HTDAAB Commendation

[Moser]

You know what?

This album has grown on me A LOT over the years. It doesn't sound generic or bland. It sounds like it comes from the heart. It's not particularly interesting like NLOTH; there is no puzzle to piece together. Instead, HTDAAB is just in your face the entire album. It's a rocker.

Now, there's the vocal ones yelling profanity and expletives over this album...there's one for every album, but I hope they do not deter interest and keep one from giving this LP another listen. While I love NLOTH for giving me the U2 that soars, I also appreciate HTDAAB for giving me the U2 that's down to earth.

So hear it goes: HTDAAB

 

[digitize]

I can't join you, unfortunately.

 

[silkensky]

The more time that passes, the more I enjoy HTDAAB. It also makes me nostalgic whenever I listen to something from it (minus Vertigo). Crumbs, LAPOE, OSC, OOTS, Yaweh, COBL... pure heart, pure soul, just outstanding and beautiful songs, IMHO. Sorry if you dont agree, but it is a great album, for me anyway.

 

[trevgreg]

I don't know if it makes if near the top of my favorite U2 albums, but I do prefer it to NLOTH as a whole.

 

[Slapnutz]

This album has grown on me A LOT over the years.:

Like fungus?

 

[Sicy]

COBL

That's about it for me.

 

[secretly alone]

As an album, I love it. It might actually be my least favorite, but I do still love it.

Vertigo may not be in my top 150 favorite U2 songs or anything, but it came out when I was just becoming a fan, so it will always have sweet memories attatched to it. And I have to say, hearing it live really gave it new life for me.

 

[theedgeu2]

I join you Moser! Fight the power! LOL HTDAAB is great. The exact era I first got into the band. I love it and never got how anyone can hate it. I rhink what I like about it is, to quote Moser, it's a rocker! A very interesting rocker. (And COBL is an astounding song.) Just to me the whole album is something special. First U2 album I ever got. Have had many memories with it. For me it's near the top, one of my favorites. Plus look at how many Grammys some of the songs off this thing won! I will get the crap beat out of me for saying this but I take The Bomb over NLOTH.

 

[bonocomet]

I can join the HTDAAB love. It is in fact the first U2 album I did

 

[powerhour24]

I always looked at it as heartfelt, I don't think there's anything generic about it, it does not sound like the rest of the crowd for 2004, U2 have never sounded like their contemporaries. I love individual songs, unfortunately it doesn't have the cohesion their best albums have, and the many starts and stops in production left their toll and some of the best material off the album, but overall OOTS, Sometimes, COBL, MD, are all extremely memorable songs, Vertigo's a great single, Crumbs and Closer are poignant, LAPOE rocked live... and ABOY was way better in its original form (that's about the best I can say for it).

I will say that 'A Man and a Woman' has grown on me tremendously since 2004, mostly in the past year.

 

[trevgreg]

I love individual songs, unfortunately it doesn't have the cohesion their best albums have, and the many starts and stops in production left their toll and some of the best material off the album, but overall OOTS, Sometimes, COBL, MD, are all extremely memorable songs, Vertigo's a great single, Crumbs and Closer are poignant, LAPOE rocked live... and ABOY was way better in its original form (that's about the best I can say for it).

Nicely put, though I do prefer the single mix of ABOY myself. And remember that Smile also came from those sessions too.

And agreed on LAPOE. I never really cared for the album version too much, but live it was amazing.

 

[nielsgov]

Though I find most U2 albums far superior to HTDAAB, it's still really enjoyable. Miracle Drug is a beautiful song, my favourite from that album. And I'm also a fan ABOY.

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

COBL

That's about it for me.

.

 

[An Cat Gav]

Again, COBL =
Fast Cars =
Vertigo and Sometimes =
Miracle Drug = utter shite
the rest = meh

 

[coolian2]

COBL

That's about it for me.

yeah. i can sometimes do vertigo (albeit live) and one or two other songs, but otherwise....eh.

 

[last unicorn]

I love the album. It may not be very original and musically, I must say, I prefer NLOTH, but it's a very personal album with some warm, heartfelt songs and some songs that are, IMO, really underappreciated. My favs being Miracle Drug and Original of the Species, but I also love the dark and mostly underrated One Step Closer. It's a great album and I actually found myself listening to it a lot since it came out

 

[BigMacPhisto]

If they hadn't annoyingly amplified the album to the point where it's un-listenable, I think a lot of us would enjoy it more. Stupid loudness wars makes every song sound like the band is screaming at you.

I put Vertigo, Miracle Drug, Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own, City of Blinding Lights & All Because of You in my Top 50 tracks from this band. No Line On The Horizon, while more consistent, has none on my list.

 

[lazarus]

Unlike its predecessor, it actually has balls. Which is refreshing, even when it results in something clunky like All Because of You. Lyrically, I think this is also superior to ATYCLB.

Of course, the production is all over the place, and it doesn't sound as good for the most part, but from a songwriting perspective I'll take it.

I also appear to be in the minority in that I love Miracle Drug--I think that solo into Edge's verse and back to Bono for the final chorus is a real high point of the album. And I'm in an even smaller minority that loves the "freedom has a scent..." line. I prefer ridiculous yet original metaphors over generic cliches like "and I know it aches/and your heart it breaks".

My main issue is one of sequencing, a problem I also had with ATYCLB. Personally I would have opened the album with COBL and then gone right into Vertigo. And while I like Yahweh a lot (another minority opinion), I'm not sure I like such an upbeat song closing the album. One Step Closer would work better if it had a longer outro, and there's always the possibility that it could have been Mercy.

