U2 / Frank Sinatra & Bono: "Stay (Faraway, So Close!)" / "I've Got You Under My Skin"

24 November 1993

"U2 are always willing to experiment, unlike many other rock bands."

— Tania

"Like Bono said, they're just four jerks with a police escort, haha."

— Jay

I was just eight years old in the summer of 1985 when Live Aid took place. To say I had better things to do was pretty much on the money. Music was fine but my life revolved around comic books, Lego, street hockey, wrestling and cartoons; I wasn't about to spend a whole day watching an over-long music festival which took place in two cities on separate sides of the Atlantic. One member of my family who did watch was my mum. Rather than appreciating the many stars from her younger days that performed (McCartney wasn't all that good, the Stones were boring, Dylan was self-serving and she's never been a fan of Queen) her fondest memories of Live Aid were of a handful of the newer acts on the bill. Paul Young and U2 are the two she always mentions being especially impressed by. In the case of the former, it was his silky-smooth voice that won her over, with the latter it was their memorable renditions of "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and "Pride (In the Name of Love)".

Yeah, about that. U2 didn't play "Pride" at Live Aid. I'm sure they considered it and probably would have had (a) they'd done a set of four songs like many of the groups that day rather than two or (b) the tune Mum mistook for it had not gone on for so damn long. It was with a stirring twelve minute rendition of Unforgettable Fire deep cut "Bad" that U2 set themselves up for superstardom; it's just a pity that the song itself fell through the cracks along the way. Nevertheless, it managed to set a standard for what U2 songs were supposed to sound like. Not every one of their numbers sounded the same but they all seemed a bit like "Bad".

It has also been the one I've been singing to myself over the last several days as I've been gearing up to write this piece. "Bad" and "Stay (Faraway, So Close!)" (as an aside, what the hell is that exclamation point doing in there?!?) aren't terribly similar beyond both having those unmissable U2 stamps of that heartbeat rhythm, those clipped chords that The Edge has made a career out of and Bono's distinctive wail. On an emotional level, "Stay" strays because it doesn't lift me up the way a song like "Bad" does so effortlessly. I keep expecting true inspiration such as when Bono screams "I'm wide awake!"; "Stay" just pulls me along and then passes me by. It's nice to have on but when it comes to a close I forget all about it. I didn't know it was possible to listen to a U2 song this much and it not make the slightest impression; even their songs that I don't care for have melodies I can hum, even if I choose not to do so.

U2 becoming weird was something everyone had accepted by 1993. It no doubt helped that they were happy to remind people that they were still U2 every so often. After the genuine shock of "The Fly" near the end of '91, follow-up "Mysterious Ways" proved to be a welcome way to ease back into normal while maintaining their new found funk sound and overall sexiness. "One" neither harked back to the "2" of old nor suggested anything particularly new but it was so brilliant that it hardly mattered. Very justly, the remix of "Even Better Than the Real Thing" outperformed the standard version as the two competed with each other on the UK singles charts. Finally, their run of singles from Achtung Baby! ended with "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses" a song that was horribly, painfully U2.

Achtung Baby! had been so hyped that it was one of those early nineties CD releases that people lined up for at midnight to purchase. This wasn't the case two years later with the more low key Zooropa. Videos for the first two singles were played a lot but there didn't appear to be the same degree of chart action involved. Unbeknownst to me, "Numb" was a video single and didn't qualify for the US and UK hit parades, though it did all right in my native Canada; "Lemon" wasn't readily available either. I wasn't exactly tickled by them at first but the two did grow on me but there was a sense that maybe the public had had enough of them. Luckily, there was "Stay" to put them back in the good graces of their fans. The only trouble was, it was at the expense of something truly memorable.

With records such as "Wild Horses" and "Stay", U2 managed to appease their longstanding cult base while at the same time drifting off into sonic adventurism elsewhere. (The blowback from their 1997 Pop project prompted a wholescale rethink with greater emphasis on retreating to their old sound which resulted in the highly popular and highly successful All That You Can't Leave Behind but as an on the fence listener this was where I pretty much gave up on them) While it ticks the boxes of how one of their singles ought to sound, it's an unsatisfying listen, particularly over time. It isn't so much a return to form as a reminder of how they used to be so much better.

