Agreed Martha, I'm listening to this album more than the last few.
Shuttlecock XX - Laz Is All You Have Left
- Thread starter lazarus
- Start date
The friendliest place on the web for anyone that follows U2.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
- Status
Agreed Martha, I'm listening to this album more than the last few.
corianderstem
Blue Crack Distributor
I haven't listened to it in quite some time now. Not that I don't really like it, but I'm sidetracked by my current obsessive project to curate my iPod by listening to all 7,000+ songs in alpha order. 
Hewson
Blue Crack Supplier
I haven't listened to it in quite some time now. Not that I don't really like it, but I'm sidetracked by my current obsessive project to curate my iPod by listening to all 7,000+ songs in alpha order.
Let us know when you get to Zoo Station.
OP
OP
lazarus
Blue Crack Supplier
Dude she’s not even at BOO Station yet!
Let’s turn all Achtung Baby song titles into Halloween ones!
Even Scarier Than The Real Thing
Vun (say it in a Dracula voice!)
your turn!
Even Scarier Than The Real Thing
Vun (say it in a Dracula voice!)
your turn!
please kill me
corianderstem
Blue Crack Distributor
I lol'd at Vun, because I automatically added the "AH AH AH" like the Count from Sesame Street would do.
SOI and SOE are U2's two most forgettable albums. They are not the worst - ATYCLB and NLOTH are not forgettable because they are worse.
But I can't imagine a situation where I would think to myself "yeah, I really feel like hearing SOI/E in full right now".
I suppose I'll take SOI over SOE because Cedarwood Road and The Troubles do it for me in a way nothing on SOE quite does. I do return to those.
But I can't imagine a situation where I would think to myself "yeah, I really feel like hearing SOI/E in full right now".
I suppose I'll take SOI over SOE because Cedarwood Road and The Troubles do it for me in a way nothing on SOE quite does. I do return to those.
cobl04
45:33
Maybe this is weird given I've only listened to it once but there's no fucking way Innocence is better than Experience. It is full of the most tepid, bland, shit and a few redeeming moments. Experience has way lower lows, but at least there's a handful of songs that are genuinely quite good. Credit to U2 for putting out a better album than their previous one.
Iggy Fizz
War Child
you've really only listened to it once? how then can you be so confident in your judgement of it? Not saying you are wrong, I just cannot imagine ever listening to a U2 album once and then never again.... and then being able to assess it against the rest of the catalog. So many songs change over time for me.
cobl04
45:33
I thought you weren't speaking to me after I dared to desecrate your precious United States of America.
Vlad n U 2
Blue Crack Addict
- Joined
- Jul 6, 2008
- Messages
- 28,386
Don't you mean HTDAAB? I thought you felt fairly positively towards NLOTH?
LemonMelon
More 5G Than Man
I would argue there are more good songs on SOI than SOE, but we're only talking about 3-4 on each.
ATYCLB, HTDAAB and NLOTH all have more worthwhile material on them, considerably more. No notion of bland, milquetoast "consistency" is enough to justify placing the last two albums above the records they started the decade off with, which had a lot more inspiration in the songwriting, despite some duds.
I am starting to doubt that they even have a Beautiful Day, City of Blinding Lights or Moment of Surrender in them anymore - something really spectacular - and that matters more to me than the band tripping over themselves relatively less often. I wish they would risk a little more.
ATYCLB, HTDAAB and NLOTH all have more worthwhile material on them, considerably more. No notion of bland, milquetoast "consistency" is enough to justify placing the last two albums above the records they started the decade off with, which had a lot more inspiration in the songwriting, despite some duds.
I am starting to doubt that they even have a Beautiful Day, City of Blinding Lights or Moment of Surrender in them anymore - something really spectacular - and that matters more to me than the band tripping over themselves relatively less often. I wish they would risk a little more.
Last edited:
cobl04
45:33
I've always understood the reasons why people don't like ATYCLB, but though I was only 10 and not a fan at the time and through the 90s, at least the course-correction was done because it was a path they genuinely wanted to take. And the sincerity comes through in the music, ATYCLB's songs, at least to me, feel very warm and friendly and comforting.
SOI/SOE don't feel remotely genuine to me. They feel like records made by a band who is sitting on the fence and constantly hedging their bets. The songs, save for a few, don't sound genuine. They sound like songs that have been forced out of the band like drawing blood from a stone, like they've been actively trying to manufacture them, iYup put it better than I did, rather than following their muse.
HTDAAB, for all its faults, feels genuine to me as well, NLOTH a little less so, and has bigger missteps than the two before it, but I can forgive that because at least on that record we got snippets of what the U2 of the 2010s could have been. They completely ditched that path as soon as they could, which is immensely disappointing.
