Roughly 3 months later, where does NLOTH fall in your album rankings

[corianderstem]

must ... not .... listen to bootleg ..... keep holding .... out ......

 

[mikal]

I agree--and am somewhat surprised. All of my die-hard friends, including me, find it to be good record, but definitely the weakest of the post AB era--with their two worst songs ever, Crazy and SUC.

What is odd is how it is almost universally lauded on this board as one of their best. I just don't see it. The songs are not there. To rank it ahead of JT, AB, POP, and ATYCLB is laughable IMO.

how are Crazy and SUC any worse than:

Playboy Mansion
Peace On Earth
Wild Honey
A Man And A Woman
All Because Of You
Babyface


?

 

[corianderstem]

Stand Up Comedy is still by far the weakest track. Crazy is next on the list, although there's a huge gap between it and SUC.

I can't explain why I dislike it so much.

 

[No spoken words]

I think Crazy is a nice little piece of pop music by a rock band.

But, despite my overall liking of the album, I cannot pretend to like SUC. I think it's horrid and am glad that it's not being played Live. But, that's just me, I know plenty of people that like it.

I don't know where I rank NLOTH overall, but I do know that I still like listening to it and it certainly is a lot better than the previous 2 albums, IN MY OPINION.

 

[corianderstem]

I think it's so funny how I find the first half of Crazy just kind of ... eh. And then the "baby baby baby" bit kicks in, and from there to the end, it's amazing and makes me so happy.

 

[No spoken words]

I hope you get ready for a remix-kick to the spine in Chicago.

 

[corianderstem]

Yes. I really, really am.

Please be ready to catch me if the song causes me to do a full Douchebag Swoon.

 

[No spoken words]

Yes. I really, really am.

Please be ready to catch me if the song causes me to do a full Douchebag Swoon.

I will reach over the empty seat where Scumbo the pansy asshole should have been sitting and prevent you from hitting the concrete.

 

[corianderstem]

'ppreciate it, man.

 

[mikal]

yeah. there's no doubt that crazy and suc are weak, but i think that's also a result of the other 9 songs being so great.

 

[sue4u2]

I wasn't crazy about "Crazy Tonight" untill the tour started. Now it is giving me chills,
Will this happen with Stand Up Comedy? I don't know.
These was the only 2 that were not working for me in the beginning.

I'll go crazy has worked for me live and in remix.
The jury is sill out for me, with Stand Up.

 

[Earnie Shavers]

how are Crazy and SUC any worse than:

Playboy Mansion
Peace On Earth
Wild Honey
A Man And A Woman
All Because Of You
Babyface


?

Crazy would be one of the better tracks on HTDAAB, but that still holds it well below the standard of the vast majority of NLOTH. I don’t think it’s ‘bad’ as such, just remarkably dull, plain, uninteresting, boring etc. SUC is just… embarrassing. IMO, it’s among their very worst. Ever. Would fit neatly on HTDAAB as well. Not NLOTH.

What I think of your list - Playboy, Peace on Earth – way better than SUC/Crazy. Wild Honey, Man and a Woman, certainly not amongst their best, but they’re not terrible songwriting, just not good U2 songs. Both would be solid, fun b-sides though. Babyface is incredibly weak, but for whatever reason it doesn’t make me cringe. SUC makes me physically cringe. I’d put All Because of You firmly up there with SUC in my personal Worst Ever list.

 

[djparky]

I still play it regularly- think it's a great album. SUC is my least favourite track on it but I still like the track anyway

and all the new stuff sounds wonderful live

 

[powerhour24]

Untouchable masterpieces:
Achtung Baby
Joshua Tree
---
Almost there song-collections:
No Line on the Horizon
War
Atomic Bomb
The Unforgettable Fire
ATYCLB

Interesting Experiments, a little undercooked:
Zooropa
Pop
Rattle and Hum
Passengers

Young, still growing, but great potential:
Boy
October

Other than a song or two here and there I don't dislike anything U2's done, I just wish they would trust their instincts more when it comes to what they're making, atmospheric/handplayed influences on top of U2's signature sound = a brilliant 21st century album in NLOTH, unfortunately they reined it in a bit, Atomic Bomb as U2's sound in raw/garage rock form with mature self-investigating lyrics would have also been great for the time, but the overproduction, and not trusting of some of their creations make it a bit imperfect as well. They have the best intentions, put more of themselves into their music when it comes to heart and emotion than anyone else, but despite their history of changing, now it seems they're a tad too hesitant. When it comes to the 90's they pushed themselves very far and matched it with semi-cynical and dark, but truly personal lyrics and it all worked perfectly for AB, they took it as far as it could and gave it the smoothness the album needed, with Zooropa and Pop (and somewhat R&H previously) they either didn't go the extra mile needed to make the conceit of the project work perfectly, or just didn't give themselves enough time to make it work.

Their desire to create and change and their past history gives me hope that we might have a great experimental record (SOA??) and hopefully a great new sound in a completely cohesive album at some point, I just hope they can step over the hiccups they've had that have prevented that recently.

