Main menu
Fretplay home Submit tabs

u2
u2 tabs u2 discography

Channels
Guitar channel Bass channel Guitar videos Reviews

Message Forum
Guitar forum Bass forum Bands and artists Promote your band Recent discussions All categories

Fretplay.com

u2 guitar tabs

CD reviews

War

u2 - War Audio CD

A fair review of the u2 "War" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all u2 reviews here, or go back to the u2 tabs.

Band: u2
Title: War
Rating:

Release Date: 2008-07-22
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Sunday Bloody Sunday [Remastered] 2: Seconds [Remastered] 3: New Year's Day [Album version - Remastered] 4: Like A Song... [Remastered] 5: Drowning Man [Remastered] 6: The Refugee [Remastered] 7: Two Hearts Beat As One [Remastered] 8: Red Light [Remastered] 9: Surrender [Remastered] 10: "40" [Remastered] 11: Endless Deep [Remastered] 12: Angels Too Tied To The Ground 13: New Year's Day [Single Edit - Remastered] 14: New Year's Day [USA Remix/Kevorkian Remix - Remastered] 15: New Year's Day [Vocal Extended Mix - Ferry Corsten Remix] 16: New Year's Day [Ferry Costen - Vocal Radio mix] 17: Two Hearts Beat As One [Long Mix By Kevorkian - Remastered] 18: Two Hearts Beat As One [USA Remix by Kevorkian - Remastered] 19: Two Hearts Beat As One [Club Version - Steve Lillywhite Re-mix - Remastered] 20: Treasure (Whatever Happened To Pete The Chop) [Remastered] 21: I Threw A Brick Through A Window/A Day Without Me [Live from Werchter, Belgium July 1982 - Remastered] 22: Fire [Live from Werchter, Belgium, July 1982 - Remastered]

You too will enjoy U2
I've since gone on to purchase their whole collection & have become a huge fan. "War" was the first U2 album I ever purchased back in the early 80s. It's great to hear where U2 started from & how they've grown to where they are now (this is actually their 3rd album). This is their album just before "Joshua Tree" where they took a leap into the world's R&R conscience. Great whether you are a U2 fan or not.

Fantastic Deluxe Edition -- A Review of the Bonus Disk
It established them as one of the few bands that mattered. WAR was a huge album for U2. The level of artistic expression and political activism through music that this album represents is truly remarkable. This entire package is beautiful, featuring an excellent essay, notes from guitarist The Edge, rare photos and original cover art from the singles. To my ears, the remastering job is excellent, although audiophiles will no doubt find plenty to complain about (loud sound, sonic compression, etc. ) . Five stars for the original album, four for Disk 2. Most people won't have much use for the bonus disk, but for the true U2 fan, it's a real treat.

Disk 2 Breakdown:

1) "Endless Deep" (B-side of "Two Hearts Beat As One") - an atmospheric instrumental that foreshadows the lush guitar textures found on their next album THE UNFORGETTABLE FIRE. The bass guitar gives the song an ominous post-punk edge. Cool sound, but ultimately deserving of its B-side status. ****

2) "Angels Too Tied To The Ground" (previously unreleased) - a leftover from the WAR sessions, this track was finally completed in May 2008. It definitely has that WAR sound, especially in the keyboards, which are great. The song itself, featuring a waltz beat, sounds fairly unique to U2 and it's been treated with a lot of studio polish. Bono's vocals lack the crystalline quality of his earliest recordings, so they were probably added on in 2008 (after years of smoking and shredding his vocal chords). ****

3) "New Year's Day" (7" single edit) - nice to have this track, but rarely if ever would I choose this truncated version over the full album one. 7" single length - 3:55. **** (original album length - 5:35. *****)

4) "New Year's Day" (USA Remix) - an interesting version with some different lyrics, this track begins with those lonely, haunted keys before the bass and drums kick in. This track isn't quite as good as the definitive album version and the editing is rather sloppy in a few places but it's still very moving and very cool. ****1/2

5) "New Year's Day" (Ferry Corsten Extended Vocal Remix - previously unreleased) (9:41) - if you dig 80's techno you'll probably go for this. More than just run-of-the-mill techno, it incorporates an actual song - it's surprisingly good and you can dance to it. ****

6) "New Year's Day" (Ferry Corsten Vocal Radio Mix - previously unreleased) (4:36) - basically the same thing as track 5, just shorter and with a slight Depeche Mode sound. ****

