Early Song Rankings

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1. This
2. Is
3. A
4. Complete
5. Waste
6. Of
7. Time
8. Including
9. This
10. Post
11. I
12. Just
13. Wrote
 
This is after about 5 listens or so. Enjoyed the album the first few times, BUT the last listen really clicked for me in seeing how very strong this album is!

Rankings & ratings

1. Landlady (9.5)
2. Red Flag Day (9.5)
3. Summer of Love (9)
4. Lights of Home (9) * Love both versions. String remix is epic!
5. Love is All We Have Left (8.5)
6. 13 (8.5)
7. Little Things That Give You Away (8.5)
8. Get Out of Your Own Way (8)
9. Blackout (8)
10. Love is Bigger Than Anything in It's Way (7.5)
11. You're the Best Thing About Me (7)
12. The Showman (7)
13. Book of Your Heart (7)
14. American Soul (6)

I don't dislike ANY of the songs! American Soul is even more tolerable than at first. The Showman, while ranked low, is a nice change of pace that gets in my head.
 
Changing for the 3rd time:

1 - Red Flag Day
2 - Summer Of Love
3 - Lights of Home
4 - Love is Bigger Than Anything
5 - Little Things
6 - The Showman
7 - Love is all We Have Left
8 - Get out of Your Own Way
9 - 13
10 - Blackout
11 -You are the Best Thing
12 - American Soul
13 - Landlady
American Soul above Landlady.
Holy shit. Has the zombie apocalypse already happened and the soulless are walking among us?
 
American Soul above Landlady.
Holy shit. Has the zombie apocalypse already happened and the soulless are walking among us?

Have you already heard American Soul on the car, or on loud speakers? It's a rocker, with a nice guitar riff and a soaring chorus.
It's not the best song ever, but so isn't Landlady, a nice ballad, sometimes a little bit cheesy, but with a nice ending.
This album doesn't have a bad song.
 
Have you already heard American Soul on the car, or on loud speakers? It's a rocker, with a nice guitar riff and a soaring chorus.
It's not the best song ever, but so isn't Landlady, a nice ballad, sometimes a little bit cheesy, but with a nice ending.
This album doesn't have a bad song.
Landlady is the child of Promenade. American Soul is the child of Get On Your Boots.
Each to their own. Glad you're loving the album! Zombie... ?
 
Landlady
Love Is All We Have Left
Red Flag Day
Lights Of Home

Then the rest are all meh/skippable at the moment.
 
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Little Things
Love is Bigger
The Blackout
Summer of Love
Get out of your own way
Red Flag Day
Land Lady
Best Thing
13
Lights Of Home Strings
American Soul
Lights of Home
Showman
Book of your Heart
Love is all We have left

I'll have a proper review coming soon with ratings and comparisons to past albums as that is fun.
 
As ever with U2 , this will change and shuffle by the day - or even hour, lol - but my current snapshot of SOE:

Top of the Tops:
-----------
Red Flag Day
The Little Things.... (God this is a beautiful song)
Lights of Home
Blackout

Just a notch below:
------------------------
Summer of Love
Landlady

Liking them even though I know I'm being manipulated:
----------------------------------------------------------
You're the Best Thing...
Get Out of Your Own Way (this is close -- it's awfully shiny! but I can't help it)

Self-effacement can be fun:
-------------------------------
Showman (bah dah dah , DUH! -- bah-duh, duuuh!)

Growing on Me:
----------------------
13 (*ducks from the incoming artillery*)
Love Is All We Have Left

I'm trying - I really am.. this could leap upward.
-----------------------------
Book of Your Heart

Expending a valuable nanosecond to click "skip" and even that feels too long:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
American Soul
 
The obligatory "quoting my original ranking from 2 days ago" post:

Very Good:
1) The Little Things That Give You Away
2) Summer Of Love
3) Get Out Of Your Own Way
4) Lights Of Home
5) You're The Best Thing About Me
Good:
6) Landlady
7) The Blackout
8) Love Is All We Have Left
9) The Book Of Your Heart
Okay:
10) The Showman
11) 13
12) Red Flag Day
13) Love Is Bigger Than Anything In It's Way
Don't Care For:
14) American Soul


Having just listened to the album for the first time in over a week:

Great:
1) Lights Of Home
2) Get Out Of Your Own Way
3) The Little Things That Give You Away
4) The Blackout

Good:
5) Summer Of Love
6) You're The Best Thing About Me
7) Book Of Your Heart
8) Love Is All We Have Left
9) Red Flag Day

Okay:
10) Love Is Bigger Than Anything In Its Way
11) Landlady
12) 13
13) The Showman

Skip:
14) American Soul
 
As ever with U2 , this will change and shuffle by the day - or even hour, lol - but my current snapshot of SOE:



Top of the Tops:

-----------

Red Flag Day

The Little Things.... (God this is a beautiful song)

Lights of Home

Blackout



Just a notch below:

------------------------

Summer of Love

Landlady



Liking them even though I know I'm being manipulated:

----------------------------------------------------------

You're the Best Thing...

