LemonMelon
More 5G Than Man
This whole era feels like a shitty version of what U2 did with Pop.
Arcade Fire. Formal wear or costumes only please.
- Thread starter cobl04
- Start date
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BoMac
Self-righteous bullshitter
Alright, I'm finally listening to this right now.
mikal
Blue Crack Addict
I feel compelled to defend this album because it's not nearly as bad as some are saying but it's also not that great either. I love the title track. Everything else doesn't really inspire me to listen to it again though. I probably won't revisit the album much.
Also, fuck Pitchfork. I'd say every post 90's U2 album is better than this and from what I hear from a really good source, the new one will blow the Arcade Fire album away. But they'll still rate it a 2.3 or something.
Also, fuck Pitchfork. I'd say every post 90's U2 album is better than this and from what I hear from a really good source, the new one will blow the Arcade Fire album away. But they'll still rate it a 2.3 or something.
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cobl04
45:33
Even I was thinking this morning at least Songs of Innocence, which is easily my least favourite U2 album, is better than this, pound for pound. I can't imagine U2 writing songs so devoid of life like Infinite Content, Peter Pan, Good God Damn, Chemistry. Even in this day and age.
iron yuppie
ONE love, blood, life
There is not a remote chance in hell that Bomb or No Line are better than Everything Now. Not a remote chance.
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cobl04
45:33
No Line definitely is, Bomb, you can make a pretty strong case there, fair enough.
BoMac
Self-righteous bullshitter
Well, this is not as bad as I had initially feared, but it's still a massive disappointment for me. That stretch from Peter Pan to Infinite_Content is almost unlistenable.
But this would have made an excellent EP. The title track is decent, Electric Blue is fantastic, and Put Your Money on Me and We Don't Deserve Love are sublime.
But this would have made an excellent EP. The title track is decent, Electric Blue is fantastic, and Put Your Money on Me and We Don't Deserve Love are sublime.
iron yuppie
ONE love, blood, life
There are four tracks on No Line that are worse than anything on Everything Now by a considerable margin. On top of that, at least EN goes for what it wants, as opposed to No Line, which is quite possibly the most conflicted and directionless album I have ever heard. You can say whatever you want about Win's pompous lyrics, but he never had his head so far up his ass to write a song about an iPhone possessing his brain or whatever the hell Unknown Caller is about.
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cobl04
45:33
Yep.
Everything Now
Electric Blue
Put Your Money on Me
We Don't Deserve Love
That's all killer.
lazarus
Blue Crack Supplier
corianderstem
Blue Crack Distributor
Everything Now is "Jeez Guys It's Not *That* Bad."
NLOTH is "I Love it Except For the Middle Three, Which Don't Fit but Are Fine, Except Stand Up Comedy, Which Is Truly Terrible."
NLOTH is "I Love it Except For the Middle Three, Which Don't Fit but Are Fine, Except Stand Up Comedy, Which Is Truly Terrible."
martha
Blue Crack Supplier
He used "interface" as a verb four fucking times in that interview.
And I had a feeling the fidget spinner thing was a part of some kind of commentary. It might have been intended to be that, but good lord, you better have stellar music to back that shit up.
corianderstem
Blue Crack Distributor
As Win once famously said to James Murphy:
SHUT UP AND PLAY THE HITS.
SHUT UP AND PLAY THE HITS.
corianderstem
Blue Crack Distributor
What kind of K-Marts did they have where you live, where they had a cover fee?
I mean it reminds me of U2 holding the Pop press conference in a Kmart, except they didn't charge people as part of the satire.
corianderstem
Blue Crack Distributor
Ahhh.
The Infinite Contents are pure shit. What the hell were they thinking. Peter Pan wasn't quite as bad as I was expecting.
All of the other tracks are enjoyable except Chemistry. Still, after putting out four very good to great albums, this is disappointing.
All of the other tracks are enjoyable except Chemistry. Still, after putting out four very good to great albums, this is disappointing.
david
ONE love, blood, life
For me it was the new album. I was a little underwhelmed with At War With the Mystics but I guess it was hard to top Yoshimi. I felt they rebounded with Embryonic.
namkcuR
ONE love, blood, life
Ok, so, I just listened to Reflektor for the first time in probably three years at least. It appears that I've underrated it, with regards to saying Everything Now is better than it. Reflektor has some solid stuff on it - We Exist, Here Comes The Night Time, Normal Person, Awful Sound(Oh Eurydice), Afterlife, and Supersymmetry specifically. I just plain forgot about some of them. So I'll move it up to #4 and Everything Now down to #5. It still can't touch the first three though.
