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  1. Originally posted by drewhiggins:[..]

    The Girl Is Mine sucks big-time.

    History has two discs - the first was the greatest hits and the second was the all-new songs. Though I'm not all that sure if a song recorded in 1988 (Come Together) qualifies as a new song when it already appeared on a single. Maybe he just couldn't be arsed doing another song and thought 14 was enough.

    I might ask you as well given you're a big Prince fan - what's the best album for a beginner to start out with? I know the essential songs but not much else.


    I've heard that Come Together cover surprisingly.

    The best album for a beginner to start out is The Hits / The B-Sides. It includes most of his greatest hits up to 1992 plus fan favourite songs such as Adore and When You Were Mine. It contains some truly essential Prince songs that are only available on that release such as Pink Cashmere and How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore. Impressively, the b-sides disc is excellent and stands up well with the previous two discs. Another nice feature is the booklet that features a short biography written by his former manager and later the vice president of his (now extinct) record company Paisley Park Records. Although those notes are slightly dated when it talks about how Prince changed his named to a symbol.

    Some problems with the release is that most songs are in edited form. This isn't a good thing on songs like When Doves Cry and I Wanna Be Your Lover, where the album versions are much better. But some songs actually work better in their edited form, (Uptown is a lot more smoother and to the point then the dragged out album version, so is Alphabet Street but for some reason they always choose the album version for that song on Prince greatest hits collections) There are only a couple of filler tracks Pope and God, that later one is possibly his worst song.

    One thing you should realise is that Prince is a creepy man, especially back then, and a lot of songs are rather explicitly about sex. But you would know that instantly after looking at song titles like Head,Dirty Mind and I Love U In Me. If this is a bit much for you buy The Very Best Of Prince instead which is just the big hits, so it gives you less of an idea of what Prince is about.
  2. Originally posted by bobplaysthedrums:[..]

    I've heard that Come Together cover surprisingly.

    The best album for a beginner to start out is The Hits / The B-Sides. It includes most of his greatest hits up to 1992 plus fan favourite songs such as Adore and When You Were Mine. It contains some truly essential Prince songs that are only available on that release such as Pink Cashmere and How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore. Impressively, the b-sides disc is excellent and stands up well with the previous two discs. Another nice feature is the booklet that features a short biography written by his former manager and later the vice president of his (now extinct) record company Paisley Park Records. Although those notes are slightly dated when it talks about how Prince changed his named to a symbol.

    Some problems with the release is that most songs are in edited form. This isn't a good thing on songs like When Doves Cry and I Wanna Be Your Lover, where the album versions are much better. But some songs actually work better in their edited form, (Uptown is a lot more smoother and to the point then the dragged out album version, so is Alphabet Street but for some reason they always choose the album version for that song on Prince greatest hits collections) There are only a couple of filler tracks Pope and God, that later one is possibly his worst song.

    One thing you should realise is that Prince is a creepy man, especially back then, and a lot of songs are rather explicitly about sex. But you would know that instantly after looking at song titles like Head,Dirty Mind and I Love U In Me. If this is a bit much for you buy The Very Best Of Prince instead which is just the big hits, so it gives you less of an idea of what Prince is about.


    The Come Together cover isn't bad but it just lacks something. Not sure what but I find a lot of the 80s stuff just seems bare.

    That Hits and B-sides is probably the one I'll go for and too much is never enough. From what I saw of it (and this was the onlly one I liked the looked of) it seems worth it. Not so much creepy I don't think but more so sexually thoughtful.

    I hate edits 'cos usually they're not that needed. Only too often I've found a great compilation album and half the songs are edits, missing out the solos or the best lyrics. The Madonna album was by far the worst - who edits a song called Four Minutes that actually goes for that length, down to just over three?

    The only compilation albums I've found worth honestly getting are the Essential ones so if you have a band you're interested in go for those (though they're only for Sony and Legacy artists). They usually have 30-40 songs on them, maybe 50 if you get the 3.0 release and usually pretty cheap too. You can get unreleased songs, B-sides, live tracks and even remixes.
  3. Originally posted by drewhiggins:[..]

    The Come Together cover isn't bad but it just lacks something. Not sure what but I find a lot of the 80s stuff just seems bare.

    That Hits and B-sides is probably the one I'll go for and too much is never enough. From what I saw of it (and this was the onlly one I liked the looked of) it seems worth it. Not so much creepy I don't think but more so sexually thoughtful.

    I hate edits 'cos usually they're not that needed. Only too often I've found a great compilation album and half the songs are edits, missing out the solos or the best lyrics. The Madonna album was by far the worst - who edits a song called Four Minutes that actually goes for that length, down to just over three?

    The only compilation albums I've found worth honestly getting are the Essential ones so if you have a band you're interested in go for those (though they're only for Sony and Legacy artists). They usually have 30-40 songs on them, maybe 50 if you get the 3.0 release and usually pretty cheap too. You can get unreleased songs, B-sides, live tracks and even remixes.


    Yes, long best of/ greatest hits albums are great. The Platinum Collection by Bowie is better than Best Of Bowie or Changesbowie. The other Prince greatest hits collections, The Very Best Of Prince and Ultimate Prince are poorly selected and confusing.

    Edits are often in there because it won't fit otherwise.

    I've got a a Essential series compilation, (The Essential Clash). I have seen a Michael Jackson Essential compilation for $10 at JB, is it worth getting?


  4. You just know when someone who isn't a big fan has compiled one. Edits are alright if they're edited in such a way they actually work. Then again, you listen to how butchered Magnificent's edit (the UK one) is and it really makes you wonder who the hell comissioned it.

