From The Ground Up - Reviews

[A_Fly_On_The_Wall]

1. Breathe - Starts it all off with an extended drum solo from Larry (which is brilliant as I think he added some improvisations with it). The guitar from Edge is an absolute beast on this song and Breathe has certainly shot up my rankings of U2's best live songs because of this performance.

2. I Will Follow - Another great performance of this song. Yes we've heard it all before and nothing is new here but it still kicks ass and it's a classic U2 tune.

3. Get On Your Boots - Nowhere near as good as Glastonbury's version of this song but it still rocks. Edge on fire yet again as well as Adam.

4. New Year's Day - Turn up the volume and enjoy the bass! Drums are fab here and Edge's solo is great. I also liked Bono's shout of "for our Polish cousins" before Edge's solo too.

5. Electrical Storm - Nice solo towards the end from Edge but it seems to lack a significant amount of bite compared to the studio version. It's too mellow and nice, where has the rock'n'roll gone from this song?

6. Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of - I have no problem with the acoustic version of this song. Edge is great on backing vocals as always and Bono's tribute to Michael Hutchence is quite nice at the end too.

7. Your Blue Room - I'll be honest, this is the first version of this song I've heard. I've never listened to anything from Passengers (except Miss Sarajevo and HMTMKMKM). I think it's quite a touching song but I'm still getting used to it at the moment. Ask my opinion in a month 

8. Vertigo - Yes we've heard it before but it r-o-c-k-s!! Also an unexpectedly nice transition from Your Blue Room.

9. Crazy Tonight (Remix) - "Funky, The Edge". I've taken quite well to this version of the song (as I never really liked the remix). It is brilliant though and the bass is probably Adam's funkiest of all time. "Put on your red shoes, and dance the Blues!" - I will indeed.

10. Sunday Bloody Sunday - Hard-hitting drums and the classic riff from Edge. Brilliant song and a good version of it too.

11. Scarlet - A lovely little tune and translates well live. Brilliantly quiet drums from Larry and haunting vocals from Bono. Classic.

12. In A Little While - Every version of this song seems weak after the Boston version and this one is no exception. Not bad but I'm not a fan of later live versions of this song.

13. Miss Sarajevo - Outstanding vocals from Bono. Quite possibly his finest ever vocal recording and one that most definitely cements him as the greatest male vocalist of all time (in my opinion of course).

14. Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me - The greatest live recording of this song by a country mile. Bono is on fine form here as is the rest of the band. It seems like they all came together better than ever before on this song. Adam's bass is rough and ready, Edge's guitar is shrieking and Larry's drums drive the song along excellently. For me, the best song on this disc.

15. "40" - Never been a huge fan of this song but this version is quite touching and will be memorable for being the closing song of the world's greatest ever music tour.

[The Exile]

If anyone's willing to, umm, pass this along, message me....

[Chip]

I've only gotten up through YBR so far (because I can't get past repeating YBR, given my love for the song), but it just arrived today. My first take is that I'm surprised how much better the sound seems to be than on 360 22. Everything comes through much clearer than I would have expected.

I like the version of "Electrical Storm" here -- it seems to be a cross between the single release and the album version. NYD is very good, but Bono's early flub with the lyrics (he starts to sing "newspaper says" when he should be singing "arms entwined") takes me out of the moment, even though he recovers very quickly. (The 360 DC NYD is the best, most moving live version I've heard, so I wish Edge had picked that one.) "Breathe" is killer live, and this is the best version I've heard. GOYB is also very good.

[Chip]

07.Your Blue Room (feat. Sinead O'Connor) - our first live version of this song.  It's the standout track of the album for sure.  The use of the astronaut dialog and new lyrics changes the whole song meaning.

I'm not sure that the meaning has changed so much as the meaning has been placed in a different context. But come to think of it, several strands of meaning seem to be in play here, so I may agree with you after all.

[Manos73]

Okay here's my take on the bonus tracks.  It's interesting that 4 of the 5 are from the 80's. 3 of the 5 were successful singles.   

Angel of Harlem - first live appearance since the Slane DVD.  A fun performance with good Bono/Edge harmonies.  Dedicated to Michael Jackson and includes song snippets from Man in the Mirror and Don't Stop Til You Get Enough.

Desire - First live appearance since Slane. A minimalist version with a lot more rhythm.  A nice changeup on the arrangement; maybe the best live version of this song to get officially released.

No Line On The Horizon - the more rockin' arrangement like the b-side.  The guitar is more gritty then in the Rose Bowl DVD.  It's a good performance, probably the best officially released. 

Pride - a lot of crowd participation, of course.  An usual understated performance from Bono, he almost speaks the stanzas.  Not sure why they picked this version, it's not very impressive.     

Spanish Eyes - first live version released for this Joshua Tree outtake. The vocals are a little low and the transitions a tad forced.  Overall the song is played very fast but it still works.  I just wish they played it more
often so that it would be tighter.

So between From The Ground Up and U22 we now have 42 songs from U2360 just from the fan club.  I wish they'd go back and do this kind of treatment to past tours!

[Manos73]

The more I look at the list of bonus tracks the more I think they should have been mastered for the disc in place of some of the other standards. Angel of Harlem, Desire, No Line On The Horizon and Spanish Eyes would have greatly improved From The Ground Up CD IMHO.   

I would have kicked out Vertigo and Sunday Blood Sunday for those.

[marvgadgie]

Amazed by this version of Vertigo. I Ttought I'd heard it more than enough but this is an incendiary performance! Pick of the album.

[Allie79]

The versions of Your Blue Room and HMTMKMKM are amazing

[So Cruel]

In A Little While was on the Elevation Boston DVD as well.

Off-topic question (sorry):
I just looked at my collection of U2 DVDs and I don't see Elevation 2001: Live From Boston.  There must have been a reason I didn't buy it.  I'm guessing I might have read reviews by people who bought it and discovered that people were unhappy with the filming of the concert.  That's usually the reason I don't buy certain music DVDs.  I understand that opinions about these types of music DVDs is subjective, but . . . . . was that the case with the Elevation 2001: Live From Boston DVD?

I like Boston a lot better then Slane. Probably the best version of Streets (which is saying a lot), Beautiful Day, and Walk On. In A Little While is really good, as well as the Fly. Definately should be in your collection.

[AchtungPop]

I love Vertigo live, not sure what the definitive would be, guess this version isn't much different from other live versions?

I think the way to do a live song that's been done before is the "MLK/Walk On" from U22...one of my favorite live U2 tracks period.

[So Cruel]

I love Vertigo live, not sure what the definitive would be, guess this version isn't much different from other live versions?

I think the way to do a live song that's been done before is the "MLK/Walk On" from U22...one of my favorite live U2 tracks period.

That version of Walk On is good (although in terms of all time live U2 tracks it isn't even close in my opinion) and is far better then most of the other 360 Walk On performances.