U2 - Lady With The Spinning Head / Salomé

Most people close to me know of my strong distaste for U2. It's not because of their music, at least not their older works, although I do feel most of their best known songs from earlier in their career are severely over-praised, but rather it's because of Bono's big mouth. I'm sure he thinks he's doing good for the world but I genuinely detest his image as a guy who wants to be cool while saving the world in his mind. He has a beautiful voice and is a talented songwriter, but he's his own biggest hype machine and it's really annoying.

The funniest part about Bono's need to hype himself is when he gets caught in his own fuck-ups, like saying how we should erase the world debt and pay our taxes while he moves his band legally out of their home country of Ireland for tax purposes. Remember when he pushed for additional hype for Pop only to have it be a flop when compared to the money spent on it's release, causing a mid-nineties melt-down for Island Records and requiring them to fire a good chunk of their promotions staff, which probably helped Universal with their takeover of the label a few years later. There is also the meeting presidents and world leaders, writing articles for newspapers and thinking the American Idol casts must be blown away when they meet him. He'd be interesting to meet, that's for certain, but more for the anecdotes or goofy stories than for the celebrity.

And then there is the band, a good rhythm section and a guitarist who is playing a variation on the same riff in EVERY SONG THEY RELEASE TO RADIO! What the hell?

All my bitching aside, there was a time when U2 were genuinely creative and working toward making original and inspired music. That part of their career essentially ended after their label didn't promote their album with Brian Eno as Passengers, as they begged them not to release it under their own name due to it's uncommercial sound. Yes, they've had a few really good songs on every album they've done since then, with Beautiful Day being utterly joyous and one of their greatest singles ever, but they haven't recorded a solid album since Zooropa, although I believe more people would be impressed by that Passengers album if they gave it a chance.

Take a step back to 1991's Achtung Baby, and U2 are making joyous, beautiful music that even when flawed is fascinating and enjoyable. Mysterious Ways becomes a classic hit, Even Better Than The Real Thing confounds yet entices with it's great hooks, strange lyrics and video as a miniature representation of their Zoo TV tour, and The Fly still sounds bizarre and futuristic today. They also fucked over Negativland by letting their label push them around and then steal aspects of their "revolutionary" Zoo TV tour from them and the Tape Beatles, but they got away with it because they were taking it to another level previously unseen. What's funny is what they left off from that era or didn't even bother finishing, as some of that material is among the best they ever recorded.

Consider this post a preview of something that may be dug into later this summer, as I hope to go over the best of the Achtung Baby outtakes and sessions with a fine toothed comb, but for now I want to focus on two of the best songs that never got their moment in the sun, Lady With The Spinning Head and Salomé both of which were b-sides from that album's era.

Lady With The Spinning Head (UVI) started life as a rather funky number that eventually grew into Ultraviolet (Light My Way), which appeared on the finished album (the UVI stands for Ultraviolet 1). The lyrics are pretty non-sensical but the percussion is truly funky, sounding more like a human drum machine than anything the band had tried prior. There are also interesting sounds abounding throughout the song, with what might be an Indian influenced keyboard solo in the middle and what sounds like a twisted music box in the intro. It's a hell of a song, especially since it ended up as a b-side, making many wonder why something this good would be rejected for the album. It's rejection is clearly because it sounds far more polished than anything else on the album, but it's still amazing that Ultraviolet would get chosen over Head's twisted brilliance.

When a significant chunk of the early Achtung Baby sessions were bootlegged in April of 1991, six months before the album's release, many fans were introduced to an early version of Head with a track labeled Wake Up on the bootleg packaging, now generally referred to as Take You Down. The backing track remained practically identical to the released song, although it sounds like Bono is singing at least two different songs at the same time. This isn't an exaggeration, it sounds as though whomever prepared the mix left both vocal tracks in the song, but who knows, it could have been intentional. Whatever the cause, Head would see it's initial official release as the b-side of One and then a second issue, as an Extended Dance Remix, on the single for Even Better Than The Real Thing. The Extended version added back a lot of the musical elements left over from the Take You Down version of the song, making it live up to it's Extended label. The Take You Down version remains unreleased.

Salomé is often considered the best non-album track from the Achtung Baby era, if not one of U2's best b-sides ever. It's quite different from most anything they had recorded before and after, with it's emphasis on a funky but subdued bass and drum combo driving the song. Bono sings about the biblical Salomé and her seductive dance while someone samples his voice and uses his calls as backup vocals and distorted textures. The earlier versions, much like the version of Lady With The Spinning Head, are rather similar to the finished one, although they all feature significantly different lyrics, although these follow the same rhythmic patterns as the finished ones. Salomé was released as the normal b-side for Even Better Than The Real Thing although it also appeared as a trance remix on the Melon compilation released to members of U2's magazine/fan club, Propaganda. That trance version, the Zooromancer Remix, was created by Pete Heller and Terry Farley, renown for their participation in the Madchester scene.

If you asked me to listen to anything new related to U2 and Bono, you'd have a hard time convincing me not to walk away. Their output is simply not of the same quality as it was well over a decade ago, and Bono's incessant yapping makes me consider carrying a loaded weapon, but the wonders of songs like these is a great reminder that Bono used to let his talent do the talking. Maybe if they decided to take a few years off and sort the best songs they'd write during that period they might issue something as great as the classics in their catalog, or maybe if they let Eno rule them in the studio as he knows how to get results, but when you're the "biggest band in the world" general rules don't often apply. Too bad, because I'm sure they've still got a little left in 'em. For now though, enjoy these gems, with the aforementioned standard release versions, early versions and remixes.


U2 - Lady With The Spinning Head / Salomé

01 Lady With The Spinning Head (UVI)
02 Salomé
03 Take You Down (Lady With The Spinning Head Demo)
04 Salomé (Early Version)
05 Lady With The Spinning Head (Extended Dance Remix)
06 Salomé (Zooromancer Remix)