ATYCLB

[digitize]

Alright, I'm hooked. I started listening to ATYCLB a few minutes ago... I think I am converted. It is not my least-favorite album anymore.

It is amazing.

 

[Screwtape2]

What's standing out on this listen?

 

[Zoots]

Haha! I remember this happening to me sometime in the past. I still prefer my alternate version though, to what we ended up getting.

 

[digitize]

What's standing out on this listen?

I'm not sure. I guess I'm realizing how much stronger it is than the sum of its parts...

 

[thelaj]

I always feel ATYLB is a very easy album to listen to. It doesn't challenge me in the same way as the other albums (both a good and bad aspect), but it slips into my consciousness and sounds good.

Aside from In A Little While (and to a lesser extent SIAMYCGOO), I find the whole album eminently listenable. My standouts are Beautiful Day, Kite, When I Look At The World & New York.

 

[Rob33]

I absolutely love BD, Walk On, Kite, When I Look at the World, and New York on this record...and Stuck is also an awesome tune despite all the bad things people have to say about it...this album seems more complete than Bomb for me...it has similar things going on throughout the entire album that unifies it in some way.

 

[beli]

The Ground Beneath Her Feet is my fav on that album. Wild Honeys alright. The rest, not so much to my tastes. "Easy listening" is an accurate description.

 

[goblues4427]

I personally can't put the CD in my CD player. Same goes with the Bomb most of the time (but that's another topic and for different reasons). For ATYCLB... it's not the music that bothers me. There are good songs on there. It's Bono's singing. On many songs it's SO weak it ruins it for me. When I say weak I don't mean "In a Little While." The voice is perfect for that song. It's one of the strongest songs on the album. It's songs like "When I Look at the World." A potentially great song but it falls flat because Bono can't sing the song for the life of him. And then there is the occasional lyric. Like in "Kite." The song is amazing... good lyrics, amazing musically, the vocals aren't even bad. Everything is going great until we get to...

"Did I waste it?
Not so much I couldn't taste it
Life should be fragrant
Rooftop to the basement

The last of the rock stars
When hip hop drove the big cars
In the time when new media
Was the big idea

That was the big idea"

It's so bad it makes me wince in pain. It's like they built up a great house and then burned it down at the end. It makes me feel taken.


On a better note. Since the remaster of October... I'm now officially in love with that album. I've never loved it as much as I do now. I don't think there is a single album out there that is more "U2 than that one. Certainly of their first 3. It's not over thought and overworked. Not so full of lyrics there isn't enough room for the band to play. It's just U2 being U2 at their rawest. I like it. Sometimes there's a lot more beauty in imperfection. It's certainly honest, true and real.

 

[Screwtape2]

It's Bono's singing. On many songs it's SO weak it ruins it for me. When I say weak I don't mean "In a Little While." The voice is perfect for that song. It's one of the strongest songs on the album. It's songs like "When I Look at the World." A potentially great song but it falls flat because Bono can't sing the song for the life of him. And then there is the occasional lyric. Like in "Kite." The song is amazing... good lyrics, amazing musically, the vocals aren't even bad. Everything is going great until we get to...

"Did I waste it?
Not so much I couldn't taste it
Life should be fragrant
Rooftop to the basement

The last of the rock stars
When hip hop drove the big cars
In the time when new media
Was the big idea

That was the big idea"

It's so bad it makes me wince in pain. It's like they built up a great house and then burned it down at the end. It makes me feel taken.

I know. I completely agree about the singing. It is like spoken word.

He does the same thing on the ATYCLB outtakes. He sounded great on Million Dollar Hotel. What happened?

 

[david]

I think people couldn't handle the drastic change from POP to ATYCLB.. Much like people couldn't handle the shock of how the band changed from Rattle and Hum to Achtung Baby.

 

[innocent_eyes]

Always liked the album but one day it just clicked! The Peace on Earth intro could be a bit shorter/reworked, but other than that, love it.

Standouts for me are In a little while, kite, New York, When I look at the World, and The Ground Beneath Her Feet. Obviously love the 4 singles! I used to hate stuck, then one day, my friend, a casual U2 fan said it was great. So I gave it a few more serious listens and was floored! Love it now, one of U2's best ballads. Try listening for the piano parts in it. Simply brilliant!

 

[last unicorn]

The Ground Beneath Her Feet is my fav on that album.

It's not even on my copy of the album.

