Let Your Love Be Known

[dan_smee]

SOE’s shortcomings as an album are less due to a lack of quality, and more about the glaring barnacles on an otherwise decent effort.

SOI was consistent and good. SOE has much higher highs (LIAWHL, RFD, Blackout, LIBTAIIW, Little Things) and much lower lows (Best Thing, American Soul, Gooyow).

 

[mikal]

I would almost go as far as putting SOI in my top 5 U2 albums. I think it's a phenomenal late career effort and parts of it are even brand new territory for the band.

SOE faded for be quite a bit when the newness feel off but it's still not horrible.

 

[lazarus]

SOE’s shortcomings as an album are less due to a lack of quality, and more about the glaring barnacles on an otherwise decent effort.

SOI was consistent and good. SOE has much higher highs (LIAWHL, RFD, Blackout, LIBTAIIW, Little Things) and much lower lows (Best Thing, American Soul, Gooyow).

Pretty good summation there. It's easier for me to sit through SOI, but I find SOE a little more rewarding overall. Of course, I will never listen to the official tracklisting of either ever again, as they each have their own glaring issues that are easily corrected with some minor tweaking and substitutions.

 

[MissCandyGirl]

It’s a cute little thing bono did sitting at his piano. It came from the heart. It really wasn’t designed to be some mastery of poetry. It’s good lyrics for what it is.

Also, the collab with will.i.am and Jennifer Hudson is absolutely fantastic. A bunch of people who otherwise can put on million dollar productions are stitching together like... home videos of them singing... to make a cohesive song. Doing this because they’re all home bound... and the message is to sing as an escape.

Like, doesn’t have to be your kind of music, but it’s very real and doesn’t suffer the production fate you would expect with these names involved.

Well said!

 

[cobl04]

SOI is comfortably U2's worst album, while SOE has just enough decent songs to have made a nice little EP.

 

[mikal]

SOI is comfortably U2's worst album, while SOE has just enough decent songs to have made a nice little EP.

Nope

 

[LuckyNumber7]

I love the SOI vs SOE debate. It’s so strange.

SOE is hot garbage. SOI is great.

 

[cobl04]

They are both not good.

 

[LemonMelon]

SOE is bad, SOI is average.

 

[the tourist]

I enjoy both of them quite a bit more than the three albums that preceded them. But I’ve always had strange taste in U2 compared to most on here. After all, Achtung Baby, depending on the day, is either my 4th or 5th favorite by them.

 

[LuckyNumber7]

On the topic of this thread... I’m still not understanding why this is worth criticizing.

Bono singing on his phone to be a little bit closer to the fans he’s not able to be close to now is like... more endearing, honest, and down to earth than he’s been in like forever.

 

[mikal]

On the topic of this thread... I’m still not understanding why this is worth criticizing.

Bono singing on his phone to be a little bit closer to the fans he’s not able to be close to now is like... more endearing, honest, and down to earth than he’s been in like forever.

But the lyrics are bad!!!11

 

[LemonMelon]

On the topic of this thread... I’m still not understanding why this is worth criticizing.

Bono singing on his phone to be a little bit closer to the fans he’s not able to be close to now is like... more endearing, honest, and down to earth than he’s been in like forever.

Songs like this one are what I've been looking for from Bono for a while.

 

[lazarus]

On the topic of this thread... I’m still not understanding why this is worth criticizing.

Bono singing on his phone to be a little bit closer to the fans he’s not able to be close to now is like... more endearing, honest, and down to earth than he’s been in like forever.

Ahimsa was written as a gesture to all the Indian fans who had waited a long time for the band to play in their country, and it sure didn't stop people from criticizing that song. And I'd also argue that SOE ruminating on Bono's mortality scare certainly came off honest and down-to-earth to me.

What's the difference? Because this is about a pandemic?

 

[mikal]

Ahimsa was written as a gesture to all the Indian fans who had waited a long time for the band to play in their country, and it sure didn't stop people from criticizing that song. And I'd also argue that SOE ruminating on Bono's mortality scare certainly came off honest and down-to-earth to me.

