Bono's strong point may be in the performance more than the actual singing. I love U2 and I enjoy Queen, but have no clue what to make of this

This is a little confusing, as there was talk that Queen was going to tour with an Australian singer (whose name I forget at the moment - John something-something). I'd prefer THAT over this, which reeks of publicity stunt/money grab. At least going with a relatively unknown (to most of the world) singer has a bit of integrity to it. But Queen reuniting without Mercury is just wrong, regardless of how good they might be. Without Mercury, Queen wouldn't have made any impact on the music world. To go out and tour with a replacement or replacements just strikes me as greedy, because people WILL respond as it'll be "must see concert."

Between the three of them they should be able to handle it - sounds like Bono may be able to cherry-pick a few that he sounds good on. George and Robbie are both wankers but both can sing and should be able to handle the harder tunes.

Thanks Taloran and welcome!

Crap. I was just starting to not hate Boner again. I mean, although I can never forgive him for Zooropa (even the man in black could not save that one), or POP, or turning his back on his melodramatic-searching for depth and meaning from a pop star-fanboys like myself (hey, I slept out for 2 days for tix for them back in the day-whew, what a party that was!), by delving into half-baked techno, glib irony, and ridicule of the young Americans who made him the celeb he is today, how could I hate a guy who wants to forgive third world debt (whatever that is)? But this will be el-lamo! Atleast George has the chops, the abs, the camp, and vamp. He will be a pale, pale imitation of Freddy too though, and I don't know how he will be able to juggle this gig with his lead vox duties in the reformed Circle Jerks.

C'mon. Pop was the only good thing they did...

Dude, Zooropa was sweetness on disc. I was planning to possibly write a post on the beauty that is Zooropa. That is no longer a possibility and is now inevitable. Behold. It shall come.

Theory, don't sully the good reputation you've gotten with an admission of liking Pop. ;-) Nah, it had a few good moments, but I really didn't think it was a very solid album (and neither was Zooropa, though for some reason I LOVED it when it came out. Today? Can't listen to it. Achtung Baby still stands as my favorite U2 album, followed by All That You Can't Leave Behind (sorry U2 diehards, only The Unforgettable Fire stands up as a great album for me - Best Of 1980-1990 covers everything else I need. I do own Joshua Tree, but cannot remember the last time I actually even bothered to think about listening to it . . . ) I have no reputation to speak of, therefore I'm free to sully myself as I please.

Tom Tom Tom. I myself love Achtung Baby and All That You Can't Leave Behind as well...my top 2 favorites, but would ATYCLB be as good were it not for Zooropa and Pop? I mean, think about it. Say U2 released Acthung Baby and went straight to ATYCLB. Part of the charm of that album is seeing the band come full circle. It seems like Beautiful Day is a response to Wake Up Dead Man. I love Zooropa and Pop now, in hindsight, but I do admitt that at the time, I didn't care for them.

Athough the picture that pops into my head is incongruous, how do you think Aaron Neville would do singing Mercury?

Alright, dangit, I'll admit I'm seeking out used copies of both Poopropa, and Pop. There, I said it. Hey, that felt good. Lemme' see, what else can I fess up to? I own Christina Aguilera's latest Cd! Youch, that hurt. Enuff z'nuff of that.

I'm laughing out loud right now...both at the thought of Aaron Neville on stage w/ Queen and Bricklayer's comment on Pooropa

I think Steve Perry could handle the vocals though not the requisite level of queerballatry, and there would be a certain symmetry as both Queen and Journey descended into bombast and retardation at about the same time and rate.

Re U2, the test for me is this: do I like the '80s hits package or the '90s hits package better? The '80s wins pretty handily - after a spunky start the '90s collection kind of peters out.

But Tom, Tom, Tommy, Tomster, Tomson, Tominator: dude, you must check out "Joshua Tree" again if it has languished unattended and unfriended for some time. It totally works AS AN ALBUM, and is satisfying to the marrow. "One Tree Hill" is my favorite U2 song on certain days.

speaking of fessing up to stuff, i wanna get Beyonce's latest....

She is the hottest, doesn't seem to take herself too seriously and the record is pretty good

Eric, I'll take you up on your Joshua Tree Challenge. I'll spend a few days re-examining it next week and issue my final report after that. It could very well be that my memories of this album have been tainted by the overzealous worship given it by my friend in highschool. When I heard "With Or Without You" was "their song," it kind of creeped me out. It spoke volumes about their relationship at the time . . . strangely, they're married today and have 2.5 kids. I don't think it's their song anymore.

It may not be the most eloquent thing ever written, but I revisted JT awhile back.

And, tell your friend that "With Or Without You" is not a love song, nor is it about a woman.

