SOE ranking in U2’s catalogue

[drt4]

It is mostly. I'm unsure about the middle section (zoo, uf, r&h) because those albums seem like just great collections of songs rather than cohesive statements, so it's hard to rank them. The bottom four I just don't listen to as much. U2 really begins with UF for me.

But the first 5 are set. They've changed over the years. Pop used to be #1. But Leave and No Line affect me more emotionally now.

I don't see how you call Zooropa and UF not cohesive! they seem like some of the most cohesive albums in U2's collection to me. Well - I suppose all their 80's albums seem very cohesive except for Rattle and Hum. On UF, it's really only Pride that is an outlier.

But otherwise I don't think it's till after the 90's that their albums really stopped being cohesive.

 

[gweeps]

UF and Zooropa feel fragmentary to me. That's what I meant. It's not a bad thing. But I don't feel like there's as much of an all-encompassing concept to those albums as much as to others.

 

[An Cat Gav]

I don't see how you call Zooropa and UF not cohesive! they seem like some of the most cohesive albums in U2's collection to me. Well - I suppose all their 80's albums seem very cohesive except for Rattle and Hum. On UF, it's really only Pride that is an outlier.

But otherwise I don't think it's till after the 90's that their albums really stopped being cohesive.

I completely agree. Zooropa is possibly their most cohesive album and whilst TUF may have benefitted from having some of its b-sides included it is still a beautifully cohesive piece of work.

 

[drt4]

UF and Zooropa feel fragmentary to me. That's what I meant. It's not a bad thing. But I don't feel like there's as much of an all-encompassing concept to those albums as much as to others.

I'll give you that UF can be considered fragmentary - in that many of the songs are more soundscapes than traditional songs - and some songs are kind of experiments tossed out there without finalizing them (just like Eno likes it).

 

[CosmoKramer]

I completely agree. Zooropa is possibly their most cohesive album and whilst TUF may have benefitted from having some of its b-sides included it is still a beautifully cohesive piece of work.

Speaking of just cohesiveness, I feel SOI is there best work when it comes to an “album”
Feel.

On the flip, I find SOE is perhaps one of their least cohesive albums.

Again, not speaking about quality but just cohesiveness.

 

[cjboog]

Here are my current thoughts:

1) Achung Baby (an undeniable masterpiece)
2) Joshua Tree (the one everyone knows, for good reason)
3) ATYCLB (Slane Castle performance seals it for me)
4) HTDAAB (the album that brought me to U2)
5) Songs of Experience (loving it so far and suspect the songs will hold up live)
6) No Line On the Horizon (has sunk in my ratings but I still love it - Magnificent, Breathe and MOS do a lot of legwork but it has some clunkers and missed opportunities)
7) Songs of Innocence (the release strategy and song selection tainted an otherwise strong album. Also, I’m still waiting to hear the full band version of EBW live... any day now...)
8) War
9) Boy (an amazingly strong debut album)
10) Unforgettabel Fire (really high highs and low lows)
11) Pop (always surprises me with how brilliant it is)
12) October (some flashes of brilliance, gets a bad rap despite being an enjoyable listen)
13) Zoorooa (intriguing at times but a little too weird for me)
14) Rattle & Hum (I know there’s a decent album in there somewhere but I resent having to dig for it!)

I’m with those who say it’s really hard to rank albums. I would say I love albums 4-11 on my list and find it tough to stack them against each other.

This is using the song rating method and giving an all time classic/favorite song a little extra weight in the formula.

 

[Yahweh_OMG]

Poor October doesn t get much love here... it has fabulous songs.

