Rank of U2 Album Covers

[geography]

MY Top 6 U2 album covers: (NOT INCLUDING THE BEST OF ALBUM)

1) War
2) Under a Blood Red Sky
3) Achtung Baby
4) The Joshua Tree*
5) Boy (UK version)
6) Wide Awake in America

* Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the original Joshua Tree album was of a joshua tree standing alone in a desert. If so, I bump this up to #3! The current album cover is the 4 lads standing around in the desert looking serious (and so I drop it to #4).


MY Worst 6 U2 album covers:

1) Pop
2) The Unforgettable Fire
3) All That You Can't Leave Behind
4) Zooropa
5) Rattle & Hum
6) October

 

[U2girl]

My faves:

1) Achtung Baby
2) Rattle and Hum
3) Joshua Tree / All that you can't leave behind

I don't think I would really rate any cover as bad, but October is the weakest IMO.

 

[* MoFo *]

1. pop
2. achtung baby
3. zooropa

 

[TheBrazilianFly]

Favorite covers:

1. Achtung Baby
2. Rattle And Hum
3. War
4. All That You Can't Leave Behind
5. The Joshua Tree

Worst covers:
1. October
2. October
3. October
4. Zooropa
5. October

 

[Flying FuManchu]

I like the covers for Achtung, Boy, POP, Rattle & Hum, Joshua Tree, War, and Zooropa but October was the worst.... On the fence with ATYCLB and Unforgettable Fire...

You guys should mention CD sigle covers.... the Please cover was pretty jarring/ bad.

I think the ATYCLB single covers were generally soso...

Achtung CD single covers were all great IMO.

 

[geography]

Singles Covers

Yes, I agree, there have been some excellent singles covers.

My brief rank:

1) All of the Joshua Tree singles combined
2) One
3 The Fly
4) All of the Rattle & Hum singles combined
5) Sweetest Thing


About album & singles covers, I never like those with the band members on the front (or even back, for that matter) - with the exception of Achtung Baby. AB's cover was a collage of photos, and it turned out to be pretty neat. But I don't like Pop, ATYCLB, October, and Unforgettable Fire for that reason...

Am I right about the Joshua Tree album cover? Didn't the original one NOT have the band members on the cover, but a black-and-white photo of a joshua tree in the middle of bleak desert landscape?

 

[geography]

Joshua Tree album cover

I looked it up on the internet - looks like I was wrong.

U2 were on the cover of The Joshua Tree, even on the vinyl version...

 

[Popmartijn]

Hello,

I usually go with a great image for a front cover. I like it when the cover has a clear image of what the record 'looks' like. In general, I don't like it when there's too much detail (in that sense I long for the vinyl era again). That said, here are some of my U2 favourites (in chronological order):

1. Boy
2. War
3. Under A Blood Red Sky
4. Rattle And Hum
5. The Best Of 1980-1990
6. The Best Of 1990-2000

The others are about average, with the majority of them being too detailed. ATYCLB is a bit too black&white.

Great single covers:
1. New Year's Day
2. The Joshua Tree singles
3. Rattle And Hum singles
4. Achtung Baby singles (especially when combined to make one picture)
5. If God Will Send His Angels

C ya!

Marty

 

[bayernfc]

Favourite Covers:

1. Achtung Baby
2. Boy
3. Rattle and Hum
4. Joshua Tree
5. War

I never liked Wide Awake in America or October covers.

 

[Numbology]

1.Zooropa
2.Achtung Baby
3.War
4.Rattle & Hum
5.POP

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

this gives me a good idea. since we're now done with the video survivor too, what about an album covers survivor? we as a forum could rate the album covers.

 

[madonna's child]

Ranking them:

1. All That You Can't Leave Behind
2. Rattle and Hum
3. The Joshua Tree
4. War
5. The Unforgettable Fire
6. Boy
7. Pop
8. October
9. Zooropa
10. Achtung Baby

 

[Axver]

this gives me a good idea. since we're now done with the video survivor too, what about an album covers survivor? we as a forum could rate the album covers.

That's not such a bad idea!

What I don't get is the October hate. That's an awesome cover, and all I need to say to prove that is "Adam's afro!"

