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Great album, everyone knows Beautiful Day, but Always is nearly as good, and Summer Rain is pretty good too. As it is rather affordable, I completely recommend this and then the full album, All That You Can't Leave Behind. Disc and plastic box arrived in good shape, but the packaging is a bit flimsy. Oh well, I guess that's a CD single for you.
I love all the tracks on this cd. Beautiful Day Discotechque live and If You Wear That Velvet Dress live. I forgot how many times I have played this cd. One of the best u2 single imports.
Reviewed in the United States on December 15, 2008
This single is a little gem for U2 fans; despite the fact the CD only has three songs on it. "Beautiful Day" is a classic U2 song and has all the staples of a grand U2 tune. The second track is "Discotheque" and the third is "If You Wear that Velvet Dress", these are live versions from U2's Pop Mart tour. The original versions can be found on their 1997 (underrated) album "Pop". The live versions of both these songs are awesome. "Discotheque" is fast and funky and literally bleeds into a dark version of "If You Wear that Velvet Dress" by the Edge's astonishing guitar work.
I was able to see U2 on their Pop Mart tour in 1997, so perhaps this is why I love this CD single so much. Don't misunderstand me, "Beautiful Day" is a wonderful song, but I already had it when I bought "All that You Can't Leave Behind" (the album "Beautiful Day" was pulled from). The main event of this single is the live tracks from the Pop Mart tour. I highly recommend!!!
"Beautiful Day" signaled the return of U2 to their classic rock mold. Instead of continuining the experimental route they had traveled to the extremes with with "Pop," they instead took what they learned from their technical journey to create even more breathtaking, timeless songs but with a more stripped-down, rock feel. "Beautiful Day" is indeed a beautiful landscape of sound and energy, the band sounds like an orchestra here with Bono's soaring, celestial vocals and Edge's hypnotic, transcending chords. The chorus is a wonderful example of real melody applied to modern rock n' roll and Larry Mullen's drums and Adam Clayton's bass parts add great substance to the track. This is a song that is well crafted in every shape with great skill and care and it is no surprise it won a Best Record Of The Year Grammy award. As a single it's a worthwhile CD. U2 have a knack for releasing singles that have just as much enticing material as the complete album counterpart. Here we get two awesome live tracks from their 1997 Popmart gig in Mexico City. "Discotheque" roars and grinds, surpassing the album version by ditching it's techno flourishes for more straight forward, real rock n' roll dance music. "If You Wear That Velvet Dress" is a dreamy, hypnotic closing number for the album, providing atmosphere and depth with the rich chords and trippy lyrics. This one also surpasses the album version because it too abandons the techno experimentation of the original. "Beautiful Day" was a welcome return for U2 and it's a good song to revisit now that we await the upcoming new album which is slated to be released in November. Until then, here's a wonderful example of timeless, evocative modern rock.
Having thrown away the electronic influences that harboured their last album Pop, U2 has gotten back to basics with 3 men who play instruments and a dyslexic guy in a room. Beautiful Day is easily U2's best song since One, and it's great just to listen to. Very uplifting song. It teaches you that even if your whole life has fallen apart (as it has to the character in the song), you can still find beauty. The other 2 tracks, If you wear that Velvet Dress and Discotheque, taken from U2's live show in Mexico City back in 1997 fit nicely as b-sides on this single. Definitely, this CD is worth a listen...not just a listen, but a listening to every day, it's THAT good. Clearly if this single is any indication of All That You Can't Leave Behind, U2 is once again, headed for Greatness!
U2 has a knack for producing great singles with great B-sides. "Beautiful Day" is of course a great song and comes highly recommended by itself, but "Summer Rain," and "Always" (an early version of "Beautiful Day") no doubt are great songs as well. All three songs show that U2 isn't going downhill in the slightest in terms of songwriting, although the "All That You Can't Leave Behind" album is a bit more mellow then their previous stuff. Nevertheless, "Beautiful Day" is a great song, and I highly recommend the single.
Reviewed in the United States on November 27, 2000
"Beautiful Day" is a good song with a boring title, but the recording has some problems. The mix is a little messy - where are the drums? They seem buried here, and when you can hear them they sound namby pamby. This is U.2., and I expect a good backbeat, not this puny nineties drum machine/tambourine sound. Plus, Bono really sounds like he has a cold, and he even misses a few notes. I guess these things were allowed to pass because U.2. apparently recorded a whole ton of material and then picked the best, which spread their energies thin. They would have done better to pick the best songs and then pay more attention to each recording. However, there's no denying the catchy parts of the song, or the interesting sound effects.
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