DreamTheaterForums.org Dream Theater Fan Site
General => General Music Discussion => Topic started by: KevShmev on February 22, 2015, 07:45:02 AM
-
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/15/U2_Boy.png)
In October 1980, the band that would eventually become one of the biggest and most popular in rock history, released their debut record. Originally called The Hype, the band now known as U2 released Boy, which had some minor success, as the first track "I Will Follow" was a minor hit, and "Out of Control," which was released as a part of a mini-EP in Ireland before the debut hit record stores, met with a bit of success previously. This debut is a fascinating record, considering it had the attitude of punk at times, but with elements as powerful as Bono's voice and stage presence, and The Edge's signature guitar sound, they had a much bigger sound than your average punk record. I don't think anyone would say they heard this and knew U2 would become as big as they eventually would, but there was definitely something special that was detectible in there amongst the raw fury of many of those tunes.
I didn't hear U2 until around 1983-1984, and didn't really get into them until 1987-1988, so this was not a record I knew right away. In fact, I don't think I ever actually heard Boy from start to finish until sometime in the last 10 years, so I think not hearing it until after nearly everything else they had done was seeded deep into my musical consciousness, made me appreciate it more, as I went in thinking, "Let's see where it all began," rather than judging it on merit alone, which may or may not be the best approach, but there it is.
Aside from those two "hits," other standouts are "The Electric Co.," which would be taken to another level when played live, like so many of their songs, and the back-to-back of "An Cat Dubh" and "Into the Heart" featured a deceptively creative guitar hook by Edge, not to mention becoming one of those duos that would always be played together, helped by the fact that they do run into each without any stoppage. The rest of the album has its moments, but nothing that is overly notable. Overall, this is a very solid debut record, and the classic U2 elements were on display from the very start.
Regarding this thread, how long my write-ups will be, and how frequent updates will be, will depend largely on participation. I am not sure how many people will be interested in this thread, since there aren't a ton of U2 fans here, so I will see how feedback is early on and go from there.
-
I've not actually heard a lot of "Boy" "War" and "October" . I'm mainly familiar with The Unforgettable Fire and onwards. I started my U2 fandom after hearing The Joshua Tree in the late 90s.
I'll dip in and out of this thread and give my opinions on certain tracks up until then haha. :)
-
I'm in. I got into U2 during the War album and was lucky enough to have parents allow a 15 year old see U2 in Boston. Of course i went back and bought October and Boy right away.
My first impressions were rock with a punky attitude and the lyrics were of young men dealing with all the issues of Ireland of the day. I was hooked as a 15 year old. An Cat Dubh is my favorite tune from the album.
-
Prior to 1987, I only knew U2 songs that got played on MTV, so all I knew for years was New Year's Day, the live version of Sunday Bloody Sunday (MTV played the Red Rocks version as a video) and Pride (In the Name of Love). I am not sure what I would have thought of many of those early deep cuts had I heard them at that young of an age.
-
U2 are great. As this album is, I really like it, especially the ones you mentioned.
-
I fear participation is gonna be low in this one. :|
-
I was intrigued by U2 when they came out. That video for new Year's Day is etched into my memory. I probably won't have anything to add to this thread, other than seeing them a couple of times in 87 & 92.
-
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fb/U2_October.jpg)
Released in October of 1981, U2's 2nd album, October, didn't do as well as their debut IIRC, but it still had a lead track, "Gloria," that has stood the test of time as a true U2 classic. I didn't hear the record until I got back into the band in the late 00s, and I wasn't expecting much to be honest, but "I Threw a Brick Through a Window," the title track and "Scarlet" all struck me a really good tunes. "Tomorrow" is a bit of an odd tune for them, but it has nice melodies, as well as some oddly strange ones. The opening riff of "Stranger in a Strange Lead" is pretty killer; too bad the song never really gets as good as that opening did. Overall, this is a solid sophomore effort, if not particularly noteworthy. Great things would be coming shortly thereafter. :coolio
-
Sorry, I didn't realize this had started.
-
No biggie. But if participation stays this limited, I will zip through it pretty fast and the reviews will all be pretty short. No point in taking the time to write long reviews if very few are gonna have any feedback or participate themselves.
-
This album was a real grower on me. So young, so raw. If I remember Adam almost left the band because he felt separate from the band because they were all very religious and we heard all the Adam stories later.
My favorite songs are "I Fall Down" & "I Threw a Brick Through a Window".
-
I'll have to revisit I Fall Down. I admittedly do not have the entire October CD uploaded to my iTunes, and I usually know stuff I do in the discography threads well enough to where I don't need to do the token/reminder listen to it before featuring it.
One thing that is noteworthy about early U2 material, and this can be said about the first four albums, is the cold, wintery feel a lot of it had. Even though it is mainly just Bono's voice and piano, the song October sounds like something you should be listening to on a cold, snowy day.
-
Hell yeah, Just like the video for "New Years Day".
I think all the strife happening in Ireland at the time and they came from an industrial town forged that sound.
-
True, but of course a lot of it comes in the production and the way their albums were mixed. It's like they managed to nail that vibe perfectly, even while getting their feet wet while perfecting their songwriting craft. And like most bands, there is a joyful energy that is on those albums that you can never quite recapture. Ah, to be 22 again. :lol :lol
-
22? I was 15! :lol
Crap.
-
22? I was 15! :lol
Crap.
Amen, Brother!
-
I meant they were early 20s (22ish) when they wrote that early stuff, not me. Or maybe I confused myself. :lol :lol
-
So the 4 guys in U2 are roughly the same age or slightly older than the guys in Metallica.
Which 4 band members look WAY better for their age ? :lol
The Edge especially does not look like he is in his early 50s.
-
I'm guessing that, aside from Adam Clayton, the U2 guys never partied as hard as the Metallica guys did in their younger years. Partying hard ages you.
-
WBCN in Boston was instrumental in helping U2. WBCN simulcast many of early live concerts U2 played in Boston. WBCN was the first American radio station to play U2 on their airwaves. U2 in many interview have talked about how grateful they were that this radio station helped them get a foothold in America.
-
I'm guessing that, aside from Adam Clayton, the U2 guys never partied as hard as the Metallica guys did in their younger years. Partying hard ages you.
Lars especially needs to just shave his head. That dyed black skullet thing he's got now with his enormous forehead isn't doing him any favours.
A couple of years ago he shaved his head completely bald and he looked so much better.
...
Also i'll be able to better participate in this thread once you get to The Joshua Tree :lol
I'm very familiar with every album from then on.
-
Damn I didn't notice that this started anyway, I'll be participating. I know very little U2 and I have always wanted to explore more, this will give me the perfect oppotunity. I'll post after I listen to the first album.
-
I first got *interested* in U2 when I heard New Years Day on a holiday in France in around 1993 !
I didn't really start liking them "full-on" til I heard The Joshua Tree album sometime in 1997.
I've owned every album from then on.
I've heard The Unforgettable Fire but apart from maybe a few songs I didn't enjoy it as much as the later stuff. :)
-
WBCN in Boston was instrumental in helping U2. WBCN simulcast many of early live concerts U2 played in Boston. WBCN was the first American radio station to play U2 on their airwaves. U2 in many interview have talked about how grateful they were that this radio station helped them get a foothold in America.
Carter Allen was the deejay, I believe. :coolio
Also i'll be able to better participate in this thread once you get to The Joshua Tree :lol
I'm very familiar with every album from then on.
Right on. :hat
Damn I didn't notice that this started anyway, I'll be participating. I know very little U2 and I have always wanted to explore more, this will give me the perfect oppotunity. I'll post after I listen to the first album.
Good to hear! Feel free to jump in and discuss whatever whenever. :tup :tup
I've heard The Unforgettable Fire but apart from maybe a few songs I didn't enjoy it as much as the later stuff. :)
Not to get ahead of things here, but TUF is very top-heavy. The first four songs are great, and then Bad on Side 2 is fantastic (although topped by most live versions), but the rest of is pretty, well, forgettable (ironic, given the title of the album :lol :lol).
-
Sure was. Cater Allen was a tremendous DJ. Man you could tell he was a music lover.
-
It's about time Beantown was good for something besides Cheers. :biggrin:
-
And, and, and CHOWDA! :lol
Well the next album will be cool. I was a 15 year old lad that got to see U2 at the Orpheum in Boston. Saw them as well on the Unforgettable Fire Tour as well and both were a religious experience.
-
I will forever kick myself for never seeing U2 until the 360 tour. :facepalm:
But I was too young for concerts in the 80s, and by the time I started going to concerts in 1990/1991, I had moved away from U2 - that was when I got into classic rock: Floyd, Moody Blues, Rush, etc. - and while they had their moments with me over the years, like when I finally got into Achtung Baby in 1996, I wasn't a hardcore U2 fan like I was from 1987-1989 again until around 2009, I believe.
I still remember actually being downtown near the stadium in September 1992 the night U2 played there on the Zoo TV tour. My girlfriend at the time was going to SLU, but we were going through a rough time and on the verge of breaking up, so going to a concert was the last thing on my mind that night. Damn it all to hell. :lol :lol :facepalm: :facepalm:
-
I was lucky that my parents trusted me as well as my friends that were old enough to drive. I don't think I could have done that now but they knew how passionate I was about music and responsible to get home right away.
-
It's about time Beantown was good for something besides Cheers. :biggrin:
whut ;D
-
Just having some fun with kingshmegland. :lol :biggrin:
-
:lol
I'm tough. 1/2 Irish. See it fits the thread.
-
I'm 0/4 Irish which is why I hate Guinness :neverusethis:
-
Can't say I'll be a big participant in this one, but I do have to admit that of all bands that I missed seeing live back in the day, U2 would be right behind Queen. I even had a chance to see the free show they did at Justin Herman Plaza in SF and decided class was more important. Someone go back in time and beat the crap out of young me please.
-
Not as familiar with their older stuff like this, but I will listen and contribute as much as I can.
-
I'm tough. 1/2 Irish. See it fits the thread.
I'm 0/4 Irish which is why I hate Guinness :neverusethis:
I'm 62.5% Irish. :coolio :hat
Can't say I'll be a big participant in this one, but I do have to admit that of all bands that I missed seeing live back in the day, U2 would be right behind Queen. I even had a chance to see the free show they did at Justin Herman Plaza in SF and decided class was more important. Someone go back in time and beat the crap out of young me please.
Give me your address and I'm there. ;) :lol
Not as familiar with their older stuff like this, but I will listen and contribute as much as I can.
Cool. :tup :tup
-
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/2e/U2_War_album_cover.jpg)
Released in 1983, War was sort of their breakthrough, as it had multiple popular hits, and this was the time when MTV really started playing the snot out of them. The "New Year's Day" video was played a ton, and I believe it was the first U2 song I ever heard (or at least paid attention to). To this day, it remains one of my favorites. "Sunday Bloody Sunday" remains the most enduring classic from this record, although it's always better live, and "40" was a crowd favorite for many years. "Two Hearts Beat As One" was a minor hit as well, I think, and I like it, but I'll take deeper cuts like "Surrender" and "Drowning Man" any day; those are two very underrated tunes. "Seconds" is a funny little tune as well. On the flip side, "Red Light" stands out as a major swing and miss. Overall, this was a major upgrade over the first two albums. U2 was starting to become a force to be reckoned with. :coolio
-
New Years Day :tup
Probably the first U2 song I remember loving back in 1993.
I love the version on "Popmart " - even if Bono's voice isn't up to snuff on that tour.
Sunday Bloody Sunday sounds great on the Rattle And Hum video.
-
I love how they frequently change up Sunday Bloody Sunday.
The Under Blood Red Sky version was mostly like the studio version, with a slightly longer, and better, intro.
The Rattle and Hum version had it just Bono and Edge's guitar for about half the song, before they explode into rocking out.
The Popmart version was just Edge's voice and guitar.
Not many bands have the guts to constantly mix it up with a song most casual fans know (and thus will often want it as is).
-
I finished Boy and am halfway through October. I haven't listened to them in years. It was really interesting hearing that raw energy again.