Finally, unremarked and possibly unnoticed by Tania and Jay of Eurodance sensation Culture Beat is that "Stay" was a split single or double A side (depending on how you choose to classify it). It shared the spotlight with "I've Got You Under My Skin", Bono's contribution to the popular Frank Sinatra Duets album that came out for that year's Christmas rush. U2 had already done an outstanding cover of "Night and Day" for the 1990 Red, Hot + Blue AIDS benefit charity album — a recording which anticipates their new European/indie-influenced sound a year later — so clearly the former Paul Hewson knew a thing or two about Cole Porter's songbook. Still, this one isn't nearly as good. While Bono is the perfect singer for U2, he sounds completely out of his league when paired with Sinatra; his once powerful vocal chords now reduced to sounding like a croaky old whimper. The recording is also harmed by some pointless production touches that try to add a faint tinge of current "2" to the jazz arrangement. It's as if they wished to add some of the current U2 sound to one song while trying to add some of what they used to do on to another. Perhaps they go together better than I ever would've thought.

~~~~~

Also Reviewed This Fortnight

Pet Shop Boys: "I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind of Thing"

"They don't express themselves," reports the rapper from a group whose creative shots were being called by German studio boffins. Ironically, "I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind of Thing" is meant to be about a reserved individual being open with their feelings for the first time but how can that hold up alongside years of pop in inverted commas? There's a fair amount of Pet Shops backlash in the Hits by this point though it's worth noting that Tania considers it to be one of their better efforts of late. I can't help but feel that people were getting sick of Tennant and Lowe and this affected the critical standing of their early nineties releases. That said, this one isn't a big favourite of mine. Tennant has subsequently complained that the album version is much cleaner and he's absolutely right. Plus, the Very album isn't all that well served by its 45's: I'll happily take the likes of "The Theatre", "Dreaming of the Queen" and "One in a Million" (not to mention some choice B sides from the same time) over the stuff they had in the charts. Yet, even when they were coasting — and apparently not expressing themselves — the Pet Shop Boys were still way above the competition.

U2: "The Fly"

30 October 1991

"Wooh!!!!! And it deserves exclamation marks!!!! As many as possible!!!!!!!!!!!! Blimey."

— Sian Pattenden

2 Unlimited, 808 State, Paula Abdul, Bryan Adams, Oleta Adams, Marc Almond, Anthrax, Kim Appleby, Arnee & The Terminaters, B.E.F. featuring Lalah Hathaway, Big Country, Bizarre Inc, The Black Crows, Blur, Marc Bolon & T-Rex, Michael Bolton, Bomb the Bass, Billy Bragg, Bros, Brothers in Rhythm, C&C Music Factory, Mariah Carey, Belinda Carlisle, Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine, Cher, Marc Cohn, Cola Boy, Natalie Cole, Color Me Badd, Congress, Alice Cooper, Beverley Craven, Cubic 22, The Cult, DJ Carl Cox, DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince, DJH featuring Stefy, Deacon Blue, De La Soul, Cathy Dennis, Dire Straits, Divinyls, Jason Donovan, Driza Bone, EMF, Electronic, Enya, Erasure, Gloria Estefan, Extreme, The Farm, Fish, Flowered Up, Amy Grant, Guns N’ Roses, Heavy D & The Boyz, Whitney Houston, Human Resource, INXS, Incognito, Infiltrate 202, Jesus Jones, Jesus Loves You, Sabrina Johnston, Kiri Te Kanawa, Frankie Knuckles, Lenny Kravitz, Latour, Sophie Lawrence, Julian Lennon, Level 42, Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam, Little Angels, Londonbeat, MC Hammer, Manic Street Preachers, Marillion, Marky Mark & The Funky Bunch, Martika, Don McLean, Metallica, Bette Midler, Dannii Minogue, Kylie Minogue, Moby, Monty Python, Morrissey, Mötley Crüe, Alison Moyet, Ned’s Atomic Dustbin, Stevie Nicks, Oceanic, Omar, OMD, Ozzy Osbourne, PJB featuring Hannah & Her Sisters, P.M. Dawn, Ce Ce Peniston, Pet Shop Boys, Prince & The New Power Generation, The Prodigy, Public Enemy, Queen, Queensrÿche, R.E.M., Shabba Ranks featuring Maxi Priest, Vic Reeves & The Wonder Stuff, Cliff Richard, Right Said Fred, Roxette, Rozalla, Runrig, Saint Etienne, Salt-N-Pepa, The Scorpions, Seal, The Shamen, Simple Minds, Simply Red, Slade, Sonia, The Sound of Eden, Lisa Stansfield, Status Quo, Rod Stewart, The Stone Roses, T99, Technotronic, Kenny Thomas, Tin Machine, Tina Turner, Union featuring England World Cup Rugby Squad, Midge Ure, Utah Saints, Vanilla Ice, Voice of the Beehive, Crystal Waters, Wet Wet Wet, Karyn White, Young Disciples, Paul Young, Zoë

The one hundred and forty-two acts listed above all share one thing in common: they all occupied spots between numbers two and forty on the UK charts while Bryan Adams' immovable "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You" sat at number one. A total of a hundred and sixty-seven singles took spots in sixteen weeks' worth of singles charts and all came up short of dethroning that mawkish power ballad from Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves that refused to die. Following along from abroad back in Adams' native Canada, it was a site to see: it ruled the charts there for the bulk of the summer just as it did everywhere else but we all moved on. Except the British who just couldn't seem to tire of the bloody thing. 

