Achtung Maybe?

Ok, so this Q magazine covers album of Achtung Baby is kind of awesome. But seriously, the Fray? And Damien Rice? We can do better.

I’m dying to hear Jack White’s take on Love is Blindness, and I am cool with the Killers doing Ultraviolet, but for the best U2 album, this is a pretty craptacular list of bands.

Here’s my dream track listing:

Zoo Station – Modest Mouse or Wilco: I’m sure Isaac Brock is way too cool to admit to liking U2, but a Modest Mouse version of this song would be pretty awesome. And I can see either Modest Mouse showing up, but I’m thinking crazy banjo-wielding Modest Mouse might be the right ones for the job. The other option for this song is Wilco. Everyone talks about Wilco being “America’s Radiohead.” Sure, I guess they are. If Radiohead had written a memorable song sometime after OK Computer… And Wilco can get all “cool” and talk about Can and all of these other ultra hip influences. Sure. I doubt Tweedy & Co. ever would have tried something like Spiders or Bull Black Nova is they hadn’t heard this song and or the Fly. I’m just saying…

Even Better than the Real Thing: Funny, the version on the Q album is a remix of the U2 version. Glad to see I’m not the only one who thinks this song should have been left off of Achtung Baby in the first place. My version would skip it entirely.

One – Iron & Wine: Who better to take the most stripped down song from an extremely produced album and make a radical reinvention of it. Just as Sam Beam has taken Iron & Wine from hushed bedroom four-track recordings to whatever it is we’re labeling Iron & Wine as these days, he can take One and rescue it back from whatever the hell Bono has been doing to it for the last 20 years. 

Until the End of the World – Spoon: I’m going with Spoon for this song. I had a few other thoughts for it -  I think the Black Keys or Conor Oberst could have done cool takes on this. But the way Spoon manage to present just the most crucial elements of a song, would be amazing. The original of this song is so perfectly cacophonous that the only other option is to strip it bare but still leave the angst of the original – Spoon could do that. 

Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses – M. Ward, or maybe She & Him: I think M. Ward could do very cool things with the vibe of this song. I’m hearing a lot of reverb. If M did the verses and Zooey did the choruses, it could be very cool.

So Cruel – Bon Iver: Shut up. Listen, that’s the sound of Bon Iver killing this song. Probably with a healthy dose of Autotune. Who can I pay to make this happen?

Alternatively, pairing Ryan Adams back up with Gillian Welch and David Rawlings could make for a pretty amazing take on this song… Seriously, go back and listen to the chorus of this song. Now imagine Gillians background vocals.

Mysterious Ways – Elvis Costello: Track down the version he did on Spectacle. Admit that I am a freaking genius. 

Trying to Throw Your Arms Around the World – Death Cab for Cutie: Death Cab – they wrote the second best U2 song since Achtung Baby (see When Your Heart is an Empty Room – thank me later). I could see Death Cab doing numerous songs from this album. But lyrically, I think this song fits very well within the Death Cab repertoire.

The Fly - My Morning Jacket: They wrote the best U2 song to come out since Achtung Baby. Hint, it’s not a U2 song. It’s called Gideon. It’s on Z. It’s amazing and clearly displays My Morning Jacket picking up the baton that U2 so unceremoniously dropped with Pop Mart and has failed so far to pick up. Hearing Jim James on this song would be nothing short of amazing.

Ultraviolet – The Killers: They are doing it on the Q compilation. I’m intrigued. This is my favorite song on this album. I’m somewhat conflicted about the Killers doing it. I’d like to hear someone with a little more depth do this one. The National maybe? Oh well, Human and Mr. Brightside are pretty great – the Killers deserve a shot. I could see Arcade Fire doing a really good version of this. But hey…

Acrobat - Neko Case: Neko should sing this. Calexico should be her backing band. It would be awesome. That is all.

Love is Blindness – Jack White: I’ll stick with Q on this one. Jack earned it. I can’t wait to hear it.

Now if only I could get the rest of these to happen...