Seriously, ATYCLB is probably the U2 album I listen to most regularely. I really feel like listening to this album a lot. I listen to it from start to finish and don't skip any songs. There may be songs on it that aren't so great, but the album itself is much more than the sum of its part. It's a very emotional album for me, a very universal piece of music. My favourites are Kite and In A Little While.

 

[Bottle Bono]

ATYCLB is the only Album to have two Grammy award winnning Records of the Year (Beautiful Day, Walk On) on it ever and it didn't even win the Album of the Year.

Why?

The rest of the Album is not strong at all.

Stuck in a Moment is another classic.

But it really falls away after that. Listening to this album, is the first time I have actually thought U2 i boring.

Too much elevator music. Sorry musac.

 

[ozeeko]

ATYCLB i feel is unique in the U2 catalog because they tackled mainstream music and actually made it somewhat interesting. It's easy listening, but what the hell, I look at it like another experiment. It wouldn't mean didly-squat if they didn't have a bunch of strong songs to experiment with, but luckily they did. Yea, Bono's voice is rough around the edges, but for some reason that doesn't bother me, probably because the melodies are great.

I agree with everyone about the Kite ending. That song was actually always my least favorite on the album. Not because it absolutely sucks, but because it sounds too forced. If anything it is the foreshadowing of the forced songwriting that would take place on Bomb, the pulling-on-the-heartstrings approach that results in them trying way too hard to sound emotional. But it's a half-decent tune, I'll give it that. Atleast it's listenable.

 

[Screwtape2]

I think I'd like ATYCLB more if Elevation wasn't on there because it feels so out of place like Sunday Bloody Sunday on TUF or HMTMKMKM on Passengers.

 

[cobl04]

Everyone comes around to it eventually. I love it personally. In my top five, I think it's fantastic. I think Kite's great the way it is, including the last verse. It's not even that bad.

Haha! I remember this happening to me sometime in the past. I still prefer my alternate version though, to what we ended up getting.

What's the listing?

 

[Bottle Bono]

"I don't know if we've made a great record or not, but it is our record. It's us standing there naked, if you will."

the The Edge on ATYLB

 

[The Sad Punk]

Dammit, Bottle Bono, if we wanted to read U2 quotes we'd all go to atU2.com and press F5 for an hour.

 

[U2girl]

Starts off strongly but after Kite and IALW the quality goes downhill and POE combined with WILATW after Wild honey is a big no-no. I liked how BD gave them a push into the 3rd decade, and they wisely chose a new raison'd etre for the new era in writing the perfect pop song/single.

It's a shame since they could have either improved on it by swapping POE, WILATW and Grace for the MDH soundtrack U2 songs and Levitate.

 

[digitize]

The Ground Beneath Her Feet is amazing. It should have been fully on the album.

 

[thelaj]

Incidentally, here is the alternate version I like to use:

01 Beautiful Day
02 Levitate
03 Elevation [Tomb Raider Mix]
04 Love You Like Mad
05 Kite
06 The Ground Beneath Her Feet
07 Grace
08 Flower Child
09 Summer Rain
10 Stateless
11 New York
12 When I Look At The World
13 Peace on Earth
14 Stuck in A Moment [Acoustic Version]
15 Walk On [Hallelujah Mix]

I don't care for In A Little While or Wild Honey, and Sweetest Thing doesn't float my boat even though it could fit on this album

 

[alanah]

Alright, I'm hooked. I started listening to ATYCLB a few minutes ago... I think I am converted. It is not my least-favorite album anymore.

It is amazing.

Very glad to hear you've been enjoying the album !

 

[Screwtape2]

Big Girls Are Best as insane as it may sound is probably the best song from the ATYCLB era. I used to hate it but listening to it again last week changed my mind.

 

[Zoots]

What's the listing?

I posted this in the other thread about albums not living up to their potential...

All That You Can't Leave Behind
Zoots version

1. Beautiful Day
2. Levitate
3. The Ground Beneath Her Feet
4. Walk On (single version)
5. Kite
6. Stuck In A Moment (acoustic version)

7. In A Little While
8. Stateless
9. Peace On Earth
10. When I Look At The World
11. New York
12. Grace

OR...

Alternately, replace Levitate with Elevation. Depending on my mood, sometimes I do enjoy Elevation.

 

[bathiu]

It's a shame since they could have either improved on it by swapping POE, WILATW and Grace for the MDH soundtrack U2 songs and Levitate.

