Thoughs on HTAAB after many months of listening

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dabiggestu2fan

dabiggestu2fan

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Okey so now i think i can be fair in reviewing this album as i have been listening to this album for so long and so many times I will give a rating out of 5 on each song and if i like the song better or worse now after months of listening.

Vertigo ( first listen 5/5, Now 4.5/5) - This is a perfect opening to the album that wassupposed to be rock from venus. It is very catchy and def one of the rockier songs U2 has done! This song will probably remain a favorite for me!

Miracle Drug (first listen 4.5/5, Now 3.5/5) - This is an amazing song and follows vertigo quite nicely but as I listen to it that personal feeling i had is not quite there any more. I do love "freedong has a scent like the top of a new born baby's head" That line is genius! and I also love how edge sings and then bono follows very nicely! Perfect but unfortunately I find that i had better first impressions of this song then i do now.

Some times you can't make it on your own (first 3.5/5, Now 4.5/5) - I loved this song at first but I thought it was too slow for the album esp after MD and vertigo. I didn't quite get the song for some strange reason. The only part i really liked about this song was the bridge and it was amazing! Now I think this is one of U2's most personal songs and a true classic. I love the lyrics a fully get this song and i feel touched by this song more then ever! This song is quickly becoming a favorite even though i tend to like heavier U2 songs.

Love and Peace or Else (first listen 4.5/5, Now 5/5) What an amazing rock song!! This song is like 3 songs in one! there is so many different parts to this song and it brings back memories of pop (an album i love so much). I am still not tired of this song even after probably hundreds of listens! Only thing i don't like about this song is at the end where the guitar just jumps in, it feels like a mistake and originaly i thought it was a mistake in the MP3 but when I bought the album, i realised it wasn't.

City of Blinding lights (first listen 5/5, Now 3.5/5) When i first listend to this song it was a taped version of the first U2 performance. I thought it was genius! i thought it was where the streets have no name part 2!! The guitars were so jashua tree! But when i heard the album version it was a little different, it still has the jashua tree feel to it but i don't think it is as powerfull as streets. Don't get me wrong, i still love this song but i guess listening to the live performance kindof spoiled me. Still i thinkthis has the potential to become a u2 classic. only time will tell.

All Because of you (first listen 4/5, Now 5/5) Another U2 favorite for because i love rocky U2 songs! This song reminds me of R&H and would fit nicely with desire! What an amazing song, i love "i like the sound of my voice........." I also like edges guitars in here its like he has gone mad and put out this amazing sound!

A man and a women (first listen 4/5, Now 4.5/5) I love this song in that it has kindof a romantic touch to it. I also love it cos in a weird way it reminds me of mysterious ways (don't ask). I love this song because it has nice guitars and it seems like a simple back to the basics song. Also it has a spanish kindof feel to it. Agian this is what i think and other people prob disagree with me.

Crumbs from your table (first listen 3.5/5, Now 4.5/5) This song has grown on me quite a bit. i love the lyrics and the mood of the song in general. U2 should write songs while they are drunk more often! However, i don't think this song will become a classic. This song would probably fit nicely in ATYCLB.

One Step Closer (First listen 2.5/5, Now 3.5/5) At first i never really liked this song i found it too plain and reminded me a little bit of grace (the one U2 song i don't like at all) But now i listen to it it has jashua tree writen all over it. The guitars are nice and this song is very relaxing. I find thought that this song is too soft and i don't like how it sounds in the headphones. I always have to turn up the volume to hear this song properly. None the less still an okey song just not what i expected when i first read reviews of this song.

Original of the species (first listen 4.5/5, Now 3.5/5) I love this song but again i first heard a live version of it and loved it. But when i heard the album version it didn't like it as much. This song has deap lyrics and it sounds like something the Beatles would do!! But i find this song to be rather on the simple side and i still don't get the part where bono sings " ill give you everything that you want except the thing that you want". Anywya sotherwise this song was very moving when i first listened to it but now i feel that this song doesn't move me as much.

Yahweh (first listen 3/5, Now 3.5/5) I like this song but i don't think its the best U2 song ever. I like the alternate version much better. I still however think its very good closing to an awsome album.