I don't blame you at all - it won the Grammy, got more hype than "Born to Run," and came off as pretty damned pretentious. But after a long break I came back to it in the '90s and it hasn't let me down since - and in the listening it isn't pretentious at all, is even sweet in its spiritual yearning.

I made myself a disc of my favorite tracks from Pop and Zooropa, called it "PopRopa." It makes a stronger listen that the two separate albums.

I don't mind the main disc of Best of 90-00, but the "bonus" disc sucks, plain and simple. Too many damn mixes, not enough long out-of-print b-sides. What a jip that one was after the very cool b-sides disc 80-90 got.

Chris, you do yourself disservice by saying it wasn't eloquent. It was, and thanks for that. Some things work better as reminiscences and this is an example - we all know the music, so hearing a little background to why it was so important for you is refreshing. I can't offer that kind of insight - I really didn't consider myself even the remotest U2 fan until the 90s, so my perspective of U2 pre-Achtung is as an outsider wondering why my friend went from not knowing the band to living and breathing them in the space of a few months. (And he still does, to his credit.)

This is how U2 cool I am: I had the 12" import single of "11 O'Clock Tick Tock" in 1980, then totally flipped for "Boy" - sometimes it's still my favorite U2 album, and "Stories For Boys" is often my fave U2 song.

I got that beat. I have a 180 grain vinyl of The Unforgettable Fire w/ the album cover screen printed directly onto the vinyl. yeah picture discs!

That IS cool, although I heard somewhere that picture discs didn't sound as good (no idea if it's true) so I used that as an excuse to never get into them.

I think it sounds pretty good. I have it on regular vinyl as well, and the picture disc sounds better...although that could be because of the condition of the vinyls.

Oh yeah? Well, I once bought a 4 pack of imported 7 inchers in a cool clear foldout and gave it to a former girlfriend (who years before had claimed "Sunday Bloody Sunday" was "noise"-but later (post Brick-but I'd like to think I had something to do with it) became a huge fan. We never did get back together. And I never got to listen to those 45's either.

Oh YEAH? Beat this: I've got a picture disc of Def Leppard's Hysteria. Yeah, totally. Don't you be breakin' into my house to get it, cuz it's packed away at my parents place.

I've got some way-cool Def Lep patches too. I was all about Def Leppard when I was fourteen or fifteen.

...and for good reason!!

as far as u2 stuff, the only u2 cd i own is the 90-00 best of. and it's all i'll ever need.

I have an Eagles belt buckle circa 1973, and a set of Me First and the Gimme Gimme's shot glasses. So bite me.

i have Devo's "Are We Not Men.." on pink marble vinyl.

oh...and a Ted Nugent belt buckle from 1977.

no, wait...and a coupla Kiss Army foam sponges from two Dynasty-tour shows (Richfield Coliseum, Cleveland)

I've also got a Flotsam And Jetsam promo-only video, never watched, that came with a promo-only cassette sampler, never opened.

Somewhere in a box in my parent's house, suffering much neglect and abuse, is a bundle of Kiss trading cards, along with Battlestar Gallactica and other culural oddities from the late 70s that, for reasons unknown, somehow deserved the honor of being on "collectible" cards. Were the all in better shape, mine probably would be worth something. As it is, I think a lot of them have much wear and tear, if not crayon marks. I wasn't so concerned with their collectible status at the time.

. . . Kiss Army foam sponges . . .

Sponges? Is there anything this band didn't plaster their name on? I'm pretty sure I had a Kiss lunchbox as a kid. And maybe a BeeGees one, too. Not that I listened to either of them, nor cared much about what was on the box, as it got scratched off quickly from daily games of lunchbox bowling.

M, whoa, Richfield! in my backyard.

Young Mr. Theory, you sir have blasphemed!

Bricky, very cool with the 7"s, the disposition of which violates a cardinal rule of mine: never give women music other than in the form of mixtapes (or mixwhatevers) unless you are married to them and intend to stay that way.

Tom, DL rocked the rectum with vigorous authority for a couple of years in the mid-'80s. Don Dokken told me he was jealous that they got Mutt and multi-platinum and all he got was George Lynch.

Rocked the rectum with virgorous authority? oh my lans.

Dude, I hear Kiss sells these things called Kiss coffins. They're coolers in the shape of coffins that you can actually be buried in when you die! I reckon any old cooler would work though.

eric,my first Springsteen show was at the Richfield.

Southside Johnny (who i think was in town playing at the Blossom) came out at one point and they did "I Don't Want To Go Home".

...i almost wet myself.

