HTAAB---The new Rattle and Hum?

[the tourist]

Personally I thought the song would have been better without the bleeps at the beginning (LAPOE, being the song in question), because I think it takes a little away from the bluesy rock of the rest of the song. *shrugs* Doesn't mean I don't think the song has some of the best swagger U2's ever had. Also, I'm not whining -- I'm just a musician and if it'd been me I would have left it out. I don't think this album is very similar to Rattle & Hum -- no mysterious darker, midnight driving songs like Heartland, no BB King or Bob Dylan (thank goodness). Although I think All Because Of You and Love And Peace Or Else could have been on R&H.

 

[ZeroDude]

Rattle and Hum is not like HTDAAB because Rattle and Hum is rubbish.

Have you heard it, All I Want Is You is better than anything on HTDAAB also what about Heartland, Hawkmoon, God Part 2, Desire and Angel of Harlem, how the hell is it rubbish, well ok it's great.............................not excellente

 

[Marr]

I must disagree with that rubbish some people are talking about Achtung Baby.

That record was experimental, fresh, exciting and challanging.
Bono once said that before Achtung Baby they weren't a rock'n'roll band, they were the world's loudest folk band.

I'm saying this just to trash the album, no matter how would it sound. I'm saying this becouse I want U2 to be something more than a sentimental band for the Joshua Tree fans, cash machine like The Rolling Stones.

You say that they are too old to do an album like POP---well David Bowie was at the same age when he recorded 1.Outside with Brian Eno.

You say it would be a commercial suicide--well sorry, but U2 are rich enough to have the luxury of not recording "cash-cows".

I like HTAAB, i really do. I love LAPOE, Vertigo, Miracle Drug.....
but i kinda hoped for something more, and i think most of you also did want something bigger.
This album is good, more than that it's great, surely it's the album of the year, but it isn't breathtaking, it's no as schocking, as stunning, as emotion as POP for example.

On Pop you had Mofo,Wake Up Dead Man, you had true emotions, songs as big as a rock'n'roll song can be,just admit it-wasn't it more exciting then listening A Man And A Woman?

When we're talking about Pop i hear perfection and wonderful songs, U2 beeing not afraid to try anything.U2 with guts.
All you can hear is beelps and bursts.

 

[yimou]

Once again,, I have to agree with everything Marr is saying.

 

[TheFlyOnTheWall]

I must disagree with that rubbish some people are talking about Achtung Baby.

That record was experimental, fresh, exciting and challanging.
Bono once said that before Achtung Baby they weren't a rock'n'roll band, they were the world's loudest folk band.

I'm saying this just to trash the album, no matter how would it sound. I'm saying this becouse I want U2 to be something more than a sentimental band for the Joshua Tree fans, cash machine like The Rolling Stones.

You say that they are too old to do an album like POP---well David Bowie was at the same age when he recorded 1.Outside with Brian Eno.

You say it would be a commercial suicide--well sorry, but U2 are rich enough to have the luxury of not recording "cash-cows".

I like HTAAB, i really do. I love LAPOE, Vertigo, Miracle Drug.....
but i kinda hoped for something more, and i think most of you also did want something bigger.
This album is good, more than that it's great, surely it's the album of the year, but it isn't breathtaking, it's no as schocking, as stunning, as emotion as POP for example.

On Pop you had Mofo,Wake Up Dead Man, you had true emotions, songs as big as a rock'n'roll song can be,just admit it-wasn't it more exciting then listening A Man And A Woman?

When we're talking about Pop i hear perfection and wonderful songs, U2 beeing not afraid to try anything.U2 with guts.
All you can hear is beelps and bursts.

AMEN to that.

And if I may add, U2 still does great music, and experimental - they just don't put it on the album... The can, but they don't...

 

[U2_Guy]

I must disagree with that rubbish some people are talking about Achtung Baby.

That record was experimental, fresh, exciting and challanging.
Bono once said that before Achtung Baby they weren't a rock'n'roll band, they were the world's loudest folk band.

