Rattle and Hum is the weakest U2 album

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neutral said:
Strongly but respectfully disagree. :wink: I know I am alone in this but I actually really like R&H. :shrug: I listen to it pretty often still and I like the movie too.

I can think of 2 albums I like less. :p
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You're not alone in this. I feel badly for Rattle and Hum. I think it gets a bad rap particularly among casual fans, mostly because of the movie, but for me, they could have released Rattle and Hum with nothing but "Love Rescue Me" and "All I Want Is You" and it would have been well worth the purchase price.

They're probably my 2 favorite U2 songs ever, and both are on what is possibly their most reviled album--even more reviled than P**. :wink:
 
Rattle and Hum gets dragged down by the mixing of live/studio cuts. It's all of the road. That being said, the studio songs are really strong, and if Rattle and Hum had only consisted on these tunes I believe everyone would be mentioning it in the same breath as Joshua Tree or Achtung Baby. Here's an alternate tracklisting for Rattle and Hum:

1) Desire
2) Hawkmoon 269
3) Heartland
4) Hallelujah, Here She Comes
5) When Love Comes To Town
6) Love Rescue Me
7) Angel Of Harlem
8) Van Dieman's Land
9) Room At The Heartbreak Hotel
10) God Part II
11) All I Want Is You
 
Rattle and Hum should have definitely been an 11-track studio album. I think it would have done much, much better critically.

-Miggy
 
Miggy D said:
Rattle and Hum should have definitely been an 11-track studio album. I think it would have done much, much better critically.

-Miggy
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...but would they release AB after R&H looking like that?
It's better not to mess with history...:p ;)
 
Finally came to this conclusion.......the arena rock sound of HTDAAB has made POP a much easier album to swallow for me.......I love the first seven tracks on that one, although it pretty much blows after that.......Rattle and Hum on the other hand is awkward, pretentious, and really only has a handful of memorable tunes.
 
Rattle And Hum is the weakest U2 album? Not in my book that's for sure. In fact it's one of my very favorites.

Angel Of Harlem, Desire, God Part II, Hawkmoon 269, When Love Comes To Town, Love Rescue Me, All I Want Is You and great live versions. Some all time U2 classics right there. Fucking great album.
 
It's a good U2 album, not the best in the series of U2 albums but I wouldn't go as far as calling it the weakest. I read what you had to say and I understand where that sentiment from your point of view is coming from.
 
very under-rated album. Love it.

There are a lot of gems hidden among some mistakes. But ya, those mistakes are pretty big. But the songs I love outweigh the misses, so I say its a great album still. Even though some parts it make me cringe.
 
It's got some great electrifying performances, but it's also got this oh-so earnest, pretentious aura that to me makes it all near-unwatchable in the long run. And as people, the bandmates come off as distant and aloof; I'm not sure whether it's because of the filming choices or the band itself being ungiving. Yes, it has a few light/funny moments, but IMO that's not saying much because so does Schindler's List.
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Heh. That pretty much sums it up for me.

I'd been somewhat of a U2 fan before R&H came out (had UF and JT on cassette), but when R&H came out, it hit me, and I got completely into them. Loved the movie, loved the album.

Unfortunately, neither has held up very well for me over time. I watch the movie now and LOVE the performance stuff, and cringe at everything else. (Or roll my eyes.)

The album has a handful of songs I love (Heartland, All I Want is You, When Love Comes to Town), some I like, and a couple I never listen to (basically all the live stuff).

It's such a weird hodge-podge of an album that I don't really consider it a real album, you know? When I'm ranking U2 albums, I almost always forget to add that one in.

For me, the weakest album is October, but it's been so long since I've listened to the whole thing that I'd like to revisit it and see if it's grown on me any more.
 
Heartland, God part 2, Desire and All i want is you are great and would be probably the best songs ever if they weren't on R&H.
Other songs are so bad that words can't describe it.
They are so bad, that they cancel the power and beauty of up-mentioned 4 songs.
 
No, it's their second weakest album after Zooropa, which is relative bore IMO compared to their other work. R & H has no consistency, but it did produce three of their best songs...Desire, Heartland, and All I Want is You (my 2nd fave U2 song)
 
djerdap said:
I've been considering this for awhile and came to a conclusion that Rattle and Hum always was and is, by far, the weakest U2 album. Well, my least favorite for sure. I'll explain the reasons:

1. Incredible pretentiousness by the band, which resulted in trying to do "larger than life" songs, cooperating with some big American legends(Bob Dylan, BB King). One of the results - Love Rescue Me, for me, the worst U2 song ever. I've listened to this song from beginning to end maybe three or four times in my life (I've been a U2 fan for 13 years). The time when "sha-la-la-la"s come, I'm skippin'. And you thought the whoo-hoo's were terrible... :sick:
2. The so-called American music influence. Results in being solid (Angel of Harlem) to extremely mediocre(When Love Comes To Town) to awful(Love Rescue Me). It doesn't work for a rock band like U2, with such a unique sound. Edge's guitarplaying is anything but innovative here. Which can sometimes be a good thing(Desire, Angel of Harlem), but mostly... yawn.
3. The live songs choices. Totally and completely wrong. Bullet without Running is useless. Beautiful versions of Where the Streets Have No Name and With or Without You from the R&H movie weren't included here. Pride was always inferior to its magnificent studio version, and R&H version, although decent, is no exception. Still Haven't Found with the choir is lovely, but seems to drag too much. Fantastic live version of Exit could have redeemed the badly produced studio version, but it stayed only in the movie.
4. The covers. :madspit: :mad: When was U2 about covers? We get Helter-Skelter as the opening song(with that intro sentence - that's Bono in his SUPEREGO mode), a very mediocre version of All Along the Watchtower(corrected in its fantastic Lovetown version - but most U2 listeners don't know of this) and Freedom For My People and Star Spangled Banner as useless fillers.
5. The flow and the running order. The combination of live songs and new ones never quite worked for me. When Love Comes To Town-Heartland makes no sense whatsoever. All I Want Is You feels like it came from another(and much better) album.