To take this even further off-topic, and spurred on by the Dokken comment by Eric, one of my two brushes with fame came when I delivered Chinese food in college. I was told to deliver a large order to a building with a mysterious and lengthy acronym as the name. When I arrived, I found the office full of long-haired guys and the walls plastered with Lynch Mob posters. A door from the backroom opened and I caught a glimpse of a large room filled with drums, guitars, and basses, and then realized the people in the posters were sitting right in front of me, minus the band's namesake, George Lynch. When I asked them if they were the Lynch Mob, one of the guys looked carefully at the others and quietly said, "Uh . . . yeah," and paid up quickly. As I was leaving, I ran into the always very, very suntanned George Lynch, who regarded me like a piece of shrubbery that got in his way. My only impression of Mr. Lynch to this day is "leathery." (For those that happen to care, George Lynch lives in Phoenix, AZ.)

I also served Fates Warning's Ray Alder on Martin Luther King Day many years ago. The band was in town recording a cover of Rush's "Closer To The Heart" for the Working Man atrocity . . . sorry, "tribute." That was pretty exciting. Nevermind.

What was the topic of this post again?

Whoa! that was something! I have seen both numerous times but I don't think ever together. My last (of only a handful) hallucinogenic experience was at Richfield, a Dead show just before they tore the place down, although at the time I had the sensation that they were tearing it down DURING the show. This was disconcerting.

i saw the Tubes out there too (Completion Backward Principle tour)...the poor warmup band was Frankie & the Knockouts. they didn't exactly get a warm reception.

i've never seen George Lynch. ;-)

Rockin' Don Dokken's guitarist, perfectly competent hair metal guitarist, but no guarantor of platinum I dare say!

I know I mentioned this before, but I once served breakfast to 2 members of Britny Fox. Nice fellas. Everyone, grab your testicles, and shout along with me: "Long way, long way to looooooove"

I once spilled a pot of coffee on Prince Luitpold von Bayern, the great-something-grandson of King Ludwig the Mad of Bavaria.
I'm lucky it wasn't his ancestor, or I'd have been promptly taken out and shot.

Sorry to get off-subject, but on the original subject of this post - isn't his stagename Vox Bono, not Bono Vox?

Oh, man, Mr. Brick . . . that was hilarious. Britny Fox, not one of my prouder moments as a music buyer.

I have no recollection of Britny Fox. Who are/were they?

Hey Tom,
Their greatest hits comp is not looking so bad to me these days. Then again, I listen to and enjoy Iron Maiden without irony. Although Bruce is sure starting to sound like a real wanker whenever he opens his mouth to speak rather sing. Trying to start a war of words fight with Mr. Durst-A little bitty played out, obvious and trite, Mr. Dickinson. Like when the nu metal mafia rank on boy bands--The kettle calling the kettle "kettle". Hey, remind me to tell ya about serving Edie Brickell minestrone sometime.

Taloran, Britny Fox were one of the many bands picking up the hair-metal thing in the late 80s, and really they just mimicked Cinderella - hair, makeup, even the sound. They had a huge hit with one song and then just disappeared. All Music Guide gives the stats:
http://makeashorterlink.com/?O536244F5

You didn't miss much, as you can guess . . .

Whoa there, Mr. Johnson, one hit? I think you are forgetting about "Girl school" One more time, everyone grab what god gave ya, and sing along: "At the girl's school, my baby broke all the roooooles!". Now go put 'em on ice boys, I won't make you do it again. Tonight.

Brick, I'm a huge Maiden fan myself, and also without irony. I just love 'em, and we appear to see eye-to-eye on the current attitude of Bruce. I'm not feeling anything very genuine from the band lately. The new album, while okay, just doesn't do much for me, and as a local review said, sounds like the band "treading water." I really feel like they're struggling to appeal to teenage listeners, which I think is a real shame because it's at the expense of long-time fans who've long since grown out of these types of antics.

As for the Fox . . . I'm gonna have to pass on that. I passed quickly through the hair-rock thing. I understand it's still fun, but . . . well, I'm quite balding and hair-rock just makes me feel conspicuous. ;) I was just slightly too young to grab onto the trend while it was happening - it never took hold. But I sure bought a LOT of it . . . and traded a LOT of it back!

Oh, that Britny Fox! While I was smoking dope and dropping acid and listening to Curved Air, my (later) wife went backstage at their show and ....

Oh crap! Did I really say that? This is a public forum!

Brick, you make me miss Z-Rock, they played ALL of that stuff. Sleeze Bees, T-Ride, Jetboy, D.A.D., etc. - all those bands that elicit a big "huh?!" today. Actually, I thought DAD was a pretty interesting band back in the day, and stuck by them for several albums . . .

Is Edie Brickell smart enough to order minestrone?

Gentleman, I will take Crue, Poison, Ratt and call it a hair day, thank you. My ex-wife had the kid of the Ratt drummer in her 1st grade class. She said he was hairy but nice and rarely wore makeup to PTA meetings.