This is a great band. Anyone who says otherwise hasn't actually listened to them.
-
Kev, I'll comment later today on War. I love this album.
-
This is a great band. Anyone who says otherwise hasn't actually listened to them.
:tup :tup
-
Just finished War. Holy crap. Yeah, it's mostly top heavy (except for "40", which I love), but what a top. Also, lyrically, at this point the band had no equals, from the standpoint of using art to try to impact society in a positive way. They obviously cared a lot about many causes, and it came through in their music.
Not sure if there has ever been another band that is as socially conscious as U2.
-
I was 15 years old and I drove my bicycle to the mall (7 miles away) to get War on cassette. I loved the video for "New Years Day" and had to get the album. I overplayed that cassette so much that I had to get the album and cassette. :lol A lot of what Hef said is so true in many ways. I loved their passion and you could hear and read that they put everything into their music and lyrics.
I was lucky enough to see them in concert on that tour as a 15 year old. Bono was like a cult leader. I would have climbed mountains if he told me that night. Passion is the word I always use to describe them at that time.
-
Yep. Every other band just cared about titties and beer. U2 cared for a lot more than that.
-
I knew some peeps back in the day who, for them, War was not only their pinnacle, but they considered The Joshua Tree something of a sell-out, and thus fell out of love with the band, never to reunite. There is something to be said about getting into a band from the ground floor, but it can also skew your perspective if they ever hit it big and/or change directions.
Socially conscious...that is a great way to put it, hef.
Anyone else have mad love for Surrender like I do?
-
I sure do.
I never get people that can't see a band evolve. How many fans have you heard in Rush say the same thing that they bailed after 2112 or Moving Pictures?
Bands will never sound the same over the years unless your name is AC/DC and hell! They changed as well! :lol
-
This is a great band. Anyone who says otherwise hasn't actually listened to them.
:tup :tup
Most people who hate on U2 just hate Bono's antics outside the band - which has nothing to do with the music.
They almost never say anything about the music except that Lolz Edge uSes Delay IN Every SOnG!!!11!!111.. Which is like saying that John Petrucci uses gain in every
song.. They're both a guitar "effect" so what's the difference ? Plus it's a really lazy cliche. The man can play just fine without.
-
Exactly. Besides, he pretty much popularized that effect, and Edge is proof that you don't need to be a virtuoso to be a great guitar player. Some would laugh at me calling him a great guitar player, but considering how many memorable moments he has in songs by one of the biggest bands ever, and how those songs would suffer without those moments, it's not funny at all; it's just true.
-
I knew some peeps back in the day who, for them, War was not only their pinnacle, but they considered The Joshua Tree something of a sell-out
WTF
-
I think With or Without You was seen by some as a wimpy ballad. While all previous U2 videos had been for rockers, With or Without You was the lead single, plus it was massive from the start, and I think some just viewed it as the band losing their rock edge and trying to get more popular by writing a ballad. Fools.
-
It's only one of the greatest ballads ever written. Sellouts.
-
Damn right. And hell, I wasn't that fond of it immediately, but that outro I loved from the start, and the more I saw the video (it was played non-stop on MTV), the more I grew to like the song as a whole.
-
And because it's kind of the companion piece to War...
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/8c/U2uabrs.jpg)
Oddly, Under a Blood Red Sky is the only live album U2 has ever released; every other live release since has been a VHS/DVD/Blu-ray. I generally am not a live album guy, but this is one I revisit a lot, mostly because the majority of the songs are better here than they were in the studio, "Sunday Bloody Sunday" for one; the version on this album is THE definitive version of the song, IMO. "The Electric Co." is also one that stands out as being absolutely dynamite live, and "40" was a live staple back in the day, largely for it being a sing-along song for the crowd, so it's always going to better live. "Gloria" is always a fun rocker live. Plus, we get a couple of b-sides that you won't find on any U2 studio album, "Party Girl" and "11 O'Clock Tick Tock." Damn fine live album.
-
It's a great album. Like a lot of the U2 collective, it's been a long time since I've listened to it. I will get around to it at some point this weekend.
-
Exactly. Besides, he pretty much popularized that effect, and Edge is proof that you don't need to be a virtuoso to be a great guitar player. Some would laugh at me calling him a great guitar player, but considering how many memorable moments he has in songs by one of the biggest bands ever, and how those songs would suffer without those moments, it's not funny at all; it's just true.
The Edge in the undisputed champion of textures. He revolutionized the sound that no one has equaled.
-
I was lucky enough to have parents that had money for HBO & Showtime during their early years. The Red Rocks concert was first broadcast on Showtime. I of course recorded it on my dad's new VRC that recorded in Stereo and Hi-Fi and has the first on screen programing. For the outlandish price of $900.00 in 1983! :lol
My lasting memory was of Bono with the flag our near the fans singing "No More!" for SBS. :hefdaddy
-
OMG, I remember that, VCRs being outrageously expensive. Seems like a long time ago. Oh wait, it was. :facepalm: :lol
Say what you want about Bono, but the man knows how to entertain.
-
Listening now to Under A Blood Red Sky. Such energy!
-
Hef, if Bono told me to walk into a 5 lane highway during heavy traffic, I would have. He had such command of the crowd, it was like a sermon. It was a religious experience.
-
Hef, if Bono told me to walk into a 5 lane highway during heavy traffic, I would have. He had such command of the crowd, it was like a sermon. It was a religious experience.
:metal
-
Hef, if Bono told me to walk into a 5 lane highway during heavy traffic, I would have. He had such command of the crowd, it was like a sermon. It was a religious experience.
:hat
-
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a0/The_Unforgettable_Fire.png)
U2 decided to get more atmospheric and less rocking on their next album, plus they wanted to get a bit more arty, and toward's that end, they approached Brian Eno about working with them on their next album. Eno was pretty much against the idea, but agreed to at least meet the band, bringing along his engineer Daniel Lanois. By the end of the meeting, U2 (Bono) had talked Eno into working with them and off to the studio they went to make The Unforgettable Fire. Ironically, even though they wanted to get more ambient, it was a rocker that gave the band's popularity another adrenaline shot, that song of course being "Pride (In the Name of Love)," one of several songs on the album about Martin Luther King, Jr. "Pride" is a tried and true classic in every sense of the word.
But the album's unquestioned biggest classic is "Bad," which, while really good in the studio, took on a whole new life whenever they played it live. Never was this more evident than at Live Aid in 1985 when the band (along with Queen) stole the show, largely thanks to their extended version of "Bad" that saw Bono pull a fan out of the crowd to dance with, only to disappear for several minutes amongst the crowd while the rest of the band just played along thinking this was a disaster and that it could be a career-killer. Even Bono at the time thought he had goofed big time, as "Bad" went so long that they it took up the rest of their allotted time, preventing them from playing their hit at the time, "Pride." However, the reverse happened, as fans everywhere thought it was a fantastic and iconic moment in rock history, one which was yet another adrenaline shot for the band and their surging popularity. Say what you want about Bono, but his instincts as a performer are almost always dead on. Future live versions of the song on Wide Awake in America (an EP released in 1985, featuring two live tracks and two b-sides) and the movie Rattle and Hum are just impossible to beat.
Overall, this album is a very top-heavy, IMO. Much of the back half, while interesting, isn't that notable, although they were trying out their ambient muscles, but Side 1 is loaded with great tunes. Aside from the aforementioned "Pride," the title track is an amazing track featuring a gorgeous string arrangement and an impassioned vocal effort by Bono. "Wire" is one of the more underrated songs the band has ever done; that middle section with the raging guitar effects is one of the more bad ass moments in the band's career. And the opening track, "A Sort of Homecoming," is another gem. It is also worth noting that "Disappearing Act," a song from that sessions that never the saw the light of day until the 25th anniversary edition of this came out with it featured as a bonus track, is another killer tune from this era. Had this been on the proper album, it would have been that much better as a whole, but even as is, it is still a very good record, even if, like I said earlier, it is a little top-heavy.
-
I am a huge fan of Wire and the the title track. More to come.
-
I really like the song MLK.
-
I am a huge fan of Wire and the the title track. More to come.
Bring it. :coolio
I really like the song MLK.
It's not a bad little song. Just not notable, IMO. Its placement on the album doesn't help, it being stuck at the end of a mostly unimpressive Side 2, IMO.
-
I'd like to add that - whilst The Edge ( Mr. Dave Evans ) is a great guitar player - he is also a skilled pianist and vocalist also.
I'd say his voice is almost as good as Bono's. His backups are spot on anyway.
So yeah the man is super talented.
-
Tomorrow morning Kev!
-
For me, this is the seminal album that introduced me to the legends that are U2. Naturally, "In the Name of Love" made the rounds on the local radio station ad nauseum , which unfortunately obscured the rest of this outstanding opus. "Bad" got some renewed street cred on the hit show Alias , while "Wire" and the haunting title track still resonate deep within. And I've still yet to find the lyrics online to "Elvis Presley and America," the ditty that, 30-plus years later, still mesmerizes me.
-
Tomorrow morning Kev!
:hat
I'd like to add that - whilst The Edge ( Mr. Dave Evans ) is a great guitar player - he is also a skilled pianist and vocalist also.
I'd say his voice is almost as good as Bono's. His backups are spot on anyway.
So yeah the man is super talented.
:tup :tup
I always like when Edge sings. He has a very pleasant-sounding voice, and like you said, can sing pretty well, too.
For me, this is the seminal album that introduced me to the legends that are U2. Naturally, "In the Name of Love" made the rounds on the local radio station ad nauseum , which unfortunately obscured the rest of this outstanding opus. "Bad" got some renewed street cred on the hit show Alias , while "Wire" and the haunting title track still resonate deep within. And I've still yet to find the lyrics online to "Elvis Presley and America," the ditty that, 30-plus years later, still mesmerizes me.
That's cool. It's good to see that some have an appreciation for the Side 2 obscure tunes, even if I am not much of a fan of them.
Also, I forgot to mention this in my review, but I HATE this album cover. That color (purplish-red) is just god-awful.
-
I remember the sense of something building for U2 in America. Pride was on MTV every time you turned it on and the was chatter in our high school about them. What shocked me was the average fans at school talking about U2. While I was the guy that was tooting their horn to all my friends, those who shunned them a year ago was talking about them during study hall and lunch time. I mocked them for not paying attention when I was trying to get friends into them. (The music snob in me. :lol)
So a weekend of 2 shows were coming with U2 on a Thursday and Triumph on a Saturday. (The Thunder 7 tour) I took this girl I was dating at the time. U2 was like a religious experience. I was on the lodge side of Adam Clayton and watched as Bono owned the stage like a maddened preacher, waving his bibble which was his microphone, preaching his work. I swear he mesmerized 15,000 people at this show. From all the standard like Gloria, I Fall Down, Two Hearts..., New Years Day, I Will Follow, Pride, Bad, to the album cuts I Through A Brick Through a Window, Out Of Control & Seconds.
I chanted along to every song waving my hands in the air. It was truly an emotional show. The last song was 40 live where slowly, one by one, Adam, then The Edge, then Larry left the stage until it was Bono and 15,000 singing together, "How long, to sing this song" until Bono left and we sang for 5 more minutes until the lights came on.
We left the show like a heard of blissful true believers going out to spread the work of U2. The next week at school a ton of people had their U2 concert shirts on. I was jealous. This was my band, these folks we not a fan of U2 like myself! This was the beginnings of the popularity of U2. They were no longer, "My band".
-
Was Triumph a letdown? Or just different?
-
Just as good. Obviously a rock vibe. They had lasers and a stage show that was amazing. 2 different beasts but both enjoyable!
-
I can start contributing to this thread a bit more soon......
:biggrin:
-
I can start contributing to this thread a bit more soon......
