Zooropa

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ozeeko

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I've been listening to U2 a lot for the past week. Just picking an album or two a night and listening all the way through without pause. I've always believed Zooropa to be in their top 3, and I'm more convinced everytime i listen to this masterpiece. Sure, it's experimental for them and the most out-there they've ever been outside of Passengers, but, excuse me for a second...I believe it's also one of their most emotional albums. Sure, it's nostalgic for me and everything, being a pre-teen when it hit, and it actually being the album that got me into U2. But this album is just so fucking cathartic. Creatively and emotionally. I think it's a damn shame that they view this as a minor work. This is the sound of U2 as the studio band, without concern for live performance. I love this album. I always will. This article hits home for me...U2's night album...Zooropa...

Zooropa Turns 20 - Stereogum
 
Their best album. I can't say enough about the lush production and brilliantly executed experimentation. It's amazing that this only took them a matter of months to record.

It's also the last great record for Bono as a vocalist and one of his best overall in that regard.
 
Bono's vocals are phenomenal. I wonder what POP would've become if they didn't spend so much time on it. I wonder what a lot of their 2000s work would've been if they didn't spend so much time "perfecting" everything. You can listen to Zooropa and wonder how Bono might've gone back and changed a lot, and made some songs too precious and over the top. Their limited time really guided this album. They went on instinct and it worked.
 
My favourite album too. The songs are very different between each other, but the final result in, to me, their best song collection. U2 seems to have forgotten about how great, timeless, very creative, things can result when working with a tight deadline, not having the need to polish and polish and overwork, and not with a strict purpose (such as "we need a single") in mind.
 
Zooropa may not be my favorite, but I like many of songs in the album; title track is amazing, Stay is cool song. I think the fact that it sounds so "underground" and the fact that it's kind of there to augment Achtung Baby that prevent it from getting proper recognition
 
I think this album is right up there with Achtung, and I certainly enjoy it more than Joshua Tree and most of their albums.

They were rushed not only because of the tour. This album was Paul's leverage to get U2 a bigger, better record deal. It was contract renewal time, and other labels were making U2 BIG offers. This album helped Paul to get Island to pony up. I wonder if their contract hadn't been up for renewal if they would've rushed the album, or just gone with an EP like they originally intended.

There is a chapter in "U2 at the end of the world" that is entirely about this subject.


Sent from my iPhone using U2 Interference
 
They talk about wanting to nail 'timeless' music; I can't even believe this thing is 21 years old, even though I bought the damn cassette the day it came out.
 
It was the last U2 album to make a real heavy contribution to my all time U2 top 20 songs. Zooropa and Stay are mainstays of my top 10, whilst The Wanderer and Lemon are always around the top 20.

Brilliantly produced, totally coherent and executed concept, totally captured the ZOO TV zeitgeist they were aiming for.
 
90s U2 is far and away my favourite U2. they're still great now, but that was some next level shit. "Sleep Like A Baby Tonight" is the closest they've come to that in a long, long time. first thing I thought when I heard it was it would fit perfectly on Zooropa

i made thing song heavily inspired by Zooropa: Broadcasting Live From ZooTV
 
Zooropa was a great concept album...throwing all the glitz, and technology from Zoo TV into an album. It's (dare I say) avant-garde, but it's got some real U2 moments for the stadiums too.

The song Zooropa is one of my top 10 favorite U2 songs of all time...:rockon:
 
I love Zooropa. Its so atmospheric and takes you to another place and time. Id love to hear a studio version of Bono singing The Wanderer. I know they played on a Johnny Cash tribute show but Id love to hear it on record. Also, I remember reading that they were working on a version of Wake up Dead Man at this time. Love to have heard that version and how its different than the Pop album.
 
I don't think it's their best album, but I think it's their "coolest". I know that's a lame word to use but it just has this vibe to it that is so unique, fun, and different from anything else in the catalogue.

Last year I really dug into it and "Daddy's Gonna Pay for Your Crashed Car" freaking blew me away... I think I had only heard that song once in my life before and hearing it in the context of the album was great.

Earnie Shavers said:
Great article. And yes, Zooropa is amazing. And no, they're never going to do anything like that again. Such a shame, and really, such a waste.
Click to expand...

Bullshit. Maybe not an entire album like it again but go listen to Sleep Like a Baby Tonight and tell me it doesn't sound like a Zooropa-era song. I implore you, tell me!! (only half kidding)
 
Definitely one of my favorite albums and Zooropa one of my favorite songs. Still can't believe I actually saw them perform it live. :love:
 
It's quite funny that after my horrible SoI experience (hate it), I have been listening to Zooropa a lot too this week. I believe I hadn't listened to U2 at all these last 2 years but when I put on Zooropa I got instant goosebumps again. What an opening song for an album! That song is in my top10 and still climbing, can't touch Ultraviolet and Bad though.
I agree Bono's vocals on that album are absolutely fantastic and the songs still sound 'fresh'. You can hear it's U2 instead of that poppy overproduced melody-less dribble that is their new album. I also wonder what all of the recent records would've sounded like had they not had 5 years to change everything about them. (And with SoI, had they had Eno/Lanouis).
It really sets a great atmosphere, a bit less 'darker' than POP and I like that. Bono singing in MacPhisto voice is brilliant too.

Afliktor said:
90s U2 is far and away my favourite U2. they're still great now, but that was some next level shit. "Sleep Like A Baby Tonight" is the closest they've come to that in a long, long time. first thing I thought when I heard it was it would fit perfectly on Zooropa
Click to expand...
Hmmm didn't sound nothing like anything on Zooropa to me, it did sound like a cheap knockoff of "if you wear a velvet dress" (the way it was done live @ popmart) though.
 
xtrmx said:
You can hear it's U2 instead of that poppy overproduced melody-less dribble that is their new album.
Click to expand...

:huh: Are you sure you're not talking about Atomic Bomb or NLOTH? SOI is very good and seems to get better and better with more listens. It is arguably their best album since Pop.

And as for Sleep Like A Baby Tonight, it sounds a lot like Babyface to me. And I like Babyface.
 
Used to be my favourite album for quite a long time, but seems to be slipping down my rankings steadily. Mostly because by the intro for 'Daddy's gonna pay' is over I mostly find myself waiting for The Wanderer to start.
I still think Lemon and The Wanderer are among the best things U2 has done.
And Zooropa, Babyface and Numb also pretty much nail it for me.
 
RoKKeR said:
Bullshit. Maybe not an entire album like it again but go listen to Sleep Like a Baby Tonight and tell me it doesn't sound like a Zooropa-era song. I implore you, tell me!! (only half kidding)
Click to expand...

To me, somewhere between Zooropa and Pop. It sounds like one of those in-between-album songs that seems like a bridge between the previous and next album. You could imagine it being on a soundtrack or something in 1996, and it's something that's bounced from the Zooropa sessions and been given a early-Pop session once over.

But really, by pointing that out you're actually more proving my point than disproving it. I wasn't saying "U2 are never ever again going to record anything that sounds like Song X or Album X" because quite clearly they are now doing that all the time.
 
Musikwala said:
And as for Sleep Like A Baby Tonight, it sounds a lot like Babyface to me. And I like Babyface.
Click to expand...

Curious that many people seem to connect "Sleep Like A Baby Tonight" with Zooropa. "Sleep Like A Baby Tonight" reminds me a lot of "Tryin' To Throw Your Arms Around The World". In fact, "Sleep Like A Baby Tonight" evoques to me what an hypothetical "Tryin' To Throw Your Arms Around The World" would've been like if not released in Achtung Baby and shelved, then reworked for Zooropa.
 
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