Get Out of Your Own Way (this is close -- it's awfully shiny! but I can't help it)



Self-effacement can be fun:

-------------------------------

Showman (bah dah dah , DUH! -- bah-duh, duuuh!)



Growing on Me:

----------------------

13 (*ducks from the incoming artillery*)

Love Is All We Have Left



I'm trying - I really am.. this could leap upward.

-----------------------------

Book of Your Heart



Expending a valuable nanosecond to click "skip" and even that feels too long:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

American Soul



What about “Love is Bigger”
 
What about “Love is Bigger”

Good gravy, how did I space and forget that one? First listen I wasn't wild about it, but it's starting to sink in now. I'd say it's midway up the rankings now, heading upward, in a new category called "But then I like Song for Someone, too" :)
 
1. The Little Things
2. The Blackout
3. Love is Bigger
4. Summer of Love
5. Landlady
6. Lights of Home
7. 13
8. Love is all we have left
9. Red Flag Day
10. The Showman
11. The Best Thing
12. American Soul
13. GOOYOW

There isn’t a “bad” song on this album, and many very good to excellent songs. Annoys me a bit that the songs they’re promoting the most are the 3 weakest songs in my ranking.

They should have made a much bigger deal out of The Blackout. Can’t understand why they haven’t performed this song live yet.
 
This is fun. First post. Signed up to post this.

1 The Little Things That Give You Away
2 Love is Bigger Than Anything In Its Way
3 Landlady
4 Lights of Home
5 13 There is a Light
6 Blackout
7 The Showman
8 Love is all We Have Left
9 You're the Best Thing About Me
10 Red Flag Day
11 American Soul
12 Get Out of Your Own Way
13 Summer Of Love

I rank the top three on my list as great U2 songs, ie maybe make a top 50 U2 all time list.

My biggest variance from the norm seems to be LIBTAIIW high and RFD low, compared to what it looked like was the consensus reviewing quickly the posts here.

Would be cool if someone could compile an average rankings from this thread.
 
Here goes:

1) Red Flag Day
2) Landlady
3) Summer of Love
4) Love Is All We Have Left
5) Lights of Home
6) The Little Things That Give You Away
7) The Blackout
8) 13 (There Is a Light)
9) The Showman
10) Love Is Bigger Than Anything In Its Way
11) American Soul
12) You're The Best Thing About Me
13) Get Out Of Your Own Way

Book of Your Heart is great, I think i'd probably sandwich it in between Little Things and Blackout.

i also quite like the St. Peters's String Version of Lights of Home, but I also like the album version a lot. So not entirely sure where I'd place it.

The Ordinary Love mix is fine, I don't care for another one really, although I don't have any major issues with the original song. This may be the strongest mix though and I liked the Paul Epworth one, which, if I recall, amplified the bass a bit.

Honestly, I enjoy just about the entire record, which is filled with great hooks and choruses. They really went for the ear worms here. Even the 3 weak tracks, AS, TBT & GOOYOW are decent enough. They just don't rank as highly as the rest. Not sure how'd I'd rank individual tracks as I am not a big fan of numerical ratings for songs.

I'm excited to hear how they'll play these songs live and to see which ones stick around. I don't necessarily think the singles will be the mainstays for future tours, but I guess that may depend on how they are received. I think TBT is charting alright enough, but haven't been following that.
 
Little Things................10/10
Love is Bigger Than.....9/10
Summer of Love...........9/10
Blackout........................8.5/10
Get Out of Your.............8/10
Red Flag Day.................7.5/10
Best Thing.....................7.5/10
Lights of Home(Strings) 7/10
Land Lady...................... 7/10
American Soul................6/10
Showman...................... 6/10
Light of Home................5.5/10
Book of Your Heart.......5.5/10
13...................................5/10
Love is all We Have....... 3/10

I have made no secret of how boring I think Ordinary Love is and I think it’s fucking odd as shit that it’s included in this album. With that said, this version is solid....7/10. I would rank it right with Land Lady(maybe above it).

This album is very good. I hate doing album rankings or saying “best since” but for me, there are more high points on this album than any album since Achtung. I’m NOT saying SOE is better than all those, I’m just saying there are more songs I would consider “good/great” on this album than most others since AB.
 
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I know this is fun, and pardon me if I'm buzz killing... But ranking songs on an album is kinda like ranking scenes in a movie, no?

Especially a band like U2 who strive to make "albums"
 
Figured I should contribute something.. This album is really well produced. I just listened to it on my home stereo... Wow, massive improvement over using head phones - and I do use the good ones.

This one really shines on an old fashion home theatre system!
 