:biggrin:
:facepalm:
I remember the sense of something building for U2 in America. Pride was on MTV every time you turned it on and the was chatter in our high school about them. What shocked me was the average fans at school talking about U2. While I was the guy that was tooting their horn to all my friends, those who shunned them a year ago was talking about them during study hall and lunch time. I mocked them for not paying attention when I was trying to get friends into them. (The music snob in me. :lol)
So a weekend of 2 shows were coming with U2 on a Thursday and Triumph on a Saturday. (The Thunder 7 tour) I took this girl I was dating at the time. U2 was like a religious experience. I was on the lodge side of Adam Clayton and watched as Bono owned the stage like a maddened preacher, waving his bibble which was his microphone, preaching his work. I swear he mesmerized 15,000 people at this show. From all the standard like Gloria, I Fall Down, Two Hearts..., New Years Day, I Will Follow, Pride, Bad, to the album cuts I Through A Brick Through a Window, Out Of Control & Seconds.
I chanted along to every song waving my hands in the air. It was truly an emotional show. The last song was 40 live where slowly, one by one, Adam, then The Edge, then Larry left the stage until it was Bono and 15,000 singing together, "How long, to sing this song" until Bono left and we sang for 5 more minutes until the lights came on.
We left the show like a heard of blissful true believers going out to spread the work of U2. The next week at school a ton of people had their U2 concert shirts on. I was jealous. This was my band, these folks we not a fan of U2 like myself! This was the beginnings of the popularity of U2. They were no longer, "My band".
This is good stuff. :hat
-
:facepalm:
BECAUSE I'M MOSTLY FAMILIAR WITH JOSHUA TREE ONWARDS IF THATS OK WITH YOU
bellend
-
(https://maikwiedenbach.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/frankie-say-relax.jpg)
:biggrin:
-
Error ! Witty comeback not found ! Insert pic instead !
-
...anyway...
Listened to The Unforgettable Fire again this morning. Stunning. U2 at their height had such power. Pride remains one of my favorite songs.
I remember DT covering Bad. Wasn't bad, but wasn't U2.
-
So it was Bad but it WASN"T Bad ?
Anyway - Joshua Tree up next :)
-
Pride remains one of my favorite songs.
That remains one of those songs that no matter how many times I hear it, it always sounds great. :coolio
Anyway - Joshua Tree up next :)
I'll be curious to see if this thread gets more participants with that. Right now, it's basically 4-5 of us talking in this thread.
-
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/6b/The_Joshua_Tree.png)
When 1987 rolled around, I still only really knew a few U2 songs: "Pride," "New Year's Day" and "Sunday Bloody Sunday," plus I think I might have heard a few songs from War since my brother Tim had that on cassette and listened to it a lot. So when a song called "With or Without You" came out in the spring and instantly got played seemingly every hour on MTV, I was initially a tad turned off. It just didn't grab me for the most part, except for the outro (the last minute), which I did think was great, and slowly but surely, I grew to like the whole song. Before I knew it, a second single from the new album, "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For," was all over the place, and that was one I did like a lot at first. When the third single came out, in the form of "Where the Streets Have No Name," I was hooked. i think it wasn't long after that that I went out and bought the cassette of The Joshua Tree.
It sounds like a cliche, but you really had to be there at the time to recognize just how truly massive this album was. Even in, 1987, a year where hair metal was nearly at its popularity peak, U2 dominated, thanks to those hits and the overall greatness of the record. The record is an easy listen, and the running order couldn't be any better, and the story behind that is kind of funny. When the band was finishing up the album, they hadn't decided on a running order, but the wife of Steve Lillywhite, who was there to remix the potential hits, said she'd do it, and they let her do with it, with the only caveats being that "Streets" had to first and "Mothers of the Disappeared" had to be last. Tracks 2-10 pretty much consisted of her putting them in order of how much she liked them, her favorite being track 2, 2nd favorite being track 3, etc.
Back to "Streets," even back then, even though I loved it, I knew it had that "it could have been better" feel to it. Edge specifically wrote the song to be their ultimate live song, and in that regard, he slammed it out of the park; it is their best live tune. The band themselves have even said they really didn't play the song to its full potential for years. Tweaks over the years have only made it better and better.
During my initial stage of getting to know this record, the back-to-back of "Bullet the Blue Sky" and "Running to Stand Still" were real eye-openers for me. I listened to those songs as much as any songs that year, and the band, knowing how well they go together, have always played them back-to-back live. "Bullet" is another tune that is far better live, and it is pretty awesome in the studio, so that says a lot. It's hard to top the studio version of "Running," but I think the version on the Zoo TV tour came pretty damn close. I still listen to both versions a ton.
As for Side 2, my favorites are "One Tree Hill" and "Red Hill Mining Town," the latter of which, unbelievably, has never been played live. "In God's Country" is a fun little rocker, and "Exit" was a pretty good tune that really came to life when played live (imagine that :lol). The aforementioned "Mothers of the Disappeared" is a fine closer, ending the album on a depressing note, but really showed how well the band could do other things. "Trip Through Her Wires" is just kind of there for me, although it's fine when listening to the whole album; it's just not a song I seek out on its own.
Overall, I would call this the 2nd best album U2 has ever done. It's a true classic, in every sense of the word.
-
:hefdaddy
Finally ! It's 2am now and I need to focus on a decent reply to this one !
Shortlist :
One of the greatest albums ever. Probably still U2's greatest moment. Just so many great songs. The intro to Where The Streets Have No Name live is
just an absolute joy. The version of this on the Elevation DVD is fantastic. I still regularly rip off Exit's bass line for my own songs and it's the album that
got me firmly into the band :)
Amazing album.
** Oh and Streets live is absolutely far and away their best song. I can't imagine what it would be like to hear / see it in person. I'd be in bits.
-
I'm going to bed and not enough time to post what I'd like to say. I'll do that tomorrow when I get home
-
Anyway - Joshua Tree up next :)
I'll be curious to see if this thread gets more participants with that. Right now, it's basically 4-5 of us talking in this thread.
Honestly, I hadn't been paying attention. I am not a hardcore U2 fan by any stretch. I got onboard with War, but wouldn't really consider myself a "dedicated" fan until Joshua Tree. LOVED that album. But then my interest began to taper off. After Achtung Baby, I stopped actively following. I still like them, but am not an active fan.
"Streets" . . . Edge specifically wrote the song to be their ultimate live song, and in that regard, he slammed it out of the park; it is their best live tune.
It is a great live tune, but I would without hesitation put Bullet The Blue Sky in the "best live U2 song of all time" slot. But take that as a VERY minor disagreement, because BOTH songs are outstanding in ANY format. They are my top 2 on the album, and probably top 2 in the U2 discography.
My band added Streets to our set last year. No song gave us fits like that one. It is an absolute bear to pull off. We should add Bullet The Blue Sky this year. Do 'em back to back.
Out of curiosity, what would you say is the definitive live version of Streets?
During my initial stage of getting to know this record, the back-to-back of "Bullet the Blue Sky" and "Running to Stand Still" were real eye-openers for me.
Yup. GREAT combo.
Overall, I would call this the 2nd best album U2 has ever done. It's a true classic, in every sense of the word.
I would call it their best, easily. This makes just about any "desert island" list I would compile.
-
To me, the definitive live version of Streets is undoubtedly the one on the Zoo TV live DVD. While musically it has gotten better over the years, Bono's aging voice has made the newer versions not as great vocally, as he simply does not give the song the sheer power that it needs vocally. Many rave over the Elevation Boston version, and it is unreal musically, but he talks his way through a lot of it, and I don't like him talking over the intro either. The Zoo TV version has that amazing build-up from Running to Stand Still and the band is hitting on all cylinders during that version. I've never heard a better version of it.
-
I can see how he would struggle with it in later years. It is deceptively difficult to sing.
I will check out that version. I really should get that DVD. I wanted to years ago, and never got around to it.
EDIT: :lol I proposed BTBS to the band and just got an email back from our guitar player asking who is going to breathe into his saxophone. I responded, "Well, The Man, obviously. (presumeably, the same one peeling off those dollar bills, slappin’ ‘em down)"
-
Great, great album. I will be listening again this weekend.
Surprised me to hear that Red Hill Mining Town has never been performed live by the band. Hell, DT has played it live, so it's kind of weird that U2 hasn't.
In God's Country used to be performed by a Christian band I loved, Caedmon's Call. They actually did a pretty good rendition of it.
And the hits on this album are just amazing.
-
Caedmon's Call
great band. Just listened to 40 Acres.
-
Caedmon's Call
great band. Just listened to 40 Acres.
Boom, there you go.
I love them as a whole group. but I remain convinced that Derek Webb is a genius. And of course, he was the one behind them covering In God's Country. I'll see if I can find that lying around anywhere.
-
The Joshua Tree is my favourite album of theirs :tup
-
Caedmon's Call
great band. Just listened to 40 Acres.
there you go.
making robes from my rags
-
Finished listening. What an awesome, awesome album. I'm glad this thread is happening, giving me a reason to listen to it again. Probably one of the greatest albums of any genre to come out of the 80s.
-
Living in New England, we were lucky enough to here the songs before they album was released. WBCN were playing songs off the album daily. The first time I heard Bullet The Blue Sky I was going nuts. The Guitar sounded like bullets flying overhead. They played ever song from this album on WBCN. Did it take away from getting the album when it was released you might ask? Not at all. There was such a build up of anticipation for it, hearing the songs early did not matter. This album is a masterpiece.
The only problem for a guy like me was that now, everybody was talking about the band I promoted and was shunned. I was loosing my band to these non music people. It was wrong of me at the time but call me the music snob when I was the guy on the pedestal preaching the word of U2 when no one was listening. This also was the time of them playing football stadiums which, I HATE as a music fan. I've only been to 3 shows in my life at a stadium. U2 was blowing up.
-
I can see how he would struggle with it in later years. It is deceptively difficult to sing.
I will check out that version. I really should get that DVD. I wanted to years ago, and never got around to it.
EDIT: :lol I proposed BTBS to the band and just got an email back from our guitar player asking who is going to breathe into his saxophone. I responded, "Well, The Man, obviously. (presumeably, the same one peeling off those dollar bills, slappin’ ‘em down)"
Heh, exactly.
The chorus is what is so hard to sing just right.
We're still building
Then burning down love
burning down love
If those lines are not sung just right, then the chorus simply doesn't come off nearly as well.
Surprised me to hear that Red Hill Mining Town has never been performed live by the band.
I think they view it as a song that they didn't get quite right in the studio, and when they tried it in rehearsals back then for the live tour, they struggled to get it what they considered "right" again, and seemingly just chucked it aside for all of eternity.
The Joshua Tree is my favourite album of theirs :tup
:coolio
Finished listening. What an awesome, awesome album. I'm glad this thread is happening, giving me a reason to listen to it again. Probably one of the greatest albums of any genre to come out of the 80s.
Agreed. People love to rewrite the late 80s and early 90s and act like it was all hair metal and then grunge, but people forget that from 1987-1993, U2 were THE dominant band in music, and The Joshua Tree was a big reason why.
Living in New England, we were lucky enough to here the songs before they album was released. WBCN were playing songs off the album daily. The first time I heard Bullet The Blue Sky I was going nuts. The Guitar sounded like bullets flying overhead. They played ever song from this album on WBCN. Did it take away from getting the album when it was released you might ask? Not at all. There was such a build up of anticipation for it, hearing the songs early did not matter. This album is a masterpiece.
The only problem for a guy like me was that now, everybody was talking about the band I promoted and was shunned. I was loosing my band to these non music people. It was wrong of me at the time but call me the music snob when I was the guy on the pedestal preaching the word of U2 when no one was listening. This also was the time of them playing football stadiums which, I HATE as a music fan. I've only been to 3 shows in my life at a stadium. U2 was blowing up.
They stopped being "your band," right? ;)
-
You know how it is. You're the guy tooting U2's horn that not many listen to you. So now you think your the ambassador for everything U2. I was a jack ass. :lol A snob and now, everybody liked them. In hindsight, U2 was killing it and what band didn't want that. Just a jerky teenage thing to think. Now I'm just an ass. :lol
-
If someone had told me, when I was watching MTV back in 1981 and that band with the weird, kinda punky live video for a song called I Will Follow was going to become, in six or so years, the biggest band in the world, I'd have laughed my ass off.
