One more from U2...

To round out the best rock songs of Christmas I have to conclude with U2's cover of Darlene Love's classic: "It's Christmas, Baby Please Come Home." A totally great cover - filled with respect for the original girl group - and saturated in U2's own energy and passion.

This comes from that "Rattle and Hum" time when the band was exploding in popularity and exploring lots of their American rock and roll connections: check out "The Joshua Tree" as the prelude and key tunes from "Rattle and Hum" like their Bo Diddley tribute - "Desire" - their ode to soul music (recorded in the home of Elvis' first tunes at Sun Records) - "Angel of Harlem" - the gospel reworking of "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" - their collaboration with Bob Dylan - "Love Rescue Me" - and their powerhouse with B.B. King - "When Love Comes to Town" - from which I take the title of this blog.

After this period, the band reinvented themselves in an ironic and insightful attack on consumerism, ideology and fundamentalism of all types in the Zoo TV/Achtung Baby/Pop brilliance. I love that self-consciously prophetic stuff - it is all brilliant and the live shows from that era redefined rock concerts - but the straight ahead rock of Joshua Tree/Rattle and Hum is damn sweet, too. Dig it...