Which is the best U2 B-side?

Which is the best U2 B-side?

When a band records an album, they often have a selection of songs that don't make the final cut but they are good enough to be released in some form and historically they've been added as a B-side as support to the A-side of a single release. 

While Oasis were famous for their b-sides, U2 are not so much well known for their b-sides but none the less, they've built up a pretty sweet collection of songs and albums.

What do you think is there best one? Choose from the list!

U2 B-sides List

A Room at the Heartbreak Hotel
B-side on the 'Angel of Harlem' single released in December 1988.

Alex Descends Into Hell For A Bottle Of Milk / Korova 1
B-side on 'The Fly' single, October 1991.

Always
B-side on 'Beautiful Day' single, October 2000. 

Are You Gonna Wait Forever
B-side on 'Vertigo' single, November 2004.

Ave Maria (Jacknife Lee Mix)
B-side on 'Sometimes You Can't Make it On Your Own' single, February 2005.

Beat On The Brat
From 'We're a Happy Familiy', a tribute album to The Ramones. February 2003.

Big Girls Are Best
B-side on 'Stuck in A Moment' single, January 2001.

"Boomerang II" from The Unforgettable Fire's Pride, September 1984.

Boy/Girl
A track on U2's very first single 'Three', October 1979.



Can't Help Falling In Love (Triple Peaks Remix)
B-side on 'Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses' single, August 1992.

Dancing Barefoot
B-side on 'When Love Comes to Town' single, April 1989.

Deep In The Heart
B-side on 'I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For' single, May 1987. 

Everlasting Love
B-side on 'All I Want is You' single, June 1989.

Fortunate Son
B-side on 'Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses' single, August 1992.

Hallelujah Here She Comes
B-side on 'Desire' single, September 1988.

Happiness is a Warm Gun (The Gun Mix)
B-side on 'Last Night on Earth' single, July 1997.

Holy Joe
B-side on 'Discothèque' single, February 1997.

Johnny Swallow
B-side on 'Fire' single, July 1981.

Lady with the Spinning Head
B-side on 'One' single, March 1992.

Love Comes Tumbling
B-side on 'The Unforgettable Fire' single, October 1984.

Luminous Times (Hold on to Love)
B-side on 'With or Without You' single, March 1987. 

Neon Lights
B-side on 'Vertigo' single, November 2004.

North and South of the River
B-side on 'Staring at the Sun' single, April 1997.

Paint It Black (cover of the Rolling Stones)
B-side on 'Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses' single, August 1992.

Race Against Time
B-side on 'Where the Streets Have No Name' single, August 1987.

Salomé
B-side on 'Even Better Than the Real Thing' single, June 1992.

Satellite of Love
B-side on 'One' single, March 1992.

Silver and Gold
B-side on 'Where the Streets Have No Name' single, August 1987.

Slow Dancing
B-side on 'Stay (Faraway, So Close!)' single, November 1993.

Spanish Eyes
B-side on 'I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For' single, May 1987.

Summer Rain
B-side on 'Beautiful Day' single, October 2000.

Sweetest Thing (The Single Mix)
Released as a single in 1997. Originally a b-side on 'Where The Streets Have No Name' single, 1987.

The Three Sunrises
B-side on 'The Unforgettable Fire' single, October 1984.

Touch
B-side on '11 O'Clock Tick Tock' single, May 1980.

Tower of Song
B-side on 'Window in the Skies' single, January 2007. From the movie 'Leonard Cohen: I'm your Man'.



Trash, Trampoline and the Party Girl
B-side on 'A Celebration' single, March 1982.

Treasure (Whatever happened to Pete the Chop)
B-side on 'New Year's Day' single, January 1983.

Two Shots of Happy, One Shot of Sad
B-side on 'If God Will Send His Angels' single, December 1997.

Unchained Melody
B-side on 'All I Want is You' single, June 1989.

Walk to the Water
B-side on 'With or Without You' single, March 1987.

Where Did It All Go Wrong
B-side on 'Even Better Than the Real Thing' single, June 1992.

Check out the lyrics to You're The Best Thing About Me

How to connect your Iphone to the Xbox 360 and Xbox One

How to connect your Iphone's Wifi to the Xbox 360 and Xbox One (and Scorpio)

I was recently tidying chords behind the TV and I managed to break the internet when I un-plugged the modem - the connection to the ISP just couldn't be made.