Boy was I wrong.
I don't think you can understand how it was back then when this album came out, but there was this massive, very real sense that U2 had finally arrived. That for all their success, especially on MTV, the band had finally arrived as one of those ones that people would remember for the rest of their lives. The Joshua Tree was huge, and was the album that moved the band to full time arena and stadium band status. Turn on the radio and wait ten minutes, someone off of it was getting played. I didn't particularly like U2, but I could tell how big this album was and how big the band was becoming. One of the biggest albums of the 1980s, and possibly the biggest rock album of the decade, and one of the biggest ever.
-
You know how it is. You're the guy tooting U2's horn that not many listen to you. So now you think your the ambassador for everything U2. I was a jack ass. :lol A snob and now, everybody liked them. In hindsight, U2 was killing it and what band didn't want that. Just a jerky teenage thing to think. Now I'm just an ass. :lol
I know what you mean. It's like, "Where were all you clowns for years when I was telling you how great they were?!" :lol :lol
If someone had told me, when I was watching MTV back in 1981 and that band with the weird, kinda punky live video for a song called I Will Follow was going to become, in six or so years, the biggest band in the world, I'd have laughed my ass off.
Boy was I wrong.
I don't think you can understand how it was back then when this album came out, but there was this massive, very real sense that U2 had finally arrived. That for all their success, especially on MTV, the band had finally arrived as one of those ones that people would remember for the rest of their lives. The Joshua Tree was huge, and was the album that moved the band to full time arena and stadium band status. Turn on the radio and wait ten minutes, someone off of it was getting played. I didn't particularly like U2, but I could tell how big this album was and how big the band was becoming. One of the biggest albums of the 1980s, and possibly the biggest rock album of the decade, and one of the biggest ever.
So true.
Oddly enough, as huge as it was, it probably wasn't even the most successful rock album of 1987 from a singles standpoint (Hysteria had four top 10 singles, while Joshua Tree had two), but there is no doubt that the test of time has shown The Joshua Tree to be far more iconic and legendary.
-
If memory serves though, it took Hysteria about a year to blow up, so it was actually a bigger album in 1988 than 1987. 1987, to me, was three albums: Whitesnake, The Joshua Tree, and A Momentary Lapse of Reason. Though the last one might be there because I got it as my 21st birthday present and was the first album I got legally drunk to. :lol
-
Haha, that's great.
And that is true regarding Hysteria, which came out late summer 1987, but had a weak first single (Women). I think it was early '88 when the singles really took off.
-
In the US at least (the UK had a different release of singles order), Women came out first and totally bombed, Animal came out next and didn't fare that much better, and then Pour Some Sugar On Me dropped in spring of 1988 and BOOM. So it wasn't quite a year. Took 8 months. The really big singles came out in 1988, especially Love Bites, which got to #1, and that's why to me Hysteria is more a 1988 album. Though even in 1988 (getting back to U2) The Joshua Tree was still everywhere. That album had some fucking legs, let me tell you.
-
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/1a/U2r%26h.jpg)
The movie
Seeing this movie was what really catapulted them from being a band I liked to a band I loved. It's kind of an odd movie to watch even now, because it looks so old. It's not just the black and white; it just looks like it is from a long time ago. I thought that even in 1988/1989, but it wasn't to the film's detriment. For me, this film was my introduction to songs like "Bad." I actually saw this film in the theater. Twice, I think.
The album
Rattle and Hum does have a weird flow, it being a combination of live and studio songs, not to mention kicking off with a Beatles cover, but most of the new songs here are dynamite. "All I Want Is You" has long been not just my favorite U2 songs, but one of my favorites by any artist; it remains so to this day. I have always been a huge fan of "Van Diemen's Land." Edge's voice is perfect for it, and this is a song I never not sing along to. "Hawkmoon 269" and "Heartland" are two of the most underrated U2 songs ever; both are tremendous. The band did take a crack at bluesy stuff for the first time, like in "When Loves Comes to Town," which features B.B. King. Some didn't like the end result, but I like it; it's a fun, enjoyable tune. "Desire" and "Angel of Harlem" were both good, albeit not spectacular, singles.
This album was hugely popular, largely because it came so soon after The Joshua Tree; I don't think any of the singles came close to matching the popularity of the hits from TJT. But this is still a very good record. It is kind of a shame that it is kind of a mess structurally - they could have released just the new songs as a new album and it would have been fine - but flaws and all, this is the what the band was at the time. Both the film and album are a good look at a band dealing with massive success following their 1987 monster release.
-
I love the songs in the huge warehouse. Desire & Van Diemen's Land. Edge has a great voice.
My favourite parts are the interview where the band simply cannot be bothered to take it seriously :lol
Like Adam trying to string a sentence together and then pausing and going " ah fuck it, I dunno. " and Larry mimicking him.
And then the interviewer looking round like ::)
-
My first wife's best friend was totally into U2, and I had never heard much from them that interested me in the slightest. (and I had heard all the hits up to that point...WTSHNN was pleasant, but not enough to sway over my boredom of the others)
But then, knowing my heavier musical tastes, she played me this version of Bullet the Blue Sky. That is STILL my favorite U2 song, and probably the only U2 song I've heard that I genuinely LOVE.
-
I will try to listen to this again in the next day or so.
-
I will try to listen to this again in the next day or so.
Same here. It's been a long time since I listened to it.
-
I don't have this anymore and, honestly, I can't even remember the songs on it other than the singles.
-
Despite its length, I am still surprised that All I Want Is You wasn't a bigger hit here in the States. I mean, MTV playing the living snot out of the video, yet it didn't come close to even breaking the top 40 charts.
-
I felt myself there was a little over saturation when this came out. People pulled back a little until the next studio bomb came out!
-
The lack of praise for Heartland and Hawkmoon 269 disappoints me greatly. :(
-
Just finished. Wow, another great ride. For me, it was all killer, no filler. High points were Bullet the Blue Sky, Desire, and When Love Comes to Town.
-
All I Want Is You is the rock love song that is the benchmark of all rock love songs.
-
It damn well should be!
Noteworthy is that the band did the Lovetown Tour, which hit only Australia and Europe, and featured the band doing a different kind of show than they had ever done or have done since. It was like a stripped down rock and roll show, featuring some bluesy tunes, including them playing on stage with B.B. King, who was the opener on this tour. Pretty cool idea. But if anybody thought this a glimpse of where the band was going with their next album, boy, were they wrong...
-
And for me thankfully they did go another direction. But as we know with U2, they never stayed the same.
-
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/72/Achtung_Baby.png)
Enter the 1990s. With the tide changing as far as popular music went, so did U2's overall sound. The Edge had gotten really interested in beats and drum machines and the like, and wanted to incorporate that into their sound. Despite some resistance at first, he eventually won out, and U2 was suddenly doing songs like "Mysterious Ways" and "Zoo Station," which had rhythms unlike any we had previously heard in U2's music. It was a tough pill to swallow at first for Larry Mullen Jr.,, having to work his way around drum beats he wasn't necessarily responsible for, but over the course of the recording of the album, he saw the light, swallowed his pride, and did his job, all for the greater good.
Not that the recording of Achtung Baby was smooth by any means. The band really struggled with writing at first, in part because of the musical differences that had fragmented the band for a time, and also in part because the songs just weren't coming together. They had great parts, but just that: parts of songs. They struggled to write finish, completed songs, until one day, a guitar part The Edge was just randomly playing magically turned into "One" by the end of the day. Once they had that song, it was like the fuse was lit, and while not easy from that point on, the writing became more focused from that point forward, and the band eventually had enough songs to release their 7th studio album.
My journey with this album was very uneven. I had become a big fan of the band in the later 80s, but as the 90s rolled around, I was getting into classic rock and progressive rock, and when I heard "Mysterious Ways," in 1991, I thought, "What a bunch of horse shit.," U2 was already falling by the wayside for me as it was, and when the first single from the new album turned me off that badly, my interest in them simply plummeted. Eventually, I heard some of the other singles from this record here and there, but having gotten into Rush in late '91, U2 just seemed so lame and tame, pun not intended, compared to them at that point, that I simply put them away, in the "Bands I used to like" category. I doubt I voluntarily listened to a single U2 song by choice from 1992-1994. Then in 1995, the single "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me" was out and I liked it, and then in early 1996, I heard "The Fly" at a friend's house, which sort of reignited my interest in them. Knowing full well how popular Achtung Baby had been, I borrowed a copy from a friend, listened to it and was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. Sadly, while the brief surge was enjoyable as heck, that little U2 phase evaporated before long, even as I bought my own copy of the CD, and once Pop was somewhat of a disappointment, I put U2 on the backburner once again, where they would remain until 2009.
I don't know what it was, but something lit a fire under me in 2009 to start listening to this band again. And when I did, Achtung Baby stood out as their best work, by a wide distance, and I still feel that way. It is a perfect record. I even like "Mysterious Ways" now (!), although it is still my least favorite from this record. :lol I can never get enough of songs like "Until the End of the World" and "Ultraviolet (Light My Way)," and deep cuts like "Love Is Blindness," "So Cruel" and "Acrobat" are just magnificent. I don't genuflect to "One" like many do, but it is still a damn fine song. This is just one of those albums that you can turn on, listen to from start to finish, and never get bored with. It is one of the greatest, most daring, and creative rock records ever.
-
Achtung Baby is U2's Train of Thought. It took a lot of balls for a band as big as U2 to redefine their music at the height of their popularity.
Mysterious Ways is a good single. :p
-
the Mysterious Ways guitar tone combined with that riff floors me every time.
-
I am finishing up my listen right now.
I feel that the album is fairly uneven. The best songs, like One, The Fly, etc are really really good, but a lot of the rest of the album just doesn't connect with me. It's like, I am able to recognize the quality of the work that went into the album, but for whatever reason a lot of it just doesn't work for me.
I still like it a lot, but it definitely ranks below their breakthrough 80s output for me.
-
Listening to it now at work. I think the highs are extremely high and the lows are extremely low on this album. Still a great album. More to come.
-
I like this album. A lot. But at the same time, it also marks the time when my interest in U2 took a turn for the worse.
-
Funny thought it was 2 albums and both has some good songs after it but those next 2 albums were too experimental for the fans.
-
Their best album in my book. It totally blew me away when it came out. Holy crap that BASS sound!
-
Funny thought it was 2 albums and both has some good songs after it but those next 2 albums were too experimental for the fans.
I don't know if they were too experimental so much in that the songwriting was fairly inconsistent. I mean, Achtung Baby was pretty experimental at the time, yet most fans went nuts for it.
Listening to it now at work. I think the highs are extremely high and the lows are extremely low on this album. Still a great album. More to come.
Out of curiosity, which lows do you consider extremely low?
Their best album in my book. It totally blew me away when it came out. Holy crap that BASS sound!
Yep, Adam Clayton's bass sound certainly took a most aggressive turn on this record.
-
Amazing album. Choc full of great songs and the 360 Tour version of Ultraviolet is STUNNING. :hefdaddy
Also The Fly is a great live song.
I like Edge's Mysterious Ways solo on the Popmart DVD.
-
Kev. Got to get to bed. I'll go into details tomorrow. the highs way outshine the lows BTW.
-
"smacks kingshmegland*
:biggrin:
More random thoughts about this album:
-The bass line in Tryin' to Throw Your Arms Around the World is freaking awesome. It's so simple, yet so slick and smooth. That is one of the few songs I find difficult not to air bass. :lol
-The opening keyboard in Love Is Blindness still reminds me of the main flute melody in Camel's Rhayader.
-The Fly was when Bono first started using what he called his "fat lady voice" (in the chorus).
-
Kev. Got to get to bed. I'll go into details tomorrow. the highs way outshine the lows BTW.
*ahem*
Details, please? ;) :biggrin:
-
Kev. Got to get to bed. I'll go into details tomorrow. the highs way outshine the lows BTW.
*ahem*
Details, please? ;) :biggrin:
If it helps get the discussion moving in the mean time, I will provide mine: The highs are the parts just before the album begins and right after it ends. The lows are the stuff in between.
