Neil McCormick comments on NLOTH

[ramblin rose]

I like HTDAAB

Luckily my enjoyment of music is not dependent on other people's opinion.

 

[MMP]

The unfortunate consequence of U2 waiting so damn long to release the album, and then wait even longer than usual to release tracklist and single information is that my reaction is less "ohhh new U2 " than it is "eh...about fucking time."

This is still nice to hear though.

You like R.E.M. too??

Anyway, great review. Now I have high hopes. Cause this guy liked Bomb and I loved (and still do) Bomb. Now he loves this new one, probably I will....

 

[Rosebud]

I love HTDAAB too. It feels very classic rock to me. Not archaic, just classic.

 

[LemonMelon]

He must have been on crack comparing Crumbs to One. Thanks for the heads up. This is a very biased review on a crap album. I'm not so excited anymore.

Are you kidding me? Everyone here thought HTDAAB was a fucking masterpiece upon release. Probably even you. Then they got bored with it the next day and the fact that U2's name was on the cover was no longer enough for them. I'd be much more interested to find out what he thinks of it today than what he thought of it in 2004.

 

[atomicman]

The write up is a great read and I am very much looking forward to NLOTH

 

[LemonMelon]

You like R.E.M. too??

Oh yeah, we go way back. I started getting into them around the time Bomb was released.

 

[MMP]

Oh yeah, we go way back. I started getting into them around the time Bomb was released.

Same for me.... actually it was a U2 fan which made me start. What's your fav?

On-topic:

I'm so glad to be a person that loves all U2's albums and have no problem in say that and doesn't need to make stupid commentaries about Bon Jovi and other stuff and say that likes post-rock just to look like he understands a damn thing abut music. Those people annoy me

 

[LemonMelon]

Same for me.... actually it was a U2 fan which made me start. What's your fav?

1. Automatic (probably top 10 all-time)
2. Murmur
3. Document

And then there are a bunch I'm fond of, like Up and Monster, that I wouldn't list.

There's a distinct overlap between those two fanbases that I find very interesting. There are many R.E.M. fans here at interference.

 

[JOFO]

Are you kidding me? Everyone here thought HTDAAB was a fucking masterpiece upon release. Probably even you. Then they got bored with it the next day and the fact that U2's name was on the cover was no longer enough for them. I'd be much more interested to find out what he thinks of it today than what he thought of it in 2004.

That's the problem with HTDAAB; it doesn't have that "timeless" quality to it...it's a collection of good tunes.
When I first heard it I was gaga over it; I even said it was way better than ATYCLB. Some how over the course of a year maybe, the thrill was gone.
What's funny is that I really like alot of the tunes most here don't: I like One Step Closer, Miracle Drug, Yahweh, COBL...but I can't stand Vertigo, ABOY, or SYCMIOYO.

 

[purpleoscar]

1. Automatic (probably top 10 all-time)
2. Murmur
3. Document

And then there are a bunch I'm fond of, like Up and Monster, that I wouldn't list.

There's a distinct overlap between those two fanbases that I find very interesting. There are many R.E.M. fans here at interference.

I love Reckoning.

 

[MMP]

1. Automatic (probably top 10 all-time)
2. Murmur
3. Document

And then there are a bunch I'm fond of, like Up and Monster, that I wouldn't list.

There's a distinct overlap between those two fanbases that I find very interesting. There are many R.E.M. fans here at interference.

Hmmm...So you're mostly an 80's fan.

My top 3 would be: Automatic / Monster / New Adventures In Hi-Fi or Around the Sun heart:)

But I do love 80's R.E.M. I think the only R.E.M. album that I don't enjoy listen is Reveal.

 

[cjboog]

1. Automatic (probably top 10 all-time)
2. Murmur
3. Document

And then there are a bunch I'm fond of, like Up and Monster, that I wouldn't list.

There's a distinct overlap between those two fanbases that I find very interesting. There are many R.E.M. fans here at interference.

ACCELERATE

 

[LemonMelon]

That's the problem with HTDAAB; it doesn't have that "timeless" quality to it...it's a collection of good tunes.
When I first heard it I was gaga over it; I even said it was way better than ATYCLB. Some how over the course of a year maybe, the thrill was gone.
What's funny is that I really like alot of the tunes most here don't: I like One Step Closer, Miracle Drug, Yahweh, COBL...but I can't stand Vertigo, ABOY, or SYCMIOYO.

I can understand one's interest waning in the record, but I've always found the dropoff many experienced with the album to border on the absurd. I've never come to despise an album I once loved, unless it was something I listened to as a toddler.

But I will say that I'm not passionate about the album as I once was. Then again, I'm not as passionate about most of U2's albums, as I've played them all hundreds of times.