The above list is an impressive one. At least fourteen of these groups and singers are in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, with a few more surely to follow (possibly even Bryan himself, despite what his many detractors might have to say on the matter, though it should be said he doesn't seem to be getting much support so far). There are acts that people revere to this day and others that have mercifully been forgotten about (and quite a few I've never heard of). Some I'm surprised to see appearing this late, others coming in earlier than I would've expected (I would never have anticipated encountering Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam and Moby as chart contemporaries).

Plenty of these people appear more than once as well. Cher, Extreme and R.E.M. all had singles on the charts when Bryan took the top spot, had follow-ups appear in the midst of his reign and then each had a third crack at it with "Everything I Do" still in the top spot. Bryan himself even had follow-up single "Can't Stop This Thing We Started" go in and out during this time. It was at number one for so long that it must've seemed like it would never fall off. Clearly, something special was going to have to emerge in order to dethrone it.

If "The Fly" itself wasn't terribly special then the return of U2 was reason enough for Adams' reign to end at just shy of four months. Ver 2's fanbase couldn't have been happier that they were back, those of us who thought they were okay were fine with them being back and those that hated them were probably just grateful that someone had finally turfed Bryan Adams from the top spot. For perhaps the first and only time, U2 weren't the divisive ones.

Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen were big enough and still young enough at the time that they could easily have come out with more of the same and still claimed the number one for the first week of November, 1991. In fact, this hypothetical reworking of "Pride" or "With or Without You" or "Bad" might have even managed an extra week or two on top. The fact that they went to number one with such a radical departure seems all the more remarkable.

The first inkling that things were changing for U2 was in August of 1989 when Clayton was busted for carrying some weed into Dublin Airport. This was clearly for his own use but that didn't stop self-righteous types from stepping onto their soapboxes. MuchMusic's Erica Ehm expressed her disappointment in a very hectoring tone but it's significant that his bandmates stood by him. Very little was said about it after the shock wore off and everyone moved on. Among those moving on were the members of U2. (In retrospect, the other sign of changes afoot was the track "God Part 2" on the otherwise rootsy Rattle & Hum album. Though clumsy lyrically, its rhythm is groovy and even sexy with a bit of an industrial beat. It also features some of The Edge's fiercest guitar work; Bono was going to have to up his game though)

Still, nothing could have prepared the public for what was to come. "What the hell was that?", we all cried the first time "The Fly" came on the radio. What had U2 done with themselves? Adam Clayton started dating supermodel Naomi Campbell and suddenly they're the most glamourous band on Earth? Pop kids such as myself assumed they'd been listening to nothing but the likes of Happy Mondays, Primal Scream and The Stone Roses for the past couple years while critics decided that their new sound was the product of Nine Inch Nails (as Brian Eno once said, only 10,000 people bought the first NIN album but everyone who did was already in a band who just happened to be looking for a change of direction) but I wonder if it was mostly a case of U2 rediscovering their non-American musical roots. Bowie's Berlin period, Krautrock, The Associates, Gang of Four, Joy Division and the post-punk/new wave scenes in general inform nineties' U2 at least as much as bloody Trent Reznor or Shaun Ryder. No wonder this new approach seemed to suit them so well: it had always been there.

"The Fly" gave them just their second UK number one but it lacks the legacy of much of the material from their peak period. Notably, it got left off the North American edition of The Best of 1990-2000 compilation. Subsequent singles from coming album Achtung Baby — "Mysterious Ways", "One", "Even Better Than the Real Thing", even the inferior and thoroughly unnecessary "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses" — are all better remembered today. If it's recalled at all these days, it's as the song that finally toppled that damn Bryan Adams from the top of the UK charts. But it deserves better. Not many people return from a layover with something so startling — not even U2 themselves when they emerged from their so-called ironic period in 2000 sounding even more painfully U2 than anyone could have ever imagined.

