My last album review....POP

[Zoots]

i disagree, but i respect your opinion

douchebag

Respect this, muthafucka! :grab:

 

[Snowlock]

Disco - 5/10. Silly U2, and I don't like silly U2. The music is good, Edge is rocking. HATE the Boom Cha's and that bubblegum line.

Do You Fee Loved - 6/10. First song that grabbed me, but couldn't hold me. Kind of generic. Great bassline though.

Mofo - 5/10. Meh. Edge's Little Red Vette falsetto and the Mother Sucking Rock N Roll parts ruin it for me.

IGWSHA - 6/10. Second song to grab me but again couldn't hold me and seems generic now. The single version gives it a boost but no enough, and that's not even the entire song.

SATS - 5/10. Nothing wrong with it, just wasn't to my taste at all. Like the live version though. The video was good.

LNOE - 7/10. Great song but missing that U2 hook. All the parts work, but it's kind of Miracle Drug-y... It's just missing... something.

Gone - 6.5/10. Feel nearly the same about this on as I do about LNOE. Most of the parts work, but Bono's vocals are kind of weak and it's lacking that hook.

Miami - 1/10. Right there with Red Light and Peace On Earth for me. Waste of bandwidth. North and South Of The River or Holy Joe should've been here instead. My Mammy my ass.

Playboy Mansion - 3/10. Interesting song musically but the vocals and lyrics are too light for my. Again it's silly U2. Give me anthems instead.

IYWTVD - 2/10. This song is Paris Hilton. Gorgeous, but shallow and soon becomes boring.

Please - 9.5/10. Strongest vocal performance, colorful music and I love how it builds to the crescendo to the end. The single verison is better and the live performance at the MTV VMA's in 1997 is definitive. Grab it from your p2p network. It's not a 10 because again, it's just missing something I can't put my finger on. As much as I like it, I wouldn't trade it for Streets or Bad or even Vertigo.

Wake Up - 2/10. Boring.

 

[Chizip]

Disco - 5/10. Silly U2, and I don't like silly U2.

Yet you gave a Vertigo a 9/10? A song that starts off with an incorrect Spanish countup, and is littered with silly Hola and Donde Esta's?

And we can't forget the oh so serious line "Just give me what I want and nobody gets hurt"

its one of their silliest songs and you say this about it

this will be forever up there among the pantheon of great U2 songs

 

[Zoots]

I don't like silly U2.

You don't like silly U2, yet you like the lemon and popmart shopping cart enough to include it in your avatar?

 

[got_edge]

Yet you gave a Vertigo a 9/10? A song that starts off with an incorrect Spanish countup, and is littered with silly Hola and Donde Esta's?

And we can't forget the oh so serious line "Just give me what I want and nobody gets hurt"

Vertigo: 10/10



...IMO that is always right.

 

[Snowlock]

You don't like silly U2, yet you like the lemon and popmart shopping cart enough to include it in your avatar?

Completionist. And besides, I have never ever said in any post that I hated Pop. It's still U2; I'd still take that album over 90% of anything out there by anyone else. It's just that I'd take 8 other U2 albums ahead of it.

 

[Snowlock]

Yet you gave a Vertigo a 9/10? A song that starts off with an incorrect Spanish countup, and is littered with silly Hola and Donde Esta's?

And we can't forget the oh so serious line "Just give me what I want and nobody gets hurt"

its one of their silliest songs and you say this about it

I don't find Vertigo silly. There's nothing inherently silly about counting in spanish, I don't think. Perhaps light hearted; but not on the same level as Boom Cha's while dancing around as the village people.

"Give me what I want and no one gets hurt?" Is funny, not silly. Or maybe not even funny, maybe its a commentary on spoiled rock stars from a spoiled rock star.

"You know you're chewing bubblegum, you know what that is and you still want some"??

I'll take the previous line any day of the week.

 

[Chizip]

well in my opinion a song starting with a spanish 1, 2, 3, 14 and random holas and donde estas throughout is sillier than some boomchas

sure maybe the discotheque video is sillier, but i dont let videos effect what i think of a song

 

[got_edge]

"Give me what I want and no one gets hurt?" Is funny, not silly. Or maybe not even funny, maybe its a commentary on spoiled rock stars from a spoiled rock star.

What?

 

[Snowlock]

well in my opinion a song starting with a spanish 1, 2, 3, 14 and random holas and donde estas throughout is sillier than some boomchas

sure maybe the discotheque video is sillier, but i dont let videos effect what i think of a song

Sure it's all opinion anyway. 1, 2, 3... 14. Now, if he had counted from 3 right up to 14 that would've been silly.

I normally don't let videos effect what I'm hearing either; if for no other reason than I rarely see videos. But that one... Every time I hear the Boom Cha's I think of Bono line dancing in that CHiPS police uniform. Gah. That's too glaring a difference for a guy who really caught on to them during their ripped jeans and vest era.

