Best Album Survivor: Round Five

[lazarus]

I've been on a major Like A Song kick lately.

So for me, SBS, NYD, LAS, and 40 are all fantastic.

Rattle & Hum has MORE great songs in my opinion, however. Desire, Hawkmoon, Heartland, AIWIY, Angel, and yes, Love Rescue Me.

I don't even consider the live tracks when I think about this album, because I usually skip over them.

Bottom line is that R&H I think has more to offer.

Actually, why do I have to pick between these two? Boy is consistent but I really don't think it hits the highs of either album. And Electric Co. pales in comparison to the live versions.

 

[gvox]

I've been on a major Like A Song kick lately.

So for me, SBS, NYD, LAS, and 40 are all fantastic.

Rattle & Hum has MORE great songs in my opinion, however. Desire, Hawkmoon, Heartland, AIWIY, Angel, and yes, Love Rescue Me.

I don't even consider the live tracks when I think about this album, because I usually skip over them.

Bottom line is that R&H I think has more to offer.

Actually, why do I have to pick between these two? Boy is consistent but I really don't think it hits the highs of either album. And Electric Co. pales in comparison to the live versions.

SOLUTION: NLOTH

(1000000000% agree on LAS..one of.their finest early tracks Edge's guitar is...assaulting almost )

 

[the tourist]

Like A Song is a top 10 U2 song for me (along with New Year's Day, A Sort of Homecoming, Pride, Bad, With Or Without You, Heartland, All I Want Is You, Acrobat, and Zooropa).

 

[LemonMelon]

NLOTH is awsome, but I really like all of these albums. R&H is just the one I listen to least from front to back.

AIWIY is my second favorite U2 song (sandwiched between Zooropa and Stay) so it has that going for it.

 

[djerdap]

Like a Song is a fantastic track. Great guitar riff.

Love Rescue Me is one of the worst songs ever recorded by a band I'm a fan of.

 

[An Cat Gav]

So sorry Rattle and Hum, as Ax said, a pure studio album would have been one of their best albums, but the live tracks ruin it for me.

 

[Axver]

With RAH gone, I've honestly got no idea what I'll be voting for next - the only three I definitely won't be touching are Boy, UF, and JT.

 

[Vlaco]

R & H got the boot. Only by a small margin though....

 

[Vlaco]

I'm listening to Surrender (live) atm. Such a great live song.

 

[Tyagu_Anaykus]

I'll vote TUF until it goes. Sorry. It doesn't connect with me.

 

[gvox]

NLOTH is awsome, but I really like all of these albums. R&H is just the one I listen to least from front to back.

Just so I understand...you can't listen to R&H front to back, but you can listen to NLOTH front to back? Really?

Which ones on R&H are skipped when you listen?

but the live tracks ruin it for me.

I don't quite get this, and I'm wondering if this is along the same lines as Lemon's comment above..

Helter Skelter (ok, kinda 50/50, but it's just a cover. On the movie I like it, they do it well... just not to lead off the movie)
All Along The Watchtower - ok, again, it's a cover
Still Havent Found - brilliant
Silver and Gold - some say ok, I love it
Pride - one of the best live versions of their history
Bullet the Blue Sky - scorching! (altho it gets better in the 90s perhaps)

How do these 6 live tracks "ruin" the other 11 tracks, a good 7 maybe 8 of which are great songs? Is it just the placement ie how they are ordered? If so, since when does the sequence of songs ruin a U2 album? Their albums frequently could use a re-order and we've even done them here

I just dont get the dislike for the few live tracks on this album..first off there's only 6 live songs out of 17 total, and secondly, some of those live tracks are some of U2's better moments esp if you like the powerful 80s Bono vocals

 

[U2360]

I agree, gvox, the live songs on R&H are awesome.

 

[flybabe]

That near career-ruining cowboy clusterfuck.

Well said.

 

[cobl04]

I agree, gvox, the live songs on R&H are awesome.

Most of them are; but it's a total clusterfuck. I've probably listened to it front to back twice since I bought it five or six years ago. It's also missing most of the best live performances from the actual movie - Streets, WOWY, Bad, Exit...

 

[U2360]

It's also missing most of the best live performances from the actual movie - Streets, WOWY, Bad, Exit...

I agree with this too, would have loved to have seen those on there, especially WOWY.

 

[cobl04]

Probably the best WOWY I've seen/heard.

That's why "play the blues" doesn't bother me all that much... leave all that aside and there are some absolute all-time great U2 live moments on there.

Graceland is by far the worst part anyway.

 

[gvox]

Most of them are; but it's a total clusterfuck. I've probably listened to it front to back twice since I bought it five or six years ago. It's also missing most of the best live performances from the actual movie - Streets, WOWY, Bad, Exit...

This is an excellent reason for a remaster/reissue, imo - re-org the thing with studio cuts on disc 1 and the live on the other, including the omitted live tracks. Can you imagine? That would be amazing and far more worthwhile than reissuing any other U2 album right now almost!!

 

[iron yuppie]

I've been on a major Like A Song kick lately.

So for me, SBS, NYD, LAS, and 40 are all fantastic.

The first half of War is the finest side of music they have ever done, I think. Drowning Man in particular does not get enough credit, especially as Bono pulls off the whole heart-on-the-sleeve posture very subtly and effectively on it.

 

[Vlaco]

Just so I understand...you can't listen to R&H front to back

He didn't say that.

 

[gvox]

He didn't say that.

I meant to say "any more than" ie, as in comparison to, NLOTH. My bad.

 

[Vlaco]

Np!

 

[digitize]

The number of votes on this poll is extremely encouraging. Thanks for participating, everyone.

 

[lazarus]

This is an excellent reason for a remaster/reissue, imo - re-org the thing with studio cuts on disc 1 and the live on the other, including the omitted live tracks. Can you imagine? That would be amazing and far more worthwhile than reissuing any other U2 album right now almost!!

I really doubt the band would mess with official canon like that.

Luckily we're in the era of custom playlists.

 

[LemonMelon]

Which ones on R&H are skipped when you listen?

All the live songs.

Because there are bootleg performances that are way better.

And there are far better songs from the movie that got left off the soundtrack (SBS, Streets, In God's Country, WOWY, Bad) which I find inexcusable. They picked the most pedestrian stuff and left out the real scorchers.

 

[monkeyskin]

It doesn't seem right to judge an album based on what didn't make the cut. I totally agree with Gvox' assessment of the live tracks and while there were better ones to include, those that were are all fine.

Yeah it can come off as more a compilation with the sequencing, but when you break it down to the original four sides of vinyl it works better.

I have a soft spot for RaH though, it being the first U2 album I bought.