Stuck, Wild Honey and IALW for me...

1. BD
2. Elevation
3. Levitate
4. Walk On
5. Kite
6. Stateless
7. POE
8. Summer Rain
9. New York
10. When I Look At The World
11. TGBHF
12. Grace

a "classic"... 4th masterpiece... etc IMO

 

[Acrobat51829]

Big Girls Are Best as insane as it may sound is probably the best song from the ATYCLB era. I used to hate it but listening to it again last week changed my mind.

BGAB is from the Pop sessions.

Digitize, I'm with you--I love BD and Kite, but I never really enjoyed the rest of the album until I recently gave it another chance. Great album indeed.

TGBHF is also one of the absolute best songs they've ever done, IMO.

My alternative ATYCLB:

1. Beautiful Day
2. Elevation
3. Love You Like Mad
4. New York
5. The Ground Beneath Her Feet
6. Levitate
7. Kite
8. In a Little While
9. Flower Child
10. Stateless
11. Walk On
12. *Bonus: Stuck in a Moment (starts acoustic, into full electric/strings arrangement at end, a la Conan O’Brien)

Singles:
Beautiful Day / Summer Rain / When I Look at the World
Elevation / Elevation (Tomb Raider mix) / Wild Honey
The Ground Beneath Her Feet / TGBHF (acoustic) / Grace
Walk On / Walk On (Hallelujah mix) / Peace on Earth

 

[Michael Griffiths]

Starts off strongly but after Kite and IALW the quality goes downhill and POE combined with WILATW after Wild honey is a big no-no. I liked how BD gave them a push into the 3rd decade, and they wisely chose a new raison'd etre for the new era in writing the perfect pop song/single.

It's a shame since they could have either improved on it by swapping POE, WILATW and Grace for the MDH soundtrack U2 songs and Levitate.

I agree with you that the MDH sountrack songs are better than 'Grace' and 'Peace on Earth', but I cannot understand why so many dislike 'Wild Honey'. It's the most effortless sounding pop gem U2 have ever written. In structure, it is as golden as 'Stuck in a Moment'...and when played next to 'Stuck', it sounds amazing to my ears.

If you listen to covers of 'Wild Honey', the songwriting really stands out. It's classic. This cover, despite being from an amateur, really showcases the brilliant, bitter-sweet songwriting. Sometimes we need to hear someone else sing a song to unmask the U2 bias (which can make us hear things not just more positively, but also negatively since we invariably compare U2 songs to our favourite "U2".):

YouTube - U2 - Wild honey - covered by The Darkest Star

 

[U2girl]

I like Wild honey (the joint Bono and Edge vocals - evoking Lennon/McCartney perhaps? - and Simon and Garfunkel-ish acoustic/electric guitar interplay for the win) as the bittersweet mature love song-type of song that nicely accompanies In a little while. Nice cover, it's interesting to hear a female covering U2, sweet voice.

It's just that after building up that joy/pop record up to that point, it feels like someone pulled the brake and in comes POE and WILATW duo and the whole intent fails, even with NY picking up the pace. And Grace would fit in better on MDH soundtrack IMO.

 

[U2girl]

YouTube - U2's The Fly Piano Cover
Speaking of U2 covers...

Based on Elevation version, so be patient the first minute and a half.

 

[Michael Griffiths]

I like Wild honey (the joint Bono and Edge vocals - evoking Lennon/McCartney perhaps? - and Simon and Garfunkel-ish acoustic/electric guitar interplay for the win) as the bittersweet mature love song-type of song that nicely accompanies In a little while. Nice cover, it's interesting to hear a female covering U2, sweet voice.

It's just that after building up that joy/pop record up to that point, it feels like someone pulled the brake and in comes POE and WILATW duo and the whole intent fails, even with NY picking up the pace. And Grace would fit in better on MDH soundtrack IMO.

I agree with you on the 2nd half of ATYCLB. I actually prefer the original trackorder that got leaked prior to the official album release back in 2000. If I rememer, that one had 'Wild Honey' right before or after 'Stuck', and it flowed really well.

Great 'Fly' cover! Just goes to show what a well written song it really is. I really enjoy covers for revealing song structures. Rock bands tend to have their own sound which often masks the song's musical DNA. The acoustic female Rolling Stones cover album that came out the last couple years is a good example of that. Not sure who the singer is, but I hear it in cafes and coffee shops a lot. I had no idea just how well written those Stones' songs were!