I'm saying this just to trash the album, no matter how would it sound. I'm saying this becouse I want U2 to be something more than a sentimental band for the Joshua Tree fans, cash machine like The Rolling Stones.

You say that they are too old to do an album like POP---well David Bowie was at the same age when he recorded 1.Outside with Brian Eno.

You say it would be a commercial suicide--well sorry, but U2 are rich enough to have the luxury of not recording "cash-cows".

I like HTAAB, i really do. I love LAPOE, Vertigo, Miracle Drug.....
but i kinda hoped for something more, and i think most of you also did want something bigger.
This album is good, more than that it's great, surely it's the album of the year, but it isn't breathtaking, it's no as schocking, as stunning, as emotion as POP for example.

On Pop you had Mofo,Wake Up Dead Man, you had true emotions, songs as big as a rock'n'roll song can be,just admit it-wasn't it more exciting then listening A Man And A Woman?

When we're talking about Pop i hear perfection and wonderful songs, U2 beeing not afraid to try anything.U2 with guts.
All you can hear is beelps and bursts.

Actually, Bowie was 49 when he made the wonderful 1.Outside and 50 when he recorded Earthling.

I must warn you Marr, some ppl here (both starting with the letter U) will start saying that you are my alter... or rhjbonovox's alter...or Ponkine's alter...

 

[ZeroDude]

Now your just stirring things up........ you'll get the response you want though

 

[ponkine]

Hola amigos

I´m sure some friends will get me wrong ( once again ) but yes, I do believe this HTDAAB is their new Rattle & Hum. Rattle & Hum ( despite it has its moments, like the 4 singles, Heartland, God Part II, etc, etc ) wasn´t truly new. Even they included some live numbers from Joshua Tree on it. I think the same situation happen here,sadly . It´s clear this is not an avant-garde nor experimental neither truly new. Most of us know several songs were worked from ATYCLB outtakes sessions. That´s clear as the outcome: The album is nothing truly new. I´m not saying it sucks, it has its moments as well ( City Of Blinding Lights is the best U2 2000 song IMO ) but given it´s nothing new and risky, it´s really annoying and dissapointing

Finally, it´s a good thing this album is the new Rattle & Hum...


DREAM IT ALL AGAIN...

 

[roy]

I must disagree with that rubbish some people are talking about Achtung Baby.

That record was experimental, fresh, exciting and challanging.
Bono once said that before Achtung Baby they weren't a rock'n'roll band, they were the world's loudest folk band.

I'm sorry but AB has some of the most boring commerical songs U2 ever recored:

EBTTRT,
WGRYWH,
MW,
TTTYAATW,
UV.

Boring songs with nothing to say, made primarily to be played on radio. Experimental album my arse...

 

[Salome]

U2's sense of invention is so drastically overrated at this forum that it just isn't funny anymore

you must admire them for having the intelligence to include Eno in their team when they did
because he does add a sense of experiment to things

like Roy mentioned
many of the songs on Achtung Baby (mostly the singles) have 0 to do with experiment and everything to do with writing a fun song people will want to heara

 

[rjhbonovox]

Anybody that thinks Achtung Baby wasn't experimental and creative never were there when the album came out. You have got to realise that this album came out straight after Joshua Tree/Rattle & Hum, the album was a million miles from what they had been recording before. Never in a million fuc#ing years had The Edge used a wah wah pedal in any songs before this album. Never had he used distortion and fuzz and feedback to this extent before on a U2 album, Bullet the blue Sky being the closest thing. Whoever said that The Fly was not experimental for U2 at that time is talking out of their arse. Can you hear the fuc#ing falsetto for gods sake, did Bono use this voice before?????? NO he didn't., The hammond organ in the chorus the deep fuc#ing Bass and the different drum sound that they had never used before and I am only talking about one song off that GREAT album. Experimental, different, creative.

Oh also adding a few blips and effects to COBL will not change that into a classic. But it would fuc#ing help if the song was bloody mixed properly!