Curved Air, I need to check them out. I hear about them all the time from the prog-core, so it must be worth checking out. Any suggestions, Taloran?

Curved Air had one great album "Air Cut," with a very young Eddie Jobson on piano, amazing. Amazon doesn't have it because they suck lab rats. Any of the others are interesting, but Air Cut is sublime. Guess I'll have to review it.

I'm pretty sure Bono got the nickname from a place caleld Bonovox.

Re: number 52 by Tom Johnson
I'd have to say Phantasmagoria (1972) is the best of the Curved Air albums with which I'm familiar. Air Cut is also very good, as is Second Album. I don't have their first album, Air Conditioning, but I've heard it's wonderful.
The band is brilliantly understated, and Sonja Kristina's vocals are sublime on Phantasmagoria. Amazon has it available.
Live rocks a bit harder than the studio albums, with extended keyboard and guitar solos, and perhaps a bit more of the concert-atmosphere orchestral feel.

Now I'm going to have to go through my five Curved Air albums tomorrow (without dropping acid - those days are long gone), and find out if Phantasmagoria is still my favorite.

Of course, Curved Air founder Francis Monkman left and co-founded Sky with classical guitarist John Williams, so listening to Curved Air will segue into Sky, which will naturally segue into Sky guitarist Kevin Peek's solo work, which will lead me back to John Williams' classical stuff.... looks like I have a full day.

Thanks a lot, Tom!

Sky! What a great band that was. John Williams' brilliant, quietly melodic classical guitar, weaving in and out in counterpoint with Kevin Peek's Strat, with occasional interjections by Francis Monkman's Hammond and Herbie Flowers' bass. Their music sent me to a different planet when I was in my early twenties.

Haven't listened to them in years, but I can't wait. All my Sky is on vinyl, which I can't really hear when I'm on my computer. I'm going to get up in the morning, make a pot of coffee, and put on Sky II. I'll save the Curved Air for later.

Two words: Air Cut. I found Sky too twee

Twee? Please clarify

You know: all quaint and English and acoustic guitar-y, and pseudo-classical and stuff - twee

John Williams is pseudo-classical?
I beg to differ.

Please allow me to expand upon my immediately preceding statement. John Williams was a first generation student of Andres Segovia, and is an outspoken advocate of the art of classical music, and of the classical guitar. He has attempted over the years to expand the appeal of classical music to a wider audience, first with his performances with pianist Marian MacPartland, wherein he embraced Jazz as a medium through which to impart the beauty of orchestral and classical music to a public consumed with pop, and later with his rock band Sky.
Can one fault a true and talented classical musician for delving into other art forms? Perhaps his motives were self-serving. Maybe he got tired of the grub pay and few accolades accorded to a musician performing in his natural genre. But his stated intention, whether or not one chooses to believe him, was to impart to a pop-drunk world the beauty of the art of the masters who preceded him. (I am misquoting - the words in the preceding sentence are mine, attempting to capture the essence of what he said, not the words.)

Perhaps the music of Sky is less than wonderful (to my ears, it is not.) Perhaps it is the lot of the classical musician to toil in anonymity, while "artists" such as Curt Cobain achieve fabulous wealth, stardom, and accolades. But can one blame one of the pinnacles of his art and era for attempting to impress upon the music-buying public the beauty of his forgotten art?

Sky failed as a crossover into mainstream music, perhaps with reason. Maybe the public wasn't ready for it, maybe the people with the money didn't throw enough of that money into marketing it, maybe the music just stunk. But to throw the term pseudo-classical into a criticism of the band is disrespectful of one of the champions of a unique and dying art.

Has this post covered the gamut or what?

Start with Queen and Bono, progress to Journey and Beyonce, move to Def Leppard, then to Maiden, Britny Fox, Curved Air, and classical music. What fun!

Wasn't Stewart Copeland with Curved Air for a while? Before he decided to start a punk band.

Yeah, I remember Sky. I give John Williams credit for the attempt, but I have to say I haven't exactly been rushing out looking for the CD reissues.

On the other hand, Williams' recent forays into African music are interesting. I think his latest is "The Music Box"(?). I also like his Latin American music, which seems to have been compiled and recompiled on various Sony CD's at pretty reasonable prices.

bono rocks! queen rocked!
but bono ain't freddy...
and queen ain't U2...

One of the lovable qualities of Blogcritics is how ancient posts, long since left slumbering in some long forgotten virtual nook or cranny, can suddenly re-animate through the entirely unpredictable action of a passing commenter.

I'd never seen this post before but truly hope it never came to pass. I shudder at the thought of all those brilliant Queen songs being butchered by the limited Bono.