Re-Ranking War

[bobsaget77]

1 Drowning Man 10/10
2 New Years Day 10/10
3 Sunday Bloody Sunday 10/10
4 40 10/10
5 Seconds 9/10
6 Like A Song..... 9/10
7 Two Hearts Beat As One 8/10
8 Refugee 8/10
9 Surrender 8/10
10 Red Light 8/10

Still a great album.



Sent from my iPhone using U2 Interference

 

[thavidesco]

1 New Years Day 9/10
2 40 9/10
3 Surrender 8/10
4 Drowning Man 7/10 a wonderful song, it would be suitable if Bono learnet at that time other singing style than screaming
5 Seconds 7/10
6 Refugee 7/10
7 Two Hearts Beat As One 6/10 Bono pushing, pushing and pushing
8 Sunday Bloody Sunday 5/10 album version combination of a rock song with strings is dreadful
9 Like A Song..... 2/10
10 Red Light 1/10

A solid album, but U2 were trying too hard to make those songs appealing, to get a new contract and radio hits

 

[2861U2]

After having gone back and listened to all their albums recently, War is (at least at the moment) probably my least favorite 80s album. New Years Day and Drowning Man are great, and Like A Song is decent, but most else just doesn't hold up. SBS and 40 are great live, but the studio versions don't do much for me.

1) New Year's Day- 10
2) Drowning Man- 10
3) Like A Song- 8
4) The Refugee- 7
5) Sunday Bloody Sunday- 6
6) 40- 6
7) Seconds- 5
8) Two Hearts Beat As One- 5
9) Red Light- 4
10) Surrender- 3

 

[prbiker15]

New Year's Day - 10 / 10
Sunday Bloody Sunday - 10 / 10
Two Hearts Beat As One - 9 / 10
"40" - 8 / 10
Surrender - 7 / 10
Seconds - 7 / 10
Like a Song - 7 / 10
Drowning Man - 6 / 10
Red Light - 5 / 10
The Refugee - 4 / 10

 

[Aardvark747]

1. NYD
2. Like a song
3. Sunday Bloody Sunday
4. Seconds
5. Surrender
6. Two hearts beat as one
7. Drowning Man
8. The refugee
9. 40
10. Red light

 

[lazarus]

3 Surrender 8/10
8 Sunday Bloody Sunday 5/10 album version combination of a rock song with strings is dreadful
9 Like A Song..... 2/10

 

[thavidesco]

What? Did I give too high rating for these songs?

 

[Axver]

Classic U2 Listening
1. New Year's Day

Great U2 Listening
2. Like a Song
3. Sunday Bloody Sunday
4. Surrender
5. Drowning Man

Good U2 Listening
6. Seconds

Decent U2 Listening
7. The Refugee
8. 40
9. Two Hearts Beat as One

Wait U2 Actually Released This? OH GOD DON'T REMIND ME
20,000,000. Red Light

 

[Kieran McConville]

I quite like Red Light.

 

[The Panther]

War is a wonderful album and one of my favorites -- not just by U2, but by anyone -- from the 1980s.

It's the album that established U2. No War, no U2.

It's also amazing to look at what was on the pop-charts at the time in the British Isles and see that this LP made UK #1.

The five artists to reach #1 on the UK charts before War:
The Kids from "Fame"
ABBA
John Lennon
Men at Work
Michael Jackson
and the five after (not counting MJ's return to the top):
Tears for Fears
Pink Floyd
Bonnie Tyler
David Bowie
Spandau Ballet

 

[Axver]

I quite like Red Light.

I've read some awful things on Interference, but this ...!

 

[The Panther]

I've read some awful things on Interference, but this ...!

Heh. You know what? For years, I had mentally deleted 'Red Light' from my brain's hard-drive, but a year or so ago I went back and actually listened to it.

Is it good? No, it's forgettable. But it's not that bad. Let's not pretend it's on the level of 'Elvis Ate America' or anything like that.

 

[Kieran McConville]

I also quite like Elvis Ate America.

 

[Musikwala]

New Year's Day 10/10
Seconds 9/10
Sunday Bloody Sunday 9/10
Like A Song 9/10
Surrender 8/10
Drowning Man 8/10
Red Light 7/10
The Refugee 7/10
40 7/10
Two Hearts Beat As One 6/10

Very good album!

I never understood the hate for Red Light. Great sax and nice atmosphere.

 

[djerdap]

New Year's Day
Like a Song...
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Drowning Man
Seconds
Two Hearts Beat as One
Surrender
"40"
Red Light
The Refugee

The biggest quality drop from side A to B out of all albums.

 

[thavidesco]

heh. You know what? For years, i had mentally deleted 'red light' from my brain's hard-drive, but a year or so ago i went back and actually listened to it.