I was gutted as I wanted to play some Dead Space but my game save was 'in the cloud' so I was prevented from playing.

I sat defeated cursing my first world problem. Whilst doing so I got a text message on my Iphone and I got a little twinkle in my eye.

I could try and use the Wifi Hotspot function the phone has and see if the Xbox 360 would accept that as a source of internet data.

The short answer, is yes, you can connect the iphone's wifi to the Xbox!

Here's how to connect the two devices:

• Turn your iphone's Personal Hot Spot on. 
• Turn on the Xbox
• If you have an ethernet plugged in to the xbox, remove it. 
• Go to the Network settings section of the Xbox
• Identify the wireless signal of your Iphone - it will be your Iphone's name. Select it.
• Enter the password of your hotspot wifi as given to you on the phone. 
• Once satisfied the connection has been made, sign into Xbox as per normal and you are away. 

Using your Iphone's data does run the risk of you blowing your datacap and and you'll possibly have limited connectivity via your 3G / 4G network so I doubt you'll be doing a multi-player marathon anytime soon but you should be able to access your saved games at the very least!

And don't do any game updates!

I imagine this little trick is also be able to be used by Android phones and the like that have the same wifi hotspot connections.

A subtle Oak, with a hint of dampness

I confess. I think I have an addiction to sand paper. I keep sanding things like desks and manrobes. Now I've gone and got a table to restore to former glories.

Another sweet deal from Trade Me, this nice Oak Table has kept me busy for the last couple of weeks.

Here's the restoration journey in pictures and some wooden attempts at whimsical prose.

We picked the table up from someone's storage shed and I got the feeling the table had been exposed to a little dampness. I started with the table top as that's easy pickings, using an old sander recently given to me by my Cousin. The stain came off very easy and what was exposed felt a little damp. I left it to gain some exposure to the drier climes of the living room fire and began to work on the other parts of the table.

I turned by attention to the legs of the table at which point the sander started sparking bright flashes, hissing like a cat cornered by the Vet and smoking like Thomas the Tank engine after a hot date so I went inside and watched Tinker, Taylor, Soldier, Spy which was thoroughly entertaining spy film starring  Commissioner Gordon.

I wondered if any spy had ever been tortured with an electric sander to the face and then I went to bed.

I returned later and sanded the shit out of the table and chairs with my trusty Ryobi.

Chairs.

I don't think I'll ever be able to sand another chair for a while. They are really tough. Worse is the staining. So damn fiddly.

So the table and chairs were duly sanded and stained with a mahogany colour and the Oak wood responded marvellously and gave a orange like colour which I describe as Tiger.

The final part of the restoration was to cover the chairs. I got some nice leather-like chair covering from Spotlight (first willing trip to that place ever!), some hessian from a shopping bag a guns stapler.

Who knew gun staplers where so much fun? 600 hundred staples later, the chairs were presentable enough for Queen to sit on. Well kinda, my first effort was pretty rubbish, the final chair to be covered was pretty good!

Costs of the renovation:

Table and Chairs $180 from Trade Me
Stain - $50 bucks from Bunnings
Sand paper - $20 bucks from Bunnings
Chair covering - $35 bucks from Spotlight

All up $285 bucks which is a steal compared to buying the same thing in a fancy antique store somewhere where in Petone.

Here's the table in it's extended mode. It's like the Transformer of the table universe....

Did you know you can also add oak to your homebrew for better flavour?

5 U2 songs with lyrical bite

5 U2 songs with lyrical bite and their meaning

To my mind, a really great song is one which has hidden depths - and those depths can usually be found in the lyrics. A classic rock song, can say anything and mean everything.

Look at Oasis's Wonderwall lyrics for example. It's basically a love song but without really actually meaning anything, in contrast, here's 5 U2 song lyrics that have some real meaning, some real bite and what the words mean.

Walk On from All That You Can't Leave Behind

This is one of those songs that stray into the say anything, mean anything territory but U2 have but some real context around it to to ensure that it's lyrics are not misunderstood.

Dedicated to Aung San Suu Kyi, this song is a freedom song, dedicated to the exponent of democracy and freedom in Mynamar.

Poignantly during the 360 degree tour, U2 played this song at every concert and had supporters of Amnesty International come out on to the stage to show their support for Aung San Suu Kyi and U2's support for the people of Mynammar and their efforts to become a truly democratic society.