My rank: (from 9 to 14 i'm sure...from 1 to 8 i'm constantly in doubt, every day something changes):
1. Love is Bigger Than Anything in It's Way
2. Summer of Love
3. Lights of Home (love string remix)
4. Little Things That Give You Away
5. 13
6. Get Out of Your Own Way
7. Love is All We Have Left
8. Red Flag Day
9. American Soul
10. The Blackout
11. The Showman
12. Landlady
13. Book of Your Heart
14. You're the Best Thing About Me
 
TLTTGYA
L
LoH
LIBTAIIW
SoL
13
RFD
LIAWHL
TS
TB
YTBTAM
TBOYH
GOOYOW
AS
#unnecessaryacronymslol
Little Things
Lights of Home
-----
Red Flag Day
Landlady
-----
Summer of Love
LIAWHL
13
-----
The Showman
Blackout
Best Thing
-----
Love Is Bigger...
Book Of Your Heart
GOOYOW
-----
...
-----
'Murican Soul/

Love Is Bigger... has had the biggest drop off for me, and, while GOOYOW maintains its second-to-last ranking, it's growing on me (or I've just learned to tolerate it a little more better). In regards to American Soul, I think I may actually like the song even less than before lol. I dunno, somethin' about that tune just compels me to hit "skip" harder than any U2 song before it (some perspective: I enjoy Song for Someone, don't mind Grace, tolerate A Man and A Woman, and think Stand Up Comedy is okay).
 
Just realized.. They MUST play American Soul live.. It will kick ass more than anything since Vertigo.

Hard album to rank... So many great tunes, and almost different genres. Shows what an incredible band U2. I wrote them off as done, lol. WRONG!

??????
 
I'm going to include book of your heart as it's just so brilliant.

1.red flag day
2. Summer of love
3. Book of your heart.
4. Love is all we have left
5. Landlady
6. Little things
7 lights of home
8 showman
9 Best thing
10 love Is bigger than
11 get out of your own way
12. 13
13. Blackout
14 american soul
 
Great:
1)American Soul
2)Lights of home
3)Get out of your own way
4)Landlady

Very Good:
5)You're the best thing about me
6)The showman
7)Love is all we have left
8)The little things that give you away

Pretty good:
9)Red flag day
10)Love is bigger than anything in its way
11)Summer of love

Meh:
12)13
13)Blackout

I expect they will play all of my top 4, and at least 3 of the next 4. Love is bigger than anything in its way could be a good show closer.
 
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This has turned out to be one of my favorites in their discography, I even have the vinyl of this album framed and hanging on my wall now. I really loved SOI too but the production of some of the songs really sucked the life out of it for me. I feel like SOE is nearly perfect with the only dull moments being American Soul and The Showman. The Showman not being terrible either. This is a U2 album I wouldn't mind showing off to my friends. I think it's incredible the band can still make music like this. I had such low expectations for this album with it being so late into their career and some of the early released tracks being so ehh. I hope this band can continue proving me wrong.

1. The Little Things That Give You Away (10/10)
2. Red Flag Day (10/10)
3. Love Is All We Have Left (10/10)
4. The Blackout (9/10)
5. Lights of Home (9/10)
6. Summer of Love (8/10)
7. Love Is Bigger Than Anything Its Way (8/10)
8. 13 (There is a Light) (8/10)
9. You're the Best Thing About Me (8/10)
10. Landlady (7/10)
11. Get Out of Your Own Way (7/10)
12. The Showman (5/10)
13. American Soul (4/10)
 
This has turned out to be one of my favorites in their discography, I even have the vinyl of this album framed and hanging on my wall now. I really loved SOI too but the production of some of the songs really sucked the life out of it for me. I feel like SOE is nearly perfect with the only dull moments being American Soul and The Showman. The Showman not being terrible either. This is a U2 album I wouldn't mind showing off to my friends. I think it's incredible the band can still make music like this. I had such low expectations for this album with it being so late into their career and some of the early released tracks being so ehh. I hope this band can continue proving me wrong.

1. The Little Things That Give You Away (10/10)
2. Red Flag Day (10/10)
3. Love Is All We Have Left (10/10)
4. The Blackout (9/10)
5. Lights of Home (9/10)
6. Summer of Love (8/10)
7. Love Is Bigger Than Anything Its Way (8/10)
8. 13 (There is a Light) (8/10)
9. You're the Best Thing About Me (8/10)
10. Landlady (7/10)
11. Get Out of Your Own Way (7/10)
12. The Showman (5/10)
13. American Soul (4/10)

Funny how you have American soul at the bottom, and I at the top. At least we agree it's a great album!

AS is the only true rock song on the album. Crank it up, give it another chance! For what it's worth, many critics concede that it's the one highlight. I wasn't crazy for it at first, but it's a true rocker, best since vertigo imo. (I actually like it more than vertigo). Wouldn't be surprised if they lean heavily on it live.
 
You know what song I've really been enjoying lately? Love Is Bigger... lol. Right after I mention how it lost a bit of its luster for me, I can't help but fall right back in love with it. C'est la vie <3
 
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