The “Best Off…” compilations released by both bands provides us with interesting correlations. It seems that U2 has made a conscious reference to the Beatles by separating their career in two albums each one spanning half of their career (1962-1966 & 1967-1970, The Beatles / 1980-1990 & 1990-2000, U2), and assigning each a different color (Red/Blue, The Beatles & Gold/Silver, U2); but there are other analogies that appear to be of a less conscious nature and of greater significance.

Both bands chose to contrast the cover picture of their first album with a new version of it that denotes growth (see Graphic 44 below). In the Beatles case they took a picture of themselves in the same place of the EMI building where the Please Please Me cover picture was taken. The point being made was that now they were grown men, as opposed to the innocent lads of the original picture. For the U2 Best Off… cover, a Peter Rowan picture was used again, but now with a Helmet on, possibly implying maturity for now he knows how to protect himself. This symbolical artwork by The Beatles and U2 conveys a transition from boyhood to manhood.

Graphic 43: Boy to Man to Boy

But every man or woman, or any existing being, is inevitably headed towards their own physical demise as a mean of transformation. In this sense, it is symbolically revealing to look at the Inner Fold Cover (see below) of the 1962-1966 and 1967-1970 Beatles collection. In it, The Beatles are surrounded by a crowd of people tightly squeezed towards each other, behind a fence, and separated from the only person outside of it, a BOY. The fence is the division between life and death. Behind it remains everything that is decaying and dying, in front of it, the only thing that CAN’T BE LEFT BEHIND, a pure heart; the heart of The Beatles that remained untouched throughout the journey. The journey ended but the pure heart remained, the same pure heart that is bound to start the next one.