Ranking U2 albums after 1 year SOI

[youarenotimmune]

Songs of Innocence has some great lyrics:

The Miracle
We got language so we can’t communicate
Religion so I can love and hate
Music so I can exaggerate my pain, and give it a name (Really like this last line)

Every Breaking Wave
I thought I heard the captain’s voice
It's hard to listen while you preach
Like every broken wave on the shore
This is as far as I could reach

California
I’ve seen for myself
There’s no end to grief
That’s how I know
And why I need to know that there is no end to love

We come and go
But stolen days you don't give back
Stolen days are just enough

Song For Someone
You let me into a conversation
A conversation only we could make
You break and enter my imagination
Whatever’s in there it’s yours to take

And I’m a long way from your hill of Calvary
And I’m a long way from where I was and where I need to be

Iris
Once we are born, we begin to forget
The very reason we came
But you
I’m sure I’ve met
Long before the night the stars went out
We’re meeting up again

Raised By Wolves
My body’s not a canvas
My body’s now a toilet wall

Boy sees his father crushed under the weight
Of a cross in a passion where the passion is hate

Cedarwood Road
If the door is open it isn’t theft
You can’t return to where you’ve never left
Blossoms falling from a tree they cover you and cover me
Symbols clashing, bibles smashing
Paint the world you need to see
Sometimes fear is the only place we can call home

This Is Where You Can Reach Me Now
Old man knows how to cheat ambition
You don’t lose if you don’t play

If you won’t let us in your world
Your world just isn’t there

The Troubles
And you think it’s easier
To know your own tricks
Well it’s the hardest thing you’ll ever do

Invisible
I don’t dream, not as such
I don’t even think about you that much
Unless I start to think at all

I’m more than you know
I’m more than you see here
More than you let me be
I’m more than you know
A body in a soul
You don’t see me but you will
I am not invisible

 

[BVS]

And it is the worst-reviewed album of U2's career, at least in metacritic's existence. By some distance at that. Whole lot more outlets than Pitchfork and RS on there.

SOI will suffer due to its release. Some just couldn't get past that, hell some reviews never even got around to mentioning the music. Using Metacritic to judge a long career like U2 isn't really fair since the number of reviews for early albums are far less than post internet albums.


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[LemonMelon]

I made that qualification. I realize it's tough to judge past releases. One could do some research and average out the reviews they dig up, I suppose.

 

[CosmoKramer]

Right, so the album with the worst reviews of their career from both critics and average listeners

Average listeners gave it the worst reviews or their career? Just curious bit what's your source for that?

Most comments that I have read in comment sections of critic reviews and from YouTube praise the album and songs, when talking about the music as opposed to the release(btw...that doesn't represent the "average" listener but it gives credence that it's not universally disliked).

Heck, most people on Interference really like the album and rate it higher than half of their discography.

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[BigMacPhisto]

The scores for SOI on RateYourMusic and AlbumoftheYear among users of those sites are the worst of their careers. That's the general listenership right there.

 

[BigMacPhisto]

We get it; Pitchfork told you not to like it.

Yes, the Pitchfork review that I read days after the album was released made me not like an album that I literally woke up, listened to and mostly disliked on release day after noticing an e-mail from my girlfriend telling me about it. I went into SOI with literally no expectations or opinions preemptively altering my judgment of the record and thought I was listening to the second coming of OneRepublic.

It's like every critical and user aggregate review site out there that has poor scores for SOI, not to mention that some of the album's best reviews were done by friends of the band, Rolling Stone and The Guardian (Neil McCormick). Not too many other bands out there have their in-real-life-friends writing reviews for them in major publications...

 

[CosmoKramer]

The scores for SOI on RateYourMusic and AlbumoftheYear among users of those sites are the worst of their careers. That's the general listenership right there.

Never heard of either site. Decided to look at "rate your music" and a quick glance at the most negative reviews just proves BVS's point that the release method had a massive impact on the album, not necessarily the music.

Almost all of the negative reviews mention the release method and partnership with Apple in a negative context before even mentioning the music(if the music is mentioned at all).