    If you want to get a compilation cheap - I wouldn't pay more than $15, King Of Pop is the way to go - skip Number Ones. You get several demo tracks, a good spread of tracks chosen by Australian fans and actually does a good job of covering every album as well as the songs most people would know, and most aren't edits either. If you like the 70s, 80s and group work then Essential is a great one.

    What's that Clash one like? I'm trying this year to get into loads of new (to me, at least) bands.
  5. Watched Rattle and Hum with a friend who was interested and had never seen it before. He thought it was wonderful, especially surprised and really fell right into the movie when he heard "Van Diemen's Land" and realized it was The Edge. He had no idea the man could sing. Also loved Larry's humor, which even got me a few times too.

    "Lawrence, if I had feet like yours, I wouldn't want them in the film!"
    "And if I had a head like YOURS I'd bleedin' BURY it!"

    Another quote I didnt catch the previous hundred times I'd seen the film:

    BB King: "I don't really know what to do there, I'm just sort of...[keeps playing]"
    Bono: "Just, just keep doing that! [Astounded laughing; says to the side] Was that a joke?"

  6. Originally posted by EyesWithPrideB3:

    BB King: "I don't really know what to do there, I'm just sort of...[keeps playing]"
    Bono: "Just, just keep doing that! [Astounded laughing; says to the side] Was that a joke?"


    That part always makes me cringe It seems so damn awkward!


  7. I thought it was hilarious! I don't Bono meant it to be rude or anything like that, I think he was amazed to be in the same room, let alone within 3 feet, of BB King, and when BB seemed embarrassed or nervous, Bono was sort of like "Is he serious? He's a blues legend, he could play the same note over and over and I would be in love with it"...not so much "Is he serious? This guy's not as good as I thought"
  8. Little shameless self promotion here, bear with me for one post:

    Beat Farm Radio is a music blog run by myself and a close friend, you might remember the "Top 25 U2 Song" countdown we did a few months ago. Anyway, we're running a 30 day series of song profiles...every day, a category is listed, and John and I write a small blurb on a song related to that category. For example, here's the list so far...

    Day 1: Your favorite song
    Day 2: Your least favorite song
    Day 3: Song that makes you happy
    Day 4: Song that makes you sad

    Obviously, it's fairly generic at the beginning, but it does evolve and really turn very interesting. Anyway, the point is to share songs that others might not know, sharpen up the writing a little bit, and really just have fun.

    The reason I post is because we're hoping to do a reader-based submission at the end of the 30 day series. We're really pushing for comments on the posts, with your own choices for each day's category. At the end of 30 days, we pull the best submissions for each day and put them together in one large post, to share the readers' writing and opinions. We're not a huge blog, but we do get a fair amount of traffic with the promoting we do, it's just that our readers don't seem to be HUGE fans of the commenting. If anyone on the site here is interested, it would be lots of fun to see your choices, and even cooler to get some support. If you've got the time of day, bookmark the site and check it out, it'll be worth your time.

    Note: To post comments, click the little white link at the bottom of each post, not the "Leave Your Comments" link at the top (that's like a guestbook). You'll be asked to leave an email, but that's not for you to be spammed in any sort of way at all- the only person that emails you WOULD be us, if for some reason we wanted to get in contact with you.

    Thanks guys, I'll quiet down now
  9. Originally posted by drewhiggins:You just know when someone who isn't a big fan has compiled one. Edits are alright if they're edited in such a way they actually work. Then again, you listen to how butchered Magnificent's edit (the UK one) is and it really makes you wonder who the hell comissioned it.

    If you want to get a compilation cheap - I wouldn't pay more than $15, King Of Pop is the way to go - skip Number Ones. You get several demo tracks, a good spread of tracks chosen by Australian fans and actually does a good job of covering every album as well as the songs most people would know, and most aren't edits either. If you like the 70s, 80s and group work then Essential is a great one.

    What's that Clash one like? I'm trying this year to get into loads of new (to me, at least) bands.


    That King Of Pop compilation reminds me of the Best Of Bowie compilations where every country has a different tracklisting. It's pretty cool that it's a fan voted CD, I wish U2 would do something like that. That other one (The Essential MJ) looks nice, but it's severly lacking in 90's stuff.

    I've got that Number Ones compilation (it cost $10). I'm not very impressed with it's truly shocking selection. Many great songs are nowhere to be found on that disc.

    The Essential Clash is fairly good, but way too long (2 CDs) since that they've only recorded 5 albums and the 1st disc is mostly tracks from their debut album. I would recommend to buy London Calling (their greatest album) or any single disc compilation.
  11. @Matt
    I have your blog bookmarked since you shared the 25-songs thing, but hadn't visited it since quite a long time ago (maybe a month or more)... Some good choices you got there. Specially the DMB song for the happy catergory, and choosing Hotel California (by your mate) as the disliked song made me laugh

    Great read. Also a great message for that AltOhio bla bla shit, what a wanker.
  12. Originally posted by LikeASong:@Matt
    I have your blog bookmarked since you shared the 25-songs thing, but hadn't visited it since quite a long time ago (maybe a month or more)... Some good choices you got there. Specially the DMB song for the happy catergory, and choosing Hotel California (by your mate) as the disliked song made me laugh

    Great read. Also a great message for that AltOhio bla bla shit, what a wanker.


    Thanks a lot Sergio! Don't be too shy to leave your own choices in the comments section, everybody, I'll make sure to give U2start promo shoutouts if we publish your comments in the reader-submission compilation
Contribute to the U2 community with uploading photos or by telling us which shows you have visited.
Contribute to the U2 community with uploading photos or by telling us which shows you have visited.
Contribute to the U2 community with uploading photos or by telling us which shows you have visited.
Contribute to the U2 community with uploading photos or by telling us which shows you have visited.