Spanish Eyes 

Despite stealing lyrics from "She's a rainbow" by the Rolling Stones, Spanish Eyes is a love song to Bono's wife Ali - and she is actually Irish thus confusing the heck out of many U2 fans. This b-side from The Joshua Tree era kind of complements The Sweetest Thing in the sense that it was also a b-side and also a love letter to Ali.

God Part II from Achtung Baby

People often wonder why this song is called Pt II as they've never heard of a U2 song called God before. It's actually intended as a sequel to John Lennon's song called God. Lennon's song refers to things he didn't believe in such as Hitler - Bono's version also refers to things that he also doesn't believe in but also goes on to refer to how pissed he was at the author Albert Goldman who wrote an unflattering biography of Lennon (and also a bio of Elvis, and given U2's love of Elvis, I'm not surprised Bono made the reference).

Sunday Bloody Sunday from the War album

This one is a pretty obvious song, but newer U2 fans may not realise the real meaning of this song. It's an exploration of the conflict that can exist between the State, it's people and when religion gets thrown into the mix. Inspired by two terrible occasions where soldiers shot civilians in Northen Ireland - the lyrics capture these moments crisply by invoking the cross fire that occurred between Ireland's conflicting religions and the military acttion that was taken - an by extension the State's role in the massacres.

Zooropa from Zooropa

Zooropa is a really crazy song that opens the album of the same name. Some fans have been confused by the lyrics of the song - they seem so mumble jumbled and make no sense. The real meaning of the song can be determined when you realise the lyrics are a hodge podge of slogans from famous brands. Zooropa's lyrics have a running theme of irony, tying in the "media overload" themes of the Zoo TV Tour into the context of a post-Berlin Wall Europe.

The song's lyrics touch on how modern technology can unite people as well as separates  them from each other.

Want more on U2's songs? check out U2 lyrics that explore Jesus, Yahweh and The Good Book.

EDI Cosplay from Phoenix Comicon

Check out Reborn Flame's sweet picture of Mass Effect cosplayers - I think the EDI one is pretty impressive! I think EDI was attending the Phoenix Comicon. What do you reckon, is there any better EDI cosplayers out there in cosplay land?

Those other two dudes are all right as well I guess ;)

What did Johnny Cash say about America?

What did Johnny Cash think about America?

A lot of singers sing about where they live and what they did when they lived there. While U2 like to comment on american culture and politics, they haven't lived through America's eyes like Johnny Cash did.

You'd think a series of records known as American Recordings would be about America. And you'd be right. But you might also ask yourself (other than how did I get here?) seeing as these songs are all covers of other mostly american artists, what is Johnny Cash actually trying to say?

There's a lot of songs in the American Recordings series written by US citizens and their lyrics are open to interpretation and they are not always direct references on America and it's politics, culture or heritage but when Johnny Cash sang these songs, he totally changed them by virtue of being Johnny Cash - through his own living and experiences, when he sang another person's lyrics the meaning changed or was amplified somewhat.

Think his cover of Nine Inch Nail's Hurt as an example. Ostensibly Trent Reznor wrote a song about "differences between society and self-harm", but when Mr J Cash sang it, it become a personal commentary on his own life, and perhaps indirectly, his own influence on american culture.

The Beatles 'In My Life' is song that offers Cash the chance to put his own spin on a classic song. When he sings about 'places and people' he's loved, he's talking about american prisons where he famously sang and he's singing about his friends and families that have been part of the American fabric. He's singing about June and he's singing about Buddy Holly.

When he's takes on the Eagle's Desperado he's singing about the infamous Dalton Gang and America's Wild West history. He's singing about some of America's building blocks.

When Johnny Cash teamed up with U2 to sing on Zooropa's The Wanderer, Johnny Cash can be found having a field day with Bono's lyrics. While he's singing about a man searching for God in a post-Apocalyptic world, he's singing about that part of American culture that what everything they can have - being the kingdom but how they don't want God in it. Despite the American President continually asking God to Bless America, church attendance is falling in America and Cash knew it. He's also suggesting that American's want the nice things, but aren't prepared to put in the effort.

You could argue that when Cash did a cover of U2's One, he was singing about America's confusion about Jesus (refer to the horrible God Hates Fags campaigners) but it's really just a break up song...... when he sang Nick Cave's The Mercy Seat, he wasn't singing about a man's last thoughts before he dies, he's pointing about America's preoccupation with killing people. He was looking at you Texas.