Extra songs

Fast Cars (first listen 4/5, Now 4/5) Now when bono said they were making rock from venus, i think he was talking about this song. this is so different then the others and i love it. I also love xanax and wine! I think this is U2 experimenting at their best!

Are you ganna Wait forever (first listen 4.5/5, Now 4/5) I love this song! When i first heard it quickly became a fovorite and i found myself listening to it over and over. Yes it is a little repetative but something about this song really cought me!

Mercy (first listen 1/5, Now 2.5/5) Contary to most people here who seem to love this song, I find this song to be too dull and I would hate to see this song in an album! Perhaps i don't like this song cos it seems unfinished and the finished maybe will be better! At first, i just could not listen to this song and I tried. Now after a few months I can listen to it and there are parts of the song i like but it just doesn't move me in anyway. Perhaps after a few more listen i will get this ong and i will like it but for now its a skipover song

So there you have it this is what i think of HTDAAB The over all rating of this album

Then 4/5
Now 4.1/5
 
My overall opinion of the album went from a 4.5 down to a 3 eventually. I think I was expecting too much and not wanting it to be bad! :huh:
 
I actually like the album much more now than I did at first.

Songs such as "A man and a woman" and "Crumbs from your table" seem much mroe enjoyable now than they did at first. :)

Thought the album was alright at first, but nothing special.
Several months down the line and its become one of my favourite U2 albums after JT, AB and Pop.
 
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4.5/5 for me.

On par with Pop, behind Achtung and Joshua.
 
djerdap said:
4.5/5 for me.

On par with Pop, behind Achtung and Joshua.
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Good rating. I think it's better than Pop, though; and I'm a Pop fan. It's on par with JT. Better songs than JT, but the mood isn't as deep. Can't say it's on par with AB, though. Thematically, it doesn't match AB's theme of domestic strife.
 
namkcuR said:
1/5

Even ATYCLB is quite a bit better.

Pop is in a different league.
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I hope you give October and R&H zeroes, then----lol. I'd like someone to coherently explain to me, how those 2 albums are better than HTDAAB.
 
Vertigo - Damn near perfect pop-rock single. I think Native Son is a far better song, but Vertigo is a far better single, and a single is what they wanted. One thing that Vertigo should have stolen from Native Son, but didn't, is the part immediately after Edge's guitar solo. Following that with Bono's stupid "All of this...." comes close to killing it, while kicking it into that "Freeeeee" part of Native Son raises the energy higher and sets up the final chorus for a real 'bring the house down' moment. Like I said, they wanted a killer tight pop-rock single and for that they made a 5/5, but as a complete song that I want to listen to over and over and enjoy forever it's a 1.5/5.
IF THIS SONG WERE A CAR it would be a Japanese high performance sports car. Slick, fast, high tech, powerful, really good looking, but every other person's got one and it has none of the class, refinement, originality or quality of the German or Italian models, and there's a very good reason why people will always go with the BMW over the Toyota regardless of how quick they do the quarter mile in comparison to each other.

Love and Peace or Else - By far and a mile the best song on the album. Sounds natural. Great pace. Awesome sound. Bono's great howling away, by far his best vocal on the album. Sounds like a song that has taken things they have learned over their careers and put them to action, rather then the retro re-hash for the masses feel of much of the rest of the album. Annoyed that lyrics are at points bad ("Where is the love" - after 25 years of writing 11/10 rating songs answering this question you are reduced to this?) and are restrained due to the new 'concerned but politically considerate' Bono, and that the Edge's guitar gives such a relatively regular release at the end. I would have liked to hear him cut loose with the worlds frustration for a little while there. Having said that, it still sounds great. This song is fantastic loud but when you aren't really concentrating on it. Like at a party. 4/5 because it's about as good as they're going to get while they are trying to be MTV pop chart stars.
IF THIS SONG WERE A FILM it would be a frantic anime clip of a child running away from the end of the world, but because this is U2 circa 2005 the child will arrive in a field of flowers and be okay at the end. If it were U2 circa 1995 we would have finished with the child's "Or Else" and a firm message would have been sent.

