After reading the posts the last 2 days I wanted to throw my 2 cents in as well. I started following U2 in 1982,and was fortunate enough to have the War show be my first concert ever at age 12. I was blown away by the music and energy,and needless to say was hooked for life. I enjoyed UF fire a lot, although there was some mediocruty on there. Like most of you,I was absolutely blown away by JT and still don't tire of many of those songs.
Rattle and Hum,the b-side covers and a general cheesiness by the band in the late 80s/early 90s upset me and made we wonder if I'd ever see the cool,ass kicking U2 from the early days. Then,just as I was about to lose hope,Achtung Baby came out and blew the doors off the place. As a longtime U2 fan,I tried to see the good in Zooropa and Pop as much as possible,and for the most part enjoyed that stuff. Again,as I started to wonder if the band was headed towards the Know when to Say When Stage,ATYCLB came out and restored my faith again.
After ATYCLB and everything I've read I've been so anxious to hear these tracks and finally got to yesterday (other than Vertigo of course). I read some of the negative reviews on here so maybe my opinion was skewed a bit,but I tried to give every song a fair 4 or 5 listens before reaching any conclusion. After a full day of listening,here are my thoughts:
As of now this album is not one filled with monster songs as Bono claimed,and after listening to JT again today,I'm pretty disappointed in his lyrics on this album. There are no "yeah,yeah,yeah,yeah,yeah yeah" endings to any songs on that album,and overall the lyrics Bono wrote back then were utterly amazing. It does seem to an extent that instead of being the Alpha and having others follow him,maybe he or they have been influenced either consciously or subconsciously by Coldplay and some of the other newer bands of today. There does seem to be a lack of originality or creativity on this album,especially lyrically on a few of the tracks. Also,it's obvious Bono's voice just doesn't have the range it once did.
Despite some of the things I just said,I have always been a U2 supporter and still take whatever positives i can out of any of their albums. As others have noted,I think this just isn't the type of monster rock album we were led to believe it was,but it does have some very enjoyable material on it,once we adjust to what it is and not what we expected it to be. I personally like Yahweh an awful lot,especially for the 11th track on an album. I think Love and Peace was a bit daring for them and is a very cool song overall. Even if it's a little soft,I like A Man and a Woman a lot,it catches you write away. Many of the other songs I'm still getting used to and trying to love,but I will admit I did go back to JT on my Ipod today and was blown away like always. Maybe the bottom line is these guys are in their mid 40s and they're growing up with their audience,so we shouldn't expect the 27 year olds from 1987,nor their energy. Just like athletes,and other types of entertainers,it seems many musicians reach their peak in their 20s and 30s and maybe that's the case with the band. To expect the hungry,spirited band from the early 80s is unrealistic,so let's just enjoy what good music the band puts out these days. Even if I end up loving just 3 or 4 songs off the album,my life will be that much better than it was before they were released.
I think Zooropa took me a year to really discover its beauty.
