Priorities

Eric Jankowski ([email protected])
Sat, 07 Nov 1998 00:17:44 -0600

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Anyone can walk into any record store and find a plethora of U2 albums.
Now that their greatest hits album and b-sides collection has come out,
I anticipate this to be even more true. Something has troubled me for
about a year now, though. Wide Awake in America was released as a
follow-up EP to Unforgettable Fire. It's a fantastic album, and I'm not
about to diminish it in any way. Other than the success of Pride,
Unforgettable Fire is a relatively obscure album when it comes to U2.
By obscure, I mean that the majority of the listening public couldn't
tell me a great deal about it. Wide Awake in America is a wonderful
EP. The live version of Bad is heavenly, but here's my conflict with
the priorities of PolyGram and the retail music industry in general.
Wide Awake is fantastic, and I'm glad that it can be found in most
record stores; however, as far as overall strength, Wide Awake is blown
away by the caliber of the PopHeart EP (the Please single in the US).
The argument could be made that this opinion is biased by the fact that
PopHeart contains Where the Streets Have No Name and With or Without
You, except those are not what makes PopHeart so powerful. The
reworking of Please is remarkable. Edge's guitar solo at the climax of
the song is much more refined and enjoyable. The synthesized strings
are much more subtle and poignant. And the transition from Please to
Where The Streets Have No Name is (there's no other word for it but)
divine. Finally, the acoustic version of Staring At the Sun is
amazing. It gives an entirely different feel to the song than it has on
the album. It should have been recorded on Pop this way. The analogy
is the difference between the two Bad's (Unforgettable and Wide Awake).
PopHeart (w/o the single version of Please) is also longer in overall
time span than Wide Awake. Already, PopHeart is almost non-existant,
but Wide Awake is still in print and can be found everywhere. The
record stores and PolyGram are missing out on a phenomenal opportunity
to sell more records, and U2 fans are missing out on a fine, fine
recording that will only strengthen their love for the band.

Next message: carrie: "What a U2 week!"
Previous message: Matthew Berg: "Why was "40" left off GH?"

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