Anyway, it's hard for me to call The Bomb a truly great album, but it's a damn fine collection of songs that I haven't gotten tired of yet.

 

[Moonlit_Angel]

I will say that 'A Man and a Woman' has grown on me tremendously since 2004, mostly in the past year.

That was always one of my favorites from the album. It's simple and really sweet lyrically.

I think I now have a tie for favorite song off of here. "City Of Blinding Lights" remains my top pick to this day, so beautiful and joyful and shimmery and sparkly and pretty, and I'm always a sucker for songs like that. But "Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own" now means even more to me than it did when I first heard it in 2004, and as sad as I feel when I hear it and as tough as it is to listen to it right now, it just clinches perhaps THE biggest reason why I love U2 so much: They know exactly how to express any emotions I'm feeling and how to connect with the listener and life in general. This was one of my dad's favorite U2 songs because he could relate to it so well with his dad, and especially now, it's definitely one of mine for the very same reason. "One Step Closer" also ranks up there, again for similar reasons. I thank Bono immensely for pouring such emotion of that kind into those songs .

The only songs I never quite got into off of here were really "Miracle Drug", "Crumbs From Your Table", and "Yahweh". I appreciated the sentiments expressed in them and loved the optimism and unity of them, just something about them didn't ever quite "grab" me, so to speak. The rest of the album, however? Love it. No Line On The Horizon is actually my favorite of U2's output from this decade, but this album's good in its own right and I enjoy listening to it to this day.

Angela

 

[cobl04]

as time goes on my opinion of it slips. i can't see myself ever listening to it again.

a few quite good songs on it though.

 

[65980]

And I'm in an even smaller minority that loves the "freedom has a scent..." line. I prefer ridiculous yet original metaphors over generic cliches like "and I know it aches/and your heart it breaks".

THANK YOU. Couldn't agree more, and we appear to be only two who feel this way! (The line I can't take from ATYCLB is "I don't wanna see you cry / I know that this is not good-bye" -- am I listening to a Dionne Warren power-ballad, performed by Mariah Carey?).

Anyway, I love the Atomic Bomb album, and I pretty much agree with everything Lazarus said. It's sort-of a pop-art album -- the themes, colors, tones, and -- yes, the metaphors -- are loud and in-yer-face. And I like that.

I agree that if swapped the rather dull "One Step Closer" for "Mercy", the record gets even better. As a collection of tunes, I don't think Atomic Bomb is much weaker than, say, The Joshua Tree. The reason the latter is the masterpiece though (aside from the fact that it got there first) is it has much more aural diversity in it sounds than Bomb, which is fairly one-note. The other runaway masterpiece, Achtung Baby, isn't very diverse in sound but is just so strong musically -- the strongest of any of their albums -- that it towers over any possible criticisms.

There aren't any bad U2 albums, and this is one of the better ones.

 

[Tyagu_Anaykus]

I really like HTDAAB, too... At least I don't fall asleep while listening to it like ATYCLB.

While there's COBL and ABOY which I don't like (album versions), I really enjoy the rest. Everytime I finish listening Yahweh I feel like a new person, with new motivations.

 

[Earnie Shavers]

Worst U2 album by a long shot.

 

[mikal]

i'm glad to see some love for this album. personally, it came out at the very best time for me. around 2004, i was really into the grunge/hard rock scene for some reason. so when HTDAAB came out, i almost felt like U2 was reading my mind. i actually prefer to listen to HTDAAB this way. adding Mercy and Smile gives HTDAAB the much needed atmosphere that makes most U2 albums special:

1. City Of Blinding Lights
2. Vertigo
3. Miracle Drug
4. Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own
5. All Because Of You (alt/outtake version)
6. Fast Cars
7. Mercy
8. Smile
9. Original Of The Species (Single Version)
10. Yahweh
11. Crumbs From Your Table
12. One Step Closer

 

[digitize]

I basically feel like:

COBL:
OOTS:
Vertigo: Depending on my mood, either or . More nowadays. I really like the version on the Rose Bowl DVD, with the "honey, I'm home" ZooTV throwback.
The rest is all pretty mediocre, though I don't have a problem with Yahweh or One Step Closer.

 

[AndrewCowley]

I adore Yahweh and Original Of The Species. Totally brilliant.

 

[An Cat Gav]

I forgot A Man and A Woman, which does come in for a lot of criticism, ok, it's not a classic but it's very different for U2 and does what it sets out to do very well. Bono compared it to late 70's Rolling Stones which is unfair, it's much better than that.

 

[digitize]

I forgot A Man and A Woman, which does come in for a lot of criticism, ok, it's not a classic but it's very different for U2 and does what it sets out to do very well. Bono compared it to late 70's Rolling Stones which is unfair, it's much better than that.

AMAAW is decent, I guess. I don't actively dislike it.

Really, the only songs I actively dislike from Bomb are ABOY, Fast Cars, and Crumbs. The rest is at least listenable for me. Which is why I place Bomb above Rattle and Hum, and maybe some of the early 80s albums (not War, but maybe Boy and October), but below everything else.

 

[powerhour24]

I agree with An Cat Gav, I used to write off AMAAW, but it does sound unique in U2's catalog, something I hadn't given it credit for before. Also, how someone can call something as heartfelt as Sometimes 'mediocre' is beyond me, its that kind of real life emotion that sets U2 above the rest of the field, they write about things that actually touch them, not just meaningless stuff they think they can sell.

 

[powerhour24]

Anyway, it's hard for me to call The Bomb a truly great album, but it's a damn fine collection of songs that I haven't gotten tired of yet.

This.