SOI/SOE don't feel remotely genuine to me. They feel like records made by a band who is sitting on the fence and constantly hedging their bets. The songs, save for a few, don't sound genuine. They sound like songs that have been forced out of the band like drawing blood from a stone, like they've been actively trying to manufacture them, iYup put it better than I did, rather than following their muse.
HTDAAB, for all its faults, feels genuine to me as well, NLOTH a little less so, and has bigger missteps than the two before it, but I can forgive that because at least on that record we got snippets of what the U2 of the 2010s could have been. They completely ditched that path as soon as they could, which is immensely disappointing.
OP
OP
lazarus
Blue Crack Supplier
Please stop posting.
You already admitted you have no clue what you’re talking about. “I listened to the new album once when I was drunk look how cool and defiant I am!”
cobl04
45:33
It's actually not about that, I genuinely haven't felt like going back to the album. It's still in its wrapping. I will, eventually, but it's more about the fact that I'm just not into the band the way that I once was.
Hewson
Blue Crack Supplier
Dude she’s not even at BOO Station yet!
Let’s turn all Achtung Baby song titles into Halloween ones!
Even Scarier Than The Real Thing
Vun (say it in a Dracula voice!)
your turn!
please kill me
OK, I'll bite:
You got the first 3. (I found Vun fairly funny too, but instead of the Count from Sesame Street you have to add blah blah blah from Adam Sandler in Hotel Transylvania)
Continuing:
Until The End of the World (that one works as is)
Blucher Will Scare Your Wild Horses
Mo' Gruel
The Fly (again, already Hallow-weenie)
Listeriose Ways
Trying To Sew The Arms Onto The Corpse
Ultra Violent (Fight That Way)
Vampire Bat
Murder Madness
Continuing:
Until The End of the World (that one works as is)
Blucher Will Scare Your Wild Horses
Mo' Gruel
The Fly (again, already Hallow-weenie)
Listeriose Ways
Trying To Sew The Arms Onto The Corpse
Ultra Violent (Fight That Way)
Vampire Bat
Murder Madness
Hoo boy most of those are bad.
corianderstem
Blue Crack Distributor
LOL Blucher. Well done.
SOE definitely has the worst lows - nothing on SOI is quite as shit as Best Thing or REFU-JESUS. And as I said before SOI has two songs that I actually properly rate. SOE does have Love Is Bigger, true, but that song succeeds despite itself. It should be awful, but it connects. Cedarwood Road and The Troubles need no qualification. So yeah, for a couple of good highs and for less bad lows, I'll take SOI over SOE.
Nah I'd actually take HTDAAB as the best U2 album post-Pop.
I feel very well about parts of NLOTH, but it has aged so badly for me. I struggle to listen to a lot of it. Unknown Caller, Boots, Comedy, and Breathe... fuck, not even SOE has four songs that bad. They're all Refu-Jesus-level bad. If Refu-Jesus made a mixtape those would be the first four on there.
martha
Blue Crack Supplier
LemonMelon
More 5G Than Man
LOL. If U2 could still string together a dozen songs of that caliber, all my confidence in them would be restored.
cobl04
45:33
Breathe is rubbish elmel.
LemonMelon
More 5G Than Man
Iggy Fizz
War Child
You were a dick when you made your comments. I then gave you the response you deserved. But then, as I admitted, I took it too far in subsequent comments. I can acknowledge my own excess and will reign it in accordingly. You could do the same.
But I asked my question in earnest. How can you bash an album you have only listened to once?
The verses to Breathe are as awful as anything on American Soul.
In fact, if American soul did not have "refu-Jesus", Breathe would beat it hands down for cringeworthy lyricism. NOT JUST ANYBODY'S COCKATOO! NEW ASIAN VIRUS! Fuckin' JU-JU MAN JU-JU MAN?!?!?!
cobl04
45:33
They’re kind of similar, actually, they’re both upbeat rockers with about 15 different ideas stuffed into the same song.
At least American Soul doesn't have any moments where Bono's actually out of tune...
These daaaaysusususususuhhhsss...
These daaaaysusususususuhhhsss...
LemonMelon
More 5G Than Man
The cello arrangement on Breathe, Eno's idea, is a great example of what they miss out on putting a generic hitmaker behind the boards instead of a producer with actual talent. Legitimately interesting instrumental turns are getting rarer and rarer in their songs.
PhilsFan
Blue Crack Addict
The Troubles is the best U2 song of the last 20 years.
elevated_u2_fan
Blue Crack Supplier
This is probably true.
Honestly there is nothing on SOI or SOE quite as dreadful as the middle 3 on NLOTH...
Song for Someone and Iris (IMO) come close but they are more blah then terrible. Same goes for Get Out (just plain generic and boring) and American Soul (which is bordering on awful).
Of the 3 songs that I most find myself going back to from Innocence, only one of them is actually, ya know, on the album...
That's a problem.
That's a problem.
- Status