-
::)
-
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/87/U2ZooTVTour.jpg)
Following the release of Achtung Baby, U2 then embarked on one the most creative, ambitious and record-breaking stadium tours still ever seen to date. Words cannot do justice everything they had going on - from popularizing the b-stage, to Bono's on-stage alter-ego, to video screens that would show stations showing news and sports and other things from around the world in real time, this was a whole new U2 musically and visually. Them kicking off each show by playing nothing but new songs in the first 6-7 slots was pretty new as well. I still kicky myself for not seeing them on this tour, but again, I was in a whole other place musically at the time. I was even downtown the night they played at Busch Stadium in the fall of 1992 - my girlfriend had just started going to Saint Louis University. :facepalm:
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/20/Zooropa_album.jpg)
During the course of the Zoo TV, they managed to write and record enough material when on break in between legs, and Zooropa, their 8th studio album, was released mid-tour. THey managed to incorporate some of the new songs into the set list on the remainder of the tour, although the shelf life of most of them live was pretty short after Zoo TV. The album is a mixed bag of ideas, and while I like it, I can see why it was a disappointment for many. It had a great debut on the charts, mainly thanks to the success of the previous records, but fell way short of overall sales when compared to its predecessors. The first single, "Numb," being a total flop sure did not help. I appreciate the idea behind "Numb" and find the video quite entertaining, but the song just lacks that little something that could have made it great. The clear standouts here are the title track, "Lemon" and "Stay (Faraway, So Close)," the first two of which in the studio sound a bit unfinished; later live versions of both would destroy those studio versions. "Dirty Day" is also a nice tune, and there is a uniqueness about "Daddy's Gonna Pay for Your Crashed Car" that makes it an interesting listen. The rest is pretty forgettable, even "The Wanderer," which features Johnny Cash on lead vocals.
(https://media.u2.com/non_secure/images/20090218/discography/cover_zoo/600.jpg)
From the Zoo TV Tour, came Zoo TV: Live from Sydney, which is hands down, to me, one of the best live DVDs ever released by a rock band. It is a spectacular performance by a band clicking on all cylinders. The back-to-back renditions of "Running to Stand Still" and "Where the Streets Have No Name" are jaw-dropping, and Bono playing the MacPhisto alter-ego during the encore as he slays songs like "Lemon" and Elvis Presley's "Can't Help Falling in Love with You" is just so fascinating to watch. This is U2 at their peak.
-
At this time, I wasn't huge into U2, although I liked them a lot, and I didn't go to many concerts at all. I remember seeing footage from this tour, and thinking how incredible it looked.
I remember not being very impressed with Zooropa, but I will give it another listen.
I never saw that live recording, so I can't comment on it.
-
Stay is gold. Numb is good for what it is.
-
I'm still thrilled that at the one U2 concert I have been to, they played Zooropa. That was totally bad ass live, especially with the way the entire 360 stage came down and surrounded the band. That song was made for that kind of spectacular light show. :coolio
-
Ok so I finally started listening to the U2 Discography.
Boy - This is a pretty good album, much better than I expected. The only song that really didn't do it for me was "I will follow". The songs are really written and catchy. I'm planning on giving this album another spin tomorrow.
I'm currently listening to October and I'm loving it. I just finished listening to "Fire" and I can't wait to hear the rest. I'll post more once I finish with October.
-
Yeah!!
I was hoping this thread would result in some new fans, instead of just us pre-existing fans discussing them. This thread seems like it's dying already anyway, so even one new fan could get it going again. :tup :tup
-
Well I hope you finish it.
I finished October and I loved it. I liked it a lot more than Boy. "Tomorrow is such a great song. My thoughts on the first couple albums is that I either love the songs or I think they are meh. So far I can't think of anything that is terrible. I would listen to War tonight but I can't really give it that much attention.
-
btw Kev, I hope you finish this Discog discussion.
-
The discussion for POP will be interesting :p
Could have been great. Front loaded. Some great songs.
Undercooked overall.
Amazing tour DVD.
Better versions available on 1990 -2000 best of. :)
Writing on phone so can't go too in depth. :)
-
Sorry! Haven't had the time to respond. Zooropa was the first album that disappointed me with U2. While Lemon and Stay were fantastic songs, Numb was that bad. My favorite song on the album though was the title track and the rest of the album was fair to poor. Not many songs caught my attention unlike the tour which what bombastic and very entertaining. Over the top and I liked it.
-
I'm about halfway through my re-listen of Zooropa. The opening track was interesting, but after that, the best thing so far is Numb.
It's not that it's bad, it's just so different that it's a little shocking to me.
-
I finished October and I loved it. I liked it a lot more than Boy. "Tomorrow is such a great song. My thoughts on the first couple albums is that I either love the songs or I think they are meh. So far I can't think of anything that is terrible. I would listen to War tonight but I can't really give it that much attention.
I agree with that. :coolio
btw Kev, I hope you finish this Discog discussion.
I will. I was considering just spitting out some real quick reviews of the remaining albums in a quick fashion to get it over with, since actual discussion was lagging, but if we can get some good discussions going here, I will do it at the normal pace.
The discussion for POP will be interesting :p
Let's hope so. :biggrin:
Zooropa was the first album that disappointed me with U2. While Lemon and Stay were fantastic songs, Numb was that bad. My favorite song on the album though was the title track and the rest of the album was fair to poor.
Hard to disagree. Songs like Bayface and Some Days Are Better Than Others are totally forgettable. And a song like The First Time isn't bad, but it's just kind of there; they have a million other slower songs that are better.
I'm about halfway through my re-listen of Zooropa. The opening track was interesting, but after that, the best thing so far is Numb.
It's not that it's bad, it's just so different that it's a little shocking to me.
Yeah. While it has stylistic similarities to Achtung Baby, it is still different enough to generate a WTF response to it. :lol
-
Finished my listen.
I enjoyed it, it's a good album, but for me, it's so different from their earlier stuff that it's hard to associate it with U2 and accurately quantize it.
It's weird, man.
-
Speaking of weird...
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/96/U2-Pop-cover.png)
With my interest slightly reignited in the mid 90s thanks to finally getting into AB and then the fantastic "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me" single from Batman Forever, I bought Pop shortly after it came out, once I heard "Staring at the Sun," which I thought was great and still do. I even overlooked "Discothèque" being a dog shit of a lead single. Sadly, the rest of the album did not measure up to "Staring at the Sun." I've always liked the lead guitar melody in "Do You Feel Loved," but it still sounds like they were just a tad off it making it great. I do like "Mofo" quite a bit, although the shorter live version was better, and "Gone," "Wake Up Dead Man," "Last Night on Earth" and "Please" are all good. The rest is mostly a miss, however. It sounds like an album that was rushed, which is because, well, it was. The band already their tour dates set for the PopMart tour, and ran out of time to finish the album, so they just released it as is, and it is something they have regretted since. Overall, I will say that I like the album, but it's a bit disheartening when you hear how much unrealized potential is in a lot of those songs. That aside, there is a bit of charm in it that you won't find in any other U2 album.
-
Pop to me is a very misunderstood album. It was the first U2 album I was able to buy with my own money. :lol
-
If I remember Kev, they were rushed to finish the album because the tour was all set. They feel that this album was unfinished. I agree with everything in your write up. I too absolutely love Staring At The Sun.
-
There are more finished versions on the 1990-2000 best of package.
I like pretty much the first half. After that it's a bit meh overall.
Also it's mostly drum loops since Larry hurt his back and was absent for most of it.
A lot of the songs were much better live and the Popmart DVD is a spectacle.
I think it still sold over 5 million copies though which is good for such a weak album.
A much better album was to come IMO...
-
I'll give this a listen sometime this weekend, but if memory serves, I wasn't impressed with this one on release.
-
Listening to this today, there really is so much untapped potential in many of these songs. Like I said before, there is a certain charm about this album that does make it likable.
Kotowboy, I disagree that a much better album was coming. Not to jump ahead here, but while All That You Can't Leave Behind is good, it sounds very safe and vanilla at times, almost in the sense of "Hey, let's write songs in the classic U2 vein again." While having its clear flaws, Pop does manage to show that the band was still full of creativity; they simply ran out of time in the studio to piece it all together perfectly.
-
I disagree with you Kev and I'll explain when we get to that album.
-
Sure you will. I'm still waiting on those high and lows from Achtung Baby... :biggrin: :lol
-
I liked their image during the POP cycle.
For whatever reason U2 can pull off that stuff without looking completely stupid.
If any other band wore those outfits and had that Popmart tour - they'd be laughed out of town.
I'd have LOVED to have seen Popmart at Wembley Stadium.
Just jumping ahead slightly - the first time I heard "Beautiful Day" my reaction was " oh it's about time ".
-
Sure you will. I'm still waiting on those high and lows from Achtung Baby... :biggrin: :lol
Oh crap! Vi forgot! Lol. The non hits were just average songs to me. Nothing mind blowing but the single were incredibly good. Still a great album.
-
Just started my re-listen.
-
Just jumping ahead slightly - the first time I heard "Beautiful Day" my reaction was " oh it's about time ".
I remember many having a similar reaction when the "Sweetest Thing" single came out in 1998. That was kind of a return to the pre-electronics U2 sound. Very simple, with just vocal, guitar, bass, piano and drums (and a string accompaniment at times). Sure, it was a reworking of a song from the JT sessions, but I think the timing of that release was U2 saying that they knew what sound their fans wanted them to go back to.
-
The electronica was fine. The song structures were not and the hooks were less. That's what they went back to on the next album.
-
Perhaps. ;)
Also, this is my favorite version of Mofo (it's a shortened version of the Phunk Force remix):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugTCo8WN__4
That song was integral for me getting into their 90s stuff again back in '09.
-
Just started my re-listen.
I finished. Not my favorite album. Kind of like Zooropa.
-
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5b/U2-all-that-you-cant-leave-behind.jpg)
The band's 10th studio album, All That You Can't Leave Behind, has long been considered a return to form following the disappointments that were Zooropa and Pop, neither of which had any long-lasting, wide-appeal classics. When you think of the many songs that are considered must-plays at most U2 concerts, those albums have none; ATCLB has three: "Beautiful Day," "Walk On" and "Elevation." I like "Beautiful Day," but it's become one of those good songs I never feel like listening to. I get why it was and is still so popular, regardless. "Walk On" is the best of the bunch. I used to hate "Stuck in a Moment That You Can't Get Out Of," but I've come around to liking it quite a bit. For my money, the best two of the best songs from this record are "Kite" and "When I Look at the World." The rest of the album is pretty forgettable. I used to kind of like "New York," but it's just kind of there for me now.
Getting back to the album as a whole, it's clear the band was trying to recapture their classic sound, and while some of the 90s elements are still very present, I'd say they were pretty successful in that regard. Bono at the time remarked that they were "reapplying for the job of the best band in the world," which is a pretty arrogant thing to say, but, well, it's Bono. :lol :lol The success of this album was kind of a double-edged sword, as it was nice to see the band doing well again, but I think the success here is what resulted in them thinking, "Hey, let's write some hits," on later albums, instead of just writing and letting the chips fall where they may. And later jumping into bed with both Apple and Live Nation are two of the more disappointing things they've ever done, neither of which possibly happens without the resurgence generated by the popularity of this album. Those acts have made them less appealing as both rock musicians and people, although their bottom line ($$$) has obviously won out big time, so what do I know?
-
I think you're off on this one Kev. After the last 2 albums they needed to get back to basics and write songs that their fan base could relate to and that started with hooks. While they lost that punk edge to them (and that comes with age) they got back to writing songs people could relate to and could sing to.
I personally felt they lost a bit of melody with them experimenting. Yes they still had tunes that we still liked but as a whole album something was missing on Zooropa and Pop. The stripped the sound down, concentrated on melody and hooks and they got their mojo back.
