Be honest, ATYCLB is not a "great" U2 album and the new U2 album needs to be better

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that follows U2.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
See posts with no answers
Ooooh! Harsh...it's your opinion and all but I think that 'Wild Honey' was absolutley fantastic, there's really something in it...i dunno, give it a couple of years, ignore the record and when you listen to again after all that time you may just like it...
 
All these Rolling Stone and other press quotes about "the third masterpiece and returning after the POP fiasco" are bollocks. I'm sorry, but they are.
The POP fiasco? In USA, maybe. In Europe and the rest of the world the album was successful. But that actually doesn't matter at all. WHAT DOES MATTER is the music. Pop was the polar opposite of ATYCLB. It's the rawest album U2 have ever recorded. It is a guitar album. I strongly believe this. Just check out Mofo, Do You Feel Loved or Velvet Dress. There are so many layers on these songs that you can discover something new in every listen. I think Pop is much better than ATYCLB. It was very brave - it wasn't safe. It showed us a dark side of U2 which wasn't explored very much before. The only reason I believe Pop wasn't the third masterpiece(and it is my third favorite album) because of Miami and The Playboy Mansion. Bad songs which are for me equivalents of Peace on Earth and Grace on ATYCLB.
 
Techie2000 said:
Personally, ATYCLB is my favorite U2 album. I like it better than all the others. The only song I dislike from ATYCLB is "Wild Honey."
Click to expand...

ha, thats the only one that I do like. It has a bit more energy/passion than the others. :up:
 
I loved them both. Basically, every U2 song grows on you, just give it time. I actually like Miami, and I finally like Grace!
 
October a classic album... :huh: :barf:

Sorry...

With that said, I like both Pop and ATYCLB. I can see where people are coming from in terms of their likes and dislikes of both albums, howver I like melody/ pop sounds and I love guitar music. Those albums fill at least one of that criteria making me like both albums.

Also, ATYCLB is probably one of the least produced albums IMO (outside of War and pre-War material). I used to think ATYCLB was pretty over-produced but now think otherwise, especially after watching tha classic albums bit with Joshua Tree. We all know 90s U2 was all about production but UnForgettable Fire and JT were just as much IMO make ATYCLB seem like a live album. Of course ATYCLB wasn't 4 guys playing in a room. More like 5 or 6 to be honest but still the same feel as 4 guys if people get what I mean.

:)
 
i like the album. it is good. i'm suprised at the different songs people say are the worst song ever. does anyone remember red light? my opinion is that is that peace on earth and when i look at the world are mediocre for U2, but still pretty good songs. As i long time u2 fan, who always defends the band- i personally cannot stand stuck in a moment. i think is the worst song they have done in the last 15 years (yes i like playboy mansion and miami better). i guess with stuck in a moment- i just can't get past it doesn't sound like u2 at all to me, and the chorus is so painfully cheesy.
overall though it is a good album but after 4 years i now think jt, achtung, unforgettable fire, and pop are all better albums.
 
I agree with most people that the only direction the band could go was to go back to the center (playing together in a room)....U2 has never repeated itself and that is what makes them great. I think the last great album was Achtung Baby....POP and Behind have some very good songs on them but as a whole I don't think they match JT or AB. By the way the point that has been made here that "Behind" songs are better live is absolutely true.....Could Kite be anymore brilliant? The new album hopefully will be an "album" not a collection of "11 singles" as Bono has said before.
 
pop was a raw album. larry and edge, basically. they both rocked the album. The only bad song on Pop was The Playboy Mansion. Man, when U2 does a bad song, they really run it into the ground, huh? That song sucks.


I think every song on ATYCLB is great. WILATW is a b-side, and should have been switched with Summer Rain or Always, but it's still a great song. Grace is a work of art. Wild Honey was ok on the album, but it was so great live, i can't even explain.


both albums were great, and both were improved during the live tours. why are we even comparing this new album to ATYCLB? has u2 ever repeated the same sounds on any album? not even JT to Rattle and Hum! not even AB to Zooropa!


i love ATYCLB, and for all you haters out there, don't worry, i'm sure this new album will sound a little bit better to all of us :wink:
 
I love Playboy Mansion. I remember Entertainment Weekly calling it the best song off Pop. I know its EW. I always enjoy the Playboy Mansion. Adam is really great on it and Bono has some clever lyrics in it. I DJ part-time and I played it at a Bar once. I did get one ugly look though, but if I told the guy it was U2 I'm sure he would have been like ok cool.

Worst U2 has to be Red Light or Refugee. Those two are terrible.
 
Oh come off it already. This post is so overdone and boring.

Rolling Stone called ATYCLB U2's 3rd masterpiece, and I agree and so do a lot of U2's fans. Stop trying to detract; it worked its magic and there is nothing you can do about it. It brought about a huge resurgence and an awesome tour so enough already. Who cares what you think? Critical judgment has already pantheon-ized this CD.
 
nice comparison

EvolutionMonkey said:
Atyclb is like JT's and AB's goody two shoes step child. :hyper:
Click to expand...

I remember reading a ATYCLB review where it said
"Joshua Tree: thesis. Achtung Baby: antithesis. All that you can't leave behind: synthesis."