 

[Stereotype]

1. Achtung Baby
2. The Joshua Tree
3. Zooropa
4. Pop
5. All That You Cant Leave Behind
6. War
7. The Unforgetable Fire
8. Boy
9. Songs of Innocence
10. Rattle & Hum
11. Songs of Experience
12. How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
13. October
14. No Line on the Horizon

The first 8 albums are all great in my opinion, 9-10 are good and 11-13 are mediocre. 14 is plain bad,

 

[Fenderbendr]

1. The Unforgettable Fire
2. The Joshua Tree
3. Achtung Baby
4. Boy
5. War
6. October
7. How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
8. Songs of Experience
9. Pop
10. Rattle and Hum
11. No Line on the Horizon
12. All That you Can't Leave Behind
13. Zooropa
14. Songs of Innocence

 

[mikal]

1. Zooropa
2. Achtung Baby
3. Joshua Tree
4. Pop
5. Unforgettable Fire
6. Boy
7. Songs Of Experience
8. All That You Can’t Leave Behind
9. Rattle & Hum
10. Songs Of Innocence
11. War
12. How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb
13. October
14. No Line On The Horizon

 

[the tourist]

1. The Joshua Tree
2. The Unforgettable Fire
3. Achtung Baby
4. Boy
5. War
6. Songs Of Innocence
7. Songs Of Experience
8. Zooropa
9. October
10. Pop
11. Rattle & Hum (would be much higher if live/studio were split and each 2 songs longer)
12. No Line On The Horizon
13. All That You Can’t Leave Behind
14. How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb

 

[trainmaniac]

1. Achtung Baby
2. Pop
3. Joshua Tree
4. Zooropa
5. Songs of Experience
6. Songs of Innocence
7. Unforgettable Fire
8. All That You Can't Leave Behind
9. No Line on The Horizon
10. War
11. Boy
12. Rattle and Hum
13. How to Dismantle An Atomic Bomb
14. October

 

[LemonMirrorSky]

I'm really tempted to do this exercise again after so many years but it is always a difficult one. I would probably prefer to group the albums into top tier, second level and mediocre level or something like that. I still believe that their creative high point happened between around 1983 and 1998/99 or so. Then, the quality started improving again only in 2009 and they're probably at their best possible level right now. Will try to do the ranking a bit later when I have more time.

 

[Maroon Bells]

#1?

In terms of top to bottom well-crafted, well-produced collection of songs, SOE is the best album U2 have ever done. It is their tightest album ever.

That said, what brought most of us to U2, I suspect, (and I've been a fan since I first saw those pale, rosy-cheeked kids about my age singing something in Latin on a barge in Dublin), is that they write songs that sneak up on you. Like an impressionist painting, a U2 song typically takes time to resonate, to mature in your ears. Songs like Bad or Unforgettable Fire or Please or One or even With or Without You. These are songs that defy conventional structure, and except for the first and the last song, there is nothing like that on SOE.

There is also not a lot of passion. My God, I was listening to Rejoice from October yesterday in my car. When they come out of the bridge and Edge cranks that Fender up to 11 and Bono screams his ass off, that's what I'm talking about. Or Gloria live at Red Rocks. Or the War version of Like a Song. Now, they can be forgiven for losing that at their age. Most bands their age are playing nostalgia nights at the local Elks club.

But there it is. Total package it's probably right under the top 4 or 5 usual suspects. In terms of well-crafted, conventionally structured rock and roll songs that should (if they give it a chance) appeal to casual and non-fan alike.... it's #1.

 

[2861U2]

1) All That You Can't Leave Behind
2) Achtung Baby
3) How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb
4) Pop
5) Rattle And Hum
6) The Joshua Tree
7) No Line On The Horizon
8) Songs Of Experience
9) War
10) Songs of Innocence
11) Boy
12) Zooropa
13) The Unforgettable Fire
14) October

 

[popsadie]

1) Achtung Baby
2) War
3) Joshua Tree
4) Pop
5) Songs of Experience
6) Songs of Innocence
7)Unforgettable Fire
8)No Line on the Horizon
9)Zooropa
10) All That You Can't Leave Behind
11) How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
12)October
13)Boy
14)Rattle and Hum

 

[Popropa Baby]

1. Achtung Baby
2. Zooropa


3. Joshua Tree
4. Pop

5. All That You Can't Leave Behind
6. No Line On The Horizon
7. The Unforgettable Fire

8. Boy
9. Songs Of Experience

10. October
11. Songs Of Innocence



12. How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb

Did I forget any?