 

[Marr]

I'm sorry but AB has some of the most boring commerical songs U2 ever recored:

EBTTRT,
WGRYWH,
MW,
TTTYAATW,
UV.

Boring songs with nothing to say, made primarily to be played on radio. Experimental album my arse...

whoa......this is really leading us into drastic conclusions.
Achtung Baby is boring?!

Jesus Christ! Name one song off HTAAB that could even COMPARE with One,The Fly or Until The End Of The World.
AB was an masterpiece in every aspect.
The lyrics,the music,the attittude--that was the U2 we all love.

Songs have nothing to say? Listen to One or The Fly and then to Vertigo or A Man and A Woman and say this again......If you dare.

HTAAB looks like a demo compared to AB.

ANd for all those people trashing everything U2 had done in the 90s, as Morrissey would put it:

THIS JOKE ISN'T FUNNY ANYMORE.
AND IT NEVER REALLY WAS.

besides, if someone can't understand all those emotion of AB he has no right to call himself a U2 fan 'couse this album is sheer U2, if somebody would ask me "what's this whole U2 thing?" i'd tell'em listen to AB.

P.S Thnx for the support of true U2 fans. I love you all.

 

[Marr]

I must warn you Marr, some ppl here (both starting with the letter U) will start saying that you are my alter... or rhjbonovox's alter...or Ponkine's alter...

Mayby I am, my friend, mayby I am.
Or mayby i jsut want to repair the whole fu#king world?

 

[Sleep Over Jack]

Achtung Baby was experimental for U2 themselves, but was it experimental in terms of music as a whole? I'm not so sure...anyway, it made great use of varied sounds and is my favourite U2 album so far...


As to the person who asked for songs to compare HTDAAB to AB, I submit: Sometimes, Vertigo, Original Of The Species, Love And Peace, as examples...

 

[Salome]

ANd for all those people trashing everything U2 had done in the 90s

hell, I love what U2 did in the 90's
but that doesn't make Achtung Baby an experimental masterpiece
as pointed out, just because it was new to U2 doesn't make it experimental

and I think it's rather fruitless the way you keep comparing 3 tracks you pick from Achtung Baby to 3 tracks you pick from HTDAAB

it hardly proves any point

 

[Marr]

Hola amigos



Finally, it´s a good thing this album is the new Rattle & Hum...


DREAM IT ALL AGAIN...

Yes, mayby for the last time.
In a new studio, with a new producer, with no leftovers from previous sessions, just dreaming out loud.

And hand on my heart, gun to my head this is the future for U2.
Starting all over again, tearing the good ol'rulebook, and taking a chance again. If it works--great, if not---no more "A Man And A Woman"

 

[Zoovation]

We will see all these people who are complaining about HTDAAB during the concerts singing songs like Vertigo or Love And Peace Or Else altough they always say bad things about these songs. That's just funny!

 

[Sleep Over Jack]

Its funny....the hardcore '90s people are beginning to look as sad and overly nostalgic as the sad fools that cling to anything '80s U2 did like a security blanket..

 

[Marr]

and I think it's rather fruitless the way you keep comparing 3 tracks you pick from Achtung Baby to 3 tracks you pick from HTDAAB

it hardly proves any point

Those three songs were just examples.
I used them to show the nature of both albums.
AB was a dramatic struggle, HTAAB is just a harder version of ideas used on ATYCLB, there is no struggle, nobody takes a chance. "Wanna U2 album? Here's one."

The songs on AB are very special. Even the fun songs have a meaning(Even Better Than The Real Thing also....), the lyrics are brilliant.

With this album U2 are starting to sell the same thing to the same old crowd.
"the more you....., the less......" lyric was used before, in Last Night On Earth for example.
"Take this.....,Take that......." was used on Do You Feel Loved
"Your love is teaching me how to kneel"---many songs, but Mysterious Ways for example.
And a few more, but nevermind.
On this album, for the first time Bono's lyrics are staring to lose their meaning(there's one exception SOmetimes You Can't Make it,whitch really tells you a story)

Is it good enough for you?
Fine.
But some people wanted more.