 

[LPU2]

Seriously people. I know everyone has a difference opinion on Bomb but can we please give some credit where credit is due?

How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb was ranked...

#1 Album of 2004 by USA Today
#1 Album of 2004 by Paste Magazine
#1 Album of 2004 by the New York Times
#2 Album of 2004 by the Los Angeles Times
#3 Album of 2004 by Live Daily
#4 Album of 2004 by Q Magazine
#8 Album of 2004 by Village Voice
Top 50 Albums of 2004 by Rolling Stone

Not to mention the album won 8 Grammys...

Exactly what was going through my head reading everyone's bombastic Bomb bash schtick. It's not Baby or Tree, but if 8 grammies and consistently glowing critical praise is not hitting it out of the park, it's definitely a dope-free 3-run triple.

Good Lord, everyone's expectations are enormous! Which is great, but let's not forget, by all historical rights, U2 30 years on should be playing triple-dinosaur-bill tractor pulls in Wichita, not releasing #1 albums, selling out stadiums, and writing songs the coolest company in the world wants to use to promote their latest hot product.

What we're witnessing now is a bewildering endurance of quality and relevance, the likes of which rock and roll has never seen. Enjoy it! You may not have liked HTDAAB, but it's a little silly to call it crap.

 

[cjboog]

Good Lord, everyone's expectations are enormous! Which is great, but let's not forget, by all historical rights, U2 30 years on should be playing triple-dinosaur-bill tractor pulls in Wichita, not releasing #1 albums, selling out stadiums, and writing songs the coolest company in the world wants to use to promote their latest hot product.

What we're witnessing now is a bewildering endurance of quality and relevance, the likes of which rock and roll has never seen. Enjoy it!

 

[bonocomet]

I'll add my to that, well said!

 

[MMP]

Exactly what was going through my head reading everyone's bombastic Bomb bash schtick. It's not Baby or Tree, but if 8 grammies and consistently glowing critical praise is not hitting it out of the park, it's definitely a dope-free 3-run triple.

Good Lord, everyone's expectations are enormous! Which is great, but let's not forget, by all historical rights, U2 30 years on should be playing triple-dinosaur-bill tractor pulls in Wichita, not releasing #1 albums, selling out stadiums, and writing songs the coolest company in the world wants to use to promote their latest hot product.

What we're witnessing now is a bewildering endurance of quality and relevance, the likes of which rock and roll has never seen. Enjoy it! You may not have liked HTDAAB, but it's a little silly to call it crap.

 

[Acrobat51829]

Exactly what was going through my head reading everyone's bombastic Bomb bash schtick. It's not Baby or Tree, but if 8 grammies and consistently glowing critical praise is not hitting it out of the park, it's definitely a dope-free 3-run triple.

Good Lord, everyone's expectations are enormous! Which is great, but let's not forget, by all historical rights, U2 30 years on should be playing triple-dinosaur-bill tractor pulls in Wichita, not releasing #1 albums, selling out stadiums, and writing songs the coolest company in the world wants to use to promote their latest hot product.

What we're witnessing now is a bewildering endurance of quality and relevance, the likes of which rock and roll has never seen. Enjoy it! You may not have liked HTDAAB, but it's a little silly to call it crap.

Brilliant.

 

[samb_uk]

Exactly what was going through my head reading everyone's bombastic Bomb bash schtick. It's not Baby or Tree, but if 8 grammies and consistently glowing critical praise is not hitting it out of the park, it's definitely a dope-free 3-run triple.

Good Lord, everyone's expectations are enormous! Which is great, but let's not forget, by all historical rights, U2 30 years on should be playing triple-dinosaur-bill tractor pulls in Wichita, not releasing #1 albums, selling out stadiums, and writing songs the coolest company in the world wants to use to promote their latest hot product.

What we're witnessing now is a bewildering endurance of quality and relevance, the likes of which rock and roll has never seen. Enjoy it! You may not have liked HTDAAB, but it's a little silly to call it crap.

Great post, puts things into perspective

 

[digitize]

This is the best review of Bomb.

Kidding, kidding. I like the Bomb. Always have.

 

[The_acrobat]

Hmmm...So you're mostly an 80's fan.

My top 3 would be: Automatic / Monster / New Adventures In Hi-Fi or Around the Sun heart:)

But I do love 80's R.E.M. I think the only R.E.M. album that I don't enjoy listen is Reveal.

I am also a big REM fan. My favorite period of the band is by far the IRS years. While they got better as musicians and songwriters in the 90s, it can't compete with the raw quality of a young, energetic band playing together without any assistence from extra musicians and background sequencers. I also feel this way about U2.

