Shuttlecock III: Raped by Wolves

[cobl04]

I overhyped the shit out of the last two originally. This one my thoughts are well known. Was saying to Ax and Liam the other night that even though I think The Troubles is amazing I still don't find myself wanting to listen to it.

 

[LemonMelon]

Like with Bomb, there's just nothing on it that excites me. Actually, Bomb had COBL. SOI is less embarrassing than Bomb, but I have less reason to come back to it. It's OK. The album ranking threads are some funny shit right now.

 

[bono_212]

I can only pray that one day I am able to gain the clarity that you all have

 

[Kieran McConville]

So, will any of these people hyping up SOI really care about it in a few years? There's just too much middle-of-the-road crud on that record that I think a lot of them are going to eventually wake up and realize is rather bland.

I mean, we've all overrated a shuttlecock album at one point. Atomic Bomb was flawless to these ears (aside from "Crumbs") during the first month of listening.

I think that the new one is not-horrible... but...

but. Cannot take seriously anything that puts it within cooee of their prime era work. Might as well be talking about a whole different band.

 

[lazarus]

As an album, I wouldn't make that claim.

But I think RBW, Sleep, Troubles, and Reach Around are all fresh-sounding, creative tracks (lyrically and musically) that are worthy of mention alongside the prime-era stuff.

No Line maybe had 2-3 songs I could say that about, and probably only a couple each from the two albums before that.

 

[Kieran McConville]

I'll give you most of the tracks mentioned just there. Not Every Breaking Wave so much.

 

[corianderstem]

I can only pray that one day I am able to gain the clarity that you all have

Heh.

 

[Kieran McConville]

I think I just get a little bit annoyed at the public-relations mythos around this album. Every record of theirs has to have a bit of that.

This time it's like, 'well, we were a bunch of completely out of touch fabulously wealthy businessmen, and we couldn't really see a way to write songs that address the pretty frankly fucking weird state of the world now, so Phil suggested I dig into our youth in Dublin for inspiration'.

 

[PhilsFan]

I like the album, and I think The Troubles is an all-time great song by them. It still blows me away when I listen to it. It's for me what Moment of Surrender was for others on the last record.

 

[iron yuppie]

I like the album, and I think The Troubles is an all-time great song by them.

Agreed on this. Bono's in the best lyrical form he's been in ages on this track. The line "you think it's easier to know your own tricks, but it's the hardest thing you'll ever do" stands out to me in particular.

 

[Kieran McConville]

The Troubles is definitely strong, and probably I should count it up there among the all-timers (low in the stand but there, sure). I just wish the outro was a little less... timid. Like there was a whole other thing there but they couldn't possibly handle going an extra minute or two in running time.

 

[lazarus]

I'll give you most of the tracks mentioned just there. Not Every Breaking Wave so much.

Just to be clear I included Raised By Wolves, not Every Breaking Wave. The latter is my least favorite song on the album and it's depressing me beyond belief that everyone and their uncle is glomming onto it like it's the second coming.

 

[Kieran McConville]

Just to be clear I included Raised By Wolves, not Every Breaking Wave. The latter is my least favorite song on the album and it's depressing me beyond belief that everyone and their uncle is glomming onto it like it's the second coming.

Aaaaaah....

see, I thought maybe RBW was an acronym for some pun on the name of Every Breaking Wave. I forgot all about Raised by Wolves.

I agree, Every Breaking Wave is just meh. They could do it in their sleep and quite possibly did.

 

[djerdap]

SOI is less embarrassing than Bomb, but I have less reason to come back to it.

I find California and Song for Someone to be far more embarrassing than anything from Bomb. In fact, I never wanted to smack Bono so much as that "If there is a kiss I stole from your mouth" line.

For the third time in a row, there is a sense of "what could have been" with this record. Those last three songs are very listenable. Probably the most intriguing U2 has sounded in a long, long time. This is my playlist for this era which gives an impression they can still create consistent music:

Cedarwood Road
The Crystal Ballroom
Sleep Like a Baby Tonight
This is Where You Can Reach Me Now
The Troubles

The Troubles would have been an all-time great for me if not for that sloppy outro. You work on new material for five years and that's the way you decide to finish an album? Still, it's the one song where I'm actually impressed by Bono's performance (aside from that "OH LAAWRD" stuff). If he only used it more in that restrained, subtle way.

Sleep Like a Baby Tonight is musically fantastic - such a shame that Bono sabotages it with some ridiculous choices. I will say I am positively surprised that, despite the occasional lyrical mishap, the band has chosen to delve into such complex and sensitive thematic area as that one.

This is Where You Can Reach Me Now is loose and fun; two things they desperately try to recapture for so many times and it really comes effortlessly in this track. Edge's work is excellent. And Raised by Wolves would have been on there if not for the cringeworthy chorus.

As a whole - I'd rank it at the bottom of their output, because that first half is really, really bad. Better luck next time I guess.

 

[LemonMelon]

Yeah, I disagree about the chorus of RBW. Interference memes aside, it's one of the best vocal moments of the record and I love Edge's urgent guitar work. It sounds great. I think that song is definitely one of the album's finest moments.

 

[djerdap]

I really like those piano chords, I'll tell you that.

But when Boner starts reciting licence plates it's time for the next one.

Geography lessons in Cedarwood Road ("noooorth side just across the river from the soooouth side" - well color me amazed) are almost as bad but not so much. I still like that track and it serves as a good enough opener.

Maybe they should really just fire Bono.