~~~~~

Also Reviewed This Fortnight

Genesis: "No Son of Mine"

By 1991, Phil Collins had balanced his commitments to longtime band Genesis with his solo career so deftly that it was difficult to tell the difference. Would anyone have noticed had "No Son of Mine", "I Can't Dance" and those other two been released under his own name? U2 would soon unveil their own much more considered account of inter-generational familial hardship with "One", a song that rapidly exposed this as the load of old nonsense that it always was. It's supposed to be about the man of the house beating either his wife or child but the narrative sure seems to side with the bastard of the story. Yeah, a boy who's been traumatized by a violent POS really ought to be the bigger person and reach out to daddy, am I right? How about "No Dad of Mine" instead, Phil? And yet, it went to number one in Canada for five weeks. I ought to think twice about making fun of the British for "Everything I Do", huh?

Erasure: Crackers International

30 November 1988

"They seem to be getting better and better, and this is no exception to the rule."

— Alex Kadis

Side 1: "Lady Madonna"; "Across the Universe"

Side 2: "The Inner Light"; "Hey Bulldog"

This is the track listing of what should have been the greatest EP of all time. The Beatles were getting ready for their meditation retreat in northern India but they were contractually obligated to release a single while they were away. George Harrison had already been in the subcontinent working on the soundtrack to the film Wonderwall and he produced a session with Indian musicians for his composition "The Inner Light". He took it back with him to London where he laid down his vocals at the encouragement of John Lennon and Paul McCartney who both liked the guitarist's latest work. As if spurred on by Harrison, his bandmates contributed some nice material as well. McCartney delivered "Lady Madonna" which would soon give the Fab Four yet another number one single while Lennon offered up both "Across the Universe" and "Hey Bulldog". Macca and Harrison's tracks would be used for their next single while Lennon's were held over for a charity album and the Yellow Submarine soundtrack respectively. None of the four are top flight songs but they're all very good and they would have become more than the sum of their parts had they been bundled together.

EPs exist in the grey area between singles and albums. If kept to three or four tracks (or even two in the case of Bjorn Again's Erasure-ish) they may qualify for the Top 40; if they go over their allotment, they become more like an album, especially if their running length goes past the twenty minute mark. (Even then, the lines aren't clear: I know of at least one R.E.M. fan who recognises Chronic Town, with just a quartet of tracks, to be an album; this blog will be looking at an extreme and oddball example next month) Effectively taking the place of the 10" record, EPs became a compromise between the brevity of the 7" single and the sheer length of the album. The Beatles dominated the EP charts every bit as much as they did the more renowned formats. Young people who couldn't afford to buy With The Beatles at least had the opportunity to invest in All My Loving which siphoned off four of its choice deep cuts. During their commercial peak they only issued one EP of original material and it was the mixed bag Long Tall Sally, which includes "Slow Down" and "Matchbox", probably the two worst covers they ever did. The EP chart died away towards the end of 1967 by which point The Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour double EP was ready and was suddenly eligible for the singles chart (it got to no. 2 behind their own "Hello Goodbye").

Side 1: "Stop!"; "The Hardest Part"

Side 2: "Knocking on Your Door"; "She Won't Be Home"

EPs would eventually become a favourite format of punk groups and indie acts as a way of covering more ground than with a simple 7". Three or four tracks to choose from meant that there would be a better chance that someone's interest would be peaked by at least one of them and they were almost as cheap to make. The brilliant Spiral Scratch by Buzzcocks helped spur the revival of the EP and it wouldn't be long before rival punk and post-punk acts all over Britain were releasing their own.

