Beer, Devon Superthread

[Axver]

TTTYAATW is such a letdown after the end of MW. I feel like rocking along (well, maybe "grooving along" rather than pure rockin', but I don't say that), and this song just completely kills that with its sluggish b-sidetastic plodding style.

 

[bono_212]

Ashley, U2 at the End of the World is a great read. I think I've read it 2-3 times and still love it.

I haven't even opened U2 by U2 and I got it 2 Christmases ago. I'll delve into it when I hit my U2 Peak around September/October.

I've been unable to go back and read that book again since I started reading it at 13 and was... "uncomfortable" with the way the book opened. Obviously I'm older and more mature now, but...that feeling of not liking the book stuck with me.

When I go back down to Texas I plan on picking it up at the half-price book store. Also the time I should probably be waaaaay into U2 again *crosses fingers*

 

[LMP]

"Mysterious Ways" brings the funk.

What I love about this album is the semi-narrative set up throughout. It's about a guy tempted by different things in his search for eternal love and God. When he finally realizes that he's got it all right with his original girl ("Tryin' to Throw Your Arms...") after chasing bellydancing pussy in "Mysterious Ways," it should be all fine and dandy, you know? Happy ending and what not.

Instead, you get the guy going back to his old life and finding out he fucked up a good thing and now he has to pick up the pieces (the last 3 songs). Most albums would end with the happy ending, I think, but this one goes that extra distance and that's why it's considered a masterpiece, well, one of the reasons. It's my favorite U2 album, so I've got a lot to say about it.

 

[LemonMelon]

1. Zoo Station - Cool intro/10
2. Even Better Than The Real Thing - Better live/10
3. One - Cliche-ridden pus/10
4. Until The End Of The World - Outro makes Chris Martin cry/10
5. Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses - Big dumb pop song about horses; where's Cori when we need her?/10
6. So Cruel - Just give me some roses and a box of chocolates and shut up/10
7. The Fly - Could Edge be mixed any lower?/10
8. Mysterious Ways - Exotic drums? I call it pretentious bullshit/10

TTTYAATW...is a throwaway, especially lyrically, but I still dig it.

 

[Axver]

So I went and grabbed that drink and get back just as TTTYAATW is finishing. "Win", I think. But here's UV. Fuck. At least its intro isn't bad.

Also, orange juice mixed with lemonade (i.e. Sprite) is fantastic.

 

[bono_212]

"Mysterious Ways" brings the funk.

What I love about this album is the semi-narrative set up throughout. It's about a guy tempted by different things in his search for eternal love and God. When he finally realizes that he's got it all right with his original girl ("Tryin' to Throw Your Arms...") after chasing bellydancing pussy in "Mysterious Ways," it should be all fine and dandy, you know? Happy ending and what not.

Instead, you get the guy going back to his old life and finding out he fucked up a good thing and now he has to pick up the pieces (the last 3 songs). Most albums would end with the happy ending, I think, but this one goes that extra distance and that's why it's considered a masterpiece, well, one of the reasons. It's my favorite U2 album, so I've got a lot to say about it.

I think that's really what I love most about this album. The fact that they successfully told a story, without seeming to push it too far.

Chass wrote an amazing narrative to go along with the album, and it made it so much more to me.

Now I really wanna listen to it...soon *steeples fingers Mr. Burns style*

 

[LMP]

Yeah, all thing's must come to an end, even the 90s. I'm just ready for this current radio trend to end. I want something emotionally stirring from them again that's all I really want. I can't really think of anything on the last two albums that got me in such a way.

Definitely.

"Beautiful Day" worked as the emotional track and radio smash, and I think they've been trying to replicate the success of that song.

"Walk On," "Kite," "Sometimes...," and "Miracle Drug" get to me like the older songs, but that's about it.

 

[Axver]

"Mysterious Ways" brings the funk.

What I love about this album is the semi-narrative set up throughout. It's about a guy tempted by different things in his search for eternal love and God. When he finally realizes that he's got it all right with his original girl ("Tryin' to Throw Your Arms...") after chasing bellydancing pussy in "Mysterious Ways," it should be all fine and dandy, you know? Happy ending and what not.

Instead, you get the guy going back to his old life and finding out he fucked up a good thing and now he has to pick up the pieces (the last 3 songs). Most albums would end with the happy ending, I think, but this one goes that extra distance and that's why it's considered a masterpiece, well, one of the reasons. It's my favorite U2 album, so I've got a lot to say about it.