That said, I the NLOTH we did get.

 

[angelordevil]

I wasn't crazy about "Crazy Tonight" untill the tour started. Now it is giving me chills...

Me, too. It's maybe a sad commentary on how easily influenced I am by corporate culture, but that new Blackberry ad has me loving the song even more.

I think those first 20 seconds might actually trump the entire last album.

 

[No spoken words]

SUC makes me physically cringe. I’d put All Because of You firmly up there with SUC in my personal Worst Ever list.

I could not agree more.

 

[U2Girl1978]

Is this the first album of theirs where the album title is also the song title? I don't think they have done that with any of their other albums, have they?

 

[rwhite]

Don't quite get why so many seem to be beating on SUC so much! I think it's quite a rousing number and I like it a lot, but then I like every song on this fine album. SUC probably is weaker lyrically but you can't expect Bono to be profound on every song, can you? Maybe it's just something they just wanted to have some fun with. NLOTH (the album) is a great return to form from their previous substandard (IMO) album but would still rank overall somewhere in the middle of the pack. Bomb ranks last to me, while JT, AB & Boy are the top three (probably in that order). October is a bit weak & uncohesive, so it's most likely 2nd to last. The other ones in the middle are too hard to rank. They keep shifting, depending on how I feel!

 

[U2girl]

Is this the first album of theirs where the album title is also the song title? I don't think they have done that with any of their other albums, have they?

October. The Unforgettable fire. Zooropa.

eta: Boots has grown on me and it's no longer the weak link. SUC never bothered me but Crazy is starting to get old.

 

[An Cat Gav]

Stand Up Comedy is the only song on the album I skip every time. I really like IGCIIDGCT and I worship Boots, great song.

 

[LemonMelon]

I’d put All Because of You firmly up there with SUC in my personal Worst Ever list.

I've always been fond of ABOY. At the very least, it has a melody, a consistent lyrical theme, and is arranged logically. SUC is a bunch of disparate individual pieces that never coalesce. You can see the seams without having to look all that carefully.

 

[powerhour24]

The original version of ABOY is great, and really fits the concept of Bomb as a simple, garage-rock kind of U2... unfortunately as with most of the Bomb they tampered with it.

 

[mobvok]

I've always been fond of ABOY. At the very least, it has a melody, a consistent lyrical theme, and is arranged logically. SUC is a bunch of disparate individual pieces that never coalesce. You can see the seams without having to look all that carefully.

One dislikable common thread I've picked up on between HTDAAB and NLOTH is how awkward some of the song construction is, the transitions that ring flat to the ear. I think that's different than plain disliking a song- they might go down a wrong road melodically with a song like Grace or ASOH reject, for example, but U2 follows the road the melody takes them and fleshes them out well enough that it's a respectable effort even if I'm not listening to them a lot on iTunes.

Songs like COBL or GOYB go down a wrong road and veer off the path. The Tiiimmmee at 4:00 in COBL or the post drums finale of GOYB or Vertigo where they just sort of crank the chorus a little louder and hope that carries it out, or 4:24 in Breathe makes me stop and wonder... just what they were thinking there.

It would be nice to be able to have some grand theory that explained why I dislike most of their output post Electrical Storm, but I don't have one. All I can say is, over 3 months past No Line On The Horizon's release, it's one of my least favorite U2 albums. FWIW, I continue to ATYCLB. I don't buy into the decades split.

 

[standrums]

My top 3 for sure are:

NLOTH
Zooropa
UF

 

[Cactus Annie]

I rarely like a song after listening it and previously hating it after 3 times.

 

[roy]

SUC is a bunch of disparate individual pieces that never coalesce. You can see the seams without having to look all that carefully.

Just like the song Zooropa.

 

[mobvok]

Just like the song Zooropa.

I remember some of the pre-release NLOTH snippets of SUC had many going "what the hell's all this?" because the band was talking up some sort of Zeppelin guitar stomp and all we heard was a random bit of the chorus with chiming guitar and "ahoooeeahooo out from your beds bitches" from Bono. Still seems a little implausible to me, and I have the record.

 

[LemonMelon]

Just like the song Zooropa.

True. But I find it excusable in that case because every individual part is extremely involving, fully-formed, and builds the song incrementally. Also, none of them utilize the phrase "soul-rockin' people." Even Lennon himself couldn't write his way out of that black hole of imagination.

 

[RademR]

Stand Up Comedy is the only song on the album I skip every time. I really like IGCIIDGCT and I worship Boots, great song.

agreed. SUC is the only song i skip everytime.

I was listening to MOS the other night and thought to myself "wow, this is just a brilliant song"

I think UC is one of their best songs ever.

if you listen to BOY and then NLOTH its really amazing how much they have grown as musicians and a rock band. Not a knock on BOY, its awesome...

 

[Jdelbove]

SUC is atrocious I dont know what they were thinking its embarrassing and it feels so forced it makes me mad because i sure they have a ton of unrealsed material that would have fit better on the album then SUC