-
I agree with you for the most part, but I guess I look at this album as them playing it safe, almost like it was their reaction to the fans' reaction to the last two albums, and I would have liked to have seen where they would have gone next after Pop had they continued on that route, especially since they admit that Pop was rushed, but instead of staying on that path and doing it right the next time, they went the safe route. Don't get me wrong, I like the album, and five songs from it are on my U2 mp3 CD in my car, but I just wonder what could have been...
-
A agree but I think they needed to play it safe. Look at every time they go experimental. We'll adress this again with "No Line"
-
Well, I know you aren't as big on it as most are, but they went experimental on Achtung Baby, and that was an overwhelming success.
Granted, you can't expect every experimental try to be that kind of success, but it seems like Zooropa was a "let's write and release an album in the middle of a tour" effort, and Pop was rushed for the aforementioned reasons, so they never really took the time to write another album in that vein. That is all I am saying.
-
No, I liked that album a lot. For a bands success, you can do it like Achtung baby and get it right because in the end, it's the songwriting and the melody that outshines the experimental. but when the experimental outshines the melody when you are a popular band, it hurts. Now at the time 5 million sales compared to 10 million sales seems weird to say but U2 hit another level that only a few do.
-
Personally for me as a casual fan, this was the album that made me say "Oh, good, U2 finally remembered how to be U2 again." To me, there's a difference between playing it safe and "doing what you do best." Sometimes experimentation is great, but it helps if you're experimenting in ways that you're actually good at. I never thought U2 was particularly good at being an electronic band, but they're awesome at being a straight up rock band. I think part of the problem was that they got away with it on Achtung Baby and figured the public would eat up anything they tried for a while. (And they did, since selling five million back then was pretty damned impressive.) I just think they're better working in their comfort zone myself.
-
All That You Can't Leave Behind was pretty much my soundtrack to 2000 along with :
• Standing on the shoulder of giants.
• Stories from the city. Stories from the sea.
Great album. But the next album was disappointing for me.
-
I remember hearing Beautiful Day in 2000 and thinking it sounded like a return to form, but while I liked it, I was so awash in Scenes from Memory and getting into Transatlantic, The Flower Kings and Spock's Beard, that it was barely a blip on my radar. I was in full prog snob mode at that point :lol, and Beautiful Day was not that great as to pull me out of it. It probably didn't help that none of my friends at the time listened to them, so there was no one in my ear telling me to listen to this album. Hell, most friends I have still don't really listen to them.
-
I think it was waaaaaay overplayed. Every time they we're on a talk show, SNL, MTV awards, ECT... they played that song. That's what made me not like it anymore. :lol
-
Alright so I was gone for the weekend I didn't really listen to much but I did check out War and the albums just keep getting better. I'm really surprised by how much I actually like U2. This album just flows perfectly and IMO there isn't really any misses, plus it has my favorite U2 song to date "40".
-
All That You Can't Leave Behind is U2 being back, baby! What a glorious return to everything I liked about them in the first place!
-
Just finished The Unforgettable Fire and really I wasn't a fan. Aside from Bad and Pride everything else was just ok. The sound also had this polished 80's feel that I wasn't digging. I'm starting to realize I'm not a fan of Brian Eno.
-
I love some of the songs on TUF, but I agree that the production is a bit lacking at times. It's kind of muddy, which was a stark contrast to War. I think Eno had to get used to U2, and vice versa.
-
it's too unballanced, but the good tracks (titletrack, Pride, A sort of homecoming, Bad) are so increddibly good it's ridiculous. On topic: All that you can't leave behind was good, but they dropped in quality again on the next release, unfortunately....
-
Just finished The Unforgettable Fire and really I wasn't a fan. Aside from Bad and Pride everything else was just ok. The sound also had this polished 80's feel that I wasn't digging. I'm starting to realize I'm not a fan of Brian Eno.
I hate all his 2000s albums with the band. Eno notoriously hates distorted guitar yet he produces U2 who
are a rock band. All his albums sound horribly compressed and castrated.
Whenever there's a dirty guitar part it's nearly always panned to one side and mixed low when it should
be upfront and double tracked.
Songs of innocence might be their first album where they sound like an actual rock band.
-
Elevation from Boston is a great DVD though. Some fantastic versions of songs. Such as Bullet The Blue Sky, Beautiful Day, The Fly and Streets.
.... Jumping ahead slightly - Vertigo. A great song and a pretty weak album IMO. Miracle Drug is With or Without You part 2. But Sometimes you can't make it is brilliant.
Their 2000 albums all had one really dull song on imo.
Leave Behind : Grace.
Atomic Bomb : One Step Closer
Horizon : White As Snow.
-
Just got through The Joshua Tree and it was incredible, every song on the album was great. They seemed to really hit their stride.
-
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/99/U2_-_How_to_Dismantle_an_Atomic_Bomb_%28Album_Cover%29.png)
Following their popularity resurgence following the success of All That You Can't Leave Behind and the Evelation tour, which was aided by "Walk On" being an iconic song following 9-11, as well them playing the halftime Super Bowl show in early 2002, U2 accepted a deal with Apple that put them in the homes of everyone who owned a television. "Vertigo," the lead single and first track from their 11th studio album, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, was played non-stop for months on an Apple commercial promoting their new iPod. The single was impossible to avoid, and being that I was still "off" of U2 at the time, it sure didn't make me want to get back into them. It's not a bad song, but it's not particularly great either, although it was fun enough live when I saw them on the 360 tour. But, to this day, I still think this song is the reason many younger people do not care for U2. "Vertigo" was likely their intro to U2, and I am sure many thought, "This is the band that is supposed to be so great?"
However, this album as a whole is very enjoyable. There really aren't any duds on here, although "One Step Closer" and "A Man and a Woman" are both just kinda there. On the flip side, "City of Blinding Lights" is never not f'ing awesome; that is their modern day anthemic signature tune, and like some of their other classics, is always better live, mostly because Edge's lead slide guitar shines more live than it did in the studio. "Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own" and "Crumbs from Your Table" are other favorites of mine. "Miracle Drug," "Yahweh" and "Original of the Species" are all good, enjoyable tunes. Overall, I can't say this is one of their best albums, but I like it more than its predecessor. It has a nice cohesive feel to it.
-
I can't say enough about "City Of Blinding Lights". "Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own" is pure emotion of Bono talking to his father as he was in his last days and you can hear it in the music and his voice. Just astonishing.
-
Damn right. I remember being shocked that it wasn't played on the 360 tour. That song was way too awesome to be a one tour-and-done song. Sure, it might come back on a later tour, maybe even this year's, but to be dropped so quickly, I was really surprised.
-
Maybe too emotional to play for Bono like Rush With "Afterimage".
-
City of Blinding Lights is too amazing for this album.
-
I frickin LOVED "Vertigo" when it came out. :metal
I was actually a bit disappointed with this album. Especially since they claimed it was going to be a "rock" album.
It was quite downbeat for the most part. I wanted more songs as upbeat, riffy and rockin as Vertigo.
The version of " Sometimes You Can't Make it " from their HQ which is on one of the singles for the album - is absolutely
incredible. Go find it.
Other than that I thought Miracle Drug was just With Or Without You part 2 and there were too many downbeat songs.
One Step Closer especially. As I mentioned above - it's like Grace from the previous album and White As Snow from the following
album. Just really bland songs. IMO - Songs Of Innocence doesn't have one of these.
Mind you - this tour had a decent DVD. Not quite as good as the Boston one though.
Finally. This album came out at a really low point in my life so listening to it 11 years later still transports me back so
I have trouble listening to it...
-
We're now in the realm of U2 albums I never listened to.
I'll try to catch it this weekend.
-
Maybe too emotional to play for Bono like Rush With "Afterimage".
I've thought of that, but Bono strikes me as someone who would suck it up and let the emotions pout out of him when singing it live. Hard to say.
City of Blinding Lights is too amazing for this album.
It really is an amazing tune. :hefdaddy :hefdaddy
I frickin LOVED "Vertigo" when it came out. :metal
I was actually a bit disappointed with this album. Especially since they claimed it was going to be a "rock" album.
It was quite downbeat for the most part. I wanted more songs as upbeat, riffy and rockin as Vertigo.
The version of " Sometimes You Can't Make it " from their HQ which is on one of the singles for the album - is absolutely
incredible. Go find it.
Other than that I thought Miracle Drug was just With Or Without You part 2 and there were too many downbeat songs.
One Step Closer especially. As I mentioned above - it's like Grace from the previous album and White As Snow from the following
album. Just really bland songs. IMO - Songs Of Innocence doesn't have one of these.
Mind you - this tour had a decent DVD. Not quite as good as the Boston one though.
Finally. This album came out at a really low point in my life so listening to it 11 years later still transports me back so
I have trouble listening to it...
How is this not a rock record? Your definition of a rock record must differ from mine. :lol
Miracle Drug doesn't sound a thing like With or Without You, IMO. ???
But I can understand not wanting to revisit an album that reminds you of a bad time in your life.
We're now in the realm of U2 albums I never listened to.
I'll try to catch it this weekend.
Beware: the beginning of All Because of You has one of those annoying "here, let's start the song with two seconds of a piercing guitar sound just for shits and grins" intros.
-
I guess I wanted the album to be a bit more meaty in the guitar department. More like Vertigo.
With every album I hope that Mr The Edge will go "Feck it!" And lay down a blistering solo like Bullet The
Blue Sky live versions. But he never does.
I'd say HTDAAB is even more ballady than ATYCLB. The second half is just boring.
But NLOTH is even worse !
-
Oh I forgot to mention ..
The bonus songs from both Leave Behind & Atomic Bomb are the best songs on their respective albums.
• The Ground Beneath Her Feet.
• Fast Cars.
-
Just finished listening to Rattle & Hum earlier today and man o man there were some clunkers on there. I would be happy if I never here "Desire" and "Angel of Harlem". That said the highs on this album rank up with the best I've heard from U2.
-
Oh I forgot to mention ..
The bonus songs from both Leave Behind & Atomic Bomb are the best songs on their respective albums.
• The Ground Beneath Her Feet.
• Fast Cars.
I love that song.
-
With every album I hope that Mr The Edge will go "Feck it!" And lay down a blistering solo like Bullet The
Blue Sky live versions. But he never does.
Not to jump too far ahead here, but they really should be kicked in the faces for the end of The Troubles from the new album. The end sounds like Edge is going to bust into a killer solo, and then the song inexplicably just fades out. Major WTF there. I am not a hater of fadeouts like some are, and that is still a damn good song, but that was a really stupid decision.
Just finished listening to Rattle & Hum earlier today and man o man there were some clunkers on there. I would be happy if I never here "Desire" and "Angel of Harlem". That said the highs on this album rank up with the best I've heard from U2.
I still like those songs, because they were the new singles right after I got into the band big time in 1987/1988, but I can see why someone hearing them for the first time now would think they are afterthoughts.
All I Want Is You and Hawkmoon 269 are both two of their best, though. :tup :tup
-
I forgot to mention that Bullet The Blue Sky Live is godly.
-
Listened this morning.
Wow, this is really good. It's a shame I've waited this long to listen!
-
Listened this morning.
Wow, this is really good. It's a shame I've waited this long to listen!
This is my favorite of the newer albums.
-
Bullet is fantastic on Rattle and Hum, but the version of Pride is the definitive one, in my opinion.
-
I think Songs of Innocence is their best album of the 2000s.
It's easily their best album of the 2010s :neverusethis:
-
Pride and Bullet are both totally awesome on R&H.
I think How to Dismantle... is the best of the three albums from the 00s. I might think the next one to be covered was better if it wasn't completely squashed and compressed to living hell.
-
U2's 21st century albums for me :
1. Songs of innocence.
2. All That You Can't Leave Behind.
3. How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb.
4. No Line On The Horizon.
-
While I like all of the albums from this century, I think it's obvious that they try to write hits now, rather just writing and letting the chips fall where they may. Vertigo, Get On Your Boots and The Miracle all sound like songs they intentionally wrote to be hits. That is one thing that bugs me about them now; they put too much stock into having hits. In the U2 by U2 book, Bono bemoans the fact that One never went to number 1, and I think it was him or Edge who talked about how All I Want Is You was a great song, but they never made it a great single. :facepalm: Who gives a rat's ass? They are undoubtedly one of the most popular rock bands ever, and they are still worried about the nonsense that is the pop charts? It almost boggles the mind. Especially since the industry is so different now. Hell, had it been released in the late 80s, Magnificent would have been a monster hit, but in 2009, it totally flopped when released as a single. And because of that, it was dropped at a lot of shows late on the 360 tour, when there is no way that would have happened had it been successful as a single.