As for classic U2 albums, public counts JT and AB to that, and maybe War. (and some add ATYCLB as we've seen)
 
Just speaking for myself, but I was under the impression that you can still like an album even if you find faults in it. I like ATYLCB, I really do. I thought the tour was outstanding, and I can appreciate how it helped bring U2 back to the front of the music industry. However, I personally think U2 are at their artistic best when they aren't playing it so safe and catering to the middle. I prefer their more daring side. If all we ever heard around here was "OMG is ATYCLB the best or what???" it would be pretty damn boring.


Roman_Candles said:
Rolling Stone called ATYCLB U2's 3rd masterpiece, and I agree and so do a lot of U2's fans.
Click to expand...

AKA all the cool people like it, so you should too? So a music magazine says it's a masterpiece, that means it is?

Ever since they started slapping the likes of Britney Spears, N'Sync, Backstreet Boys and other industry constructed acts on their cover as "rock" stars, I've lost a lot of respect for what Rolling Stone has to say about rock.
 
Last edited:
I dunno if ATYCLB is a masterpiece... But I don't care!

I'm thankful to U2 for that album, because it was the one that made me get in touch with them.

And then BD is one of my favourite songs...

And Walk on always brings me to another place! I was so happy when I knew Amnesty used it in the Campaing in favour of Aung San Suu Kyi!
 
Well I :heart: the album, and that's all that matters to me!!!

Bring on the next album so we can dicuss that instead!!
 
if this were the 1980s and ATYCLB had come out only on vinyl then it would have been one of my all time favorites. back in the good (?) old days when your record player had the start again-type button and you would just listen to ONE side of an album over and over instead of actually getting up and flipping the record over.....well, anyway, maybe i am dating myself, but for sure i would have only ever listened to side ONE and i never would have had to hear peace on earth or WILATW, so it would be all good.
this recurring bashing of the album is a bit old, but it also is cool to see how many people can so passionately love this band and have such differing opinions about their music.
gotta love it.
 
Maybe I missed it because I've scanned the previous posts but nobody mentions the timing of this albums release. ATYCLB was the ultimate post-9/11 album released six months before the defining event of this century. A lot of people would say, no Springsteen's "The Rising" is the ultimate post-9/11 album but he had the luxury of recording it after the event itself.

For that reason I suspect it will age in a manner similar to War. I listened to it constantly after 9/11 but haven't put it in the cd tray for awhile. I think I'll give it another spin.
 
:huh: As mentioned before by Bono ATYCLB was a collection of songs! The band went in with the intention of making an album of singles, so that any given song on the album could be a single on the radio. I do believe they accomplished that.

What I can't believe is all the bashing. I guess not too many of you heard those songs "Live" on the Elevation Tour. Hearing those songs come alive is what it's all about. It's what U2 do best.

If you didn't get the chills with the opening chords of Elevation on the tour,then Houston there is a problem! :wink:
 
ATYCLB was not a masterpiece by U2 standards. However, compared to the rest of the music out there, it's auditory gold.

I do not think that every song on the album could have been a radio hit. Don't think New York would be a single played all over the place, nor Grace...just my 2 cents
 
WILATW :heart:


I love this song!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


:shrug: :shrug: :shrug:

Edge's crying guitar. :sad: Bono's breaking voice. :sad:
 
I think that the reaction to altyclb and pop was very conditioned by what has been said by the band (mainly bono) during the recording sessions.
Bono likes to give great words to leave everybody (including me) excited, i remember that in each one of these albuns he named pop as a techno album and atyclb as a soul album very earlier in the recording sessions. This ended to throw a big confusion because in the final product there are only traces of what he said.
Of course that there are visible influences of techno on mofo and discoth?que (which had their time and are left behind), and of soul in ialw and siam (which for me they should explore more) but,
at the end, both albuns are just collections of what u2 does best - high quality pop songs, although with different approaches in composition and production, even inside each album.
So, for me, as a reaction to bono predictions i got a little dissapointed when the albuns were released, but come on, if anybody asked me to list the best 20 songs of the last 10 years, i would surely include gone, sats, please, velvet dress, wudm, beautiful day, new york, walk on, ialw, siam, wilatw (yes, wilatw)... therefore we must be talking about GREAT albuns!!!

Just as final note, I think that a similar thing will happen with this new album and all this hard/heavy rock talk. Browsing this forums I realized that a lot of people are expecting already a dozen of songs full of noise, distrotion, screams, solos of minutes and all the big noise. I think (and I hope) that we will not have that. Maybe we'll identify that in a couple of songs and for the rest they will not escape from their "traditional" songwriting that btw makes them the best band in the world.

bye
 
Too many threads for blame ATYCLB, should open just one, huge one and there everything over your displeasure about this album... like a sub-forum...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

dan_smee
I listened to No Line on the Horizon right through tonight for the first time in about 10 years…
2 3
Replies
83
Views
2K
lazarus
lazarus
Reggie Thee Dog
Are we NOT discussing the Dolby Atmos Mix of Achtung Baby?
Replies
13
Views
1K
count rushmore
count rushmore
O
Better late than never “they” say…
Replies
1
Views
291
Headache in a Suitcase
Headache in a Suitcase
W
A Boy Falls From the Sky is some U2's best work
Replies
3
Views
2K
zoocarolina
Z
L
Play Do You Feel Loved, Babyface, Some Days Are Better Than Others, Playboy Petition
Replies
8
Views
744
rosephile
R

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom