Ok, so here's what I think U2's problem is.

[KUEFC09U2]

HTDAAB is the only album in the Amazon Charts that has only 3 stars! That's not normal!

and if you look at amazon, you will see that the 1-2 star reviews that are bringing the rating down, are by people saying "i hate bono", "i hate U2 they succkkkk"

get my point?

 

[rjhbonovox]

HTDAAB is the only album in the Amazon Charts that has only 3 stars! That's not normal!

Is it worth anymore?

 

[Layton]

When it comes to political, it's something I'd like to see as well. Remember though that political doesn't have to equal negative or angy. It doesn't have to be "Fuck Bush!!!" I completely understand why, despite, for example, his clear distaste for the Iraq War, Bono isn't going to pop out a Bullet The Blue Sky type song. However, the guy is in an incredibly unique position in the world at the moment. He's also an intellectual guy and a great, great writer. What he says in "Crumbs from Your Table" isn't the thoughts of Bono the thinker/writer at the end of the night after going a few rounds with Bush at the White House. "Crumbs..." is the pitch from Bono the sales guy to Middle America. That's all well and good, but I for one am over getting simplified Oprah interviews replicated in song, with some of his favourite catchphrases that you read 3 times out of every 4 Bono interviews even replicated word for word in lyrics. I want to hear about what's going through the guys head at 2am after a week of playing politics and all the good and bad that comes with that, not just the sales pitch. I want to hear the pain he sees in Africa come from Edge's guitar, just as the pain of desperation and hopelesness came from his guitar on Love is Blindness, not just catchy riffs for the masses but that guitar work that completely seperately from the lyrics told it's own story and translated it's own emotions. I have no doubt that succeed or fail in 10 years with a bit of distance Bono will have a great story to tell in some interview or book, but I'd really like to have some reference point in the music. Put it this way, as spectacularly as they wrote about the dishonest heart in Achtung Baby, I'd love them to do the same with the dishonest globe in the next album. I don't believe for a second that middle age should simplify them or turn them dull. If anything Bono should only be starting to hit his stride as a writer. U2's music always let you right in there as part of the music, but at the moment you get the feeling that you're just the audience. No more signs and wonders, give us something other!

I like all this. Great post.

I just don't think Bono is quite at the right place to get political in the way you're describing. His hopeful, optimistic side is winning the day with him, still. HTDAAB articulates that side very well, I think. I also think that HTDAAB articulates and expresses everything we all go up and down about regarding current U2. The urge to not get political in the way you describe is there. The urge to cajole and nurture is there. Ironically, this might all make it a decent piece of art. All of our current likes and dislikes of U2 are addressed.

Your example of 'Crumbs' is excellent. He is pitching something there and it's because he sees a hurt in America that needs to be cajoled and nurtured. This urge derives from his own pain and recovery process associated with losing his father. He's paralleling 3 pivotal weeks in 2001. The week in August that he lost his father and the week in Sept. when America lost its innocence. Bono found his way spiritually out of that loss due to the nurturing of God (ABOY), wife (AMAAW) and kids (OOTS). He thinks America can take the same path to recovery. HTDAAB is basically about those 3 weeks in 2001.

 

[MrBrau1]

I like all this. Great post.

I just don't think Bono is quite at the right place to get political in the way you're describing. His hopeful, optimistic side is winning the day with him, still. HTDAAB articulates that side very well, I think. I also think that HTDAAB articulates and expresses everything we all go up and down about regarding current U2. The urge to not get political in the way you describe is there. The urge to cajole and nurture is there. Ironically, this might all make it a decent piece of art. All of our current likes and dislikes of U2 are addressed.

Your example of 'Crumbs' is excellent. He is pitching something there and it's because he sees a hurt in America that needs to be cajoled and nurtured. This urge derives from his own pain and recovery process associated with losing his father. He's paralleling 3 pivotal weeks in 2001. The week in August that he lost his father and the week in Sept. when America lost its innocence. Bono found his way spiritually out of that loss due to the nurturing of God (ABOY), wife (AMAAW) and kids (OOTS). He thinks America can take the same path to recovery. HTDAAB is basically about those 3 weeks in 2001.

Layton-You're on a roll. Interesting perspective on HTDAAB.

 

[jacknife23]

they badly need new fans?!? wtf are you talking about? how is right now related to post-rattle & hum???? they have tons of fans and, in my opinion, have recovered fully from the pop 'disaster'. they now have the means to experiment with new sounds again and im willing to bet itd be unanimously accepted with open arms.

who are you, jacknife lee? go away.

Very heart warming to see some passionate support. It really frustrates me when a band releases a very good album and people do not get tired of just dissing it again and again. I just dont understand why after Politics and Politicians, U2 is the most critised thing in the world.

I do get frustrated seeing same set list everyday on internet, I do get frustrated when U2 dont play modern epics like Please and Gone. However I know even if the play same set of songs which I read some 3 months ago on internet, people who are at show must be having heavenly experience.

I didnt mean to be disrespectful for all the fantastic people who are staunch supporter of U2 with my comments. However, if we see some more positives with negatives it would be better.

