Edge 80-94 Vs Edge 94 - Present

[Screwtape2]

I have a really odd way of judging Edge's legacy and body of work.
I'll come at this from a different angle, I think Edge's best music comes from his work with Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois. Naturally, for me that music would represent the best Edge could do in those decades. So I judge Edge in a time period by eliminating any work that isn't done without the duo of Eno and Lanois. It's weird but they seem to bring two very different things out of Edge.
Brian Eno seems to stretch Edge's limits and push him further. Daniel Lanois seems to bring out the simplicity in Edge.

So break it down:
The 80's-->UF, TJT
songs: TUF, Promenade, 4th of July, Pride, Streets, Bullet, WOWY,
God's Country and Exit
The 90's-->AB, Zooropa,
songs: EBTTRT, One, UTEOTW, The Fly, MW, Stay, Zooropa, etc.
The 00's-->ATYCLB
songs: Beautiful Day, Elevation, Kite, etc.

For me it is the 80's because TUF and TJT seem to combine Edge's ability to experiment with his talent for simplicity.

 

[Earnie Shavers]

He's become a far better player, just listen to some Fly boots from the last tour (some, not all, some nights are way better than others. Try London for absolutely arse kicking versions of the Fly & Mysterious Ways) versus Fly boots from ZooTV, as one example using a consistent song. However, on record his creativity has bottomed out almost completely. If I could attach a graph here it would show a red line representing technical skill continually shooting up and off the chart, but a blue line representing creativity hitting a high point at Achtung, plateuing through the 90's and heading downwards from then on. The guitar on COBL is great, but buried unfortunately, and the rest of the Bomb is either complete restraint or dialing in a weaker version of something done before. ATYCLB is similar, with Beautiful Day as a standout high point. New areas are covered on the latest albums, for sure, as are moments of "Niiiice", but the "Holy f*ck!" reaction has long gone, and it used to be there in spades. Now it is only found live.