 

[MattD]

(Bonafide Classics)
1. Achtung Baby
2. The Unforgettable Fire
3. The Joshua Tree
4. Zooropa
5. Pop
6. War
7. Boy

(Very Good/Excellent)
8. All That You Can’t Leave Behind
9. Songs of Experience

(Good)
10. October

(Okay)
11. Rattle & Hum

(Bog standard, handful of excellent tunes ruined by a good chunk of wretched tunes on all albums)
12. No Line On The Horizon
13. Songs of Innocence
14. How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb

 

[jrcjohnny99]

1. The Joshua Tree
2. The Unforgettable Fire
3. Achtung Baby
4. War
5. All That You Can't Leave Behind
6. Boy
7. October
8. Rattle & Hum
9. How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb
10. Songs of Experience
11. Pop
12. Songs of Innocence
13. No Line On The Horizon
14. Zooropa

 

[Thesearethedays]

Best album since Pop

Here it's my humble ranking: (subjective, and subject to change)

1) Joshua Tree - the album everyone loves, including U2 haters. A masterpiece.

2) Achtung Baby - The big transition, a success. Comes close to JT in setting a sonic landscape.

3) War - the edge comes into his own. The album is a classic.

4) Zooropa - maybe due to timing, the height of their career. Still a great album.

5) Unforgettable fire - they become mainstream, precursor to The Joshua Tree. A very strong album in its own.

6) Boy - I'm maybe a bit biased to their older stuff

7) Pop - a few question marks, yes, but enough good U2 on there to warrant this spot.

8) October - see #6

9) Songs of Experience - yes it's early, but I know a good album when I hear it once, and I also know what good U2 sounds like. I'm very pleased with this one. Proud to be a U2 fan, which at times hasn't been easy. Lol

10) All you can't leave behind - a tough one to rank for me. It got played so much, and was overrated in my opinion. However, it really is a strong album, albeit very very commercial sounding. I feel like there are fans who are fans because of this album, and those who are fans in spite of this album. I fall in the latter, but can respect a quality work nonetheless. Just please stop playing elevation live, it's embarrassing.

11) How to dismantle an Atomic Bomb - some good tunes, some filler. I was disappointed when it came out, didn't care that much for vertigo. City has aged well and vertigo rocks live.

12) Rattle and Hum - why does this count as an album and not Under a Blood Red Sky? Which I would rank much higher.

13) No Line on the Horizon - ok album, worth the occasional listen. Probably will never have anything played live, and rightfully so. Go crazy is still a fun track.

14) Songs of Innocence - Probably the only time I've played a U2 album that didn't do much for me. Yes there's a theme and Bono opens up etc, but I wonder if he realizes that most of us don't care that much, especially if the arrangements are weak. U2's purpose, to me, is to commentate about the world around them, rather than themselves. Imho of course.

Please note, whatever sounds critical, is through the lens of a real long time fan, with love!

Thanks for reading.

I'm upset that the tour is so sparse for such a strong album.

 

[Thesearethedays]

1. Josh Tree - The icon
2. AB - Not as dark as it used to feel.
3. NLOTH - All this was missing was a great single.
4. Pop - Needed two great singles.
5. War - Good stuff, but I like the chiming guitars.
6. HTDAAB - great singles, too much filler
7. TUF - Way too much filler
8. SOI - b-side sucked.
9. R&H - Five great songs on double album isn't that good a ratio.
10. Oct - Solid, but not what I listen to U2 for.
11. Boy - Ditto but I like the Oct songs better.
12. ATYCLB - Four good songs and the rest shit.
13. Zooropa - Three good songs and the rest shit.
14. SOE = One good song, and the rest shit.

Um, so you're a huge U2 fan eh? Lol!

 

[vibe]

01. Achtung Baby
02. Joshua Tree
03. How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb
04. The Unforgettable Fire
05. All That You Can't Leave Behind
06. Songs Of Experience
07. Songs Of Innocence
08. War
09. Boy
10. Zooropa
11. No Line On The Horizon
12. Rattle And Hum
13. Pop
14. October