Unpopular Music Opinions III: Friggin Cobbler Vs. The World

[LemonMelon]

My second favorite, just falling short of Zooropa. I have no idea why an album that sold over 20 million copies only gets represented a few times a gig, and exclusively by massive hits, but I've gotten used to it.

 

[intedomine]

I need to confess something, which contains a U2 setlist spoiler:

* SPOILER *

It's refreshing to hear someone who agrees with me on this. I feel the same way about that individual song. I never go out of my way to listen to it on it's own, whereas I pretty much have done so at one time or another for probably about 80% of songs from U2's catalogue.

As for the rest of the second half of the album, Trip Through Your Wires is enjoyable without being exhilarating, but Exit too, is a song I've never really cared for at all really. Mothers and God's Country on the other hand, are both pretty special and do contribute to the masterpiece-ness and enjoyability of the album.

I'd say it's an average, mediocre Side Two (by the standards of U2's other albums), but I'd still take it any day over the Side Two of War.

 

[bono_212]

It USED to be one of my absolute favorites, but I got a little too much exposure to it over the years and sometimes I forget about how great a song it is. Then things like the other night remind me in full force. God, I'm so glad I got to experience that.

 

[PhilsFan]

I don't go out of my way to listen to it either, but when I do I feel like an idiot for not listening to it more.

 

[LemonMelon]

Yeah, side 2 of War is pretty bad. Well, not so much bad as it is cobbled together. I have no idea what they're doing there...heavy rocker, sappy rocker, some sort of sophisti-pop shit, sleazy-sounding rocker, gospel-ish song. I don't mind the songs individually though.

 

[No spoken words]

There's no album I'd rather listen to than JT. By anyone. Ever.

To call Side 2 of the album mediocre, relatively speaking or not, strikes me as insanity. But, opinions are opinions, etc, I get it.

Same here re: Side 2 of War...not at all cohesive, but on their own I like most of the tunes.

 

[bono_212]

I like every song on War a great deal, and yet I still don't love the album itself. Hell if I know why that is.

I think I'm going to listen to my Joshua Tree vinyl

 

[iron yuppie]

War is rising fast in my rankings, perhaps because I see elements of certain other bands that I have recently come to love, such as The Cure and Joy Division, mixed in there at various places. That first side has so much power and urgency, such a sense of self-assurance and purpose, that I can hardly believe that it followed October. The second side is indeed haphazard at best, but I can forgive them for experimenting a bit there. All in all, I would consider War as a whole superior to JT.

 

[LemonMelon]

I think I'm going to listen to my Joshua Tree vinyl

Now that we know the second half is crap, at least we don't have to turn the vinyl over.

 

[cobl04]

Come on people, that is definitely more egregious than anything I've posted in these threads

The overexposure, perhaps surprisingly, doesn't bother me in the slightest with The Joshua Tree.

Then again, Streets and WOWY are my two favourite U2 songs, followed by Running to Stand Still.

I haven't listened to War in years. It'd go close to being my least favourite. I like Red Light and Surrender and 40 on their own, but damn is that second half poor.

 

[PhilsFan]

Joshua Tree is the best U2 album, though Achtung Baby would be better if it sounded better.

 

[bono_212]

The Unforgettable Fire is the best era if you're allowed to count everything they put out in that period.

Might be their most cohesive album as well.

 

[cobl04]

The Unforgettable Fire is the best era if you're allowed to count everything they put out in that period.

I'd probably agree with this. The Unforgettable Fire could have been one of the best albums ever with a few swapsies.

 

[bono_212]

I still think it's the best album ever in spite of all of that, but I cheat and count everything associated with it.

 

[Danny Boy]

I don't know how unpopular this will be, but:

Pearl Jam > Nirvana

and for that matter...

Ten > Nevermind

and

Ukulele Album > Suicide

 

[cobl04]

Couldn't possibly agree more with the first two, haven't heard either of the last.

 

[LemonMelon]

I do believe he was making an off-color (but amusing) joke, Cobbler.

 

[Danny Boy]

Indeed.

 

[cobl04]

Spoilered because many will consider this egregious

Spoiler

Hellhole Ratrace is easily one of the most overrated songs to come out in the past few years.

 

[Reggo]

That's why I put it in this thread.

My appraisal of JT is pretty stereotypical:

1. With or Without You
2. Streets
3. Still Haven't Found
4. Running to Stand Still
5. Bullet the Blue Sky

...then the rest. I used to think that it was a masterpiece, but my appraisal of it has diminished over the years. Perhaps it's due to over-exposure.

This. I like Exit and OTH, but when I think of JT, the first five tracks are what spring forth. Trip Through Your Wires does, too, but for the TV Gaga lulz and nothing else.

 

[LemonMelon]

Tracks 5-9 make the album for me. The hits don't spring forth with that dusty southwest vibe, but those tracks do, and are immediately what I think of when the album is mentioned. It would be an excellent singles collection if not for the middle of the album shoring up the theme and giving it character.

 

[lazarus]

And it should be noted that the last two songs help to give it some depth, returning to the portraiture of Shuttling To Stand Still, and then to the political angle explored in Bullwhip The Blue Thigh.

 

[No spoken words]

Not liking the 2nd half of that album makes no sense.

 

[coolian2]

even when i was a n00b i preferred the second half of the album to the first.

 

[cobl04]

I love the whole thing. Though I'm not really big on Mothers of the Disappeared. When I first listened to the album my favourite song that wasn't the first three or RTSS was In God's Country. It has an insatiable energy. There's a song they should play again.

 

[Popmartijn]

War is rising fast in my rankings
[...]
All in all, I would consider War as a whole superior to JT.

It's still at the bottom for me, that album. Maybe only slightly above HTDAAB, but that's pushing it. Somehow I can't get over the huge drop-off in quality on the second half. That and Bono's vocals.
I do think that SBS, NYD and Drowning Man are excellent though.

 

[intedomine]

Actually, when I think about it more, I find the Side Ones/First Halves of U2 albums to be consistently superior to their latter halves. I personally can't think of an exception to the rule. Achtung Baby maybe, but that album is shamelessly perfect from start to finish, for me.

 

[cobl04]

I like Pop's second half better.

 

[LemonMelon]

Yeah, I do too.

TUF has the biggest second-half dropoff IMO. First half is one of my favorites of any band, but the songs themselves get pretty shitty after that except for Bad.

 

[phanan]

Although Gone, Please, and Wake Up Dead Man are there, I'd have to go with the first half of Pop. Miami and The Playboy Mansion weigh that second half down for me.