Rate The Album: Songs of Innocence (2 1/2 months later)

[purpleoscar]

The Miracle (of Joey Ramone) 7/10
Every Breaking Wave 9/10
California (There is no end to love) 10/10
Song for someone 8/10
Iris (Hold me close) 10/10
Volcano 8/10
Raised by Wolves 8/10
Cedarwood Road 10/10
Sleep like a baby tonight 9/10
This is where you can reach me now 9/10
The Troubles 10/10

Bonus:
Invisible 7.5/10
Lucifer's Hands 3/10
Crystal Ballroom 9/10 This has really grown on me.

Achtung Baby
The Joshua Tree
Songs of Innocence
POP
All that you can't leave behind
War
Zooropa
No line on the horizon
The Unforgettable Fire
Boy
Rattle and Hum
How to dismantle an atomic bomb
October

 

[RaisedByWolves]

It's a great album, and I still think it's the best since ATYCLB. Sitting comfortably at #7 on my list of favorite U2 albums, because that Top 6 is untouchable.

Hey what are your top six? SOI ranks #7 on my list too.

 

[prbiker15]

Hey what are your top six? SOI ranks #7 on my list too.

AB, JT, Zooropa, ATYCLB, TUF and Pop, in that order. NLOTH comes right after SOI.

 

[thavidesco]

Ooops...allmost imposiible ATYCLB, POP above SOI, at least it shows how tastes can differ...

 

[CosmoKramer]

AB, JT, Zooropa, ATYCLB, TUF and Pop, in that order. NLOTH comes right after SOI.

For me PoP and Zooropa are probably out of the top 10 only ahead of October. TUF and ATYCLB are two very good albums that I would have on my Top 7 too(or top 8 at worst).

But opinions are just that....


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[youarenotimmune]

Agree completely. The first listen, I was kind of horrified with the first half of the album. The second, I softened slightly. Then I didn't really listen much for the next month or so. It was probably two months in before I started thinking "holy shit, this is a great album, front to back." Which kind of sucks for non-fans, because I'm not sure that they are going to have the patience to listen and let this grow. People seem to have media ADHD now. I'm a giant fan, so I was obviously motivated to keep listening...but there are a ton of other bands for whom I would have given one listen and thought "whatever...not my thing," and left it at that.

On top of this, the release strategy rendered the whole idea of early critical reviews (where publications receive advance copies of albums) defunct. And since no one was going to wait (in today's culture of media ADHD, as you rightly said) to let the music gestate before reviewing it, what we got was essentially a slew of half-assed, first-listen reviews.

I've never cared about the critical reception (and perception) of music, but with this album, the critical reviews were particularly meaningless.

 

[thavidesco]

I agree, this album especially needs a few more listens to discover its depth and uniqueness. The critics failed badly with their next day after release premature reviews.

 

[gvox]

Right because oh what a difference 72 hrs of non-stop SOI on repeat can make


Sent from my ass crack

 

[LemonMelon]

Right because oh what a difference 72 hrs of non-stop SOI on repeat can make

Sounds like a nightmare.

Spoiler

 

[SpiralStaircase]

The Miracle: 6/10
Every Breaking Wave: 8/10
California: 8/10
Song for Someone: 8/10
Iris: 9/10
Volcano: 7/10
Raised by Wolves: 8/10
Cedarwood Road: 5/10
Sleep Like a Baby: 7/10
This is where you can reach me now: 8/10
The Troubles: 7/10

Av: 7.36

I'm still listening to it now and again, but there are one or two I skip. Seeing the songs in a live setting may well bring them to life a bit, I'm particularly looking forward to "Reach me now"

 

[hasin73]

9 out of 10. A great album with repeat value.

 

[KUEFC09U2]

Still enjoying it just as much if not more, just a shame it was tarnished with all the negativity


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[yenlard]

Reading the paper this morning and some writer at the Los Angeles times voted soi as the worst album of the year. More hate

 

[Bluer White]

The Miracle: 8.5
Every Breaking Wave: 6.0
California: 8.0
Song for Someone: 8.5
Iris: 9.0
Volcano: 5.0
Raised by Wolves: 5.0
Cedarwood Road: 8.5
Sleep Like a Baby: 5.0
Reach Me Now: 7.0
Troubles: 9.5

 

[U2girl]

9 out of 10. A great album with repeat value.