Not to be entirely negative, Rattle and Hum is a U2 album. And a solid one. At times it can even be great. Heartland is one of the most atmospheric and beautiful U2 songs ever. God Pt.II is an excellent rocker, that kinda foreseen things to come. Live version of Silver and Gold is literally true gold. All I Want Is You is a fantastic closer. Lovetown tour showed the strength of these songs, resulting in amazing live version of God Pt.II, Hawkmoon 269, Desire-Watchtower combo...

I'm betting that, if it came out in 2005, it would get incredible bashing here. I'm sure of it.

Discuss.
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I wouldn't say it's U2's weakest - I like the album though I agree with a few points:

* Love Rescue Me IS incredibly boring - to which I may add Van Diemen's Land :yawn: (sorry Edge)

* U2 + American roots music = a mix I don't dig really. However I much prefer "When Love Comes To Town" to "Angel of Harlem".

* God Part II and All I Want Is You are great songs and Silver & Gold live is amazing. I'd have to add Hawkmoon 269.

I don't agree with

* The covers argument - I like hearing the band doing them though I can't say I like Helter Skelter better than The Beatles' original. In fact no HS cover has surpassed IMV The Beatles' own version. BTW I dig "This song is a song Charles Manson stole from The Beatles - we'll steal it back." The All Along The Watchtower version is OK with me.

* The song order doesn't bother me.

* The ISHFWILF version. It really makes me sick.

* The live versions: it's true they could have included Exit and some other, maybe Bad, however I don't find anything wrong with the live version of Pride and I don't think the amazing version of BBS (way, way better than the studio track on JT) needs anything else as a follow up.
 
Bullet without Running is useless
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Look, Im at work so I dont have time to read this whole thread to see if someone has already said this or not but the version of Bullet on R&H is farking awesome - always shits all over the JT version...... (and JT is my fave album)

So there.....
 
Rattle and Hum is the weakest U2 album
???
NO
i still think, ATYCLB is their weakest effort
 
First of all, there's absolutely nothing wrong with Love Rescue Me:madspit:
Second, R&H is a great album, and to quote an angry Bono.... "There's some good tunes on that.":wink:
 
I prefer to just enjoy this magnificant collection of amazing performances rather than pick them apart piece by piece. It's a masterpiece.
 
Rattle and Hum is very underappreciated. Just take away the dodgy live performances, and what you have is 10 or so great studio-recorded songs. There isn't a bad one in the bunch - 10 solid tunes.
 
:no: (from KRhodes)


do you mean no swearing? sorry, but i didnt think it was a no-no - seen plenty of it around.....

:confused:


i keep getting in trouble.... :reject:
 
Rattle and Hum is not U2's weakest album by a long shot. All I want is you, Heartland, and Angel of Harlem is better than anything on Zooropa or POP.
 
Neenie said:
Rattle and Hum is not U2's weakest album by a long shot. All I want is you, Heartland, and Angel of Harlem is better than anything on Zooropa or POP.
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Add Desire, God Part II, When Love Comes To Town, and Hawkmoon 269 to your list and you start to get the picture abnout how great this album is.

Love Rescue Me is kind of filler, but I still like it. Especially when Bono screams at the end and the horns come in.
 
starvinmarvin said:


Add Desire, God Part II, When Love Comes To Town, and Hawkmoon 269 to your list and you start to get the picture abnout how great this album is.

Love Rescue Me is kind of filler, but I still like it. Especially when Bono screams at the end and the horns come in.
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I love the live version of Love Rescue Me, December 26 Dublin! :drool: I cried when I first heard it.
 
Definately U2's weakest effort.

It's incoherence can be painful sometimes....

There seems to be no logic in the track sequencing except for the positioning of All I Want is You at the end.

Star Spangled Banner and Freedom are pointless fillers.

I don't mind the live tracks yet they would sound more powerful on their own separate live album.

Angel of Harlem, Heartland, All I want is you, Desire and Van Diemans Land are all quality songs....

......yet personally i think that God Part 2, Love Rescue Me, Hawkmoon and When Love Comes to Town all leave a lot to be desired.

Although I'd prefer a full studio album, it would almost certainly have been the weakest in my opinion, due to the abundance of substandard U2 songs.

Hallelujah here she comes and Heartbreak Hotel would have almost certainly been included on that hypothetical album, and both are rather uninspiring parts of the U2 collection. Hallelujah is almost a regrettable creation.

Let's not judge Rattle and Hum on the quality of SOME of the songs on the record. Instead we should take into consideration whether the album flows well and whether the poorer songs are of such an inferior nature, that they cancel out the value of the better songs.

The Hypothetical Studio Album

1. Van Diemans Land
2. Desire
3. Hawkmoon 269
4. Angel of Harlem
5. Love Rescue Me
6. When Love Comes to Town
7. Heartland
8. Hallelujah Here She Comes
9. God Part 2
10. A Room at the Heartbreak Hotel
11. All I Want is You

That is.....ehhh....not one of U2's finest hours. No, not at all.

Just my 2 cents...
 
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