A pop band signed to indie label Mute (where Vince Clark had remained since his days with both Depeche Mode and Yazoo), Erasure had a streak of the anti-commercial band about them and one who still retained a deep connection with their fans. 1988 had been a big year for them with a number one album The Innocents and three hit singles and they would soon win that year's Best Group award at the Brits. No one would've faulted them for choosing to release a fourth (especially considering Michael Jackson had just put out "Smooth Criminal", his seventh single from Bad — and he wasn't even done there!) but they admirably decided to try their luck with an EP of all new material. It's a wonder they didn't slap a giant 'OUR XMAS GIFT TO YOU!' sticker on the sleeve.

Unusually, Smash Hits had the lyrics for both "Stop!" and "Knocking on Your Door" printed in the same issue, as if thinking that both songs would be in competition with each other from both radio and TV. Didn't happen. My sister bought Crackers International (notably before we had anything to play it on, though it wouldn't be long before she acquired a record player from a friend) which would be my first chance to see a 7" record that looked like an LP. Each side had markings for the separate tracks! I only knew "Stop!" but there seemed to be so much more! While Crackers International was printed on the sleeve, effectively "Stop!" became the single and there didn't seem to be much point in the rest. (A similar scenario would unfold in the early part of 1989 when Simple Minds went to number one with their quasi-EP Ballad of the Streets though everyone knew it as "Belfast Child") While Erasure's loyal fanbase would have jumped for joy at an EP's worth of all new songs, the average listener only seemed to care about the one they kept hearing everywhere. (Pub jukeboxes, a recent obsession of mine, carried special editions that only featured "Stop" and what was its de facto b-side "Knocking on Your Door")

"Stop!" hogged the airplay and it subsequently appeared on various artist compliation and Erasure's handful of greatest hits compilations over the years. With a hard-hitting hi-NRG beat, Andy Bell's vocal histrionics and some nicely placed seasonal bells, it's easy to see why. Yet, listened to in the context of one of their best of's gives away that that it's repetitive and flimsy. The lyrics to "Ship of Fools" may have been nonsense but it remains a compelling song nonetheless. "A Little Respect" told the tale of being looked down upon in a relationship: well-trodden subject matter in song but one that Bell and Clark managed to keep fresh. But "Stop!" has a verse and a chorus and the two go back-and-forth from there — and their patented philosophical insights are nowhere to be found. It's just under three minutes long yet it somehow overstays its welcome.

It was only after a friend of my sister's let us have her portable record player for the remainder of our time in England that I got to hear "The Hardest Part", "Knocking on Your Door" and "She Won't Be Home". "Stop!" was all right but I didn't like it as much "A Little Respect" and I was hoping for some hidden treasures. "The Hardest Part" was my first exposure to one of those reflective Andy Bell numbers that take a lot of time to get used to: though I've since come round, I hated "Breath of Life" when I first heard it and I've never managed to warm to either "You Surround Me" or "Always" and it falls into this trajectory. (Bell frequently aspires to profundity but only sometimes pulls it off) I convinced myself that "Knocking on Your Door" was the true single but it lacks the immediacy of their classic singles so I guess there's a reason no one bothered with it. "She Won't Be Home" was a belated attempt to make it more of a Christmas project but I can't help but feel that there's a reason it's hiding away there on the second side's last track. Even so, the four tracks do hang rather well together in much the same way that the Lady Madonna EP does: it just isn't anywhere near as good.

Nevertheless, Crackers International felt like a monumental single that December. The Christmas Number One race was about to come down to Bros, Kylie & Jason and Cliff Richard and Erasure represented the alternative to all that yuletide schlock. Pet Shop Boys had already had their moment of stealing the Xmas thunder a year previously and now it was Bell and Clark's turn. They stood for all those quality records that were all destined to come up short: Neneh Cherry's "Buffalo Stance", Inner City's "Good Life", New Order's "Fine Time". One of those may have been your favourite but why not get behind the one hope of a decent Christmas Number One that's not going to make the pop kids with good taste in music hurl? These aren't any of the best tracks Erasure has ever done but they're all new and there are four of them! Four! Sometimes quantity manages to trump quality.