 

[Marr]

We will see all these people who are complaining about HTDAAB during the concerts singing songs like Vertigo or Love And Peace Or Else altough they always say bad things about these songs. That's just funny!

I have never said enything abd about LAPOE, vertigo is alos one of my favourites off this album.
But that's not the point.
I don't complain becouse i like to, or becouse it's cool to trash a U2 album. I've waited 4 years. And I was really happy and excited when i heard it for the first time.But now it just doesn't seems so exciting. But AB or POP still do.

You know, at the Metallica concert last year, I also compained about St.Anger and i still don't like it. But i sang along to any other song.

 

[Salome]

I'm not exactly sure where you're going with comparing lines Bono used with lyrics he has used before
you seem to use it in a context with the lyrics being meaningless
and that's one of the things you can't accuse HTDAAB off really

HTDAAB is not my fave U2 album by a long shot
but the lyrics are probably some of most important Bono has written

and I just can't help to agree with Sleep Over Jack that some people's nostalgia over 90's U2 just gets a bit ... umm ... much

Is it good enough for you?
Fine.
But some people wanted more.

and I don't like patronising crap like that

 

[Yahweh]

If people think POP is so great maybe you should go out and test it on your family and relitives buy it for them make U2 notice that it is a wanted album...by the reaction it got it made it clear it wasnt...I have always said POP was excellent unfortunatly the majority dont agree, but I also say Bomb is excellent and pretty much as good as anything outside of Achtung Baby.

 

[Marr]

and I don't like patronising crap like that

Looks like I have to defend myself here all of the time.
But alright.

I know, that my posts are a bit like a "Dance of Decadence", but that's how i feel.
I can't help that the AB or POP were just simply better than the new stuff.
I can't help that some people just don't understand why I'm saying That HTAAb is the new R&H
I can't help that HTAAb, no matter how well will it sell, won't be the greates U2 album ever.
I can't help that i miss that U2 of The Pop times, becouse it was great.It had the best shows,a wonderful album,and "f#ck you world attitude" it was just U2 are their fans.And it had the LEMON.......

 

[Salome]

POP is probably the worst album U2 ever made
it has some brilliant songs, but - in the world of U2 - an unparalleled amount of bland mediocre stuff that not even Flood managed to make it sound pleasant to my ears
the album is unfocussed, unfinished and has The Playboy Mansion and If God Would Send his Angels on it (they make good subjects for discussing Bono's lyrics)

oh wait!!
that might just be my opinion
hell, I'll just state that I can't help it being the truth

I agree that HTDAAB won't be U2's greatest album ever
but that hasn't stopped me from enjoying all their other 'not greatest' album

and I miss The Unforgettable Fire period
it fucking rocked

 

[Yahweh]

U2 had many fans that felt very excluded in the POP time period...so it wasnt just U2 and their fans and as I have stated many times before you cant please everybody but I think the new album pleases the majority.

 

[Marr]

I agree that HTDAAB won't be U2's greatest album ever
but that hasn't stopped me from enjoying all their other 'not greatest' album

For the first time we agree.
You miss the UF period
I miss the POP period.
And HTAAB is good, but perfect.

As simple as that, Salome.
And yes, I do miss the Lemon. It kicked ass.

 

[Marr]

U2 had many fans that felt very excluded in the POP time period...so it wasnt just U2 and their fans and as I have stated many times before you cant please everybody but I think the new album pleases the majority.

Rock music is not about pleasing the majority.
That's what N*Sync is about.

There were band bands who were exciting, fresh and briliant from the begining right to the end. Take Faith No More as a great example.They didn't try to please the majority, they tried to make great records, not matter what. And they did.

 

[Salome]

for the record
I don't really miss the Unforgettable Fire period
that was about 20 years ago

I'm not stuck in the past

 

[Yahweh]

and where is Faith No More today a long distant memory and for the record I didnt think they were all that special.

 

[Marr]

and I miss The Unforgettable Fire period
it fucking rocked

I am confused.