Pickin' on U2

 (12 customer reviews)

I've bought a couple of "homage" or reinterpretation CD's of U2's music. Of all of them, only one has really caught the flavour of U2 in a way that is unique and respectful. The others either have moments where they shine, or they fail miserably and are just plain painful to listen to. Only one CD manages to be fun throughout the entire album.And that's Pickin' on U2.I was hoping that it'd have vocals included, but the entire album is instrumental. At first, I thought it'd be like the other "reinterpretations" -- using an instrument to try to emulate Bono's voice just doesn't work.But this CD does not try to do that. They've just taken the most popular U2 songs and rearranged them with Bluegrass instrumentation. It's obvious, listening to the CD, that the musicians and arrangers love the source material. But they don't try to copy it as exact as they can with different instruments (as other CD's like this tend to do, and end up sounding like a high...Read more

Over the last couple of years I have accumulated a number of these Pickin' On disks. There have been a couple that come to mind that I have used as coasters (Pickin' On: Santana & Bob Dylan) because of the poor rendition of their songs. Now, on the other hand, this collection of U2 songs is my favourite of them all. I would have given it 6 stars if I could. This disk is the only one that I have taken to work to play on my computer. It gives me a lift and puts a smile on my face when ever I play it. I must warn you that it could get you fired if you aren't careful. There is a tendency to be distracted from your work, because of this fine piece of work. Do not operate heavy machinery or perform surgery during the playing of this disk. B^)If you do not own any of the Pickin' Series, I strongly suggest that U buy this one. It's Bonofied as a winner.

Of all the (U2) tribute albums I've purchased, this is pleasingly the best. The Joshua Tree tunes are particularly effective.