Time for a double dose of Shameless Plug this time from a band that…  well…  I’m not the biggest U2 fan but I have the utmost respect for them.  I don’t follow the band’s every move, I’m not waiting with bated breath for their next release, I’ve not caught them on tour, I’ve never wanted my own pair of “The Fly” shades that Bono sported circa Achtung Baby, but I do own a few of their albums and fully dig some of their material.  Songs like “New Year’s Day”, “I Will Follow”, “Two Hearts Beat As One”, even stuff like “Bad” is great, but these two songs?  That’s a whole ‘nother ball of wax.

Usually with the Shameless Plug posts I’m highlighting a song from a favorite artist but this time I’m shifting gears a little to just highlight two fantastic songs.  Both of these cuts have a tendency to lift my spirits and make me feel good due to a variety of factors, although oddly enough not due to the lyrical content.  I mean, a song entitled “Beautiful Day”?  Geez, a title like that would make you think of blue skies, warm temperatures, and cool breezes but I’ve never been a guy that cares much about lyrics (although that does depend on the band).  For all I know, Bono could be spouting off about nonsensical stuff or about how the airport lost his luggage or how he’s grousing about how his dog digs up the plants in his garden.  Sure, I’ll pick up a lyric here and there but that’s not what’s hooking me.

So let’s start with “Beautiful Day” and what exactly IS hooking me.  This song is a fabulous example of how a song can build into something magical due to sparse instrumentation, sweet production touches, and a chorus that lifts the song to another level.  I love music like this because it’s a bit of a journey; lots of ebb and flow, light and shade, high and low, harsh and sweet.  Starting off with a bit of strings to set the tempo, the heartbeat of a kick drum grabs your ear along with what sounds like an echoey, lightly stabbed chord before Bono lightly croons the first verse along with Adam Clayton’s moving bassline.  After a few lines, we hear The Edge come in with a fairly quiet guitar pattern before that magical chorus comes in-  here’s where the song starts to take off:  Edge has upped the volume and distortion on the chords, Bono’s vocal raises to an even more heartfelt level, and Clayton’s bassline mixes perfectly with Larry Mullen’s crashing drum work.  And did I mention production touches?  That clearly spellbinding moment comes with the swelling and building background vocal during that chorus, that “daaaaaaYYYY… daaaAAAYYYY” just kills me.  But we’re not done yet…  the section that begins with Bono singing “touch me” kicks into another gear before we drop down into the shade as the band mostly falls out and we get that “daaaaaYYY… daaaaAAAYYY” reprised one final time before the highs of the final chorus.  Utterly beautiful stuff.

I was in college when The Joshua Tree came out, which may have been THE album for many on the floor in my dorm.  While I liked the early singles enough (“With Or Without You” and “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”), it wasn’t until the third single and awesomely cool video for “Where The Streets Have No Name” that I really started paying attention.  Like the aforementioned “Beautiful Day”, this song has a tremendous buildup via the keyboard intro but it’s really the pulsating, chiming rhythms of The Edge’s guitar work and the driving bass and drum interplay between Clayton and Mullen.  And by this stage of the band’s career, Bono was well into rock star mode and puts in an outstanding, earnest vocal-  not overcooking it but settling into a nice groove along with the band, the flow moving nicely yet building a bit during the chorus as he moves effortlessly from a breathy croon into a few soaring, full throated lines.  Production touches aren’t as noticeable as “Beautiful Day” outside of the beautiful washes of keyboard, but the song really drives due to the ringing guitar work of The Edge, the dynamic yet simple, rhythmic drive of the bass and drums, and Bono’s strong vocal turn.

U2 has had a storied yet chameleon-like career as they are constantly growing, morphing, and shape shifting in pursuit of something new for each album and phase of their career.  You may have your favorites but to me, these two are synonymous with each other and can certainly elevate my mood and lift my spirits when needed.  Seek them out when you need some “elevation” (sorry, that’s a bad U2 pun!).