Nothing spells Happy Birthday like a rockin' gift from your big brother. Mine--you know him as Mudge! (aka Gux, aka Guxaldine, aka GuxTBraaaaahhh, aka "Son, you're looking a little puffy," aka "Now George!", aka That Guy on the End of Zoe's Leash, aka the OG)--got me the new 6-CD U2 box set, complete with their first 3 LP's (Boy, October, and War) plus 3 extra CD's with lots of goodies. I feel like I'm 18 again.
I'll just hit some high points. First, the October goodies-CD has the best live version of "11 O'Clock Tick Tock" ever, to my knowledge, recorded. All of you fans who once owned the vinyl (?) version of the bootleg I Ate B4 I Flew will remember that, back in the old days, the boys really didn't have enough songs to fill up an entire show, so they played "11 O'Clock Tick Tock" twice--once at the beginning, and once at the end of this show. This is the version from the end of the show and, well, it's worth whatever price G paid for the whole set. And that is to say nothing about the sublime live versions (from the same show) of "I Will Follow", "The Ocean," and "Cry/ The Electric Co" right before this. Put this last one on all of your iPod playlists--or rather, make a whole playlist of this song and "11 O'Clock" and try, just try, not stop your workout and writhe on the gym floor in ecstacy when it plays. I dare ya. You can't do it--or at least I couldn't--and now I've got to find a new gym. Oh, well.
For those of you who think that "Bullet the Blue Sky" was the first time U2 donned the Led Zeppelin manque masks, there is "Speed of Life" on the Boy goodies CD, which moves along a bit like "The Song Remains the Same." And there is also--who knew?--another live version of "11 O'Clock Tick Tock" on this CD. It's grande, but you can tell that they are still just getting how great this song is going to be. And there are lots of other cool things on this CD, too--like live versions of "Boy-Girl" and the studio version of "Things to Make and Do"--which reminds me, for some reason, of Sleater-Kinney (minus the estrogen, 'natch).
Probably the most greatestest thing about the set--besides the fact that it was given to my by my big brother--is the remix of "Tomorrow" on the October goodies CD. This version sounds like it was pulled right off of Pop--and I mean that as a very good thing. Have we really listened to "If You Wear that Velvet Dress" or "If God Will Send His Angels" properly? I don't think so. And this version of "Tomorrow"--stripped down, ethereal, a little like a note of redemption from the future, belongs there, a head of its time. On the same CD that gave us the greatest U2 single ever, "Please." Go check that CD out.
So anywho, I love it. And I'm so glad I've got such a cool big brother who sent it to me. And he's got a great dog, too. I hope I have many more birthdays to share with him.
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4 comments:
Did Gux forget to put my name on the card?? ....Damnit Gux!
I have very fond memories of being introduced to U2 by my older brothers... especially the first couple of albums. Remember seeing them at Curtis Hixon Hall??
I guess my heartfelt 'Happy birthday' cant compete with the U2 cd extravaganza... I'll try harder next year. Love You Chinny Brah!
By the way... I dont know if you ever checked back to my blog to find the answer to your question: 'what is a dick bag?'... check it out.
Wow CEB... I guess people have enjoyed my gifts before, but I've never had such a lovely review of a gift.
OK, now I gotta order wunna dem bitches for myself, which I wuz gunna do at some point -- I gotta do it now!
I'm glad you like it.. and thanks for saying nice things about gux... warm fuzzy :-)
Our favorite Dublin band has a new album coming in November. Supposedly a little more "experimental" and a different guitar sound... I read that they were listening to Hendrix a lot around the sessions.
When I was hiking with my friend Christa and her 16-yr-old sister the other weekend I told a story of when I was in Ireland and someone pointed out the U2 drummer's house - don't know if he was pulling my leg or not - but the 16-year-old said, "I don't even know who that is." I assumed she had just misheard me. "U2," I repeated. Nothing. Seriously? Then she told me I was ancient. Waaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!
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