Shuttlecock XVIII - SAVE US, REFU-JESUS

[Joey788]

Five is tough. Off the top of my head:

No Line On The Horizon

Kite

Moment of Surrender

Cedarwood Road

The Troubles

 

[phanan]

The Ground Beneath Her Feet
Mercy (original)
MOS
Kite
Invisible

 

[lazarus]

I think it's amazing that an artist is putting out something that I even like a little bit when they've been putting stuff out for the better part of four decades. Not sure if there's any other artist like that for me.

Dylan and until he died Bowie, but we've said before it's easier for solo artists to maintain that level of quality.

 

[mikal]

I'm surprised more people in this part of the forum don't agree with us. I don't think it's even close either.

Yep. It's such a great run. It's so weird when people refer to the whole album as a group of pop songs. The last 5 are U2 really pushing themselves.

 

[the tourist]

Dylan and until he died Bowie, but we've said before it's easier for solo artists to maintain that level of quality.

Both are good points. Still, extremely rare.

 

[LemonMelon]

If it counts, it's gotta be the first five tracks of M$H soundtrack for me. Four of those tracks are fantastic.

 

[lazarus]

Prob not, considering only 2 are the whole band.

 

[namkcuR]

Yep. It's such a great run. It's so weird when people refer to the whole album as a group of pop songs. The last 5 are U2 really pushing themselves.

Yeah, agreed with all of you on this. RBW->Troubles is an incredible run. They just should've included Crystal Ballroom with it.

No idea why some people find that second half of SOI as tepid as the first half(though I like the first half too), it's a different beast.

 

[namkcuR]

You basically named over half the songs from each era.

Only if you count the honorable mentions. I think.

Point taken though. It's just hard to narrow it down more than that.

 

[cobl04]

Very very easy for me:

Mercy
The Ground Beneath Her Feet
City of Blinding Lights
Kite
When I Look at the World

Honourable mentions for FezBB, Cedars.

I really need to get that Million Dollar Hotel Soundtrack. I can’t tell you how Stateless goes off the top of my head.

 

[DaveC]

i gotta say i really like how active the forum gets when u2 is about to release an album. less so for the influx of noobs, but because you guys all post a lot more often [emoji813]

 

[phanan]

No idea why some people find that second half of SOI as tepid as the first half(though I like the first half too), it's a different beast.

Are you referring to The Other Place with this, because most of us over here have always liked the second half.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

i gotta say i really like how active the forum gets when u2 is about to release an album. less so for the influx of noobs, but because you guys all post a lot more often [emoji813]

Awwww

 

[LemonMelon]

This is an unpopular opinion, but I really think It Might Get Loud was one of the worst influences imaginable on Edge's guitar playing. If you look at the timeline, what Edge was recording in 2008, hanging around with Jimmy Page and Jack White seemed to have an almost immediate impact on U2's music, giving us extremely simplistic, riff-oriented tracks like Stand Up Comedy, GOYB and Glastonbury within a short time span.

Certainly, dumb rock songs had featured prominently in U2's 00s repertoire prior to that (Elevation and Vertigo spring to mind), but Edge started churning out really chunky, blues-derived riffs for the first time since maybe R&H (but with a ton of gain thrown on a la Jack White), none of which suit his style that well. Cedarwood Road is a decent track and everything, but its riff is exactly what I'm talking about. And of course that presence is felt on Volcano and American Soul as well.

Using Edge's guitar work as a blunt force object worked well on Achtung Baby because it matched the album's dark thematic content (and even then the album is awash with gorgeous sonic noise), but in general I've always liked Edge more when he was painting with notes and coloring the backdrop rather than trying to write the next Black Dog. It's just a weird fit for him.

 

[lazarus]

That's fair, but you completely ignore the variety of styles he was playing with on SOI. On Reach Around he starts off in a Gimme Shelter groove, then goes for this dirty, snaky post-punk approach on the verses. Some very minimalist coloring on Sleep with a great solo, and then of course more delicate work on The Troubles that is a totally other shade. Earlier you have the lacerating stuff on Wolves that's anything but cock rock. Volcano sounds more like his own stuff on War than anything from Page or White.

It may not have been a good influence to hang out with those guys, but if he's only pulling that shit on a couple songs on each album (Cedarwood and Miracle), I'm not going to be too bothered by it.

 

[lazarus]

Are you referring to The Other Place with this, because most of us over here have always liked the second half.

El Mel and Cobbler have written off the whole thing, for starters, and rarely pick apart the finer points of the album or make a distinction between the halves.

 

[kiwilad]

This is an unpopular opinion, but I really think It Might Get Loud was one of the worst influences imaginable on Edge's guitar playing. If you look at the timeline, what Edge was recording in 2008, hanging around with Jimmy Page and Jack White seemed to have an almost immediate impact on U2's music, giving us extremely simplistic, riff-oriented tracks like Stand Up Comedy, GOYB and Glastonbury within a short time span.