 

[IWasBored]

So, will any of these people hyping up SOI really care about it in a few years? There's just too much middle-of-the-road crud on that record that I think a lot of them are going to eventually wake up and realize is rather bland.

I mean, we've all overrated a shuttlecock album at one point. Atomic Bomb was flawless to these ears (aside from "Crumbs") during the first month of listening.

one can only hope.


i was pretty disappointed with htdabb from day one, although i didn't despise the whole thing quite like i do now. there were a couple decent tracks, but my problem with them was that i did immediately recognize them as being those sorts of songs that sound good the first couple times you listen to them, like they could hold up with anything else from the band's catalog...until i went and listened to the older stuff i liked, and then it becomes obvious how shabby and pathetic they are in comparison.

 

[djerdap]

I really learned a lot about music in general from that album.

I remember ranking it above The Joshua Tree when it came out. Christ almighty. I still don't dislike it, but it really is the definition of a cheap bubblegum album.

I will also say that a couple of those five tracks I listed from this album actually get better with every listen and I find myself discovering new sounds and new layers to them. This hasn't happened with a U2 song since The Ground Beneath Her Feet for me. That's a very good thing. It's only a shame they're in the strict minority when you take the entire 2014 output into the equation.

Those songs are Sleep Like a Baby Tonight, The Crystal Ballroom and The Troubles.

 

[LemonMelon]

Man I fucking adored Bomb when it first came out. That album was the soundtrack to 8th grade for me. Well, that and various Radiohead albums. Now it's 90% nostalgia and 10% enjoyment.

SOI will be remembered as the soundtrack to a week in September 2014 when I tried to love a new U2 album and failed.

Probably the most excited I've ever been for a U2 tour though, just because it's so conceptually fresh.

 

[Hewson]

I find California and Song for Someone to be far more embarrassing than anything from Bomb. In fact, I never wanted to smack Bono so much as that "If there is a kiss I stole from your mouth" line.

For the third time in a row, there is a sense of "what could have been" with this record. Those last three songs are very listenable. Probably the most intriguing U2 has sounded in a long, long time. This is my playlist for this era which gives an impression they can still create consistent music:

Cedarwood Road
The Crystal Ballroom
Sleep Like a Baby Tonight
This is Where You Can Reach Me Now
The Troubles

The Troubles would have been an all-time great for me if not for that sloppy outro. You work on new material for five years and that's the way you decide to finish an album? Still, it's the one song where I'm actually impressed by Bono's performance (aside from that "OH LAAWRD" stuff). If he only used it more in that restrained, subtle way.

Sleep Like a Baby Tonight is musically fantastic - such a shame that Bono sabotages it with some ridiculous choices. I will say I am positively surprised that, despite the occasional lyrical mishap, the band has chosen to delve into such complex and sensitive thematic area as that one.

This is Where You Can Reach Me Now is loose and fun; two things they desperately try to recapture for so many times and it really comes effortlessly in this track. Edge's work is excellent. And Raised by Wolves would have been on there if not for the cringeworthy chorus.

As a whole - I'd rank it at the bottom of their output, because that first half is really, really bad. Better luck next time I guess.

I'm pretty much right there with your assessment.


As for Bomb, I still prefer it to No Line...by a fair margin. But thats not saying a lot.

 

[Diemen]

That album was the soundtrack to 8th grade for me.

How young does that make you feel, martha?

 

[martha]

How young does that make you feel, martha?

How do you read my exact thoughts like this?

Wait, can you read the exact thought I had when I read your question:

Spoiler

It starts with "fuck" and ends with a second person pronoun.

 

[Kieran McConville]

HTDAAB was the soundtrack to about 3 frustrated weeks in my 27th year, before I blew it all off and went wandering in the desert. Slash, went back to bed.

 

[Hewson]

Slash went back to bed.

 

[mikal]

I definitely respect and even enjoy seeing some of the negative opinions here over the whole "This is da best album eva!!!111" posts found in other places here, but I will have to disagree with a few of the posts above me.

This album literally restored my faith in the band, and then the additions of The Crystal Ballroom and the acoustic EBW have only added to that feeling.

Sure, the first 4 songs are clear attempts at singles. I fully expected it, but the songs have great melodies. California is fantastic. I can stomach The Miracle because I love the crunch guitar and EBW and SFS have enjoyable moments. I just don't find these songs embarrassing like Wild Honey, LAPOE, Original of the Fecies or of course any of the middle 3 from NLOTH.

But where the album really seals the deal from me is from Iris all the way to The Troubles. This is by far the best run of songs on an album since the 90's easily. Iris, Reach Around, and Troubles could easily end up in my top 25 U2 songs, and Volcano, RBW, Cedarwood and SLABT are great and offer something fresh even if not necessarily brand new territory for the band.

Overall, they by far exceeded my expecations with SOI.

 

[Diemen]

how do you read my exact thoughts like this?

Wait, can you read the exact thought i had when i read your question:

Spoiler

it starts with "fuck" and ends with a second person pronoun.

 

[IWasBored]

almost time for a new thread. got some big shoes to fill if you want to make it as offensive as this one apparently was.

 

[Hewson]

almost time for a new thread. got some big shoes to fill if you want to make it as offensive as this one apparently was.

 

[mikal]

almost time for a new thread. got some big shoes to fill if you want to make it as offensive as this one apparently was.

Every Gagging Slave?

a bit a stretch? Does that even make sense?


I also love "LOLcano" but it's not dirty.

 

[Diemen]

When did Shuttlecock become inseparable from Lance's mom stuff?

We need NSW to come in here with another "choking the listeners with his good time smell" stroke of genius.