Q Review

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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. :sexywink: "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.
 
Good to know I'm not alone. I was telling everyone I knew that HTDAAB was going to be better than Achtung Baby, based on what Bono was saying, and it took several months to figure out how lame it was, but I still enjoy "Miracle Drug" and "Original of the Species" and "Fast Cars", but it's important to note that "Fast Cars" was left off the album because the band was somehow put off by its marketability and that's sad.

that might be an understatement. It is incredible that such a band with all that knowledge and all that productionskill behind them still managed to fuck up in the way they did.
They had gold in their hands with the bomm and left us with a cheap silver necklage. Let's move on however because there is a new album comming out so no need to care about that "middle of the midlifecrisesroad-disaster" anymore :up:
 
Meh... to me this is shaping up to be their 7th masterpiece. :heart: :hyper:
 
As far as I can tell, this thread is about getting ready for the Q review by debating each other's opinions of past albums. Then debating whether it's ok to have an opinion, or whether one opinion holds more water than another.

If there was a review, I missed it..

HAHA. Exactly right.
 
Is it just me, or was it obvious that the Observer and Q were going to give NLOTH high marks? I mean, U2 gave Q a lot of early details, and The Observer had the "behind the scenes" Q&A back in Fez (From Fez to Dublin and beyond, via presidents and royalty, Sean O'Hagan charts the making of the new U2 album | Music | The Observer) - more readers, more sales, more hits, etc.,. I don't want to assume that these positive reviews were given out of some misplaced affiliated gratuity, but it happens.............................. I really just want a review from someone who was more reluctant to give HTDAAB a 4 or 5-star rating.

Right on. Don't get me wrong--I'm very optimistic about this album. But these reviews were pretty predetermined.
 
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