Crackers International became a huge hit, falling just short of the top spot in the early part of 1989. The cover art and the last track that no one listened to aside, there wasn't much of a connection with Christmas so it continued to sell strongly past the New Year. Ultimately, it signaled where they'd be heading with their next album Wild!, a much more serious and somber collection of songs that what was on The Innocents (even though you'd think it would have been the other way around given their titles). Singles like "Drama" and "Blue Savannah" did well but the duo strove a bit too hard to create a masterpiece and ended up with something uncharacteristically boring instead. Luckily, their grasp of great pop would quickly return in 1991, which they would in turn follow-up with another EP which would be even more mediocre than Crackers but one that managed to be widely popular and strangely influential.

Side 1: "A Century of Fakers"; "Le pastie de la bourgeoisie"

Side 2: "Beautiful"; "Put the Book Back on the Shelf/Songs for Children"

Okay, 3.. 6.. 9 Seconds of Light didn't have sides because it's from the heyday of the CD era (though I wouldn't be at all surprised to see it reissued on "vinyl" for Record Store Day or some other attempt at pathetically trying to prop up the music industry) but it follows along the same lines as Lady Madonna and Crackers International. Only (a) it's real and (b) it's truly outstanding. Groups like Belle & Sebastian gave a new life to the EP because they made the format a priority. They didn't cynically plop a single in disguise on their extended plays, nor did they time their releases strategically for Christmas. They selected tunes that were of the highest caliber, not leftovers from their most recent album. The tracks are diverse and wonderful. The Beatles never contemplated such a work and Erasure didn't have it in them so good on Belle & Sebastian for offering up the greatest EP of all time.

~~~~~

Also Reviewed This Fortnight

U2: "Angel of Harlem"

Alex Kadis isn't terribly impressed with ver 2's second single from Rattle & Hum, feeling that they're trying to sound far too American. This is a valid complaint of their stuff in general from this time but I'm not sure "Angel of Harlem" is especially guilty of over-cultural appropriation. In fact, one of its chief virtues is how it doesn't understand Americana. Meant as a tribute to legendary jazz vocalist Billie Holiday with references to Charlie Parker ("Birdland"), Miles Davis and John Coltrane (none of whom ever worked with Lady Day), we are not greeted to the sound of U2 doing old school swing or improvisation; instead, they decided to recreate sixties' soul because...black people? Problematic? Possibly but Bono, The Hedge and the other two get away with it because they're not in over their heads trying to re-do Stax records. As with much of Rattle & Hum, this is a tribute that says much more about them than the legends they supposedly revere but if they're doing something as wonderful as this, who am I to complain? As many have remarked, it's the closest thing to a Christmas song they ever did and it's surprising it didn't do better.

U2: "With or Without You"

25 March 1987

"This single will send tingles down your spine."

— Ro Newton

It's difficult to imagine now but there was a time when Bono and U2 weren't hugely famous — and one needn't go back as far as the sixties when they were still in primary school. The recording of the Band Aid charity single "Do They Know It's Christmas?" at the end of November,1984 was something the press were all over — and, for once, trashy tabloid coverage wasn't unwelcome. One such journal of "record" carried a photo of three vocalists sharing a mic, naming them in a left to right caption: Sting, Bono of U2 and Simon Le Bon. Everyone knew the lead singers from The Police and Duran Duran respectively but the Irishman in the middle with the silly name? Better remind people who he plays with.

Bono of U2. The Irish foursome hadn't been massive pop stars the way Culture Club, Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet and Wham! had been but they had been coming off their strongest year yet. Having threatened to be hit makers for a while (the group came in fifth place in both 1980 and '81 for Most Promising New Act in the Smash Hits reader's poll, leading one nameless wag to comment "isn't it about time they came up with a really hot single and fulfilled some of that potential?"), they gradually won British fans over before going on to pull the same trick on the other side of the Atlantic. 1984's The Unforgettable Fire as well as hit single "Pride (In the Name of Love)" proved to be a breakthrough but real fame still alluded them.