Back on topic....... HTDAAB is a good (not great) album IMO, with some phenomenal tracks and some not so much. Each day I grow a little more mad leading up to NLOTH. Even though I know it'll be worth the wait, this is driving me nuts. PLAY THE DAMN SINGLE SOMEBODY!!!!!!!

 

[2861U2]

This is the best review of Bomb.

Kidding, kidding. I like the Bomb. Always have.

Oh God. I remember that.

 

[phillyfan26]

This is the best review of Bomb.

Kidding, kidding. I like the Bomb. Always have.

He's blatantly taking the piss, but "the soundtrack of a coma" line is still one of my favorite music reviews ever.

 

[SamuelSmeloc]

Oh God. I remember that.

Yeah, that guy is a joke!

 

[cjboog]

This is the best review of Bomb.

_______

"As for the "Vertigo" song itself, it's a mix of twangy guitars, unnecessary spanish, and Bono's stupid glasses. By the way, just because a singer wears stupid goggles doesn't mean that they're suddenly cool or hip. Oooh look! Bono the rock star is wearing redneck Nascar goggles, let's all fellate him for being so rebellious; take that Hollywood! They're still the same goggles that dumbass Nascar fans wear to every boring Nascar "event." Man I hate Nascar."

That is HILARIOUS.

 

[U2DMfan]

More Neil McCormick on HTDAAB

The album is a great album of big songs. It refers back to practically every period of U2’s musical history and yet it sounds like a cohesive album. It’s not dissimilar to All That You Can’t Leave Behind in terms of the fact that there are some very structured songs in there. It’s got more flow, it’s got more guitars, and it just hangs together that little bit better. It’s a great album.

Granted, he probably only heard it a handful of times when he said that. We all know even Bono would disagree with the statement about how it "hangs together that little bit better"

 

[dan_smee]

This is the best review of Bomb.

Kidding, kidding. I like the Bomb. Always have.

hahahaha, this guy is mentally insane!

I love how the whole review is about how arogant up up themselves U2 are, then the button to go back to the home page, rather than saying "Home" says "back to how good I am"

hmmmm

 

[U2DMfan]

Check out what McCormick had to say .... But they were still recording up to the last minute. I was around in the studio a couple of days before the end, and Edge was laying down keyboards and Bono was doing vocals and changing lyrics. In fact, Bono is such an inclusive individual, he kept asking me what I thought of this lyric and that lyric, and which verse should go before which, so I feel as if I have contributed in some small way to this record.

And this is (part of) what many feared in the NLOTH delay.

Going back and tweaking it just that one more time to get it right.
And then that one more time turns into one more time.
Before you know it, you're asking the mailman if it's any good because you are too close to the music to be able to tell anymore.

I do think that this album is clearly trying to do something different.
That's all we can really ask for. It will either be music to our ears or not.

 

[Anji]

Agree with everything there. Living in England there is definitely a lot of anti-Bono vibes around. It always makes me really annoyed, but then I remember its futile to get annoyed and most people aren't even up for giving the music a chance.

Exactly! pisses me off! A) people just DON'T "get him" and B) We don't do compliments here, especially not to someone who is not English!

I used to defend my love of U2, can't be fagged anymore

Brill article! But remember the only review that should count is your own

 

[PowerSurge]

Exactly what was going through my head reading everyone's bombastic Bomb bash schtick. It's not Baby or Tree, but if 8 grammies and consistently glowing critical praise is not hitting it out of the park, it's definitely a dope-free 3-run triple.

Good Lord, everyone's expectations are enormous! Which is great, but let's not forget, by all historical rights, U2 30 years on should be playing triple-dinosaur-bill tractor pulls in Wichita, not releasing #1 albums, selling out stadiums, and writing songs the coolest company in the world wants to use to promote their latest hot product.

What we're witnessing now is a bewildering endurance of quality and relevance, the likes of which rock and roll has never seen. Enjoy it! You may not have liked HTDAAB, but it's a little silly to call it crap.

I agree with most of what you're saying, but look at it this way....one of the reasons why bands don't last as long as U2 or those that do but aren't as successful as U2 is that they keep topping themselves over and over again. The expectations that the general public puts on them becomes more and more extreme with each album. Most bands crush under the pressure OR just keep pumping out the same old tired shit....Aerosmith anybody? They've been around a LONG time but do they really have relevance? but I digress.

My point is, are we really that out of line to have extremely high expectations? I mean shouldn't we? They keep delivering each time, why would we lower our expectations???? Do we really need another Aerosmith?

You are absolutely right...we've never seen anything like this. The Stones still tour but aren't relevant, The Beatles STOPPED touring way back when and contiued making albums but even that well ran dry. You have to give U2 a ton of credit for doing what very few if any have done....but you also have to have high expectations...because what other band in the world right now can meet or exceed these kind of expectations?