Those first three records just have a magic about them, for the most part. The band had obvious influences, but they melded them into a sound that was distinctly their own on those first three records. I feel that's been lost somewhat. There's some real solid stuff on Reflektor, but the only track that really has that magic for me is Awful Sound, that's the one that really sounds like the band that made the first three records. That 'I know there's a way...' chorus could've been on any of those first three records.
As has been said, the new one has three or four tracks that are worth it, but there's not a single track there that can touch the majesty of Wake Up, Rebellion, No Cars Go, My Body Is A Cage, The Suburbs, Suburban War, Half Light II, Sprawl II, etc.
Those first three records just have a magic about them, for the most part. The band had obvious influences, but they melded them into a sound that was distinctly their own on those first three records. I feel that's been lost somewhat. There's some real solid stuff on Reflektor, but the only track that really has that magic for me is Awful Sound, that's the one that really sounds like the band that made the first three records. That 'I know there's a way...' chorus could've been on any of those first three records.
As has been said, the new one has three or four tracks that are worth it, but there's not a single track there that can touch the majesty of Wake Up, Rebellion, No Cars Go, My Body Is A Cage, The Suburbs, Suburban War, Half Light II, Sprawl II, etc.
LemonMelon
More 5G Than Man
NLOTH is miles better than this garbage heap of an album. Stand Up Comedy and Chemistry can fight in traffic for the title of Most Embarrassing Song by a Great Band, but otherwise there's no competition.
Imagine NLOTH, but with nothing as good as Moment of Surrender or Cedars of Lebanon to justify its baffling failed experiments. Luckily, U2 didn't give us anything that weak. Hell, I bag on SOI a lot, and it is pretty mediocre, but even that album has commendable lyrical focus and only a couple tracks that absolutely flat out do not work. Most of it just sounds like a supremely talented, seasoned band on cruise control.
Fuck, Everything Now got me to defend SOI. I didn't think that was possible.
Imagine NLOTH, but with nothing as good as Moment of Surrender or Cedars of Lebanon to justify its baffling failed experiments. Luckily, U2 didn't give us anything that weak. Hell, I bag on SOI a lot, and it is pretty mediocre, but even that album has commendable lyrical focus and only a couple tracks that absolutely flat out do not work. Most of it just sounds like a supremely talented, seasoned band on cruise control.
Fuck, Everything Now got me to defend SOI. I didn't think that was possible.
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cobl04
45:33
Hahaha all of this. There's six straight songs of complete crap between Everything Now and Electric Blue (which I honestly think isn't even that great, it just shines because it's surrounded by shit). NLOTH isn't like that. has a number of clunkers and it's certainly conflicted and directionless, but it has the two tracks LM mentioned plus a few others that comfortably outweigh that.
And agree on SoI. It's an average album but a great band. Sounds like it was made in their sleep. Nothing on it is abjectly terrible (aside from the first song) but it's a decent album.
Actually that's fair, Oczy Mlody is as bad as Everything Now, but they've been so prolific and released so much weird shit in the last couple of years that it's not remotely comparable or as embarrassing as this.
lazarus
Blue Crack Supplier
For a second I thought you were referring to that Cockplay album but that was some other dumb nonsense words.
iron yuppie
ONE love, blood, life
Funny because I would say the same thing about Moment of Surrender. It's baffling to me how often this forum goes to that song as some kind of justification for U2's existence post-2000.
LemonMelon
More 5G Than Man
Rolling Stone song of the year 2009 ya bish.
Then again, that's not exactly one to put on the resumé, is it
Then again, that's not exactly one to put on the resumé, is it
lazarus
Blue Crack Supplier
There are many people on the forum who feel it's their best track of that period. In fact, the only other contenders that would likely top a poll here are Walk On, maybe COBL.
I immediately thought it was a classic when I first heard it. Seeing the long video clip of Brian Eno explaining how the song came about due to improvisation only deepened my admiration for it. The track doesn't necessarily "take off" in the way that Bad does, but it maintains a nice groove, and Bono's performance is stellar, not only in the big vocal but also the lyrics, a refreshing change of pace from what we had seen on the previous two albums. Edge does an atypical and nicely understated David Gilmour-esque solo. Then you have the group harmonies including Lanois and Eno.
Not a surprise to see why it's regarded as such a special recording.
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cobl04
45:33
It's tremendous. I still rate Fez Being Born as the best track though. It breaks my heart that even amongst fans it never had any traction.
iron yuppie
ONE love, blood, life
Agreed. That's the one that really represents progress on that album.
martha
Blue Crack Supplier
nm
It's their best track post-Pop, imho.
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