 

[t8thgr8]

look at your avatar. thats what i want. i want u2's artistic nature to come shining through with no regard for anyone but themselves. i want it to be overwhelming.

im not dissing the new record, i play it pretty often. its great for right now. but im not going to say i like it so much i want them to keep 'rocking out' or whatever they want to call it. i dont like bonos vocals this time around. he doesnt need to scream every lyric at me, hes allowed to sing smooth, he allowed to sing at a low talk ala velvet dress, fly, etc. he calls it rocking out, i call it unecessary.

i want the new songs to be 'natural drugs' as bono used to describe zooroppa. fuck that, i want supernatural drugs this time. theyre so capable of amazing songs that reach deep and draw you in to a daze. these new songs are great but they never really go beyong the surface.now im not saying i want a zooroppa II at all, i just want another piece of art that reaches its calliber. bono has such a wonderful voice and hes one of the great poets alive today, imo. give us back that artist and ill be happy.

 

[t8thgr8]

just give us what we want, GIVE US WHAT WE FUCKING WANT!!!

 

[KUEFC09U2]

just give us what we want, GIVE US WHAT WE FUCKING WANT!!!

but they are, maybe not you, but there giving me what i want

 

[Layton]

Layton-You're on a roll. Interesting perspective on HTDAAB.

Thanks.

That's what spending 2 weeks telling people that Radiohead has a weakness will do for you.

 

[Earnie Shavers]

Thanks.

That's what spending 2 weeks telling people that Radiohead has a weakness will do for you.

Bloody hell! On a Radiohead board? That's got to be the only thing harder than telling people on a U2 board that U2 have a weakness.

 

[MrBrau1]

Bloody hell! On a Radiohead board? That's got to be the only thing harder than telling people on a U2 board that U2 have a weakness.

No. It was on a U2 board. Those Radiohead fans are VERY sensitive bunch.

 

[Layton]

Bloody hell! On a Radiohead board? That's got to be the only thing harder than telling people on a U2 board that U2 have a weakness.

Tell me about it. I'm still being chastised for being a jackass and having a superiority complex----lol.

 

[Sleep Over Jack]

Tell me about it. I'm still being chastised for being a jackass and having a superiority complex----lol.

Don't worry, the Radiohead fanboys/girls that endlessly bash U2 on here have a blindspot when it comes to honestly assessing Radiohead's sadly declining talents.

 

[Lancemc]

*cough cough* Hail to the *cough* Theif *cough cough* is shit *cough cough* *hack spit*

Ahh, that's better. My throat's been bugging me all day.

 

[Sleep Over Jack]

Radiohead were always moving forward till HTTF!




Now look at them reheating old glories

 

[the tourist]

*cough cough* Hail to the *cough* Theif *cough cough* is shit *cough cough* *hack spit*

Oh come now, it has three of four good songs out of fourteen.

 

[kiwilad]

my 2 cents worth...

HTDAAB is an album of good, even amazing songs. I said it when it came out, "STOP KNOCKING IT!!!" But, .... I have to agree with some of the criticism here.

U2 are undoubtedly trying to score no. 1 hits, they make no secret of this. In fact, they've been trying to do this since day one! But things have changed in the U2 recording process that have, in my opinion, had a detrimental effect on the finished product. These things can be loosely grouped into 2 categories: technology & money.


Technology has allowed them to explore ever changing facets of music production. Take edge. He was pushing the limits on UF, but by and large it still sounded like a guitar, albeit a very cool one. His philosophy was "I try to use notes as sparingly as possible. If i could get away with playing just one note for a whole song, I would."

Now he is able to get unique and bizarre sounds by dialling them into his effects box. The result is that the creativity of his play is now often found in the choice of effect, rather than the choice of notes he is playing. And yes, I know he has used effects from day one, but it the reliance on them to be his creative voice that has changed his play. Admittedly this has begun to change in the last 2 albums. In A Little While & much of the new album is far more creative on a 'note by note' basis.


But this leads me to my second point: money. U2 are in the enviable position of being able to take as long as they want to record their albums. They can record them wherever they choose and enlist the help of whoever they choose. Is this a good thing? In my opinion creativity is one of those phenomena that only seems to develop if it has to.

Example. Christmas time and you have no money. You decide you can only afford to spend $5 per family member/wife/husband etc on gifts. What do you do? Do you buy each of them a bar of chocolate and leave it at that? I doubt it! More likely you would begin to think outside the norms, outside the advertising etc, and think creatively about how you can give each person a meaningful gift without going to the mall. You use your imagination. U2 have seemingly lost this need.

Their recent songs are littered with evidence that their skill, songwriting and creativity are still bordering on genius. Yet their environment is taking these songs and dressing them in exces; lavish swirling strings and overdubbed falsetto voices or extra strumming guitars. Why are these things present? Because U2 is searching for no. 1 records, like they always have. But now they have too many tools available to them.


Perhaps the main point I would love to make to U2 if I ever met them is this: when you reached the top of the world in the eighties, it wasn't on musical or song writing ability alone. It was also due in a large part to your audience feeling a sense of connection with you. The channels of communication were clear, by and large. Your heart was audible, your choice of notes was meaningful. And your audience connected with that.

Now? We're losing you in a hum of interference. Strip it back, give yourself 6 months to make a record. I know Pop was released prematurely according to U2. I disagree. I think they indulged a little too much in technology which muffled the voice of the record. If you want your U2 to be a technological mammoth that trail blazes the way for other bands to follow, sure, you're going to disagree with this. But if you want your U2 to produce an album that sings your life with a sense of integrity (not of exploitation) then perhaps you'll understand my opinion.

kiwilad