When Cashing mournfully lays down Sheryl Crow's Redemption Day, he turns her fears about an impending train accident into a lament that nothing can be done to save America.

When the Man Comes Around follows a different route that the above arguments. Apparently its one of Cash's few last original composition before he left this planet to hang out with Elvis. It's a commentary of sorts on the Devil, God and how when it's all done and fucked up, you're gonna be claimed. And these lyrics can easily be seen as a warning to America - relying heavily on the Book of Revelations to set the scene, Cash is saying when America's whores are done whoring and you've done enough sinning yourself and got yourself nice and 'filthy', God's gonna come down with his Pale Horses of Death, take America up his golden ladder and put it in its place. Cash actually had a lot to say about Jesus.

U2 did get one thing right though, Elvis would have been a sissy without Johnny Cash!

Mass Effect 3: It's awesome, like David Lynch.

Mass Effect 3 Review

I first got into Mass Effect by accident when I found it cheap. ME2 did the business and more and like the hugely massive and nearly impossible expectations that one had for Halo 3 and GOW3, the promise of Mass Effect would could only be that it would be the most biggest, bad assess space opera ever.

And so it was.

I find it weird to say that the initial Reaper invasion of Earth where innocent children were blown from the slay, an awesome slow burner start, that's indeed what it was - and it had to be the slow burn because the game's plot only got faster and more brutal as my 'Aubrey Sheppard' sought to defend against and defeat the Reapers.

The first few missions were easy enough and simple enough to get into the spirit of things, with a hint of Blade Runner ebbing throughout. Find a Turian soldier there, battle a marauder there, pick up a female Krogan there, arrange for some illegal trade in guns there, telling The Illusive Man to frack off there, give advice to an A.I. with big silver tits about how to pick up humans there and the scene was set.

Cerberus was quickly up to tricks with Sheppard and the Illusive guy was probably a bit pissed that the Commander prevented him from capturing what was apparently the finest young minds humanity had to offer (they seemed pretty dumb though).....

By this stage, I've got used to the gameplay. It's a strong improvement on the prior games and the running, ducking and diving options now available feel quite natural after coming off a lot of Gears of War lately.

Mass Effect has always made it clear that decisions have consequences. The original game this painfully clear when the choice came to kill the Krogan Wrex. A key choice in that game was to decide whether to let the Rachni Queen live or die. Well ME3 makes sure the chickens come home to roost in that regard. Finally, a true decision in ME has had a massive influence in this game. To this end, Mass Effect's promise that decisions have consequences has never been borne out so well. Kudos to Mass Effect's writers.

Mass Effect 3 is a killing machine. Millions of people are dying all around me. Planets are being decimated, I'm deciding the fate particular species and I'm sending major characters to their deaths. Some characters are also sending themselves to their own deaths. The game gives some of them glorious endings, others unsatisfying ignoble goodbyes. With the Reaper attack threatening the existence of the galaxy as we know it, I guess that's c'est la vie.

A key element of ME2 was Cerberus and The Illusive man directing Shepard to his own ends. ME3 features a heavy subplot of Cerberus plots that help lead us to one inevitable conclusion - it's all going to end badly for everyone.

There's a certain character betrayal which seems like it was telegraphed from day one which is all a little to Da Vinci Code like for me (even though I never pick them myself in the books!)  - it's a trivial complaint none-the-less but it did lead us on a wild goose chase.

So now I'm tired of finding strange Prothean disks for lazy scientists so I'm going to charge in to save the day. Am I ready? I'm kind of ready. Have I made the right decisions? Are my Geth troops up to it? Should I have been nicer to the Salarians? Is my reasonably respectable paragon leading Sheppard up to the task.

Will the Alliance battle as brave as the Krogan?

This is truly a Galaxy at War.

The final dash through, taking out the Cerberus base is a long affair with no real consequence but to serve as a chance to give the Illusive Man the finger and set up the final run which was long, fun and had just the right amount of sentiment in saying goodbye to a few friends before Sheppard stepped up to save the  galaxy.



Then there was that crazy ending. It's caused a stir, and rightly so but I think it was a brilliant ending and I'm gonna have to spend a whole different post talking about it (This explains the David Lynch Dune reference). I am truly satisfied with the efforts of my Sheppard, despite him kind of turning into NEO from the Matrix..... well that was my ending. 