A three year layover between albums is nothing in the twenty-first century but it wasn't as common back in the eighties. Michael Jackson and Bruce Springsteen — who both happened to have hotly anticipated new albums on their way in 1987 — could get away with such a delay since their earlier releases had been so overwhelmingly successful but, generally, it was common to remain productive. Both R.E.M. and The Smiths, groups who competed with U2 in terms of cult popularity, would put out an album every year as their fame gradually increased but ver "2" chose to hold off on a follow up for a bit. Ro Newton says that not much has been heard from them since their hit single "Pride" but this isn't entirely true — as she even admits herself. The simple narrative surrounding Live Aid was that Phil Collins kept his fans, Queen renewed them and U2 gained a whole new following. Their ten minute performance of "Bad" was simply epic and star making. You'd think this would be the perfect time to get more product out. Indeed, the E.P. Wide Awake in America reinforced their reputation as a towering live act and sold well despite the fact that the maxi single never really took off in North America. But seeming to capitalize on a charity concert was not the way they wanted to go about their business.

Wisely, the group chose to keep their appearances rare and did so only in high-profile benefit concerts. Following Live Aid, as Newton points out, they also appeared at an Amesty International event and at the (mostly) Irish artists-only Self Aid in Dublin. But when were they going to release something new? Bono did have a top twenty hit with countrymen Clannad on "In a Lifetime", which got him his first Smash Hits cover nearly two years before he did so as part of his day job. It helped that their following extended well beyond fickle young people. Baby Boomers who were snapping up CD's by Collins, Dire Straits and Sade had come to notice this quartet and they liked what they heard and saw. Bono and The Edge had long hair but it didn't look like they fussed over it. Their clothing was simple. Plus, everything they did seemed to mean something. Keeping their Christianity hidden away, they dedicated songs to Martin Luther King, had opinions on the arms race and their willingness to appear at festivals and on compilations for a good cause was such that it clearly wasn't just a passing fancy.

So, then it was 1987 and interest in U2 was still high though they weren't yet megastars. With all their heavy-handed charity work, they were in danger of getting on the wick of the public, which they would start doing before long (I don't know if it's in the movie but on the Rattle & Hum album, Bono goes into a long-winded speech in the middle of "Silver and Gold". Noticing a fan in the front row looking bored, he asks resentfully, "am I bugging you? Don't mean to bug ya"). It was a good move, then, to return with a love song. Yes, "With or Without You" is as serious and as rockist as they would remain for the rest of the decade but one can't help but feel gripped by Bono's underrated powers as a vocalist, those clipped guitars of The Edge (a good move on his part to hold off on his patented "shimmering shards" on this one) and Adam Clayton's pulse-beat bass. A pop obsessed youth of the time may have forgotten all about them (assuming they were ever aware) but they could find it just as enjoyable as an earnest, bespectacled English Lit major and treasurer of the Students for a Free Tibet or the "hip", ponytailed school career's advisor who used to believe in stuff.

Youngsters in the eighties may not be the most natural fans of U2 but they were probably better suited to judging their work based on their own merits. Kids weren't listening to Bobo, The Hedge, Adam "Clear Off" Clayton and the Other One because it was supposed to be good for them or because they gave money to Greenpeace or whatever but because their best songs have something that speaks to angst-ridden teens. "With or Without You" presents a 'damned if you do, damned if you don't' scenario that the young can identify with. Far from being a romantic statement, the song casts love as a burden which fails to reduce stress levels. Morrissey may have spoken to awkwardness but the dissatisfied wandering spirit of Bono's lyrics are as much a part of the spotty, go-nowhere loser's listening diet than anything else.

Despite U2's appeal among yuppies and clapped out old hippies and the like buying their back catalog on CD, they were always at heart a singles band. Some of their albums are excellent, others just fine and a couple with little going for them but they always had three or four outstanding potential 45's tucked away even if everything else was of no consequence. The Joshua Tree album had "With or Without You" as well as "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" and "Where the Streets Have No Name" and they were all deservedly huge hits even if much of the rest of the L.P. was rather dour and samey. Grown up rock mags like Q and Rolling Stone could have all that rock 'n' roll authenticity and those boring deep cuts. They were never quite at home in the silly, frolicking world of Smash Hits but as long as they put out brilliant singles such as this, there would always be room in the hearts of Hits readers for a bit of U2.

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Also Reviewed This Fortnight

Tom Verlaine: "Cry Mercy Judge"

You can take the girl from the indie but you can't take the indie from the girl. Somehow or other, Newton is hopeful that a record like "Cry Mercy Judge" can help land the former Television frontman a much needed hit. Obviously she's right that it's a fun little rocker but I reckon she's approached it like the Whistle Test host that she once was. Tom Verlaine always deserved a wider audience but his menacing tone and some cool spidery guitar wasn't going to cut it for getting into the charts. We would all have to get into him the traditional way: by seeking out Marquee Moon, playing it whole bunch of times, talking about it non stop and then never bothering to investigate the rest of his stuff.