 

[ponkine]

POP = Unspeakable masterpiece. Absolutely quintessential. Darkest and most difficut U2 album ever. Ultimately, POP has both a "metaphysical" quality to it - vis-a-vis its place in time - and a broad-based compositional-musical quality that all but defined much of the music of its time. And although one can quibble over its internal flaws, or its place in U2 oeuvre - especially its alleged "ironic" qualities - it is the very impossibility of pinning down its brilliance that makes it a "masterpiece," and, along with Ok Computer, one of the absolutely quintessential albums of this genre.

This has always been one of my richest music treasures in my collection. This album lives and breathes a new kind of Rock all the way through. Dark and conceptual, POP delves into the vast regions of the human brain leaving lots up to the imagination of the listener. U2 deploy a wide range of moods here from the tranquil beauty of If God Will Send His Angels to the stunning Please or the aggressive Mofo. This is one of the most influential and essential prog recordings of all time... never to have been duplicated since.

Sadly, some fans (specially in the US) weren't prepared for the masterpiece U2 had created, and that makes POP even more amazing because it’s not a piece of cake for everybody.

 

[Snowlock]

Sure it's all opinion anyway. 1, 2, 3... 14. Now, if he had counted from 3 right up to 14 that would've been silly.

I normally don't let videos effect what I'm hearing either; if for no other reason than I rarely see videos. But that one... Every time I hear the Boom Cha's I think of Bono line dancing in that CHiPS police uniform. Gah. That's too glaring a difference for a guy who really caught on to them during their ripped jeans and vest era.

The guy who said "What" to my post about rock star commentary.... Give me what I want and no one gets hurt is open to interpretation, if you've been a fan of U2 longer than a couple days you probably know that Bono can quickly mix messages in a single song, and that any given line can be deliberately open to many different interpretations. That's just one possibility.

dunno what's with the double post... grrr

 

[LemonMelon]

Great review, but let me make a few points.

Miami
What is this crap? :ugh: Terrible song. A very annoying drum machine is the only instrument until a minute and a half in, when Adam plays a bass line. The lyrics are average as well. Now it’s not all bad, I don’t mind the ‘ba ba ba ba’s’ and Edge’s guitar is swell, the outro’s okay, but what throws my off is the line Some places are like your auntie, but there’s no place like Miami, my mammy.
Mammy?
Is that even a word?
3

Must agree here, but listen to some live versions and maybe you'll appreciate this one more. It's all good.

The Playboy Mansion
Not exactly sure what they were trying to do with this song. Was it meant to be fun like Miami or meaningful? It sounds like a meaningful sorta song, but the lyrics read fun. The intro is really cool, and I like how the band sounds when Bono sings the lines before and the line ‘the gates of that mansion’. Apart from that, it’s average, nice, but not much else. Liking the ‘don’t know if I can…’ verse. It’s almost the like the Wild Honey of Pop.
5.5

I simply love this song. The sexy guitar riffs, the hilarious commentary on society...it's amazing. The "then will there be no time for sorrow" part is chilling.

Please
I was expecting a really great song here, given how loved it is around here, but I was a bit let down. Personally I think this song is overrated. It’s incredibly depressing. But getting past all that, it is a pretty good song. In my opinion Bono’s strongest vocals on this album are present here, and the bass really moves the song along. Is this like the ‘One’ of this album? The song everyone appreciates but takes ages to appreciate yourself? The vocals are top-notch though. The last minute or so is good.
7

September, streets capsizing, spilling over and down the drain, shards of glass, splinters like rain, you can only feel your own pain...October, talk getting nowhere, November, December, remember...we're the just starting again! PLEEASE! PLEEASE! PLEEASE! It's what lovers deal, it's what lovers steal, you know I find it hard to receive...because you my love...I could never believe.

Enough said.

Wake up Dead Man
I’ve had this song as long as I’ve had SATS, and I have always liked this song a lot, despite its depressive tone and ‘no-hope’ lyrics and vocal delivery. But pushing that aside, this a fantastic song and a terrific closer. Bono’s vocals really suit the song, and Edge’s electric, metallic guitar really gives the song a kick. The almost whispering bridge is perfect, as the music underneath Bono slowly builds up. Great song.
8

Agreed. But the no-hope lyrics are genius and make the song.

Discotheque - 8
Do You Feel Loved - 9 1/2
Mofo - 8 1/2
IGWSHA - 7 1/2
Staring At The Sun - 7
Last Night On Earth - 9
Gone - 8 1/2
Miami - 5
The Playboy Mansion - 9
IYWTVD - 8
Please - 8 1/2
WUDM - 9 1/2

So...besides that one little blip on the radar, I consider Pop to be a masterpiece.