My favorite:

"Dinosaurs use their covenant with one of the most evil, invasive corporations around to covertly force people to own their latest drivel. You got a band that was mediocre as fuck in their 20-years-ago prime takin' up valuable space on already too small devices while new songwriters are pretty much forced to have all their stuff streaming for free at fractions of a cent per play.
Higher-ups have already been manufacturing peoples' taste for years & frankly this reeks of a move to censor & control in a more outright manner. I know, I know, "ya don't have to listen to it or anything," but still, is this desperate stunt really the only way U2 can think to get anyone talking about them again?
Everything wrong with the state of the concept formerly known as creativity in one inconvenient package."

So would this person have rated the album if it were not put on their phone? Nope. In fact they would have given The Joshua Tree the "mediocre as fuck" score it deserved (according to them). Previous U2 albums on this site and all others were reviewed primarily by fans or people who wanted the album or happened upon it because they heard a song they liked (i.e. started out on a positive note). This album will be reviewed by "non-fans" like the gentleman above who would rate ANY U2 album poorly but they didn't get October, UF, War, etc... They got SOI, and so they rated it.

One could point to SOIs iTunes rating as being one of their lowest but I would point out that there are 11k 5 star reviews.....more than ALL of their other albums combined.


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[mikal]

Zooropa
Achtung Baby
Pop
Unforgettable Fire
Joshua Tree
Boy
Songs of Innocence
How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb
No Line On The Horizon
October
War
All That You Can't Leave Behind
Rattle & Hum

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[CosmoKramer]

Zooropa
Achtung Baby
Pop
Unforgettable Fire
Joshua Tree
Boy
Songs of Innocence
How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb
No Line On The Horizon
October
War
All That You Can't Leave Behind
Rattle & Hum

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Mikal, you forgot to rank your albums. It looks like you must have done some random sort and they are all over the place


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[mikal]

Mikal, you forgot to rank your albums. It looks like you must have done some random sort and they are all over the place


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No. I'm just a REAL fan.

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[The Panther]

Damn, I haven't even thought about rating U2 albums for years... (rubs hands together with glee)... This should be exciting... if I can remember them all!

1. (a) The Joshua Tree
1. (b) Achtung Baby

3. The Unforgettable Fire

4. Rattle & Hum

5. War

6. (a) Zooropa
6. (b) How to Dismantle an Overly Long Title
6. (c) Songs of Innocence
6. (d) Boy

10. (a) Live: Under a Blood Red Sky
10. (b) All That You Can't Type Out

12. October

13. Pop

14. No Line on the Horizon


Only numbers 13 and 14 I would describe as fairly poor.. and even then 13 had a lot of really good songs (partly undermined by other problems). So, twelve of these fourteen are really worthy.

I know most of you think I'm rating Rattle & Hum too high. I would actually rate it higher (at #3) if not for the live tracks, which are mostly poor. But there's a brilliant studio-album's worth of new material there, which is all killer no filler.

 

[CosmoKramer]

Damn, I haven't even thought about rating U2 albums for years... (rubs hands together with glee)... This should be exciting... if I can remember them all!



1. (a) The Joshua Tree

1. (b) Achtung Baby



3. The Unforgettable Fire



4. Rattle & Hum



5. War



6. (a) Zooropa

6. (b) How to Dismantle an Overly Long Title

6. (c) Songs of Innocence

6. (d) Boy



10. (a) Live: Under a Blood Red Sky

10. (b) All That You Can't Type Out



12. October



13. Pop



14. No Line on the Horizon





Only numbers 13 and 14 I would describe as fairly poor.. and even then 13 had a lot of really good songs (partly undermined by other problems). So, twelve of these fourteen are really worthy.



I know most of you think I'm rating Rattle & Hum too high. I would actually rate it higher (at #3) if not for the live tracks, which are mostly poor. But there's a brilliant studio-album's worth of new material there, which is all killer no filler.

Funny thing about R&H is that I am shocked people don't normally rate it higher. The original recordings are almost all incredible.

Desire
AOH
All I want

Are all classics in my mind.

God Part 2
Heartland
WLCTT
Love Rescue Me

Are all good songs

Hawkmoon
V. Land

I can live without but are not horrible by any means.


The album gets hurt by the live cuts. If they put the live cuts of In Gods Country, Streets, With or Without you(amazing version BTW) on the album instead of some others, it would have been gold(it also would have been Joshua Tree part 2).

In the end, you have no argument from me with your rating!


