Paul Vox
The Fly
Well, Bono has reviewed the album and he thinks its one of their best. Hell, he is down right giddy about it...and I think we "know" him well enough to know when he is lying to us...
As Bono says, the minute they start putting out crap...it is over. He doesn't want to be in a crap band. If it is crap...we will all know it...we won't need some bloke from Q magazine to tell us it is crap. 4 out of 5 is not crap, btw...see R.E.M. for that. Early indications are HTDAAB isn't crap.
As I look back on my initial impressions of their albums...I recall having a VERY hard time with them at first. I had JT for three weeks before I could even begin to interpret anything past "song 3" I used to play Streets, ISHFWILF, and WOWY and just start the album over...I knew they were three great songs...but they were not easily accessable upon initial airing. Achtung completely freaked me out...I thought they lost their minds...I was really not able to digest it for a very long time...this was not U2...POP was even more frightning...I was sure it was over...then they had this "comeback"album ATYCLB and at first I thought it sounded like a tv advert or something, especially SIAM.
I now consider all of these albums to be absofuckinlutely brilliant. Maybe I am brainwashed and can't be critical of U2 because of some unknown reason...like maybe because every live show I go to is a freakin religious experience...but I am prepared to have a few rough moments with this new album...because that is all part of it. For some reason, the build up on this particular disc is really hot and heavy and we are all living and dying by every snipit of a review, but when it is all said and heard, we won't be able to judge these songs until we marinate in them for a while...have life experiences that incorporate them and especially not until we see them play them for us live and in person. The reason they take so long to put out these albums is because they have to withstand the test of time...for the band. Bono has to climb into these songs day in and day out...fully commit to them...and if they were crap he couldn't do it. I trust his judgement...much more than Q's.
End of rant
As Bono says, the minute they start putting out crap...it is over. He doesn't want to be in a crap band. If it is crap...we will all know it...we won't need some bloke from Q magazine to tell us it is crap. 4 out of 5 is not crap, btw...see R.E.M. for that. Early indications are HTDAAB isn't crap.
As I look back on my initial impressions of their albums...I recall having a VERY hard time with them at first. I had JT for three weeks before I could even begin to interpret anything past "song 3" I used to play Streets, ISHFWILF, and WOWY and just start the album over...I knew they were three great songs...but they were not easily accessable upon initial airing. Achtung completely freaked me out...I thought they lost their minds...I was really not able to digest it for a very long time...this was not U2...POP was even more frightning...I was sure it was over...then they had this "comeback"album ATYCLB and at first I thought it sounded like a tv advert or something, especially SIAM.
I now consider all of these albums to be absofuckinlutely brilliant. Maybe I am brainwashed and can't be critical of U2 because of some unknown reason...like maybe because every live show I go to is a freakin religious experience...but I am prepared to have a few rough moments with this new album...because that is all part of it. For some reason, the build up on this particular disc is really hot and heavy and we are all living and dying by every snipit of a review, but when it is all said and heard, we won't be able to judge these songs until we marinate in them for a while...have life experiences that incorporate them and especially not until we see them play them for us live and in person. The reason they take so long to put out these albums is because they have to withstand the test of time...for the band. Bono has to climb into these songs day in and day out...fully commit to them...and if they were crap he couldn't do it. I trust his judgement...much more than Q's.
End of rant