I didn't get shot by Martin Sheen.

I'll trying to figure out why the Protheans built the Crucible knowing ? the Catalyst was the er... Citadel and seeing as they'd have known they didn't actually build it themselves, could they not see that their own plan had a gaping hole in it? Or did I just miss something here?

If I wanted to quibble, a big deal was made about the choice to save the Rachni Queen throughout the series and ME3’s writer Mac Walters said “[The presence of the Rachni] has huge consequences in Mass Effect 3. Even just in the final battle with the Reapers." Well I didn’t see one damn Rachni that was on my side in the final battle charge. I feel cheated in that regard and I imagine that sentiment will be shared be several players.

Overall, game of the year for 2012. Halo 4 is gonna have to be amazing to beat it.

Update: ME3 is going to have an expanded ending. I'll sit back with some cheaply made homebrew and give it a run through.

2012 Wellington Sevens Costumes, Cosplay and Outfits

Sevens Costumes, Cosplay and Outfits 2012

The Wellington Sevens. Every year, rugby players turn up from around the world to play the shortened version of the game.

Wellington sees it as an opportunity to dress up in costume and go crazier than the Famous Five or Secret Seven ever could.

Here’s some photos from the 2012 event and you can see they are just as good as last year’s costumed capers. 

A Taste of Asia

Babies. 

Brides to be looking for handsome players?

That's gotta hurt. Maybe a zombie girl got him.

Oh dear.

Pusssssayyyyy Patrol

Pash and Dash!

Tasty Pavlova Girls

She's going to kill you, Dick: Poison Ivy Cosplay

Pop Corn girls about to pop out

Where's um... Wally?

Smurftastic

Toy Soldiers on the lookout

Fathers and Mothers - What U2 has to say about them

U2 songs about Mothers and Fathers

All good song writers tap into the history of their family tree for lyrical inspiration now and then.

There's been plenty of popular songs that feature lyrics about parents and their children. A classic example is the ever popular Cat Steven's Father and Son.

It's with no great surprise then that Bono has chosen to reveal insights to his feeling about his family in a few of U2's songs.

Here's some thoughts about a selected few...

Mofo

Mofo was sixth single flogged from the supposedly terrible Pop album. The lyrics in part refer to Bono's beloved mother Iris, whom he lost at the age of fourteen.

Mothers of the Disappeared

The Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, is a unique organization of Argentine women who have become human rights activists in order to achieve a common goal. For over three long decades, the Mothers have fought for the right to re-unite with their abducted children. It was this work that inspired Bono's lyrics.

Sometimes You Can't Make it On Your Own

The lyric was written by Bono as a tribute to his father, Bob Hewson, who died in 2001. Bono sang this at his funeral. In the video for the song it was prefaced with the following from Bono "My father worked in the post office by day and sang opera by night. We lived on the north side of Dublin in a place called Cedarwood Road. He had a lot of attitude. He gave some to me - and a voice. I wish I'd known him better."

On Your Own shares similar parental sentiments as found in Kite from the All That You Can't Leave Behind album.

Tommorrow

The October album was definitely Bono channeling and challenging his spiritual side - Tomorrow sees him exploring his thoughts around his mother's death and the spectre of her possibly meeting Jesus.

The First Time 

A song from the Grammy Award winning album, Zooropa, The first verse of this the First Time hints sentiments of falling in love for the first time or perhaps truly, madly, deeply falling for someone - the lyric "I have a lover, a lover like no other" suggests the later perhaps is true.

The second verse refers to the love of a brother who would do anything for his sibling - the word brother could easily stand in for friend here as well. 

The final verse talks of the love between a father and son that perhaps has gone sour. Collectively these three different settings make for a great story and makes you wonder what kind of person is telling this story and how do those elements relate to one another? Indeed, there's almost a hint of the Prodigal Son story surrounding the entire fabric of the song. 

I believe in Father Christmas

Written by Greg Lake, I Believe in Father Christmas with a view to making a critque about how Christmas had changed from being a celebration of peace on earth and goodwill to all men, into one huge and disgusting orgy or shopping.

This next one may be a bit of a cheat but the video of Song for Someone features a father being released from prison to find his daughter waiting outside to pick him up.

Done with this page? Want to know more about some other U2 lyrics?

Check out 10 U2 Love Songs.