17 thoughts on “On The Edge”

  1. I’m sure U2 brings much delight to their adherents. However, the statistical density of their music is waaaayyy below the threshold of anything that can maintain my interest. At risk of pissing people off, I put REM and Smashing Pumpkins in that category too. I’d take Uriah Heep over any of ’em.

  2. [quote comment=”1047″]I’m sure U2 brings much delight to their adherents. However, the statistical density of their music is waaaayyy below the threshold of anything that can maintain my interest. At risk of pissing people off, I put REM and Smashing Pumpkins in that category too. I’d take Uriah Heep over any of ’em.[/quote]

    I prefer Uriah Heep too! ‘The Wizard’ and ‘Easy Livin’ are classics!

  3. There’s no doubt that U2 have achieved fame, wealth and adulation beyond what their meagre talent justifies. But you’ve got to give them credit for having done so, whether you like their music or not! I saw them in 1979 when they were supporting Talking Heads and they didn’t make much of an impression – Mr Bono got a bit tetchy because the audience weren’t being very appreciative.

    I don’t care much for Uriah Heep either, having seen them live early in their ‘career’ in 1970/71 or so. They weren’t much good and did a lot of rock star posing, particularly the lead guitarist (Mick Box?) who seemed to think he was Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, and Ritchie Blackmore all rolled into one. But they seemed to make a living out of it for a while, so fair enough.

  4. My favorite is The Magician’s Birthday.

    Box totally rocks on that battle of good vs. evil middle part. I’m sure he could give Punky Meadows a run for his fluidity.

  5. Just checked on the interweb tubes and Uriah Heep are still working- a new album is out next month – although only Mick Box remains from the original line up. They seem to be big in Finland and Germany…

    U2 are probably kept busy just counting their money.

  6. Was a big U2 fan up to Rattle and Humm where they lost it and have just been putting out meagre stuff ever since. They were great live and Edge did do some cool stuff on the guitar.. whether it is easy or not is not the point, it does sound great.

    That said U2 are a very easy band to hate, they are full of hypocrisy and religous rubbish. They can be stuck up wankers, sorry take away the “can be”, they are. Just some of their music and albums are very good.

  7. Really, after listening to FZ guitar playing for all of my adult life, very, very, few other guitarists measure up quite frankly, particularly when it comes to innovation and improvisation. Any guitar wanker can shred, or make cool sound effects, but how many can actually make the instrument all it can be: one person/one guitar?

    The Edge isn’t even in the same league as let’s say, a Mattias IA Eklundh, or a Mike Keneally, or even the late Chris Whitley. Trouble is, audiences/listeners have come to mistake sound effects for actual guitar virtuosity.

  8. The same with me: I’ve always thought that I’m not the biggest fan of improvisation – but the way FZ makes it… wunderschön. I cannot tell any other person who can fill 8-10 minutes with exciting, on-the-spot improvised music, without being boring.

  11. That is some funny shit by Bill Bailey! Yes I agree The Edge does use an awful lot of distortion pedals but I still like a good amount of their tunes. Bono does come off like an ass somtime, but he seems to balance it by being an humanitarian as well. Urbang, if I compared every band’s guitarist to Zappa. I would have to throw out a large portion of my collection. Frank’s guitar playing is so under-rated. He really does blow away most of his peers.

  12. Let’s not turn this into a U2 bashfest. They are still very good at what they do, especially early on in their career as a band, and have achieved justified success as a result. Myself, they lost me after ‘The Joshua Tree’ when their albums began to sound too similar to each other — much like the later albums of AC/DC. This doesn’t mean they’re not still entertaining. Great thing about Bill Bailey is he is educating people with good humor, instead of just outright sarcasm, which is much more likely to sink in. Perhaps when the audiences finally begin to demand quality again (i.e. Zappa), the performers will once more have the freedom to give it to them, instead of just a pre-manufactured musical product meant to sell as many albums/tickets as possible.

  13. [quote comment=”1084″]Let’s not turn this into a U2 bashfest. They are still very good at what they do, especially early on in their career as a band, and have achieved justified success as a result. Myself, they lost me after ‘The Joshua Tree’ when their albums began to sound too similar to each other — much like the later albums of AC/DC. This doesn’t mean they’re not still entertaining. Great thing about Bill Bailey is he is educating people with good humor, instead of just outright sarcasm, which is much more likely to sink in. Perhaps when the audiences finally begin to demand quality again (i.e. Zappa), the performers will once more have the freedom to give it to them, instead of just a pre-manufactured musical product meant to sell as many albums/tickets as possible.[/quote]

    Give me AC/DC anyday. P.S. ‘If You Want Blood’ is also one of the best live albums ever, Urbangraffito.

  14. [quote comment=”1087″]
    Give me AC/DC anyday. P.S. ‘If You Want Blood’ is also one of the best live albums ever, Urbangraffito.[/quote]

    Either it’s my age, or what happens when a band is around as long as AC/DC has, but their sound tends to become predictable over time. Rumor has it that their new album has been slow in coming because they’ve “gotta get it right”. I’m hoping that they’ll get back to what made them an awesome band to begin with on such albums as High Voltage, Dirty Deeds…, and 74 Jailbreak.

  15. [quote comment=”1088″][quote comment=”1087″]
    Give me AC/DC anyday. P.S. ‘If You Want Blood’ is also one of the best live albums ever, Urbangraffito.[/quote]

    Either it’s my age, or what happens when a band is around as long as AC/DC has, but their sound tends to become predictable over time. Rumor has it that their new album has been slow in coming because they’ve “gotta get it right”. I’m hoping that they’ll get back to what made them an awesome band to begin with on such albums as High Voltage, Dirty Deeds…, and 74 Jailbreak.[/quote]

    Their new album is apparently produced by Brendan O’Brien who produced Pearl Jam and..er…U2! Hopefully it will be a return to form for them. The best way for them to do that is to bring back the bluesier feel of the the old stuff but still keep the music heavy.

  16. The Edge never interested me as a gee-tarist, but I liked their sound especially on Boy and War, Trip Thru Yer Wires…REM will be the 1st to admit their lack of chops, and in fact, Peter Buck is very open about his lack of skill. So, ripping on REM for that reason is kind of a pointless exercise. But, comparing “post punk” bands, or “post 70’s musical wankerism bands” to bands like Zappa, Yes, King Crimson, Mahavishnu, etc, is kinda silly, ain’t it? One is highly technical and skilled and one is more about how much feeling can be had from simple songs…

    The interesting thing about Zappa was and still is that what he did was so different from anyone else that he probably wasn’t even disliked by the ’70s punks like Genesis and Pink Floyd were! Zappa was punk rock from Freak Out! onwards!

  17. [quote comment=”1152″]But, comparing “post punk” bands, or “post 70’s musical wankerism bands” to bands like Zappa, Yes, King Crimson, Mahavishnu, etc, is kinda silly, ain’t it? One is highly technical and skilled and one is more about how much feeling can be had from simple songs…[/quote]

    It would be quite limiting, musically, if all I ever listened to was Frank Zappa, Yes, King Crimson, Mahavishnu, etc. Even the minimalist sounding post punk bands have something to offer to my eardrums. Not every musician is a virtuoso, or needs to be to put their musical point across. For instance, Warren Zevon is no guitar virtuoso, yet I enjoy his music as much as Frank Zappa’s. The difference being Zevon’s strength is as a singer songwriter, and that is what wins out each and every time I listen to him, just as FZ’s guitar virtuosity does for him. It’s not a competition. Everyone is talented differently, each in his/her own way. Perhaps sometimes in our enthusiasm for FZ’s music we, or particularly I, forget this.

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