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[thavidesco]

Achtung
Joshua
Songs
October
Zooropa

 

[MrPryck2U]

I've always liked R&H. I've always enjoyed the live performances, especially Pride and Bullet. Sure, they probably could have (at the least) separated the live songs with the studio ones instead of interspersing them, but so be it. U2 has had a lot of great albums and I would definitely put R&H in the middle of the pack (which is not a bad thing).

 

[kabigon]

I could live without hearing those versions of Helter Skelter, All Along The Watchtower, Still Haven't Found and Silver & Gold ever again.

 

[MrPryck2U]

I could live without hearing those versions of Helter Skelter, All Along The Watchtower, Still Haven't Found and Silver & Gold ever again.

Aww, c'mon, Bono stole Helter Skelter back from Charles Manson just for YOU!


Plus, what heartless soul isn't deeply moved by the gospel version of Still Haven't Found?

 

[thavidesco]

I could live without hearing those versions of Helter Skelter, All Along The Watchtower, Still Haven't Found and Silver & Gold ever again.

I agree, except Silver and Gold, that was brilliant.

 

[Westport]

The Joshua Tree
Achtung Baby
All That You Can't Leave Behind
The Unforgettable Fire
Songs of Innocence
Rattle & Hum
Zooropa
How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
Boy
War
October
Pop
Original Soundtracks 1
No Line on the Horizon

 

[Irvine511]

Top Tier:

Achtung Baby
The Joshua Tree
Boy
All that You Can't Leave Behind



Then (in no real fixed order):

War
Zooropa
Unforgettable Fire
Songs of Innocence
How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
No Line on the Horizon
Rattle and Hum


Meh:

October

 

[scrumpyjsk]

The Joshua Tree
Achtung Baby
Pop
All That You Can't Leave Behind
Songs of Innocence
Zooropa
The Unforgettable Fire
How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
Rattle & Hum
Boy
No Line on the Horizon
October
War


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[scrumpyjsk]

Top Tier:

Achtung Baby
The Joshua Tree
Boy
All that You Can't Leave Behind



Then (in no real fixed order):

War
Zooropa
Unforgettable Fire
Songs of Innocence
How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
No Line on the Horizon
Rattle and Hum


Meh:

October

You missed Pop.


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[Galeongirl]

Finally gonna make an attempt..

AB
NLOTH
JT
Zooropa
Pop

HTDAAB
ATYCLB
War

SOI
TUF
Boy

R&H
October

Seems like SOI is nestling in the middle somwhere, it's left rock bottom so that's nice. I like a few of the songs now I've heard them live, but some really still bore me to tears. Hit and miss I guess, kinda like TUF for me or War, so it fits inbetween them.

 

[domo-kun]

Really love:

Achtung Baby & Joshua Tree , are a tied first place for me.
Songs of Innocence
Zooropa
All That You Cant Leave Behind.
Pop
War & Boy


Several excellent songs on album, not a fan of the complete picture:

The Unforgettable Fire
How To Dismantle
NLOTH

Barely like to listen to at all:

Rattle and Hum
October

 

[flukeson]

No Line on the Horizon
Achtung Baby
The Joshua Tree
All That You Can't Leave Behind
Songs of Innocence
The Unforgettable Fire
How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
Rattle & Hum
Zooropa
Pop
Boy
War
October

It's very hard to rank, a lot of the albums are on the same level for me

 

[Irvine511]

You missed Pop.


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as far as I or anyone in U2 is concerned, Pop never happened.

KIDDING.

it belongs in the middle.

 

[CosmoKramer]

It seems like the consensus is that SOI is in the "upper middle" of U2s discography. At this point in their career, that's pretty incredible.

Of course it's inly been a year but it seems to have held up well around here.


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[DomCobb]

Classic
1. The Joshua Tree
2. War
3. The Unforgettable Fire
4. Achtung Baby

Great
5. Boy
6. October

Very Good
7. Songs of Innocence
8. Zooropa

Good
9. Rattle and Hum
10. How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
11. No Line On the Horizon
12. Original Soundtracks 1

Okay
13. Pop

Not Good
14. All That You Can't Leave Behind

 

[xtrmx]

1. Achtung Baby
2. The Unforgettable Fire
3. Joshua Tree
4. POP
5. All That You Can't Leave Behind
6. How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
7. Zooropa
8. No Line on the Horizon
-----
9. October
10. War
11. Boy
-----
12. Rattle and a Hum
13. Songs of Innocence