Is it good? No, it's forgettable. But it's not that bad. Let's not pretend it's on the level of 'elvis ate america' or anything like that.

ditto

 

[Kieran McConville]

I might add Red Light is very much of their age and its time. I'd be saying very different things about it if they'd recorded it in 1997 or 2005. But at 23, in the heat of the moment? Sure, I can roll with that.

As it happens, in 2005 they were recording songs like Love And Peace Or Else. Yeah.

 

[Axver]

Heh. You know what? For years, I had mentally deleted 'Red Light' from my brain's hard-drive, but a year or so ago I went back and actually listened to it.

Is it good? No, it's forgettable. But it's not that bad. Let's not pretend it's on the level of 'Elvis Ate America' or anything like that.

Not every second of the song is shit - but most of them are, and the intro is far out in front in the race for the title of Worst U2 Song Intro Ever.

I also quite like Elvis Ate America.

Ban.

The biggest quality drop from side A to B out of all albums.

Good god yes.

October also has a sharp drop, but War falls from greater heights to deeper depths.

 

[Axver]

I might add Red Light is very much of their age and its time. I'd be saying very different things about it if they'd recorded it in 1997 or 2005. But at 23, in the heat of the moment? Sure, I can roll with that.

As it happens, in 2005 they were recording songs like Love And Peace Or Else. Yeah.

U2 Debut New Version of Red Light on Songs of Innocence Tour; Chris Martin in Touring Entourage to do Song Intro and Perform as Dancing Monkey.

 

[djerdap]

I would also add that I dislike The Refugee more than Red Light.

With an exception or two, U2 is at their absolute worst when they start with the WHOA WHOA WHOA porn (look no further than the last two records). The Refugee might be the prototype of all the whoa-whoain' horseshit a la California that came afterwards.

 

[The Panther]

I might add Red Light is very much of their age and its time. I'd be saying very different things about it if they'd recorded it in 1997 or 2005. But at 23, in the heat of the moment? Sure, I can roll with that.

That's so true. Hell, Larry was only 20/21 when they recorded War. They were still a baby band!

Listening to 'Red Light' now. It's actually a pretty good song. If this is the weakest song on the album, it's clearly a great album.

btw, I love what King Creole's Coconuts added to War. A very unique quality that isn't on any other album. Their "duh-duh-duh"'s on 'Red Light', however, don't really come off.

Somehow, young U2 with horns doesn't really come off. Nice try, though.

 

[Musikwala]

October, come to think of it, does get a bit boring sometimes as an album. But you know what, I would love for Larry to revisit that intense drumming he does on many of the tracks. But it will never happen.

War is actually a very good album overall. But a lot of the songs like Like A Song and Red Light are extremely dated. They sound very early 80s. As exhilarating as the frenetic pace on Like A Song is, I have to chuckle at the righteous fervor in the lyrics now.

 

[djerdap]

So you miss intense drumming and then you slag off Like a Song..., which has a fantastic Mullen outro? That one is a classic and one of their most underrated tunes.

 

[Musikwala]

So you miss intense drumming and then you slag off Like a Song..., which has a fantastic Mullen outro? That one is a classic and one of their most underrated tunes.

I'm not slagging Like A Song. See my rating for the song in this very same thread. I love it! But the lyrics do come off a bit too idealistic, political, righteous... whatever you want to call it. I just found that cute, looking through cynical older lenses. Despite sounding dated, it is a song that I very much enjoy listening to even today.

 

[djerdap]

He was 22 at the time. Idealism doesn't hurt at that point. The music more than makes up for it. But I think of the lyrics to be a bit more tongue-in-cheek than you anyway (the sarcastic "in this rebel song" remark for instance).

 

[Musikwala]

I think of the lyrics to be a bit more tongue-in-cheek than you anyway (the sarcastic "in this rebel song" remark for instance).

Ahh, probably. I never saw any sarcasm in the lyrics.

 

[SpiralStaircase]

Great:

1. 40
2. NYD
3. SBS

Good:

4. Like a song
5. Seconds
6. Drowning man
7. Surrender
8. Two hearts beat as one

Not good:

9. Red light
10. Refugee

 

[Hollow Island]

New Year's Day
Seconds
Surrender
Two Hearts Beat as One
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Drowning Man
Red Light
Like a Song...
"40"
The Refugee

 

[SpiralStaircase]

I'm mildly surprised by the apparent lack of love for 40

 

[elevated_u2_fan]

well, live it's amazing but the album version is pretty weak, for obvious reasons.

Drowning Man
New Year's Day
Seconds
Sunday Bloody Sunday
"40"
Surrender
Two Hearts Beat as One
Like a Song...
The Refugee
Red Light