monsieur fly
War Child
- Joined
- Sep 23, 2008
- Messages
- 793
First, AB has a great collection of singles on it - the type that U2 tried again with ATYCLB and HTDAAB. Yet those two albums get much hate on these boards, while AB is worshipped. I will admit that U2 succeeded with those singles more than they did with the singles on ATYCLB and HTDAAB, but there were plenty of fluff songs on AB. "Even Better..." is pure fluff. "Wild Horses" is really a silly love song. "One" is magnificent, but ask Axver about that. "Trying to Throw..." is one of my least favorite U2 songs ever. "Ultraviolet" has Bono at his lyrical worst, with a refrain of "baby, baby, baby... baby, baby, baby... baby, baby, baby, light my way" repeated endlessly.
But I can't help but wonder if the 'net was around then or if AB came out now how "generous" the fans would be with their praise. I have a feeling if AB came out now, following ATYCLB and HTDAAB, there would be a lot of complaints about another album of "singles" and Bono's vocals and silly lyrics and whatnot.
So perhaps, just perhaps, time will also be generous to U2's more recent work (after all, ATYCLB will be 10 next year!).
I do disagree with a lot in this post, though I will put my objections politely as taste can be a subjective thing.
1) In my opinion EBTTRT is not "pure fluff"- the very title is one of the cleverest U2 have come up with and the song beautifully sums up the hedonism of the 1990s- the "pure fluff" is the song's target.
2) Wild Horses a silly love song? With lines like "You left my heart, empty as a vacant lot for any spirit to haunt". I don't think silly is the right adjective here.
3) "Trying To Throw" is one of the album's lighter works but I think the melody is very pretty with some nice falsetto from Bono.
4) Ultraviolet has some outstanding lyrics. "You bury you're treasure, where it can't be found, you're love is like a secret that's been passed around", a quite devastating couplet. It is a true epic.
5) Bono's vocals and lyrics on AB are far superior when compared with his efforts on the last two albums. On AB he sang in a wonderfully rich croon, which had much of the power of his 80s voice combined with more sinister overtones. On the last two albums, his voice was a thin, grating screech. On AB, some of Bono's work came close to poetry (he got even better on Pop)- One, The Fly, So Cruel and Love Is Blindness especially are all incredible lyrical, provoking pieces. A lot of thought went behind them. On HTDAAB he was reduced to recycling soul and kneel almost constantly and some lines "till your face caught up with your pyschology" are unbelievably ugly and forced.
In short, AB was the work of a band at their peak, thriving on creative tension. ATYCLB and HTDAAB are the works of a group who just have nothing original at all to say.