2 Ever

Last night I endeavored to do something that’s probably blasphemous in the eyes of many. At least what I came up with might be considered sacrilege. I set out to create a CD of my personal favorite U2 songs. For those of you who know U2, that’s no small feat. Limiting yourself to 74 minutes is pretty tricky. To be honest, I cheated. My wife made a favorites CD, too, so some of my favorites are on her CD, and that saved room on my own CD.

What’s truly difficult about this endeavor, is choosing which version of a particular song you want. I have five different versions of “Bad” alone (the album version, the Wide Awake in America version, the Rattle & Hum DVD version, the Elevation 2001 DVD version, and the Live Aid version). Of course I’m a U2 freak, so I’ve been able to download a number of songs and I figured out how to rip the audio off my DVDs so I could have some quality live versions.

A project like this can tell you a lot about someone. I think mine says that I like slow depressing songs, loud bangy songs, and live versions of the classic anthems. I think Abby’s mix shows her hope in spite of it all.

And whenever you do something like this, there’s going to be the detractors. The pissed off people who are looking for their own favorite songs and are bound to be disappointed. For those wondering what almost made my list, “Discotheque” was the last song cut. I also flirted with “Silver and Gold,” “Hawkmoon 269,” “Gone”, “Until the End of the World,” “Fly,” “Pride,” and “I Will Follow” (live from the Elevation 2001 DVD). I was also briefly tempted by “Lemon” and “Babyface,” because I like to sing along in a bad falsetto. And of course just about anything from All That You Can’t Leave Behind–I love that album, but for the most part I opted for live versions. I also think it’s funny that we have nothing taken straight from Joshua Tree, probably the best U2 album ever. Again, we opted for the live versions.

And with no further babbling, I present the Best U2 Ever:

Best U2 Ever (Kevin)
1) Beautiful Day live (Elevation 2001 DVD)
2) Wake Up Dead Man (Pop)
3) Exit live (Rattle & Hum DVD)
4) Last Night On Earth (Pop)
5) Bad live (Rattle & Hum DVD)
6) Lady with the Spinning Head (Best of 1990-2000 B-Sides)
7) Acrobat (Achtung Baby)
8) Out of Control live (live from New York, Oct. 24, 2001)
9) Please live (History Mix DVD)
10) Sunday Bloody Sunday live (Rattle & Hum DVD)
11) Mofo (Pop)
12) 40 intro/Where the Streets Have No Name (Elevation 2001 DVD)
13) Love is Blindess (Achtung Baby)

Best U2 Ever (Abby)
1) Elevation live (Elevation 2001 DVD)
2) Mysterious Ways (Achtung Baby)
3) MLK (The Unforgettable Fire)
4) The Sweetest Thing (The Best of 1980-1990 B-Sides)
5) Peace on Earth (All That You Can’t Leave Behind)
6) I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For live (Rattle & Hum DVD)
7) Unchained Melody (The Best of 1980-1990 B-Sides)
8) Stuck in a Moment You Can’t Get Out Of (7)
9) Everlasting Love (The Best of 1980-1990 B-Sides)
10) When the Stars Go Blue featuring Bono (VH1 Presents the Corrs live in Dublin)
11) With or Without You live (Rattle & Hum DVD)
12) One (Achtung Baby)
13) Grace (All That You Can’t Leave Behind)
14) Walk On live (Elevation 2001 DVD)
15) October (October)
16) All I Want Is You (Rattle & Hum)

5 thoughts on “The Best U2 Ever”

  1. How can you not even mention Sunday Bloody Sunday, yeah its an obvious pick, but it is without question their best song. Why do you think they’ve played it at 90% of the shows since it was released?

  2. Not many old ones in there…have you ever listened to New Year’s Day and Drowning Man. They are my best. U2’s newer stuff is not as good unfortunately.

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