Best since AB.

 

[CosmoKramer]

Best since AB.

I fully support this statement.

Well said!


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[Super Yo]

Best since AB.

This.

 

[digitize]

SoI is my least favorite album since R&H, save for Bomb.


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[CosmoKramer]

SoI is my least favorite album since R&H, save for Bomb.


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I like Bomb and I also think that R&H minus the live cuts is a really great album. If they included Bad, With or Without you, Streets and IGC live and dumped silver and gold, freedom for my people and all along the watchtower live.....that would have been really amazing.




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[bobsaget77]

......or if they just made it a double album with live tracks as a disc 2 and made disc 1 just studio songs and included songs like Heartbreak Hotel and Hallelujah Here She Comes. That would've made a great album. And leaving SBS and Exit off of the album? Wtf? 2 best on RH movie.


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[CosmoKramer]

......or if they just made it a double album with live tracks as a disc 2 and made disc 1 just studio songs and included songs like Heartbreak Hotel and Hallelujah Here She Comes. That would've made a great album. And leaving SBS and Exit off of the album? Wtf? 2 best on RH movie.


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Good call with those two songs, not bad songs at all. I would have also liked if they didn't release Silver and Gold as a b-side and polished it up a little and put it on R&H.


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[bobsaget77]

I would have also liked if they didn't release Silver and Gold as a b-side and polished it up a little and put it on R&H.


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There's a bunch of songs that they wasted from the JT era. Spanish Eyes, Silver & Gold, Luminous Times, Rise Up, etc. Should've worked em a bit more (except Spanish Eyes; it's perfect the way it is) and released on R&H.


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[Musikwala]

Best since Pop. Not AB.

 

[KUEFC09U2]

Still sad the amount of hate this album gets, I know people say it shouldn't matter what others think but it does taint the whole experience a little


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[djerdap]

Life's a bitch.

 

[CosmoKramer]

Still sad the amount of hate this album gets, I know people say it shouldn't matter what others think but it does taint the whole experience a little


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The album isn't getting the hate, it's more the band as a whole die to the release method and to a lesser extent Bono because....well....he's Bono.


If you go to iTunes and look at the 1 star reviews of the album, a sizable portion mention in their "description" that they refused to listen to any songs because it was "forced" on them. This is similar to a lot of the Social media comments. That's not to say there are not those that listened and hated it but the majority of the hate is not directed at the album.

Btw.....look at the number of 5 star reviews it has on iTunes, ~5k. That compares to ~2k for NLOTH. Also, amazons average customer rating is 4.2/5.




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[thavidesco]

I give a fuck what others think, I´m proud of the band they recorded such a wonderful and musically challenging album and I still didn´t fully realize how lucky we are to get such a great album suddenly out of clear blue sky As time goes by, it prooves how excellent this album is.

U2 rulez!

 

[RaisedByWolves]

I give a fuck what others think, I´m proud of the band they recorded such a wonderful and musically challenging album and I still didn´t fully realize how lucky we are to get such a great album suddenly out of clear blue sky As time goes by, it prooves how excellent this album is.

U2 rulez!

well said. ditto for me.

 

[CosmoKramer]

I give a fuck what others think, I´m proud of the band they recorded such a wonderful and musically challenging album and I still didn´t fully realize how lucky we are to get such a great album suddenly out of clear blue sky As time goes by, it prooves how excellent this album is.

U2 rulez!

Cosmo supports this statement 100%!


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[MrPryck2U]

After 3 months of listening (with breaks in between ) to Songs of Innocence, I believe it is U2's best work since Achtung Baby. That isn't a knock on U2's work from 1993-2009. Plenty of great stuff during that time.It's just that I can easily put on SOI and let it play with no urge to skip songs. They're all good to great. AB had no skippers. I loved Zooropa, but I used to skip Numb. It's not a horrible song, but I just didn't need to hear it. Miami and Playboy were skippers from Pop. I skipped Grace from ATYCLB. One Step Closer from Bomb. Stand Up Comedy from No Line. 2014 wasn't exactly the greatest year, but I sure am glad U2 released this awesome album.