1. UF
2. Boy
3. JT
4. October
5. Passengers
6. Pop
7. Achtung
8. War
9. Zooropa
10. RAH
11. HTDAAB
12. SOI
13. SOE
14. NLOTH
15. ATYCLB
Though Boy might be number one now.
Please tell me you're making this up.
Shuttlecock XXI: Laz is Bigger Than Anyone in His Way
- Thread starter Hewson
- 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
1. UF
2. Boy
3. JT
4. October
5. Passengers
6. Pop
7. Achtung
8. War
9. Zooropa
10. RAH
11. HTDAAB
12. SOI
13. SOE
14. NLOTH
15. ATYCLB
Though Boy might be number one now.
Please tell me you're making this up.
lazarus
Blue Crack Supplier
Thisssssss. Most underrated on the album, maybe the band's whole career.
djerdap
Rock n' Roll Doggie ALL ACCESS
- Joined
- Jun 8, 2004
- Messages
- 7,605
Unlike anything from the past five albums (Christ, there are already five of them), songs from Pop actually get better with age. The Playboy Mansion is a good example of that for me.
cobl04
45:33
Playboy Mansion & Miami are better than most of the songs they’ve put out this millennium.
Playboy Mansion and Miami both fucking blow, though Miami worse than Playboy.
I would take at least half the band's post-Pop output over those two songs. Both are let down by Bono's abject lyrical failures. It really is amazing how many U2 songs would be much better if it weren't for Bono.
I would take at least half the band's post-Pop output over those two songs. Both are let down by Bono's abject lyrical failures. It really is amazing how many U2 songs would be much better if it weren't for Bono.
cobl04
45:33
Shut your fucking mouth. Miami live at Leeds has more balls than you and I combined.
OP
OP
Hewson
Blue Crack Supplier
Until SOE and now its Edge that is letting the band down more,
While Bono still has some weak lyric moments (and the all time low point of his career in RefuJesus), the incredible lack of guitar on this album is the problem.
This is absolutely true.
lazarus
Blue Crack Supplier
Yeah, if I was picking post-2000 tracks I liked better than Miami or Playboy Mansion (or more to the point, my actual least favorites from Pop, which would be SATS, Velvet Dress, and DYFL), it wouldn't be a long list:
Mercy
Moment of Surrender
The Troubles
Reach Around
In the past I prob would have said COBL and Walk On, but now...ehh.
Mercy
Moment of Surrender
The Troubles
Reach Around
In the past I prob would have said COBL and Walk On, but now...ehh.
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cobl04
45:33
yeah Laz I'm with you on that. Mine's a little longer - your top three is the exact same as mine but I'd add Kite (personal reasons) and COBL (and possibly NLOTH's title track, Fez and Cedars), but that's it.
I can barely stand to listen to that original Mercy these days, it actually just makes me that sad that it never came out, and when they did finally acknowledge it Bono somehow managed to ruin it in extremely embarrassing fashion.
Yeah. We focus so much on Bono as he's the face of the band, but Edge has a lot to answer for. How's he satisfied playing these consistently shit parts? Adam has actually been on a tear for a while, his bass is as solid as ever, Larry is Larry, but Edge has been letting the team down.
I can barely stand to listen to that original Mercy these days, it actually just makes me that sad that it never came out, and when they did finally acknowledge it Bono somehow managed to ruin it in extremely embarrassing fashion.
Yeah. We focus so much on Bono as he's the face of the band, but Edge has a lot to answer for. How's he satisfied playing these consistently shit parts? Adam has actually been on a tear for a while, his bass is as solid as ever, Larry is Larry, but Edge has been letting the team down.
lazarus
Blue Crack Supplier
He's been letting them down since he overruled the other three when insisting on the vintage chimey sound in Beautiful Day.
It was downhill ever since.
Larry's decision to axe Mercy and Fast Cars may have been a worse single move, but Edge's had longer-lasting effects.
It was downhill ever since.
Larry's decision to axe Mercy and Fast Cars may have been a worse single move, but Edge's had longer-lasting effects.
Mack_Again
Rock n' Roll Doggie ALL ACCESS
yeah we want is Edge playing blistering solos like ones from Mahavishnu Orchestra
cobl04
45:33
is that on record?
Mack_Again
Rock n' Roll Doggie ALL ACCESS
lazarus
Blue Crack Supplier
Yep.
cobl04
45:33
Look I genuinely fucking love Beautiful Day (though I've no real need to hear it live ever again) but isn't that his IWF guitar as well?? That guitar part is soooo much better than BD. Laz you will remember IWF closing the show last year. It fucking went off. It's still such a good song and I'm more than happy with them playing it every night.
Yeah, Edge has barely been there over the last couple of albums. He pushes himself a bit for a couple of NLOTH tunes at least. SOI/SOE, that could be a Tribute Edge.
Miami live overcame how much it sucks in studio. It even overcame Bono singing the same shit lyrics.
I'd say the problem is It Might Get Loud, and Edge subsequently playing too much blues-inspired shit that is not at all him, is not even faintly exciting, and demonstrates precisely no creativity.
Motherfucker that is the Gibson Explorer and it is life.
