U2 - Songs of Experience + 2018 tour

[KevShmev]

Will do. I've listened to very good songs from R&H but haven't listened to the album proper. I'll check those out--thanks Kev!

Glad to help! 

Really, there is something to like on every U2 album.  Even what I would consider their least best records (October, Zooropa, No Line on the Horizon) still are solid overall, with a few keepers on each.

[KevShmev]

POP gets a lot of shit but I think it’s probably their strongest album overall. It’s most closely in the vein of Achtung Baby but a little more dance/club music influenced.

I can't go so far as it call it their strongest, but it is better than the rep it has.  It is kind of a mess, but it's like a beautiful mess! 

[DTA]

POP gets a lot of shit but I think it’s probably their strongest album overall. It’s most closely in the vein of Achtung Baby but a little more dance/club music influenced.

I can't go so far as it call it their strongest, but it is better than the rep it has.  It is kind of a mess, but it's like a beautiful mess! 

I love how Bono describes it - it begins like a party and ends like a funeral. Velvet Dress, Please, and Miami are super interesting, weird tracks and only 90’s U2 could’ve done it. No Line could’ve been a similar experimental opportunity of a mature U2, but they botched it by getting scared and making it too commercial.

[KevShmev]

I love how Bono describes it - it begins like a party and ends like a funeral. Velvet Dress, Please, and Miami are super interesting, weird tracks and only 90’s U2 could’ve done it. No Line could’ve been a similar experimental opportunity of a mature U2, but they botched it by getting scared and making it too commercial.

No Line's biggest problem is the sound of it.  It sounds like it is getting suffocated by the compression.  I am a big fan of a handful of tracks from that one - Magnificent, Moment of Surrender, Unknown Caller and Fez/Being Born - but the production does not help them all.  I think the last song, Cedars of Lebanon, would have been really good had it been allowed to breathe. 

On the flip side, Stand Up Comedy and Get On Your Boots are total trash and two of the worst U2 songs ever.

[DTA]

I love how Bono describes it - it begins like a party and ends like a funeral. Velvet Dress, Please, and Miami are super interesting, weird tracks and only 90’s U2 could’ve done it. No Line could’ve been a similar experimental opportunity of a mature U2, but they botched it by getting scared and making it too commercial.

No Line's biggest problem is the sound of it.  It sounds like it is getting suffocated by the compression.  I am a big fan of a handful of tracks from that one - Magnificent, Moment of Surrender, Unknown Caller and Fez/Being Born - but the production does not help them all.  I think the last song, Cedars of Lebanon, would have been really good had it been allowed to breathe. 

On the flip side, Stand Up Comedy and Get On Your Boots are total trash and two of the worst U2 songs ever.

I've honestly never liked the production on their albums, but I think SoI and SoE have the best production so far. Boots and Stand Up Comedy do suck and should have been replaced by tracks more in line with the ones you mentioned. If Boots had ballsier production in the drums (my biggest U2 production gripe - his drums never sound big enough) and the distorted guitar wasn't so neutered, it might have had more of a positive impact. Weakest single they've released by far. I also like No Line On The Horizon 2 way better than the one that opens the album.

[KevShmev]

The title track to No Line... (both versions) has a nice melody in there, but it never seems to come together in either version for me.  The album version sounds like the main riff is getting choked to death by the distortion and the production, and the 2 version sounds too lacking in oomph, for lack of a better term.

Fez/Being Born is a good example of the band doing something a little different and connecting.  I really like that one.