doctorwho
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U2girl said:
U2 knew a lot less about the songwriting and the craft in the early years so a Ocean or a EPAA was more likely to appear. Zooropa is hard to compare to other U2 albums as it was done mid-tour, even that had songs Stay and Dirty Day which most U2 fans shouldn't have a problem with. How much of a gamble, really, is releasing something when you're called U2 and millions will listen to you?
Fast Cars was, according to Bono, done on the last day or recording Bomb.
U2 was 20 and 24 years into their career with ATYCLB and Bomb. It's much harder to come up with new sounds after being in the game for so long. And to me ATYCLB was a new direction for U2, they never did pop songs before. I also consider LAPOE and Fast cars new to the band. As for universal appeal...U2 deals with universal topics: faith, love, sexuality, politics..and for every EPAA there was a Pride or UF.
Passengers to me is still more accessible than the Radiohead albums I heard. Again, two bands with different way of making music.
I agree with this.
Yes, some spontaneity is great. But the songs being presented, such as "Elvis Presley and America" or odd tunes from "Zooropa", "Pop" or OS1, are also the most ignored and disliked songs of U2's career. In other words, while there is some "fun" in spontaneity, it appears that the overwhelming majority of U2 fans do not like it. This is reflected everywhere - from fan comments on boards like these, to lack of radio-play, to low sales, to comments from DJ's, etc.
But when U2 explore a musical genre that's new to them, then add their U2 twist to it, they do get some great tunes, like "Mofo" or "Lemon". There are gems on those 90's releases - and indeed, these are also the songs that the overwhelming majority of the fans do appreciated. So it's not a matter of spontaneity - it's a matter of U2 making a genre into their own style.
With that in mind, I think U2 succeeded doing just that on HTDAAB with "Love & Peace or Else" and "Fast Cars". While one can argue that ATYCLB is "safe" (which is one of the reasons I like HTDAAB more), U2 started to branch out on "Bomb". Even "Vertigo" was different from their prior works (with the closest being arguably "Mysterious Ways", which is also unique in the U2 catalog).
For me, spontaneity isn't right or needed. It's U2's willingness to explore out of their safe zone that makes great songs. U2 needed ATYCLB for many reasons. With the continued success of HTDAAB, U2 can now do the necessary exploration. Even I hope we don't have another "safe" album, but I don't want something like OS1 either.