I have never ever bought this story. It strikes me as Achtung fans reading too much into the album.

 

[bono_212]

Stockholm (ZooTV) WOWY is made of all kinds of win.

/random

 

[LMP]

I think that's really what I love most about this album. The fact that they successfully told a story, without seeming to push it too far.

Chass wrote an amazing narrative to go along with the album, and it made it so much more to me.

Now I really wanna listen to it...soon *steeples fingers Mr. Burns style*

That's cool.

I remember trying to write a sprawling narrative story that stretches across every U2 album a few years back. I wasn't creative enough to finish it or make it any good, maybe I'm still not, but it's an intriguing idea.

 

[LemonMelon]

The next three songs kill the album for me. Well, not Acrobat so much, but the other two are so inferior in the studio that they're barely worth listening to when giving AB a spin.

 

[Axver]

Ugh.

Boyband, boyband, boyband, fuck go away ...

Seriously, why AREN'T the Backstreet Boys doing a guest spot and harmonising on this song?

 

[LMP]

I have never ever bought this story. It strikes me as Achtung fans reading too much into the album.

I think it's plausible because of the stuff about Edge's divorce and Bono's constant angst during that time period, but I can see why people would disagree.

 

[LemonMelon]

1. Zoo Station - Cool intro/10
2. Even Better Than The Real Thing - Better live/10
3. One - Cliche-ridden pus/10
4. Until The End Of The World - Outro makes Chris Martin cry/10
5. Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses - Big dumb pop song about horses; where's Cori when we need her?/10
6. So Cruel - Just give me some roses and a box of chocolates and shut up/10
7. The Fly - Could Edge be mixed any lower?/10
8. Mysterious Ways - Exotic drums? I call it pretentious bullshit/10
9. Tryin' To Throw Your Arms Around The World - Hangovers aren't fun to listen to, sorry/10

 

[bono_212]

Definitely.

"Beautiful Day" worked as the emotional track and radio smash, and I think they've been trying to replicate the success of that song.

"Walk On," "Kite," "Sometimes...," and "Miracle Drug" get to me like the older songs, but that's about it.

I can't deny Walk On Got me into the band. And I think if I were to go back to listen to the album again it would stir emotions again (God I'm just now realizing how long this U2 break has been that's another album I haven't listened to in about a year.) but...I don't know...maybe a few lines from WILATW, and Stuck reject: ) but not much else

There's stuff on Bomb that's good, but again, nothing...nothing I can just point out and say, that was good writing right there Bono.

Not like the 80s, not like the 90s. There is no RTSS for the 00s.

 

[LemonMelon]

I think it's plausible because of the stuff about Edge's divorce and Bono's constant angst during that time period, but I can see why people would disagree.

The main reason I don't buy into it is because of the reports of how they threw the track listing together at the last minute. No way could they have conceived a storyline like that in a couple of hours.

 

[LMP]

I can't deny Walk On Got me into the band. And I think if I were to go back to listen to the album again it would stir emotions again (God I'm just now realizing how long this U2 break has been that's another album I haven't listened to in about a year.) but...I don't know...maybe a few lines from WILATW, and Stuck reject: ) but not much else

There's stuff on Bomb that's good, but again, nothing...nothing I can just point out and say, that was good writing right there Bono.

Not like the 80s, not like the 90s. There is no RTSS for the 00s.

I definitely agree. We'll always have the older material to listen to, but I still hope there's a few that'll crop up to put next to that stuff and hold its own, you know?

 

[bono_212]

That's cool.

I remember trying to write a sprawling narrative story that stretches across every U2 album a few years back. I wasn't creative enough to finish it or make it any good, maybe I'm still not, but it's an intriguing idea.

Man that would be a piece of work. You've got a least one person who'd like to hear it

 

[Axver]

I think it's plausible because of the stuff about Edge's divorce and Bono's constant angst during that time period, but I can see why people would disagree.

Yeah, I can see where you're coming from and it doesn't surprise me too much that people have tried to read that into the album, but it's not something that even entered my head until I saw a couple of Achtung fans here try to argue there's a story. I don't see much of a thematic connection at all between, say, UV and Acrobat. And it just doesn't strike me as something that would occur to U2 to do, especially given the way they create albums.