All Because of You - The first 2 minutes are some of the worst U2 I've ever heard. Over produced sugary slickness to the point of sounding like it should feature a shirtless male model singing it from the back of an open top Jeep Renegade driving around the streets of beachside LA. Fucked Bono's voice up. They've used that double vocal a lot with him before, and it's worked, but this time they ruined it completely. Larry's 'hiccup' drumming holds the flow of the song back (see Primal Screams "Rocks" for the way it should have been done to keep the song driving forward, instead Larry drives the song like a bunny hopping 16 year old in his/her first manual car). Bono's given us another 2 minute lyric. The last minute is great though, from Bono's "Heeeeeyaaah" parts on. The scream, guitar solo and "I'm alive" are the barnstorming rocker the whole song should have been. First 2 minutes, 0.1/5. Last minute 3/5.
IF THIS SONG WERE A FOOD it would be a Chicken Kiev from the frozen foods fridge at the supermarket. You have to eat through a ton of dried out, sterilised feeling chicken that has zero flavour or texture and may or may not in fact be actually chicken before you get to the tasty garlic butter sauce at the end.

City of Blinding Lights - Trying too hard to be too many things. Are you an attempt to create an updated Streets type song for 2005? Are you an attempt to out-Coldplay Coldplay? Are you an attempt to rock? Are you an attempt to soar? If this song had settled on one of these things it would be infinitely better. It's a very well written song that has all the parts within it, just feels like they are all still fighting to find their place. I do really enjoy this song really loud in the car as I fly up the expressway home. I desperately want U2 to write to the swirling depths that they used to again, but I'm also perfectly okay with them putting out the odd lighthearted, enjoyable on the surface song that showcases musicianship first and foremost. This song could have been that for me. I like it's flow. I love the Edge's guitar part. I hate the production that comes close to ruining it's flow and pushes the Edge's guitar part to near the back in some of it's best moments. Potential to equal Love & Peace as the highlight of the album, but it stumbled and tripped close to the finish line and hasn't quite been able to drag itself across the line. 3/5.
IF THIS SONG WERE A BASKETBALL PLAYER it would be the guy who has all the talent in the world but is forever resigned to being a bench player or minor league star because he is a little too tall and awkward to play the wing, but not bulky and strong enough to play the post. He can do both very well, but not one well enough to ever be a star.

Original of the Species & Miracle Drug & Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own - There have always been a million bands that have tried and failed to mimic U2. All tried to discover the base U2 formula and copy it, assuming they would arrive at the same magic U2 always have. They were always wrong, but now that U2 are making songs like these that are doing the same thing, there are going to be dozens of U2 wannabe bands that can catch and outdo them on their own turf. These songs are generic, simple, formulatic, dull, shallow, U2 Lite, Diet U2, U2 on autopilot, U2 by numbers, U2 for Beginners, songs that are written after going to Borders and picking up a copy of "An Idiots Guide To U2 - You too can write U2 songs if you follow these simple steps and practice hard." As pop songs/pop ballads/tight perfect pop songwriting they both score 5/5. As great big U2 songs that hit you somewhere smack in the middle of your chest, 1/5.
IF THESE SONGS WERE TURDS they would be the perfectly designed, shiny metallic turds that will reflect light from a thousand yards and attract many a person toward them. Very beautiful in their own way, but still turds.

One Step Closer - Nice enough, but nothing especially special. 1.5/5.

A Man & A Woman - Light, breezy, playful, relaxed, natural, well produced, well written, sweet little pop song. It does sound like a Sting song, but I do love it's summer evening feel. However, I can't really see how it would ever fit on a U2 album, except this one due to it's compilation feel. 3/5 as a breezy pop song to play in the background while I sit on my friends veranda on a summer evening having a beer and talking bullshit.
IF THIS SONG WERE IN IT'S PERFECT PLACE it would be the B-Side to a monster world changing U2 track, ie it is a high quality track that deserves to be heard by a lot of people, but one that will always stand out of place on a quality, properly flowing U2 album.

Yahweh - I've heard U2 ringtones that sound better than this. Certainly more creative. 0/5.

FINAL NOTE: The above is intended as a score for each song on their own merits within the confines of this album only and in comparison to their genre among other artists. In comparison to U2's back catalogue, take a point off each score. I haven't even bothered to review them lyricaly, thematicaly etc in the way I would any other U2 album as there's not really much to write about.... that's why they lose at least a point, or more.

OVERALL: As a stand alone album, 3/5. As a pop album, 5/5. As a U2 album, 1/5.
 