I Will Follow, 11 O'clock Tick Tock, Twilight, almost any early song worth a damn is on the Explorer.
cobl04
45:33
I can't hear a part in that interview that's explicit as you claim, Laz. The far more disappointing part for me (I've never seen it) is the "side man" thing. Sure, he's never been the guitar god figure, we know that, but there's a hell of a lot of U2 songs that wouldn't be as loved as they are if Edge had phoned it in, even with Bono's passionate vocals.
cobl04
45:33
I literally just tried playing Mercy and couldn't, it was making me too upset.
Mack_Again
Rock n' Roll Doggie ALL ACCESS
im happy that nobody really commented on my Mahashvinu Orchestra thing
bono_212
Blue Crack Distributor
Let me reiterate that it's totally BS that people at the shows are these legendary casual fans that don't know the songs. My section night 2 was pretty flat the entire night and no one more so than the guy sitting next to me.
Until they played
THEN suddenly he was all into the show. He stayed more interested from then on, but he and his group did leave at the encore.
Until they played
SATS
bono_212
Blue Crack Distributor
Also there are probably 20+ songs from the last five albums I like more than Miami and Playboy Mansion (and I like Playboy Mansion).
OP
OP
Hewson
Blue Crack Supplier
At least SOI has a few interesting guitar parts, the outro of SLABT is my favorite moment on the album, Cedarwood Road, Reach Around, RBW (plus his electric piano there) are all interesting, and The Crystal Ballroom (which of course the knuckleheads don't put on the album) has a good, long solo.
SOE we have what 3 songs with something interesting on guitar, and 2 of them, Lights of Home and Summer of Love aren't even Edge's writing, so basically he's left with The Blackout, and even there he's overshadowed by Adam.
lazarus
Blue Crack Supplier
Don't forget the solo at the end of The Troubles, even if it fades out just as the solo seems to be getting started.
What a sad trajectory.
We give Bono a lot of shit but at least he seems to be pushing for something each time they get back into the studio. And him not being able to play guitar anymore is making Edge's decline even more noticeable.
What a sad trajectory.
We give Bono a lot of shit but at least he seems to be pushing for something each time they get back into the studio. And him not being able to play guitar anymore is making Edge's decline even more noticeable.
LemonMelon
More 5G Than Man
I've said it many times, but I'll pad out my post count with it again: Edge is the problem with modern U2. Bono's increasingly obtuse lyricism is "a" problem, but Edge has always guided the musical direction of the band with his brilliant, experimental guitar work, and now he is neither brilliant nor does he experiment with his guitar. It's the same old shit all the time. No curveballs, no surprises. The bar has been lowered to the point where the solo on The Troubles is considered a major highlight.
His tone was so miraculous back in the day that a few careful strums of distorted guitar could change the tenor of songs like WGRYWH, which is effectively a catchy pop song that he darkens several shades. However you may feel about The Playboy Mansion, Edge's wah pedal work adds a necessary layer of sleaze, whereas his slide work creates a heavenly counterpoint to the song's carnality. The colorful sound manipulation of Lemon and SDABTO took those songs in a psychedelic direction that didn't feel forced; it was a natural progression from his unbridled playfulness in the studio.
Songcraft is important, but lots of decent, passable musicians write good songs. They're not all that hard to find. A studio alchemist that can transform a few notes into a dazzling waterfall is very rare. Alas, lately we've settled for chunky power chords and tributes to his old solos. Until Edge feels the urge to take his guitar work somewhere special, the band will remain stuck in neutral.
His tone was so miraculous back in the day that a few careful strums of distorted guitar could change the tenor of songs like WGRYWH, which is effectively a catchy pop song that he darkens several shades. However you may feel about The Playboy Mansion, Edge's wah pedal work adds a necessary layer of sleaze, whereas his slide work creates a heavenly counterpoint to the song's carnality. The colorful sound manipulation of Lemon and SDABTO took those songs in a psychedelic direction that didn't feel forced; it was a natural progression from his unbridled playfulness in the studio.
Songcraft is important, but lots of decent, passable musicians write good songs. They're not all that hard to find. A studio alchemist that can transform a few notes into a dazzling waterfall is very rare. Alas, lately we've settled for chunky power chords and tributes to his old solos. Until Edge feels the urge to take his guitar work somewhere special, the band will remain stuck in neutral.
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Kieran McConville
ONE love, blood, life
See, you'll - and not just you - say things like this, but what does lyrical failure mean in this context? Is it cause a consensus formed about one or two lines in a song and that's that? Because I'd make a decent case that the lyrical content of Playboy Mansion, taken in total, is pretty much the distilled manifesto of what POPmart aspired to be (funny, as the song did not feature).
I never bought a lotto ticket
I never parked in anyone's space
the banks they're like cathedrals
I guess casinos took their place
Love, come on down
let my numbers come around...
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Kieran McConville
ONE love, blood, life
Very much this.
Do not accept cheap imitations.
As for Edge's post 2000 trajectory, it devolved sadly into the "u2 in a can" sound. The first time, for Beautiful Day, yeah sure, ok. It's a great clean driving guitar line. Feels fresh, a little like coming home as well. But to just keep that mindset, and double down on it for years on end?
I think the Edge is genuinely dismissive of U2's own earlier work, and profoundly seduced by a sort of Songwriting Rulebook notion of music that probably comes with hanging around people like Rick Rubin.
lazarus
Blue Crack Supplier
Nailed it.
Yeah, I think it’s one of the best lyrics on the whole album. I even like what he does with the ironic pop culture references (also gotta give him bonus points for accidentally predicting Michael Jackson’s death).
The band is so good on it too. Love that beat.
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