 

[LMP]

The main reason I don't buy into it is because of the reports of how they threw the track listing together at the last minute. No way could they have conceived a storyline like that in a couple of hours.

Hmm, I had never heard about it.

Intentional or not, I think it benefits the album.

 

[LemonMelon]

I definitely agree. We'll always have the older material to listen to, but I still hope there's a few that'll crop up to put next to that stuff and hold its own, you know?

Beautiful Day
Kite
When I Look At The World
Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own
COBL (especially live)

Are all right up there in the U2 pantheon IMO. Great songs, even if you may be tired of them.

 

[Axver]

ACRO-FUCKING-BAT.

*turns volume up to maximum*

... damn, these little iPod headphones are crappy and too quiet.

 

[Axver]

I'm surprised you guys dig SYCMIOYO. To me, it's another Stuck In A Moment - I'd actually say it's even more plodding, but the fact the mixing doesn't totally kill the sincerity negates that.

 

[LemonMelon]

1. Zoo Station - Cool intro/10
2. Even Better Than The Real Thing - Better live/10
3. One - Cliche-ridden pus/10
4. Until The End Of The World - Outro makes Chris Martin cry/10
5. Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses - Big dumb pop song about horses; where's Cori when we need her?/10
6. So Cruel - Just give me some roses and a box of chocolates and shut up/10
7. The Fly - Could Edge be mixed any lower?/10
8. Mysterious Ways - Exotic drums? I call it pretentious bullshit/10
9. Tryin' To Throw Your Arms Around The World - Hangovers aren't fun to listen to, sorry/10
10. Ultraviolet (Light My Way) - Baby, please shut the fuck up/10

 

[bono_212]

The main reason I don't buy into it is because of the reports of how they threw the track listing together at the last minute. No way could they have conceived a storyline like that in a couple of hours.

I don't know, the possibility that it happened by accident makes it even more intriguing

I definitely agree. We'll always have the older material to listen to, but I still hope there's a few that'll crop up to put next to that stuff and hold its own, you know?

Exactly. There's always hope for the next album. I just hope what happened the first night I listened to The Bomb doesn't happen with this album. I remember listening to the Bomb that night, and as I listened this terrible feeling rose in me that in a few months I wouldn't like the album anymore, even though at that moment in time I was loving it. It was only a few months later that I realized why I felt like that. I never found any lyric or idea in it to latch onto. I mean, the only song off that album that I still find riveting is COBL, and that's more for the music then the actual lyrics.

But, I still keep coming back, so obviously there's still enough good in the music for me to want more.

 

[Axver]

Fuck, the end of Acrobat has got to be one of the most amazing minutes of music U2's ever recorded.

Fucking fuck yes.

 

[LemonMelon]

I'm surprised you guys dig SYCMIOYO. To me, it's another Stuck In A Moment - I'd actually say it's even more plodding, but the fact the mixing doesn't totally kill the sincerity negates that.

It wears its heart on its sleeve like Stuck, but they're not even comparable IMO. Stuck is cheesy pandering bullshit, while the other is very personal and considerably more subtle. They never should have released it as a single.

 

[LMP]

Yeah, I can see where you're coming from and it doesn't surprise me too much that people have tried to read that into the album, but it's not something that even entered my head until I saw a couple of Achtung fans here try to argue there's a story. I don't see much of a thematic connection at all between, say, UV and Acrobat. And it just doesn't strike me as something that would occur to U2 to do, especially given the way they create albums.

I've always interpreted those songs to be akin to the idea of paradise being lost. "Ultra Violet" deals with the unrest of re-entering a broken relationship (The "I remember, when we were sleeping on stones..." verse really helps), while "Acrobat" expands upon that idea, going more into the one guy's self-doubt and insecurities; the guy wants to be flexible and fix his mistakes, but he has no idea where to start. I think the lyrics throughout reflect that idea.

Again, it's my own interpretation so no big deal if you don't agree.

 

[bono_212]

It wears its heart on its sleeve like Stuck, but they're not even comparable IMO. Stuck is cheesy pandering bullshit, while the other is very personal and considerably more subtle. They never should have released it as a single.

That killed the song for me I think.

 

[LemonMelon]

I'm air drumming to Acrobat. This is rare for U2.