Certainly, dumb rock songs had featured prominently in U2's 00s repertoire prior to that (Elevation and Vertigo spring to mind), but Edge started churning out really chunky, blues-derived riffs for the first time since maybe R&H (but with a ton of gain thrown on a la Jack White), none of which suit his style that well. Cedarwood Road is a decent track and everything, but its riff is exactly what I'm talking about. And of course that presence is felt on Volcano and American Soul as well.

Using Edge's guitar work as a blunt force object worked well on Achtung Baby because it matched the album's dark thematic content (and even then the album is awash with gorgeous sonic noise), but in general I've always liked Edge more when he was painting with notes and coloring the backdrop rather than trying to write the next Black Dog. It's just a weird fit for him.

Agree with this.
And on Achtung he was riffing with more creativity than this recent pentatonic fascination.

 

[namkcuR]

Are you referring to The Other Place with this, because most of us over here have always the second half.

There have been people here who don't think the back half is all that.

 

[kiwilad]

My top 5 2000s

Stateless
Ground Beneath Her Feet
Being Born
Troubles
Moment of Surrender

 

[namkcuR]

El Mel and Cobbler have written off the whole thing, for starters, and rarely pick apart the finer points of the album or make a distinction between the halves.

I wasn't going to name names, but since Laz did.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

This is an unpopular opinion, but I really think It Might Get Loud was one of the worst influences imaginable on Edge's guitar playing. If you look at the timeline, what Edge was recording in 2008, hanging around with Jimmy Page and Jack White seemed to have an almost immediate impact on U2's music, giving us extremely simplistic, riff-oriented tracks like Stand Up Comedy, GOYB and Glastonbury within a short time span.

Certainly, dumb rock songs had featured prominently in U2's 00s repertoire prior to that (Elevation and Vertigo spring to mind), but Edge started churning out really chunky, blues-derived riffs for the first time since maybe R&H (but with a ton of gain thrown on a la Jack White), none of which suit his style that well. Cedarwood Road is a decent track and everything, but its riff is exactly what I'm talking about. And of course that presence is felt on Volcano and American Soul as well.

Using Edge's guitar work as a blunt force object worked well on Achtung Baby because it matched the album's dark thematic content (and even then the album is awash with gorgeous sonic noise), but in general I've always liked Edge more when he was painting with notes and coloring the backdrop rather than trying to write the next Black Dog. It's just a weird fit for him.

Boots riff was written before Might Get Loud though. I think he plays it in the movie.

I think he's just stuck in a rut of not wanting to sound repetitive, so he just sounds... I dunno... Like filler.

 

[phanan]

El Mel and Cobbler have written off the whole thing, for starters, and rarely pick apart the finer points of the album or make a distinction between the halves.

There have been people here who don't think the back half is all that.

Yeah, I get that, but I think the majority agreed with you guys.

At least I know I did.

 

[LemonMelon]

That's fair, but you completely ignore the variety of styles he was playing with on SOI. On Reach Around he starts off in a Gimme Shelter groove, then goes for this dirty, snaky post-punk approach on the verses. Some very minimalist coloring on Sleep with a great solo, and then of course more delicate work on The Troubles that is a totally other shade. Earlier you have the lacerating stuff on Wolves that's anything but cock rock. Volcano sounds more like his own stuff on War than anything from Page or White.

It may not have been a good influence to hang out with those guys, but if he's only pulling that shit on a couple songs on each album (Cedarwood and Miracle), I'm not going to be too bothered by it.

I didn't mean to suggest that he's only playing distortion pedal pentatonic blues riffs, it's just a side to his playing that's opened up over the last 10 years that I don't care for and happen to have a convenient milestone (a feature film) with which to point to for it. Raised By Wolves, Sleep Like a Baby and The Troubles all have great Edge guitar work.

But yeah, I hope the new album doesn't see Edge switching back and forth between SUC rewrites and Crazy Tonight rewrites. Guy is innovative as fuck but (as Headache pointed out above) he's in a rut.

 

[namkcuR]

Yeah, I get that, but I think the majority agreed with you guys.

At least I know I did.

No, you're right. I just meant that I didn't understand the minority opinion, that's all.

 

[lazarus]

 

[lazarus]

I didn't mean to suggest that he's only playing distortion pedal pentatonic blues riffs, it's just a side to his playing that's opened up over the last 10 years that I don't care for and happen to have a convenient milestone (a feature film) with which to point to for it. Raised By Wolves, Sleep Like a Baby and The Troubles all have great Edge guitar work.

I see you cleverly omitted Reach Around from that list.

 

[iron yuppie]

I think Laz is the world's biggest fan of that particular song.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

The Troubles needed that guitar solo to be longer

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

I think Laz is the world's biggest fan of that particular song.

I think Laz just likes reach arounds

 

[lazarus]

If it had been the first track on the album like it was originally intended, we'd be talking about it a lot more. And it's a given that it would have been in the live show.

I don't understand why such a bouncy song with great lyrics and theme/story behind it doesn't get more attention. The only modern Shuttlecock track I can think of that has a similar vibe is the alternate version of No Net that so many people liked. And when people say they can't even remember how it goes I'm perplexed, it's not like it's some lame ballad.