All That You Cant Leave Behind should have been an acoustic album.

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While a few songs might translate to acoustic nicely, the album as a whole is exactly as it should be. Kite, Elevation, or Beautiful Day on acoustic? No thanks.
 
I couldn't imagine 'Desire' as an acoustic song either until I heard it during Popmart. It was far too tradional, Bo Didley, rock jam in a U2, Bono full on vocal sort of way for an acoustic arrangement - or so I thought, anyway. Elevation is stripped down to just the bare elements (minus the fuzz guitar) during the intro verses for the Vertigo Tour. Imagine them taking it one step further like they did with 'Desire'. It's not that far of a reach.
 
ATYCLB is the only U2 recording in which there are parts I find to be downright unlistenable.
Lowlights:
The end of "Kite"
Elevation (much better live, terrible on album)
Peace on Earth
New York (love the city (but not its sports teams), hate the song...the lyrics are particularly awful)
Grace (yawn)

I also tend to not like acoustic numbers, so that's definitely not what this album needed, for me anyway.

The so-called "third masterpiece" is Zooropa, in my opinion
 
Ifeelnumb84 said:


The so-called "third masterpiece" is Zooropa, in my opinion

ATYCLB is an amazing album, and one of their 3 or 4 best, but Zooropa definitely deserves to be considered a "masterpiece," too. For me it goes:

1) Achtung
2) Joshua Tree
3) Zooropa
4) ATYCLB
5) Unforgettable Fire
6) Rattle & Hum
7) Pop
8) War
9) Boy
10) October
 
Zooropa is a great album, very fresh, very alive, a great pop concept album. However, better than The Unforgettable Fire, you say????

My ranking:

1. The Joshua Tree (3 classic songs in the canon of music - has left an imprint on the landscape of music culture)
2. Achtung Baby (1 classic song in the canon of music...a great, cohesive work)
3. The Unforgettable Fire (it has 'Bad'...and of course a classic song in the canon of music)
4. Rattle and Hum (passionate, and several U2 classics...Bono at his vocal and lyrical peak)
5. ATYCLB (a great feel good, sunny album, with a couple big songs)
6. Zooropa (brightly lit with excitment and possibility, it still sounds as fresh today as it did 13 years ago)
7. How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb (the most "good to pretty good" songs on a U2 album)
8. Boy (reckless, fearless, believing in itself more than it doubts - proving that innocence is more powerful than experience)
9. War (attitude, and a couple classic U2 songs go a long way)
10. Pop (there's a hole in the bucket, dear Paul, dear Paul....but some excellent work here despite it missing something)
11. October (the title track and 'Scarlet' hint at the genius of this young band)
 
Michael Griffiths said:
Zooropa is a great album, very fresh, very alive, a great pop concept album. However, better than The Unforgettable Fire, you say????


Yeah. There are even times when I think Zooropa is their best album. Bono has said that Stay is U2's best song (although Bono says a lot of things, as we know), and when you consider the title track Zooropa, plus the Wanderer and Lemon, and the fact that it was all recorded on the road during Zoo TV, makes it all the more special.
 
Fair enough. That's what I love about U2's albums. They're all so different to each other that they can each take turns on the best list...sometimes depending simply on my mood. I also think geography has a lot to do with it. The Unforgettable Fire, for example, is very much a wintery record, its mood enhanced by a cold (preferably snowy) climate. Zooropa would probably sound great in a city, in a warmer climate...though it could sound great in a brightly lit cold city, too. On a side note, Passengers would sound amazing in Tokyo at night. Joshua Tree is great in wide open spaces - great driving record. Achtung Baby, another wintery record. Ah, I'll stop now! :wink:
 
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