7) "Two Hearts Beat As One" (Long Mix) (5:55) - This was never my favorite U2 song, mainly because I thought the "beat as one" idea was already a cliche when this came out. But it's actually a really great, sexy dance song and worthy single. This version gets a little bit weird and freaky in places - way cool. *****

8) "Two Hearts Beat As One" (USA Remix) (4:23) - I never listened to these remixes much back when I had them on vinyl and I found this version in particular to be a turn-off - especially the hyper-edited intro (heart!-heart!-heart!-heart!-heart!-heart!-heart!-heart! beat aaas oooooooooone!) It gets especially tiresome if you listen to remixes of the same song back to back, so I would recommend breaking them up and using individual tracks for mix CDs. ***1/2

9) "Two Hearts Beat As One" (Club Version) (5:42) - cool piano and effects - a superior remix that shows off a cool European dance style. ****1/2

10) "Treasure (Whatever Happened To Pete The Chop)" (B-side of "New Year's Day") - a very old U2 song they played live even before signing to Island. A very cool, intense rocker, it was left off of BOY due to stylistic differences. The Edge relates a very amusing back story about this track in the album notes. ****

11) "I Threw A Brick Through A Window/ A Day Without Me" - tracks 11 and 12 were recorded live in Belgium, July 1982. This is a tough, taught version of "Brick" that immediately segues into a brief drum solo before launching into a fine "Day Without Me" in front of a very enthusiastic crowd. It's great to hear Edge's chiming guitar on this upbeat yet spacey track from the BOY album. *****

12) "Fire" - killer version. *****.

Great Album with great additions
Great selection, in addition to one of U2's greatest albums. "Treasure" is one of my favorite U2 songs -- it's a B-side of the New Year's Day single, and is included here.

Discotheque - part 1
And it was a success among critics and public. Not happy with the way things turned out for October, U2 decided to simplify things for War, in search of a rawer more powerful sound.

But I never enjoyed War that much. For me it is one of the most uninteresting albums U2 ever cut. All the passion and delicate emotional instrumentation that made Boy and October such good records are exchanged for thundering drums and Bono shouting out his political agenda on mostly underdeveloped songs. Songs like Seconds, Red Light or Drowning Man are uninteresting and boring. Like A Song is ok but a bit d�j� vu. Two Hearts Beat As One and Surrender are also good enough songs but they scream so unashamedly for radio play that make me uneasy about them.

On one thing War beats its older brothers: the number of absolute classics. Boy had I Will Follow and October had Gloria. War has Sunday Bloody Sunday and New Year's Day, two songs with permanent seat on any U2 Best Of. And there is the excellent 40, a song that seems to have been written to play live. The thing is that both 40 and Bloody Sunday have their definitive versions on Under A Blood Red Sky.
So I just never found enough reasons to buy War.

For me this is originally a 3 star album and I was hopping that the Deluxe Edition would add some interesting stuff that would make it better but instead things only got worse. Unlike the Deluxe Edition of Boy or October, the second disc here is mainly comprised of no-less than 4 versions of New Years' Day and 3 of Two Hearts Beat As One (all remixes, extended mixes, vocal mixes, long mixes. . . ). That's definitely not what U2 is all about.

Like Little Boys
Underneath the sexy cover lies a CD with some good music on it. If you are like me, finding it harder to pursue one's hobby of pretty wee boys, then you too, probably, were first aroused to U2 by their delightful cover art.

First track "Sunday Bloody Sunday" epitomizes them lazy Sunday afternoons. When nothing is open, and there is nothing to do. When you think to yourself "Sigh! Sunday BLOODY Sunday" and you almost (hahahaha not really) cannot wait for the next day - Monday. The drummer is clearly aware of Bona's ironic stance, with military drumming as this humerous first track's backdrop.

Unfortunately it is all down-hill from there, as the singer gets comfused and thinks that we are all about to be nuked, and that it is somehow wrong in a "it is your fault you bastard" way that refugees are smoldering upon borders.

However, the last track 40 inches is a life saver. Not only because one is near the end, but also for its reprise upon the post-ironic metaphor of "Sunday. Bloody Sunday".

This could be the sound that the new millenium has been craving like chocolate for all I know. But, if all else fails you can always stare endlessly at the little boy on the cover, imaging what you would love to do but cannot because your rational brain won't let you.

Good effort U2, you should go a long way, even if the music isn't my cup of coffee.

You can see a complete list of all u2 discography, or go back to the u2 tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.