-
Yes. Magnificent was easily the best song on the album too.
I don't care if they try to write hits. At least it means they're trying to write a good song.
If concentrating on writing good songs helps them stay relevant - then good for them.
Metallica have tried to stay relevant by doing everything BUT writing good music.
U2 take their time as well but there's usually one or two really great songs on each album.
And U2 are way better live !!
-
Just got through Achtung Baby and what a snoozefest, it felt like a chore to listen and the only real highlight for me was "One" and "Acrobat"
-
Achtung's a grower, really. You should give it a chance.
-
Maybe in the future but at the moment I have zero desire to listen to it.
-
We now come to 2009, when U2 was still a band I used to love, but didn't have a lot of interest in anymore. I don't remember exactly when, but they did a week's worth of performances on the Letterman show, and even though I don't watch him anymore, I somehow found myself checking that out, and my interest in the band was suddenly there again. It sure wasn't because of that atrocity known as "Get On Your Boots." IIRC, I think hearing "Magnificent," which sounds like classic U2, was what made me pause and want to listen to them again. Before I knew it, I was listening to their old stuff again and buying the new album, No Line on the Horizon.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/53/NoLineU2Promo.jpg)
I was pretty wild about this album at first, despite the fact that it is squashed to death. It is unreal how badly compressed this record is. The verses of "I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight" sound like the mastering is trying really hard to push down and compress the living shit out of it; it ruins the sound of most of the album. But, at first, I liked it a lot. I still love "Magnificent," and "Fez/Being Born" is one of the more underrated deep cuts. Despite the rather silly lyrics, "Unknown Caller" is too much of a melodic pleasure to not enjoy the hell out of. "Moment of Surrender" is really good, but I fear we will never get that one perfect version of it, mostly because the studio version suffers because of the sound, and Bono is too shout-y during the verses of the live versions. A lot of U2 fans are very fond of "Breathe," but while I think it's pretty good, I never have the urge to listen to it. The title track is a mess; there was a good song in there somewhere, but they never really found it. "Cedars of Lebanon" actually isn't bad at all, but it gets lost at the end, especially since they have far better slower songs. "White As Snow" is a snooze fest, and "Get On Your Boots" and "Stand Up Comedy" are both embarrassingly bad. The live dance version they did of "...Crazy..." live is far better than the mess in the studio.
Overall, this is not a bad album, but it's not that great either. The sound of it makes it hard to really judge, but there is some really good music on here. And being that it did help get me back into the band, I will give it a slight nostalgic bump.
-
I never like GOYB but I really loved this album for some reason. I know it got bad press but I still play this album a lot.
-
I still think it's funny that for as much as U2 abandoned almost all of the material from this album over the course of the 360 tour, Get On Your Boots somehow survived all five legs. It's like they were determined to make funs love it. Sorry guys, it sucks no matter how many times you play it. :lol :lol
-
Currently sitting on a coach travelling cross country so will do a proper write up when I have time.
Bullet points :
• too compressed as mentioned.
• too many cooks. Eno & Lanois effectively joined the band for this album.
• not enough great material.
• although magnificent is the best of very few good songs.
• I don't hate get on your boots but it's not a great lead single for sure.
I'm glad they took 5+ years to release the album after this.
-
Ok i'm finally home and the internet works !
I can't really think of much else to say about this album that hasn't been covered above. I enjoyed it initially then I pretty soon got tired of it.
I couldn't see the fuss about "Breathe" which some people were calling one of their best songs ever. . .
To me the top 3 songs were No Line On The Horizon, Magnificent & Fez, Being Born.
Everything else just didn't have the tunes. It was like they did Pop again and released an album that wasn't finished.
White As Snow is *so* dull. I don't know how songs like that make it onto an album. Especially since the band notoriously hack away at songs forever.
The 360 tour was pretty damn cool though. Really surprised that with an under-performing album and the previous stadium tour underselling ( Popmart ) -
that they decided to give the massive scale stadium show another try . It went on to be the most successful tour ever ! Madness !
The 360 DVD was a slight letdown though - since they had that amazing stage show and most of the camera shots are close ups of the band.
Ultraviolet from that DVD though ! :omg: :heart :heart :heart
-
As much as I love the studio original, that 360 version of Ultraviolet is now my go-to version of that song. That's live U2 for ya!
I do wish they had waited, though, until the end of the entire tour to release a live DVD, that way they could have released the Rose Bowl show and then added a bunch of extras, featuring songs that got played on later legs like Zooropa, Hold Me..., the reworked Even Better Than the Real Thing, etc. Oh well, getting those live versions of Ultraviolet, The Unforgettable Fire, I'll Go Crazy... (the dance mix) and City of Blinding Lights make it well worth it.
-
Elevation is still my favourite U2 DVD from this century.
-
I tried to love this album when it came out, I really did. But for a couple of great songs the impression that remains is...alas, no impression at all.
Jury's still out on Songs of Innocence, though.
-
:o What's not to love about Songs Of Innocence ?
In my view it's easily the best of the last 4. It has great songs. they sound like a rock band again, it's not compressed to fuck, there's no "White as Snow"
or "One Step Closer" on it. I listened to it in full the other day on my walk and if anything I like it even MORE now.
We should maybe pick our favourite 3 songs from each of the 2000's albums to make one 12 track album.
i'll do mine later :D
Draft :
1. Beautiful Day
2. Walk On
3. New York
4. Vertigo
5. Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own
6. City Of Blinding Lights
7. No Line On The Horizon
8. Magnificent
9. Fez, Being Born.
10. The Miracle
11. Every Breaking Wave
12. A Song For Someone.
-
Listening to "No Line" right now and again I really like this album.
-
I listened to about half of it this morning. Pretty good, pretty consistent, but not stellar.
-
I'll be curious to see if any songs from No Line make it on this year's tour.
I have to think that they know by now that Get On Your Boots was a major failure and will chuck it.
Moment of Surrender was the closer on nearly every show on the 360 tour (I think there were one or two exceptions), but I can't imagine it anywhere else in the set, and they won't close with it again.
I could see Magnificent surviving, but even that wasn't get played much on the last leg of the 360 tour.
I don't see them playing anything else from it.
-
I listened to about half of it this morning. Pretty good, pretty consistent, but not stellar.
I finished it this morning.
I prefer the first half of the album.
But I like Cedars of Lebanon.
-
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/7f/U2_Songs_of_Innocence_Physical_Cover.jpg)
We now move to 2014 and U2's most recent studio album, Songs of Innocence. Released on September 9th, U2 did a ground-breaking thing, by releasing it for free to all iTunes users. This was a great thing the band did, despite what some crybabies said about it- "Wahhh, I don't want a U2 album on my playlist!!" "Then delete it, dumbass." Sadly, some of the backlash was loud enough to where the album was then panned for the way it was released, instead of being judged on merit, which is kind of a shame since it is a really good album; their best and most consistent since Achtung Baby. Every song on this album is good, and many of them range from really good to great, including standouts like "Iris (Hold Me Close)," "The Troubles," "Song for Someone" and "Every Breaking Wave." I am very fond of "Sleep Like a Baby Tonight" and "This Is Where You Can Reach Me Now" as well. "The Miracle" kind of got the "Vertigo" treatment - featured ad nauseam in an Apple commercial - but while not one of the better songs here, it's still enjoyable enough, and definitely better than "Vertigo."
One really nice thing about this album is the sound of it; it actually breathes! Dismantle had compression issues at times, and then Horizon was suffocated to the point of nearly choking by the mastering, but Songs of Innocence has a very nice, open sound. Considering how "airy" U2's music often is, the mastering and production of their albums should enhance that, not hinder it. They accomplished that on this record.
Overall, the songwriting is just darn good on this record. There is a nice hook in nearly every song, Edge's busts out many classic guitar leads, and Adam Clayton gives us one of his most bad ass bass lines ever ("Volcano"). I kind of go back and forth on how good I think "Volcano" is - I am sometimes not sure how effective I think the chorus is - but that bass line sucks me in right away every time. "California (There is no End to Love)" seems to have gotten a lot of non-love from fans, but I like it a lot. The melody is rather un-U2ish, but that is why I like it; it's them giving us something a little different, while maintaining the catchiness that is found on the entire album.
Basically, this is an album you can turn on and enjoy from start to finish, without ever having to skip over anything. I can't say anything on here is one of their best songs ever, although who knows how some of them might blossom when played live as often happens with U2, but I will say that most bands that get to a 13th studio album, do not make one this good, especially after close to 3 1/2 decades together. U2 is still a very relevant band here in 2015. Bring on the Innocence + Experience Tour!!! :coolio :hat
-
Will reply in full later. Amazing album. But I think that Song For Someone IS one of their best songs ever.
-
I haven't played this as much as the others. I need to remedy this. I like it but haven't given it enough spins.
-
This album is immediately better than No Line On The Horizon. Just from hearing the guitars on "The Miracle" ( great song too ).
And the quality barely dips. Best of all is no Eno or Lanois to be seen anywhere!!
A Song For Someone is one of their best songs this century and Every Breaking Wave is pretty ace too.
I'd rank this #1 for their last 4 albums if only for the fact that there's nothing as outright tedious as "White As Snow" or "Grace".
And as mentioned above - if you found the album on your iDevice unexpectedly - just delete it and move on.
Morons online likened it to "filling my fridge with turds".
No. It's more like someone bought a different brand of milk than you're used to and put it in your fridge by mistake instead of their fridge and you can just put it back.
-
If they continue their long-standing tradition of the last encore being a new song, I think Song for Someone is the natural pick. Some would say The Troubles, but with the prominent female vocal, I'm not sure how they'll do that live. I know U2 isn't opposed to a backing track, but to use a backing track for a lead vocal that significant would be a whole new thing.
-
I can imagine Edge doing the high vocal. He's got quite a high voice.
-
Perhaps. If they play that live, hopefully Edge extends that guitar solo at the end; it cutting off the way it does on the CD is a little aggravating.
-
So that's the last album ! No more U2 to discuss unless you want to mention Passengers. But apart from Miss Sarajevo - i've never (knowingly) heard any of it.
-
Miss Sarajevo is great, but I don't know anything else from it, and based on what I've read about it, I have no urge to listen to it.
But there are a number of non-album tracks that really didn't get their due in this thread due to not being on a proper studio album:
Miss Sarajevo
The Sweetest Thing
The Crystal Ballroom
Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me
Invisible
Ordinary Love
Luminous Times
The Hands That Build America
etc.
-
Miss Sarajevo is great, but I don't know anything else from it, and based on what I've read about it, I have no urge to listen to it.
But there are a number of non-album tracks that really didn't get their due in this thread due to not being on a proper studio album:
Miss Sarajevo
The Sweetest Thing
Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me
Invisible
Ordinary Love
The Hands That Build America
Love all of those - especially the 2 Songs Of Innocence era songs. Also I should mention Electrical Storm. Not a bad non-album single. Sounds a wee bit like
Ordinary Love. Maybe they re-worked it ?
-
Yeah, I like Electrical Storm a lot, too. Forgot to add that one.
-
I have all of those as a fake CD on ny I-pod. It's like an extra album.
-
Well, I think this thread is about over, uneventfully, but I'd like to thank the few of you who participated on a regular basis, as well as those who chimed in here and there. It was fun talking about this band again. :coolio
-
Did you hear Russia are suing Apple because the cover of Songs Of Innocence "promotes homosexuality" :rollin
-
I thought Songs of Innocence was a really good record, much more consistent than some of their other modern efforts.