 

[Irishteen]

Good review except for Please, what a brilliant song also I agree about Miami, 'tis one of the worst songs the band has ever done, it's the 90's is that all?, great music but god awful lyrics. Miami, MY Mammy, Bono's worst lyric EVER!!!!

 

[Mogi]

Ponkie, I must say for once, I totally agree with you.

Many people fall all over themselves for Ok Computer with its pre-millennium fear(don´t get me wrong, I LOVE Ok Computer). But I think Pop nailed it and communicated the feelings of our society at this time in history better than anyone else could have.

Especially if you know more about the spiritual history of U2, that makes this even much more interesting. Lots of fear, questioning, doubt that makes us so human in our quest to find our spiritual place.

Maybe that is why many Americans really didn´t get the true message of Pop. Consumerism has become our new religion. Like Bono sang, banks they are cathedrals, I guess casinos took their place. Amen brotha!!!

It makes perfect sense to end the decade that started with Zoo TV that tied in the explosion of the internet, the falling of the Berlin Wall, the overexposure of media that turned pretty much sucked us into a bunch of target marketed consumers.

Pop and Popmart was the result of that. Brilliant, but just too bad that the message was lost for the intended people, who probably needed it.

 

[LemonMelon]

Many people fall all over themselves for Ok Computer with its pre-millennium fear(don´t get me wrong, I LOVE Ok Computer).

Me do!

 

[U2girl]

Boom cha (let's not even get to the video) is a lot sillier than any counting, Spanish or incorrect. Would that be better if it was correct 1,2,3,4 counting or English instead?

And the interpretation I've heard of the "give me what I want and no one gets hurt" doesn't seem silly to me.

As for Miami: yes it's better live but still a skipping-song.

 

[Zoots]

*skips U2girl's post*

 

[Chizip]

at least the boomcha's are confined to the end of the song

vertigo has random hola's and donde esta's all over it, and it makes no sense

what does vertigo have to do with spanish??

to dismiss discotheque because it is "silly" but then to say vertigo is in the pantheon of all time great u2 songs makes me go

\leaves thread forever

pop

 

[trevgreg]

Find a copy of LNOE live in Mexico City... I promise you, you won't be dissapointed!

Any live version of Gone kicks butt too...

 

[U2girl]

at least the boomcha's are confined to the end of the song

vertigo has random hola's and donde esta's all over it, and it makes no sense

what does vertigo have to do with spanish??

to dismiss discotheque because it is "silly" but then to say vertigo is in the pantheon of all time great u2 songs makes me go

\leaves thread forever

pop

Boom chas are silly no matter where they are. What does location have to do with it?

Hola and donde esta are replying to the "Hello!" and "'it's everything I wish I didn't know" lines.

 

[Canadiens1131]

i disagree, but i respect your opinion

douchebag

We don't tolerate personal attacks, here, Chizip. Read the FAQ.

 

[GibsonGirl]

*skips U2girl's post*

 

[U2Man]

We don't tolerate personal attacks, here, Chizip. Read the FAQ.

douchebag is not a personal attack, it's a compliment.

 

[Chizip]

U2Man told Canadiens to "go fuck himself" before he edited it out

he is a troublemaker

but he is right, douchebag is a term of endearment

 

[U2Man]

no I didn't. go fuck yourself.

 

[gherman]

I agree with everything you said. Esp. "generally underated but overated here at interference." Great job on the review.

 

[U2Man]

I agree with everything you said.

thanks

 

[Zoots]

LMAO.

 

[Salome]

c) "ambition bites the nails of success" Pop almost feels like a 2- or a 3- way EP, trying maybe too much at once.

POP 7/10 the IGWSHA/SATS/LNOE part killed this album.

I agree that here lies the true weekness of the album
more so then the at times weird production decisions


it's not even that I dislike Staring at .... and Last Night .... (I do think If god .... is extremely mediocre) but whatever mood they were trying to build / whatever direction they were tryng to force the music into it basically is all made undone here

it indeed is like listening to a couple EP's


I like POP for the songs where I feel they managed to achieve what I feel they were aiming for: the first 3 songs and the last 3 songs
even Miami scores quite a lot ofpoints for me if only because they had the balls not to hold back on what they were trying to do


it's a good album
but it makes me a bit sad how much better it could have been if they had spend another year on it


as for the supposed critique of 90s consumerism: get over it
it is hinted at in the title and in the tour (at times it seems U2 pick album titles to hint at the upcoming tour more then that it says much about the album) but apart from Playboy Mansion (incredibly poor btw) there is hardly any sign of it
it does paint a picture of the late 90s but no more than ATYCLB paints a picture of the early 00s


very good album with some incredible lyrics
but not what it could and should have been