LP15 - We're due for a break from the norm

[Mack_Again]

all post-Pop albums are bad and you guys are in denial

 

[LemonMelon]

all post-Pop albums are bad and you guys are in denial

[emoji38]

SOI and SOE are definitely not great.

 

[lazarus]

Wish I had the free time to hang out on a forum for a band that I don’t think has done anything good in 20 years.

 

[Mack_Again]

Wish I had the free time to hang out on a forum for a band that I don’t think has done anything good in 20 years.

oh hey Laz if you have that much of a free time can you figure out why my S Pombe transformation don't work? it's really affecting my experimental plans and I'm getting extremely impatient by now. im literally following protocol and using the right plasmid.

 

[rennowba]

all post-Pop albums are bad and you guys are in denial

The only post pop bad album for me is no line on the horizon.

 

[Mack_Again]

I'm angry that Laz hasn't answered me

 

[Axver]

To me having a negative feeling about Grace would be like disliking MLK or The Ocean

...they're all the worst song on their respective album.

Actually Grace has competition, and it also has more redeeming qualities than MLK, which is an intro looking for a song. MLK finally found its place live, as the start of UF.

Wish I had the free time to hang out on a forum for a band that I don’t think has done anything good in 20 years.

I wonder this sometimes.

U2 could have released nothing in the past 20 years and I would not feel their discography is lessened in the slightest. But I'd have also missed out on all the experiences I've had thanks to this forum. Crazy to think they'd only put out one dud album when I joined (which I liked a bit more back then, though it still was not a favourite).

 

[Kieran McConville]

It's weird, I get the comfort-blanket angle, but the U2/Eno/Lanois connection was so long-running throughout their peak era that I think of them more as sorely missed limbs. Almost to the extent that U2 without them is like post-Berry R.E.M.

As Michael Stipe quipped, a three legged dog is still a dog, right? Yeah, but it can't hunt all that well.

Now, ok, not quite. They did very creditable work without the pair (Rattle & Hum, POP), but still.

 

[Kieran McConville]

If R.E.M. were a dog:

If U2 were a dog:

 

[Mack_Again]

wait REM was Alice in Chains?

 

[Kieran McConville]

Yes, that's right. R.E.M. was Alice in Chains.

 

[lazarus]

It's weird, I get the comfort-blanket angle, but the U2/Eno/Lanois connection was so long-running throughout their peak era that I think of them more as sorely missed limbs. Almost to the extent that U2 without them is like post-Berry R.E.M.

As Michael Stipe quipped, a three legged dog is still a dog, right? Yeah, but it can't hunt all that well.

Now, ok, not quite. They did very creditable work without the pair (Rattle & Hum, POP), but still.

I mean I was really just thinking out loud, and as I said only part of me might think going back to Eno/Lanois was a small concession of defeat. But one could argue that any band still going after 40 years is desperate in one way or another. It certainly wouldn’t be worse than working with Tedder and Epworth.

Ultimately, other than them hiring Nigel Godrich there aren’t many others I’d be comfortable with at this point.

 

[Kieran McConville]

Maybe they should just let The Edge do it. I know, harhar. But some bands do produce themselves.

I suspect U2 aren't one of them.

 

[lazarus]

I’m sure he’s capable. The only reason he wouldn’t is probably because it would throw off the democratic arrangement they have.

 

[Kieran McConville]

Yeah, true... although that democratic arrangement, like the unchanging band lineup itself, is as much mythos as reality, I often think (no, it's not a myth that their lineup has never changed, but that fact in itself is crucial to their myth). It wouldn't look so bad on paper if they just credited production as 'U2', maybe.

Never happen, though. They simply aren't that kind of band.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Edge has been a defacto producer on the past couple of albums as it is. Do we really want more of that?

 

[Axver]

Didn't he also do a fair bit of the production on Zooropa?

 

[Kieran McConville]

He did, and I wouldn't have a problem with more of that... but that was a long time ago.

 

[Mack_Again]

id stop complaining if Flying Lotus produces next U2 album,

 

[HansaTonImbiss]

all post-Pop albums are bad and you guys are in denial

The original track listing of ATYCLB, combined with replacing Wild Honey with Electrical Storm (original Eno mix) and then putting ES right before the finale of Grace, makes it a near masterpiece. That is 3rd for me behind JT and AB.

But yes, there have been mostly duds and three albums I'd soundly seat in the bottom five of their catalog.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Can someone repost the original track listing? I forget what it was

 

[HansaTonImbiss]

Can someone repost the original track listing? I forget what it was

Per the U2 website back in the day:

1. Beautiful Day
2. Elevation
3. Walk On
4. Stuck
5. Peace on Earth
6. Kite
7. New York
8. In a Little While
9. Wild Honey
10. When I Look at the World
11. Grace

So basically I keep that but replace Wild Honey with Electrical Storm (original mix) and swap its order with When I look. So much more balanced and a definite side A/side B feel that works. Peace also elevates as a song when put behind Stuck and before Kite, as opposed to being buried in the album a bit.

 

[lazarus]

Agreed on POE. Though I’d still close the album with WILATW, which also benefits from a penultimate placement. I don’t include Electrical Storm because I think it’s wannabe Oasis crap.

 

[HansaTonImbiss]

Agreed on POE. Though I’d still close the album with WILATW, which also benefits from a penultimate placement. I don’t include Electrical Storm because I think it’s wannabe Oasis crap.

Even the non-William Orbit Eno version? I was "meh" on it until I heard that, which is a far more muscular take with Edge way further up in the mix.

 

[lazarus]

You mean the other one on the Best of 1990-2000? I don't like either. And I don't see Eno credited anywhere.

 

[HansaTonImbiss]

You mean the other one on the Best of 1990-2000? I don't like either. And I don't see Eno credited anywhere.

I think that's the one but could be wrong. To each their own - I also love Stateless on there but that also seems somewhat out of place with these songs. ES fits a bit better to me, at least more than Wild Honey. Honestly it's strong with 10 songs too but this band rarely goes for that.

 

[dan_smee]

That track list is way better. Replace Grace with TGBHF

 

[lazarus]

Stateless and TGBHF deserve better than be included with the safe material on ATYCLB. Let them exist separately as the last gasp of 90s U2.

 

[rennowba]

Ground beneath her feet should have been a true atyclb track, instead of being a bonus track

Peace on earth wasn’t track 5 was it? Wasn’t it towards the back end of the album ?

 

[tongueinmyear]

Per the U2 website back in the day:

1. Beautiful Day
2. Elevation
3. Walk On
4. Stuck
5. Peace on Earth
6. Kite
7. New York
8. In a Little While
9. Wild Honey
10. When I Look at the World
11. Grace

So basically I keep that but replace Wild Honey with Electrical Storm (original mix) and swap its order with When I look. So much more balanced and a definite side A/side B feel that works. Peace also elevates as a song when put behind Stuck and before Kite, as opposed to being buried in the album a bit.

Wow I never knew this. I'm a fan of ATYCLB, but that tracklisting makes much more sense, great flow.