-
It definitely is. Every album since AB had at least one or two obvious skippers, but Songs of Innocence is strong from start to finish; not a weak track in the bunch. :tup :tup
-
With the tour starting in two weeks, we could keep this thread going by discussing it. I was just reading some of the rehearsal spoilers, and it sounds like they are rehearsing most of the new album and many of the obvious classics, with them rehearsing deeper cuts like Miracle Drug, One Step Closer and The Playboy Mansion. Interesting choices. I think some fans' heads will explode if they don't play Acrobat again. :lol :lol
-
They've not played New Years Day in a while. *
* At least not on any live DVD that I can remember since PopMart.
-
I don't think that one was listed among the ones allegedly being rehearsed, but you never know.
One report is that ticket sales are not kicking ass like they thought - many are sold out technically, but quite a few of them have a lot up on stubhub - so the idea of them doing two shows in the same city, with radically different set lists, may not come to fruition, since that would mean ditching too many standards (casual fans would likely do just one show, and they'd be pissed if they went the night One or something wasn't played), and I suspect they feel like they still need to play a lot of those standards, so as not to irk casual fans who might be seeing them for the first time. Songs like One and With or Without You, great as they are, really need to be given a tour or two off, but it won't happen. In a sense, U2 is a victim of their own success.
-
They've not played New Years Day in a while. *
* At least not on any live DVD that I can remember since PopMart.
They played New Year's Day on the 360 tour.
-
The appearance on The Tonight Show on friday will be good promo for the tour.
-
The appearance on The Tonight Show on friday will be good promo for the tour.
Yep. Looking forward to that.
-
I didn't know! Cool. I'll DVR it!
-
The tour began last night in Vancouver.
Set list:
First Set
1. The Miracle (Of Joey Ramone) (Piano Intro)
2. Out of Control / Do You Remember Rock 'n' Roll Radio (snippet)
3. Vertigo / God Save The Queen (snippet)
4. I Will Follow
5. Mofo (snippet) / Iris (Hold Me Close)
6. Cedarwood Road
7. Song for Someone
8. Sunday Bloody Sunday (new semi acoustic version)
**Video Transition, complete with new broadcasts and news clips**
9. Raised By Wolves / Psalm 23 (snippet)
10. Until The End of the World
Second Set
11. Invisible
12. Even Better Than The Real Thing (360 Version)
13. Mysterious Ways / Burning Down the House (snippet) / Young Americans (snippet)
14. Desire
15. Sweetest Thing
16. Every Breaking Wave
17. Bullet The Blue Sky / The Hands That Built America
18. Pride (In the Name of Love)
19. The Troubles
20. With or Without You
Encore
21. City of Blinding Lights
22. Beautiful Day / I Remember You (snippet)
23. Mother and Child Reunion (snippet) / Where The Streets Have No Name / California (snippet) / All You Need is Love (snippet)
24. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For / Invisible (snippet)
--------
Pretty predictable. Basically, a bunch of new songs and all hits, with no real deep cuts from older albums. We'll see if they add some as the tour progresses.
-
They played When Love Comes To Town tonight - no surprise there. I imagined they might.
Also they dug out " Miracle Drug ".
In other news - what is Bono's ( recorded ) range ? New York is pretty Low and Sleep Like A Baby Tonight is the highest I've ever heard him go I'm sure.
I saw a thing online that said he had 4 octaves but i'm pretty sure from the lowest note in New York to that super high note in Sleep Like A Baby is more than 4 octaves...
-
Last night's 2nd show in Vancouver wasn't that different from the 1st show. That had to be disappointing for any fan that went to both, since U2 made it sound like they'd be radically changing set lists on this tour, especially when playing multiple shows in the same city. But, given that ticket sales haven't been great this year, I am guessing that explains the safe set lists, since they probably figure they cannot alienate the casual fans by not playing most of the hits. Oh well.
-
I've checked out their itinerary. Nearly all the shows are sold out.
They're never gonna better the 360 tour because it was the most successful tour ever.
-
Right, the shows are sold out, but reportedly the scalpers ate up a lot of them, and many tickets are apparently going for cheaper than you would have thought on Stubhub, because the demand just isn't there. Checking out a few of the Vancouver clips on YT, I am not sure how much I'd paid to see them again. Seems like every other song has Bono yapping for two minutes before it. :facepalm: I remember in the U2 book I have, where Bono actually thinks a lot of fans want to hear his political chatter. Uh, no, they are there for a rock show, not to see you jump on your political platform.
-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=276&v=6UapLs03yOs
This is pretty cool.
Bono gets a tribute singer on stage to sing with them and then starts playing piano.
Complaining about getting free music? Good grief, people. If you don't like U2, then don't listen to it. Some people just love to complain about anything.
This reminds me. Some people act like getting Songs Of Innocence on their iPods was a huge inconvenience and likened it to filling up their fridge with turds.
Not even close. You can delete the album and be done with it. It's more like you share a house and you have a fridge each. One day your housemate puts something of his in
your fridge by mistake or just temporarily whilst there was no room in his. You can simply move it back. That's how I see it.
-
Kinda cool, but the guy holding up his phone to record it just looks so stupid.
-
They played The Roxy Thursday night
The Ocean
11 o'clock Tick Tock
I Will Follow
Electric Co.
Beautiful Day
Elevation
Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Out of Control
Vertigo
Song for Someone
California
Here's some videos that have surfaced so far.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=72&v=gL7UIQQufSE
The Ocean
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6b-7AOR9urA
I Will Follow
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bQffzNVAFA
Electric Co.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dk03GNX73wo
Beautiful Day (feat. one lucky lady)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UKQtn9kpD8
Elevation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCNiTjd8XLI
Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hl-5ZDI5-80
Sunday Bloody Sunday
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQrHjoXFxqs
Vertigo (Bono does a little crowd surfing) :lol
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svxOZl7Ogjo
California (There Is No End to Love)
-
That is pretty cool that one of their five Cali shows this week was at a small club like that. I wish more popular bands would do something like that once in a while, just for the hell of it.
-
Very cool!
-
That is pretty cool that one of their five Cali shows this week was at a small club like that. I wish more popular bands would do something like that once in a while, just for the hell of it.
They were supposed to play a show for the radio station KROQ out in LA in November or December of last year (can't remember what month it was) then Bono had that bike accident :lol so this was the make up show.
-
Anyone else catch the Paris show on HBO? Say what you want about U2, but them letting Eagles of Death Metal come out and finish the show alone was a freaking awesome gesture. No one does moments in rock like this better than U2. :hat
Start 20:37
01 The Miracle (Of Joey Ramone)
02 Vertigo
03 I Will Follow
04 Iris (Hold Me Close)
05 Cedarwood Road
06 Song For Someone
07 Sunday Bloody Sunday
08 Raised By Wolves
09 Until The End Of The World
(Intermission: The Fly)
10 Invisible
11 Even Better Than The Real Thing
12 Mysterious Ways
13 Elevation
14 Every Breaking Wave
15 October
16 Bullet The Blue Sky
17 Zooropa
18 Where The Streets Have No Name
19 Pride (In The Name Of Love)
20 With Or Without You
encore(s):
21 City Of Blinding Lights
22 Beautiful Day
23 Mother And Child Reunion
24 Bad
25 One
26 People Have The Power (With the Eagles Of Death Metal)
End 23:00
27 I Love You All The Time (Eagles Of Death Metal without U2!)
End 23:05
-
No one does moments in rock like this better than U2. :hat
Word on this. There is a lot to be said about Bono, some good some bad, but as a group, they are perhaps the most self-aware major group active today. I love those subtle, and sometimes not so subtle homages they make to the role of music in our lives and the role of artists in the greater scheme of things. Their penchant for playing free shows, and small club shows is legend, and cool, but their penchant for statements like the one above, and events like the rooftop gig a couple years ago that - despite Bono's heart-stopping leans over the edge of the building - are the things that bring a cohesiveness to music's place in history and current events, and not just U2's place in it.
I've long said that Bruce Springsteen is the voice of America (love him, like him or hate him, it's very hard to deny that "The Rising" was the definitive statement on America post-9/11, and there were more than a few people literally waiting to see what his reaction was going to be) and I kind of think that U2 fills that role for the world.
-
I need to see this. I saw the highlights and it was goosebumps but what really got me was seeing the lead singer from TEODM in front of the venue of the shootings they were at crying. It made me well up and it was hard not to cry.
-
Yeah, I need to catch this.
-
I will admit that seeing Bono sing Bad without the full power of his voice anymore is a bit of a gut punch, but Edge could play that lead for 20 minutes and the crowd would be into it the whole time. Such a great tune. :hefdaddy :hefdaddy
-
At least I got to see him sing that in 1985. :biggrin: 2 days after that was Triumph Thunder 7 tour. Hell of 3 days.
-
I will admit that seeing Bono sing Bad without the full power of his voice anymore is a bit of a gut punch, but Edge could play that lead for 20 minutes and the crowd would be into it the whole time. Such a great tune. :hefdaddy :hefdaddy
U2 are 40 next year.
I wonder if they'll play 40 live :neverusethis:
-
At least I got to see him sing that in 1985. :biggrin: 2 days after that was Triumph Thunder 7 tour. Hell of 3 days.
Remind me to punch you in the ribs. :P :biggrin:
-
:biggrin:
The lasting memory of that show was the encore"40". One by one each member left the stage and we were singing "How long...." with Bono until he left the stage and we sang for 5 minutes until the house lights came on.
-
I think I remember reading that that was the norm back in the day, them ending with "40" and them leaving the stage one by one while the crowd kept singing.
What's really baffling is how they gave up on The Troubles live. It was played opening night of the tour and then only again three more times the entire tour (looked it up at a U2 site). Bummer, since that is one of the true standouts from Songs of Innocence, along with Iris, Every Breaking Wave (which they do play the better arrangement live, with just Edge on piano and Bono singing) and (from the bonus disc) The Crystal Ballroom.
-
I watched it last night. I love the walkway between the screen that the,band can play there. Very cool concepts.
-
I've read quite a few reviews online from fans who've said that while it looks cool on TV or from afar, a lot of seats have obstructed views because of the way it is set up. I guess they figure they had do something cool with the arena shows after dialing it back following 360, but it sounds like they didn't think it totally through from a "fans in the arena" perspective.
-
Ah that sucks. I'm listening to No Line.. right now a I realy do like this album a lot. I now it's not a popular choice but it clicks with me.
-
I like that record, outside of a few bland songs and one bad one, but the sound of it is just so annoying; it's smothered to oblivion. Magnificent, Unknown Caller and Fez/Being Born are all songs, however, that I still listen to quite a bit when I revisit U2.
-
:biggrin:
The lasting memory of that show was the encore"40". One by one each member left the stage and we were singing "How long...." with Bono until he left the stage and we sang for 5 minutes until the house lights came on.
I've done that multiple times (my first show was the arena leg of The Joshua Tree tour; watching Bono from the third row yell "Outside is America... outside is HARTFORD CONNECTICUT!" gives me chills to this day, 30 years later. I know, you had to be there. But you had to be there!!
-
I got to see the War tour as a 15 year old and The Unforgettable Fire tour as a 17 year old. Bono was like a preacher on that stage. I was willing to give him all my money if he asked those nights.
-
I think the thing that many don't recognize is that live, it had a real power to it. I watch some of the videos (Live Aid is an example, though Live Aid was a watershed performance for them on many levels) and it wasn't NEARLY as cheesy or sanctimonious in person as it sometimes comes off in the videos. For all his nonsense (if you think it that) off stage, the man is a charismatic rock star, and seeing him in the day was an experience I won't soon forget.
-
Watching his inductions for musicians in the RRHF (Bob Marley as an example) is mind blowing. He can captive any crowd.
-
All so true. When my younger brother and I went to see them on the 360 tour, it was so neat the way they came to the stage. Bowie's Space Oddity played while the big video screens showed them walking to the stage, and then eventually the camera panned over while the band passed one by one, with Bono being last, and when he passed by the camera, he smiled and gave the peace signal, and the whole crowd roared. Even my brother, who likes U2 even though he thinks Bono is a major pompous ass, smiled and thought that was a great little moment.