David Lasley: "Where Does That Boy Hang Out"

13 September 1984

"I could listen to it for hours on end. Buy it now and it'll keep you warm all winter."

— Dave Rimmer

"Session Man" is a deep cut off The Kinks' 1966 near-masterpiece Face to Face. It is, in fact, the song that prevents it from failing to measure up to the standards of the year's truly outstanding albums Revolver and Aftermath and Pet Sounds — and, indeed, follow-up Kink LP's Something Else and The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society. It's a botch. It fails partly due to some irritating enunciation on the part of singer Ray Davies as he struggled to make his lyrics rhyme ("he's a session man / a chord progre-she-an / a top musi-she-an") but mainly because it is so cynical and smug as to be unlistenable. (It is the tune which best compliments Davies' face, which is perhaps the most punchable in pop) It doesn't even matter if the song's subject matter is true or not: how would Davies know how paid studio musicians feel about what they do? It's one of those obnoxious armchair psychology works that also explains why I despise Fastball's loathsome "The Way" and why I've never quite warmed to Squeeze. But for the sake of this piece, let's just say that "Session Man" paints an accurate picture of the musical talent that never gets any credit.

(No, I'm not going to do that actually. Best just to discuss sessioners as people. Sorry, Ray)

There's this notion that session musicians and backing vocalists are failed pop stars trying to cling to their dreams (as opposed to, say, grown men still toiling away in a garage or a dingy club for little to no pay somewhere in your hometown right at this very moment). The acclaimed documentary 20 Feet from Stardom — as well as similar films about The Wrecking Crew and The Funk Brothers — seems to capture individuals who never quite made it while failing to acknowledge that not everyone is cut out for the big time. Backing vocalists have great voices but they may not have much else to carry them forward. Some may not have even craved it.

David Lasley managed to make a name for himself as a dependable falsetto (said to be, in Dave Rimmer's words, a "white bloke with a black woman's voice", though it doesn't seem all that dissimilar to the vocals of Jimmy Sommerville or him from The Catch so perhaps he sounds more like a man trying to sound like a woman but still mostly sounding like a man), having appeared on numerous disco, funk and soul records throughout the seventies (though I don't see any evidence that he ever showed up on a Roxy Music session despite what some like Rimmer claim) and even doing fairly well for himself as a songwriter. With the likes of Michael McDonald and Luther Vandross moving from jobbing backing vocalists in the seventies to success as solo artists in more recently, it may have seemed like the right time to launch Lasley in a similar role.

"Where Does the Boy Hang Out" doesn't do much for me personally but I'd hesitate to say that he fails where Vandross and McDonald succeeded (even though that's pretty much what happened). It's a competent record that seems to have accomplished what it set out to do: put a spotlight on Lasley's voice with some fine backing vocalists as support, gliding along like an updated Motown number. Fine stuff but nothing close to some of the songs he appeared on in the background back in the day: nothing to knock the listener down like classic Chic, nothing to worm its way into the mind like Chaka Khan, nothing to singalong with like Boz Scaggs. Rimmer likes it way more than it deserves and the overhype can be a turn off but once past that - assuming you're able to get used to Lasley's voice — it's solid pop to enjoy while it's on and forget about as soon as it's over. And I'd certainly take it over "Session Man".

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Also Reviewed This Fortnight

U2: "Pride (In the Name of Love)"

Critics of ver 2 frequently deride the group's pomposity. They have a point but it overlooks the fact that there's not much to Bobo, The Hedge and the rest without the highfalutin hijinks. "Pride" is their first great single (you'll hear some try to make a case for "I Will Follow" or "New Year's Day" but they don't quite manage to get there) and their first successful shot at sounding as big as they would soon become. A tribute to civil rights leader Martin Luther King, it trades in generalities and cliches but that's probably for the best: a proper biographical song would have likely come out heavy-handed (something U2 know nothing about) and there's a refreshing subtlety in the lyrics that balance out with the overblown music. You have to be told it's about MLK though it clearly isn't about any old Northside Dublin dirtbag so it's not something to relate to but it could be something to aspire to. A nice reminder that while, yes, U2 can be trite, self-important and cringe worthy, they could also be the most brilliant pop group around. A definite should've SOTF — even though it won't be long till we see them take their rightful place with more highfalutin pomp.