How I rank them;

1. October
2. Under A Blood Red Sky
3. Boy (the one with the boy)
4. War
5. Pop
6. The Unforgettable Fire

The only one I'm not a huge fan of is Wide Awake In America, simply because I've got bad eyesight and it took me ages to figure out what it's actually of! For a while I thought it was a cat! Oh, and I don't really like the Achtung Baby cover much either.

 

[greenlight7-11]

1. Achtung Baby
2. Pop
3. War
4. The Joshua Tree (Why in the hell wasn't the CD done with the non-blurry photo like the LP and cassette were?)
5. Zooropa

 

[geography]

Survivor - good idea

I don't know what the "Survivor" idea is, but I suppose it hasn't something to do with a process of elimination and ending up with one favorite? Anyway, sounds like a good idea to me...

I also like "images" better than photos of the band members. I like War and Boy, and even Under a Blood Red Sky.

I even liked the "Solar" poster that turned out to be a hoax...(or maybe not...)...

 

[BVS]

You guys should mention CD sigle covers.... the Please cover was pretty jarring/ bad.

I think the ATYCLB single covers were generally soso...

Achtung CD single covers were all great IMO.

I liked the Please single it played on the original cover and brought in the politics of the song. I thought it was clever.

I agree that the singles art work of AB was great. IMO some of the best artwork done by the band.

 

[babyman]

1unforgettable fire
2pop
3joshua tree
4zooropa
5achtung baby
6rattle and hum

 

[mofo82]

i agree with BonoVoxSupastar...

the meaning of the 'please' single tied in directly to the album design perfectly...that has alot to do with how much i like the album covers

with that in mind, in no particular order, my favs are:

-pop- reminds me of warhol's art, that all was made to be sold
-one (single)
-the joshua tree- all about the american landscape as they saw it and reflects their isolation
-war
-achtung baby- i think the pics were perfect; let the band to go in the symbols/ logo direction they have since that album

atyclb was too black and white- not time yet for them to relate to the 'boy' cover. the cover art doesnt relate to all the 'colors' on the album. save the black and white for the final album (god willing

 

[Popmartijn]

4. The Joshua Tree (Why in the hell wasn't the CD done with the non-blurry photo like the LP and cassette were?)

FYI, a couple of years ago The Joshua Tree was rereleased with the original cover art. IIRC, there are now also additional photo's in the booklet (but don't pin me on it). The music wasn't remastered though...

C ya!

Marty (who has the blurry covered edition)

 

[Angela Harlem]

I've just realised I dont like many of their covers.

Boy, War and October are bland, but what do we expect for the era. UF was too maroon, but it suits the content really well I think. This could be because of the video though. JT was great, fantastic concept, but its a pity the band were in the shot. It took away from the 'art' of it and turned it into a poserish 'focus on the band!' instead of the idea itself. Can't fault AB Zooropa was nothing too interesting, but still nice in some way. Pop was exactly as someone else said, and Warhol all over. Brilliant. The photo used on ATYCLB was great, but it made the whole album and tour thing too themed. I dont like themes in excess. Or at all really.

 

[~*Buffalo*~]

My favourite - Best of 1990-2000! I love that picture.

I also like Pop, I think it really suits the idea of the album - U2 in a different light, but still the same underneath. And AB, too, it sort of shows the chaos that the world was in at the time and U2 experiencing all these different things which reflected in the music.

October is just cute. Who couldn't love Baby U2?

 

[OzAurora]

I really like all of the covers that featured Peter Rowan (including his singles), with that said my faves are (in no specific order)

Boy
War
The Joshua tree
Achtung Baby
Zooropa
Both Best Offs- although I admit that it would of been nice to ave seen the new one with a Peter Rowan pic.....

Worst
October- inbetween the two great covers of Boy and War, it just looks so baaaaaaaaaaad
The Unforgetable Fire- for such a beautiful album, the cover really could of been a bit better, the 12" cover is better IMHO
ATYCLB- why o why did they go for such an 'obvious' and gimicky image theme, I dont like it at all, the whole suitcase thing, there were suppost to be getting back to basics, but they still had a theme!!!!!