Rattley Bum is a better album, if you just take the studio stuff. It has a rawness that U2 fail to produce in their nicely polished verse/chorus/verse/chorus/verse/chorus pop songs they write today.
 
October has a spirit to it that this one doesn't. Rattle & Hum, the studio tracks, are probably the closest in terms of 'where they came from' to this album, but are far superior.

Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me has just come on the radio here. Take another 2 points off my score for All Because Of You. Seriously, the distance between these two songs is so great that you could run a line of fat men through there that is so long it would fill U2 stadium tours for years to come.
 
namkcuR said:
1/5

Even ATYCLB is quite a bit better.

Pop is in a different league.
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Yep. To even consider the bomb to be on the level of Pop, Joshua Tree, etc. is such a huge stretch. All mediocre songs, with no flow from one to the other. 2/5 at best, and their worst album; even worse than October :madspit:
 
Initially I wasn't impressed as I thought its a very derivative U2 sounding album. But with passing time the songs have started taking their own lives, though they are not as strong live as say songs from ATYCLB. I think its a very strong U2 record and I am sure it would be in top 5 for long long time.
 
i don't hear it much, 'cause i don't like it too much anymore. the BOMB slipped in my overall view from 5/5 to 2.5/5
best songs:
1) LAPOE 5/5
2) ABOY 5/5
3) VERTIGO 4.5/5
4) ONE STEP CLOSER 4.5/5
5) YAHWEH (album version) 4.5/5 -
the alternate version of YAHWEH would have been on my #1 together with LAPOE.
i hope they bring on a ROCK album the next time.
 
Sorry about my (now deleted) comment in this thread earlier today.

It's late, but I feel like doing one of these, I'm gonna do it tomorrow when I wake up. Seems like fun.
 
I will, I will! :hug:

You've made me the happiest man in the world!
 
2/5!!!

and the 2 is because there are only 2 or maby 3 decent songs on the album(htdaab)!!

ps i gave the cd away how about that!!!:huh:

i was going to give it a 1/5 but im just a nice guy you see:wink:
 
HTTAAB first rating was 4.5/5 now it's 3.5/5

pop is better I think and AB, JT and UF are way better...
 
zwervers2 said:
HTTAAB first rating was 4.5/5 now it's 3.5/5

pop is better I think and AB, JT and UF are way better...
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I disagree with Pop being better but agree with AB,JT, and UF being much better.
 
i join the boat of people complaining about the album being too "safe" sometimes and being overproduced, but it is still u2 and I really do love the album.

I don't find a weak track on the album. Would I like a new direction with the next one? Yup....but for a pop-rock album, I think it's incredible.

I loved at first listen (very strange for a u2 record) and still do. I've gotten sick of certain songs because I've overplayed them, but discovered new ones at the same time.
 
RademR said:

I don't find a weak track on the album. Would I like a new direction with the next one? Yup....but for a pop-rock album, I think it's incredible.
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I agree completely, with this statement, there are no weak tracks, okay A Man and A Woman isn't my cup of tea, but I can still see it is a decent song like Sweetest thing they are good just not the type of songs I like. The album is amazing, stop comparing it to old U2 and compare it to current music today
 
IMO 4/5 and their strongest since AB, my third favorite after JT and AB. Also I think one of their strongest live albums.

Vertigo: decent opener, I never expected them to bust out like that.
Miracle Drug: very good
Sometimes: classic, sort of the personal/direct antithesis to the universal One
Love and peace: good/very good rocker
City: very good, UFesque sound and like the imagery in the lyrics
All because of you: good channeling of The Who. they nailed rockers this time!
A man and a woman: shiny pop that would have fit well on ATYCLB. like the lyrics, but somehow the acoustic arrangement sticks out on this album too much. closest thing to average on this album
Crumbs: next political song after Love and peace. average/good
One step closer: very good.
Original: classic. Beatles eat your heart out.
Yahweh: one of my all-time favorite closers.
 
I still think its a good album. The album have always been a 3/5 for me.

Still a few songs i really can´t stand on the album. OOTS and ABOY. I never liked those songs.

The most surprising thing is that ATYCLB have gone from -1000/5 to 2/5 in the last week for me.
 
you're DA biggest U2 fan?

The biggest U2 fan assuredly would know how to spell Joshua.

Jashua?

Snicker.
 
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