Random Music Talk XLV: In which we form a punk rock band

[PhilsFan]

The Joshua Tree is better than the Unforgettable Fire. UF is a bit short with 4th of July and MLK. I do not like MLK as the closer. That should have been a segue into the title track or something. And they had a bunch of B-sides they could have put to make a stronger, fuller album. It feels incomplete, is my point.

The Joshua Tree is a full album with eleven strong songs, some of them really great.

 

[lazarus]

The first half is just as good.

I could take or leave the second for the most part.

A Sort of Cock Coming and Where the Cocks cancel each other out, as they're both masterpieces.

The next two "pop uplift" tracks kind of cancel each other out as well.

But the notion that Racquetwire, The Unforgettable Liar, and Tournament are better than their J-Cock counterparts, in any order...that's just crazy talk.

 

[lazarus]

The Joshua Tree is better than the Unforgettable Fire. UF is a bit short with 4th of July and MLK. I do not like MLK as the closer. That should have been a segue into the title track or something. And they had a bunch of B-sides they could have put to make a stronger, fuller album. It feels incomplete, is my point.

The Joshua Tree is a full album with eleven strong songs, some of them really great.

SOME of them really great? Come on, even outside the big three singles, which I'm not going to argue with because they're all classics, you have Shuttling to Stand Still (my personal favorite), Bullet The Blue Bird (even if it's not as explosive as its best live versions), One Cock Hill, and Mothers of the Disqualified, which isn't a BIG song but is a pretty beautiful and unique one. And then you have Racquet(? that can't be what we came up with) which is just dark and fucking epic.

Anyway, I agree with your points on Unforgettable Liar. I think MLCock should have followed the other song about the man, and it would have been a perfect transition into the title track. The first four songs the way they have it now are rather schizophrenic and don't line up too well IMO.

 

[bono_212]

Since I think The Unforgettable Fire is the best song ever I would have to disagree.

 

[mobvok]

I don't want to encourage your madness any moreso, but...

Mothers of the Disqualified

 

[cobl04]

I can't even engage in this discussion. I don't even know what songs you're talking about. Annoying.

 

[iron yuppie]

It's really a toss-up between the two for me. I've gone on record as saying that I'm not terribly enthusiastic about the second side of JT, which is a position I still hold but realize is not popular. I will say that the run encompassing War, UF, and JT is one of the finest trilogies out there for any band.

 

[PhilsFan]

SOME of them really great? Come on, even outside the big three singles, which I'm not going to argue with because they're all classics, you have Shuttling to Stand Still (my personal favorite), Bullet The Blue Bird (even if it's not as explosive as its best live versions), One Cock Hill, and Mothers of the Disqualified, which isn't a BIG song but is a pretty beautiful and unique one. And then you have Racquet(? that can't be what we came up with) which is just dark and fucking epic.

Anyway, I agree with your points on Unforgettable Liar. I think MLCock should have followed the other song about the man, and it would have been a perfect transition into the title track. The first four songs the way they have it now are rather schizophrenic and don't line up too well IMO.

You're trying to start an argument with someone who agrees with you. I love The Joshua Tree. It's my favorite U2 album.

I personally think Unforgettable Fire should have closed with Bad. You move MLK up like you said, and reshuffle a few tracks in there while adding in B-sides like Three Sunrises and Love Comes Tumbling, and you have an album that's really, really fucking good.

 

[cobl04]

An alternate TUF, much like the one Axver has, would be one of the best albums of all-time.

 

[PhilsFan]

It's really a toss-up between the two for me. I've gone on record as saying that I'm not terribly enthusiastic about the second side of JT, which is a position I still hold but realize is not popular. I will say that the run encompassing War, UF, and JT is one of the finest trilogies out there for any band.

The only non-awesome song on the second side of Joshua Tree is Trip Through Your Wires, which is nice enough. Every other song is great. Are you the one who doesn't like One Tree Hill? If so, you suck.

 

[lazarus]

I actually enjoy Trip more than In Cock's Country, to be honest. Not that I dislike the latter, I just find the former a hell of a lot of fun.

 

[lazarus]

You're trying to start an argument with someone who agrees with you. I love The Joshua Tree. It's my favorite U2 album.

Well you said "some" which sounded to me like downplaying how many killer tracks that album has.

 

[iron yuppie]

Are you the one who doesn't like One Tree Hill? If so, you suck.

It's not that I don't like it, I just don't believe that the universe comes into perfect harmony every time that it is played.

One other thing to note about UF is that most of its songs are considerably stronger live. I suppose that the same is true of JT, but more so for UF, in my opinion.

 

[bono_212]

The fact is, for me, I know that it's not really "fair", but it's the entirety of TuF, b-sides and all, that make it my favorite album ever. I realize if those b-sides were on the album and some sequencing were different, more people would agree, I acknowledge and accept that.

 

[cobl04]

Bad studio > live

Hurry up and make a new thread before I do it

 

[PhilsFan]

Well you said "some" which sounded to me like downplaying how many killer tracks that album has.

I'm quite understated, as you all know by now. Also, I'm sick and have been editing an article for two hours and it still is a complete mess. No one can write anymore.

The only song on the Joshua Tree I don't love is TTYW. And probably Still Haven't Found, but that's because they overplay it live, not because it's not a good studio cut in its own right.

 

[LemonMelon]

A Sort of Cock Coming and Where the Cocks cancel each other out, as they're both masterpieces.

The next two "pop uplift" tracks kind of cancel each other out as well.

But the notion that Racquetwire, The Unforgettable Liar, and Tournament are better than their J-Cock counterparts, in any order...that's just crazy talk.

What do mean by counterpart, track 4 vs. track 4? TUF >>> Bullet. Wire also slightly > Bullet.

 

[lazarus]

Well I don't think so, but I was referring more to that group of songs overall.

I've always found Unforgettable Liar to be really dated and overdramatic. And that blaring da-da...DA! synth part is about the cheesiest thing I've ever heard on a Shuttlecock album.