What's the difference? Because this is about a pandemic?

Because it's current. When SOE first came out everyone was giving it lots of love for Bono's health scare. Then the usual Interference cynicism followed

 

[LuckyNumber7]

Ahimsa was written as a gesture to all the Indian fans who had waited a long time for the band to play in their country, and it sure didn't stop people from criticizing that song. And I'd also argue that SOE ruminating on Bono's mortality scare certainly came off honest and down-to-earth to me.

What's the difference? Because this is about a pandemic?

Speaking of not stopping someone from criticizing...

But no, I don’t understand the critics of Ahimsa.

And I don’t agree about SOE. There’s still, very much so, a big production effort that destroyed half the album trying to make it “cool” and “friendly sounding” and whatever. The difference here is that it’s not bono trying to do anything special, not going over the top, not afraid to show you the beginning of a song right off the bat. People saying his falsetto sounds bad etc., like... he’s just jamming out with his phone, clearly not intended to be the pinnacle of his capability.

 

[U2girl]

Its something cobbled up fast, like Ahimsa.

Rawness and falsetto remind od latter years Lennon.

As for SOI vs SOE, the former wins easily. More consistent, where SOE feels like two halves hammered into one. (First two songs + Landlady-13 stretch where you genuinely feel the Event influencing Bono vs other songs.)

 

[An Cat Gav]

I love the SOI vs SOE debate. It’s so strange.

SOE is hot garbage. SOI is great.

SOE is hot garbage, SOI is really good.

 

[Hewson]

SOE is bad, SOI is average.

I'd go this route.
2nd half of SOI is great, but overall an average album.

 

[mikal]

I do agree with what Laz said about the tracklist decisions. I think this was my SOE tracklist:

Love Is All We Have Left
Love Is Bigger Than Anything In Its Way
Lights Of Home (strings version)
Blackout
Summer Of Love
Book Of Your Heart
Red Flag Day
The Showman
Landlady
The Little Things That Give You Away
There Is A Light

 

[Hewson]

I do agree with what Laz said about the tracklist decisions. I think this was my SOE tracklist:

Love Is All We Have Left
Love Is Bigger Than Anything In Its Way
Lights Of Home (strings version)
Blackout
Summer Of Love
Book Of Your Heart
Red Flag Day
The Showman
Landlady
The Little Things That Give You Away
11 (There Is A Light)

Fixed the title of the last track for you.

 

[mikal]

Fixed the title of the last track for you.

(Thanks)

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

A combined SOI / SOE could have been really good.

Alas

 

[Hewson]

A combined SOI / SOE could have been really good.

Alas

Yes

 

[rennowba]

SOI is an album I can listen to from front to back , I don’t skip anything . It’s an across the line good album

SOE isn’t far off that but it has its highs and lows . But SOE’s highs are better then SOI’s . SOE’s lows are greater then SOI’s

Love both of them to be fair

 

[super fly guy]

What's with people putting lights of home string version on their album tracklist? Boring compared to the guitar version.

 

[lazarus]

The "rock" version is plodding and the vocal melody isn't catchy enough to be the first proper song on the album, with Bono packing too many syllables as usual into the verses. IMO, the string arrangement has a suspenseful feel and gives the song a more dramatic quality which compensates for the track's shortcomings.

 

[Diemen]

The "rock" version is plodding and the vocal melody isn't catchy enough to be the first proper song on the album, with Bono packing too many syllables as usual into the verses. IMO, the string arrangement has a suspenseful feel and gives the song a more dramatic quality which compensates for the track's shortcomings.

Couldn’t agree more.

 

[mikal]

For me, the rock version doesn't drag until the slide guitar solo. It's almost as if the tempo goes down. But on the string version, the build up is so much better and I feel like the solo really takes off.

 

[cobl04]

A combined SOI / SOE could have been really good.

Alas

Love is All We Have Left, Red Flag Day, Little Things, Landlady, Blackout, Love is Bigger, Song for Someone, Cedarwood Road, Sleep Like a Baby, Troubles... yeah there's 10 songs good enough there for mine. Still not sure it would rate highly in their overall catalogue though.