SU2NDAY BLOODY SU2NDAY

I spotted the U2 BY U2 coffee table book
at my favorite bookstore in Waltermart Makati
Saturday afternoon,

and before I took my next breath,
I'd whipped out P1,050 from my wallet,
almost kissed the cashier while paying,
and greedily embraced the massive volume.

It's a pretty good deal,
considering the U.S. list price is $24.95.


On my way home,
I took my usual detour to my friendly
Pirates of the Carriedo in Quiapo
and found the book's official accompanying DVD,
U2 18 VIDEOS,
at the exorbitant price of P35.00!!!


Obviously,
it was going to be an all-U2 Sunday Bloody Sunday
for this TrU2e Believer,
whose all-time favorite song is
WITH OR WITHOUT YOU.



The book is undeniably excellent,
interesting for new converts,
more so for this U2 fanatic of over 20 years;

while I know all the details, inside out,
of the genesis and rise-to-fame
of my two other legendary musical idols,
FRANK SINATRA and THE BEATLES,

for some reason,
there's always been a dearth
of accurate written material about
the four lads from Dublin, Ireland.


It's just as well though;
U2 BY U2 is a fourfold first-person account
culled from over 1,500 hours of interviews with
Paul, Dave, Adam, & Larry.

All the minutiae,
all the drama,
all the comedy,
all the epochal events,
all the stories of the songs...

all here!!!


The experience of reading the book
is akin to that of sharing a pint of Guinness
with the boys in the band,
and listening to their affectionate,
un-self conscious, and frequently hilarious
recollections of their beginnings.



I'm only halfway through the book,
the next chapter is about THE JOSHUA TREE,
and how that album catapulted them
into the stratosphere of music's hierarchy,

the pole position in which they remain to this very day,
The Greatest Rock Band in the World.


BUY U2 BY U2!!!


p.s.
From early-1983,
the first meeting of the BOSS and BONO;
backstage after a U2 concert in New York
during the tour for the "OCTOBER" album.

in the book,
Bono confesses that when he sang
"well tonight, thank god it's them, instead of you"
during the recording of Bob Geldof & Band Aid's
Do They Know It's Christmas,
he was secretly doing it a la Bruce Springsteen.



p.p.s.
The very first song U2 sang in public?
a cover of Peter Frampton's "Show Me The Way".

At that time,
U2 was known as (yikes!) FEEDBACK.



p.p.p.s.
U2's first single was produced by Martin Hannett;
during their initial meeting at his studio,
Hannett was busy working with another band
that was recording their own song:

the band was Joy Division,
and the song?
LOVE WILL TEAR US APART,
arguably the greatest New Wave song ever.

OMG!!!

The curious rookie rocker that was Bono
checked out the LPs that Joy Division had on hand
to listen to in between laying down their tracks,
and he found...

Frank Sinatra's classic
IN THE WEE SMALL HOURS album.

WOW.