well, I think the Beatles should be taken relative to what era they were in, and the time frame in which they did it.
It was 3 years between Rattle and Hum and Achtung Baby. In 3 years The Beatles made how many albums? 4, 5?
For instance, the entire Beatles catalog was recorded in a 6 or 7 year period. Of all the dozens and dozens of great songs they recorded in that time, to put it to comparison with any 7 year period in U2's history is not even plausible.
Sgt Peppers is not overrated if taken in it's original context, now almost 30 years later, maybe it does have filler, but overall I don't think it's overrated.
U2 from the end of POPmart, to current, has been 7 years. From Boy to Joshua Tree, 7 years. Achtung Baby to POP, 7 years. Do any of those eras compare to the entire catlaog of the Beatles?
It's not really a fair comparison no matter how you look at it, the Beatles didn't tour during the last half of their career. It's just not really fair to U2 to make comparisons to the Beatles.
So while ATYCLB is essentially U2's Beatle album (I believe it to be), HTDAAB is an extension of that. For a band that has been around for 25 years and released a mere 11 albums, it is a more calculated risk for U2 to change styles as opposed to the Beatles who were popping an album out nearly every 6 months or so (or whatever).
I think ATYCLB and HTDAAB are both boring compared to context of the 91-98 era of U2, but I don't think it's fair to make the comparison in that context. It's not really even the same band anymore.
It's like people comparing Zooropa, Passengers and POP with UF and the JOshua Tree. It's just not fair, IMO. Yeah, it's the same band and all, but U2 decidedly revolted against their own sound, so any deviation back to their old sound will naturally sound as a regression, or even boring.
I think the records are good, if you listening from the context of what U2 tried to do in 91-98, then I could see how you would think they are boring. But a waterfall is boring compared to a rollercoaster, but both can be equally cool. And you don't even have to like it, I personally think U2 have been 3 or 4 seperate entities as a band. It probably speaks a great measure to their song writing abilities that they can change faces so many times and still remain vibrant. Not everyone is gonna love all the music.
Not every Beatles fans likes all their stuff either.