Audio CD review:
U2 - Beautiful Day, Pt. 1

U2 - Beautiful Day, Pt. 1

Band: U2 Title: Beautiful Day, Pt. 1 Rating: Release Date: 2000-10-24 Media: Audio CD Tracks: 1: Beautiful Day 2: Summer Rain 3: Always

Great single as always "Beautiful Day" is of course a great song and comes highly recommended by itself, but "Summer Rain," and "Always" (an early version of "Beautiful Day") no doubt are great songs as well. U2 has a knack for producing great singles with great B-sides. All three songs show that U2 isn't going downhill in the slightest in terms of songwriting, although the "All That You Can't Leave Behind" album is a bit more mellow then their previous stuff. Nevertheless, "Beautiful Day" is a great song, and I highly recommend the single. A happy arousing..... It of course, pertains to life and makes you feel like it actually is a beautiful day. This song is indeed catchy, it has it's political views if you want it to, about losing it all and never feeling more happy. It's not 100% POP and it's not 100% Joshua Tree, it's a blend along with a twist of something new they have to offer. Anticipate the best, U2 will never fail!!!. So much for progress... Or I guess it could be just a coincidence that the chorus from Beautiful Day sounds remarkably similar to A-Ha's The Sun Always Shines On TV. The world's premier rock band has unfortunately resorted to re-treading badly dated European pop songs from the mid-80's. I'm surprised there aren't any Duran Duran samples, or better yet, how about a Flock of Seagulls cover! Personally, I was hoping for something fresh, modern, and really hard-hitting. Instead I get Bono lost in some melodramatic fog of new wave nostalgia. It's essentially The Sweetest Thing with a heavier arrangement. U2 have always had major potential, but at this point in their career it seems unlikely that they will ever really break free from their depressing post-punk roots. Good but flawed The mix is a little messy - where are the drums? They seem buried here, and when you can hear them they sound namby pamby. "Beautiful Day" is a good song with a boring title, but the recording has some problems. This is U. 2. , and I expect a good backbeat, not this puny nineties drum machine/tambourine sound. Plus, Bono really sounds like he has a cold, and he even misses a few notes. I guess these things were allowed to pass because U. 2. apparently recorded a whole ton of material and then picked the best, which spread their energies thin. They would have done better to pick the best songs and then pay more attention to each recording. However, there's no denying the catchy parts of the song, or the interesting sound effects. It's a Beautiful Single OK, the single is great, but who buys a single when you're going to buy the full CD anyway? . . either to get an alternate radio edit (". . . Wild Horses" or "Last Night on Earth"), to get live tracks, or to get the b-sides. . . In this case, it's the b-sides, and here's where this package shines. U2 has added two great b-sides that aren't live recordings. "Summer Rain" is U2 doing their best immitation of Oasis (or does Oasis immitate U2?). From the accoustic guitar to Bono's inflections in the bridge and chorus, you can here faint whisperings of "Go Let It Out", "Wonderwall", "Staring at the Sun", etc. "Always", from what I've read, is an early, more punk incarnation that became "Beautiful Day". It sounds like "Even Better than the Real Thing" meets "Beautiful Day", in the way that the versus are played and sung, and the guitar on the chorus almost exactly duplicating "Beautiful Day". A great addition to anyone's U2 singles collection. That is, until they release their next Greatest Hits CD and add these to an extra disc. You can see a complete list of all U2 discography, or go back to the U2 tabs