Re-Ranking NLOTH

[bobsaget77]

Now that the dust is starting to settle on SOI, I think it's about time to compare how it stacks up to NLOTH.
1. White As Snow
2. No Line
3. Fez
4. Moment Of Surrender
5. Crazy Tonight (album version)
6. Magnificent
7. Unknown Caller
8. Cedars
9. Breathe
10. Get On Your Boots
Undeserving of ranking: Stand Up Comedy



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[mikal]

Good thread.

1. No Line On The Horizon

2. Fez - Being Porn

3. Moment Of Surrender

4. Cedars Of Lebanon

5. Breathe

6. Unknown Caller

7. White As Snow

8. Magnificent






9. Get On Your Boots
































10. Crazy Tonight










































11. Stand Up Comedy


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[mikal]

PS. Winter (Linear version) would have been in the #5 slot.


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[DomCobb]

I just listened to No Line yesterday, so it's fresh. Here's my ranking:

1. Magnificent
2. No Line On The Horizon
3. Moment Of Surender
4. Breathe
5. I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight
6. FEZ-Being Born
7. Unknown Caller
8. White As Snow
9. Cedars Of Lebanon
10. Get On Your Boots
11. Stand Up Comedy

Almost a really good album. Almost. 1-3 are great. 4-7 are pretty good. 8-9 I could do without, but they are inoffensive. 10-11 are shit.

 

[prbiker15]

Always changes, but for now:

01 - Moment of Surrender
02 - Breathe
03 - Magnificent
04 - No Line On The Horizon
05 - I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight
06 - Fez-Being Born
07 - Unknown Caller
08 - White As Snow
09 - Stand Up Comedy
10 - Get On Your Boots
11 - Cedars of Lebanon

 

[2861U2]

1) Magnificent- probably in the 11-15 range of their greatest songs ever
2) Breathe
3) I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight
4) Cedars Of Lebanon
5) Fez-Being Born
6) No Line On The Horizon
7) Stand Up Comedy
8) White As Snow
9) Unknown Caller
10) Moment Of Surrender
11) Get On Your Boots

I would insert Winter near the bottom, NLOTH2 in the 2-3 range, Soon in the 4-5 range

 

[Reggie Thee Dog]

Not going to rank this...I like this album, but even the songs people absolutely love on this album are just kinda 'meh' for me.

I saw the performance of GOYB from the Letterman Show(s) in '09 and I remembered the absolute excitement for this song and album when it first appeared here...to the now utter contempt for it. GOYB suffered from, what I'll call, 'Vertigo Syndrome' but it's not a total waste of a song. The meandering Unknown Caller takes that cake for me.

 

[2861U2]

Can we have a debate about what the first single should have been?

 

[elevated_u2_fan]

01 Cedars Of Lebanon
02 Magnificent
03 Moment Of Surrender
04 No Line On The Horizon
05 White As Snow
06 Breathe
07 Fez-Being Born
08 Unknown Caller
09 Get On Your Boots
10 Stand Up Comedy
11 I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight

 

[thefly418]

1. Moment Of Surender
2. Breathe
3. Magnificent
4. No Line On The Horizon
5. FEZ-Being Born
6. Unknown Caller
7. Cedars Of Lebanon
8. Get On Your Boots
9. I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight
10. White As Snow
11. Stand Up Comedy

 

[zoopop]

Very good album that stalls after track 4 and never recovers after SUC.

1.Moment of Surrender
2.No Line On The Horizon
3.Breathe
4.Magnificent
5.Unkown Caller
6.White As Snow
7.Fez Being (P)Born
8.Cedars..
9.Crazy Tonight
10. Boots


11. SUC (2nd worst U2 song ever)

 

[CosmoKramer]

11. SUC (2nd worst U2 song ever)

Wild honey?


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[DomCobb]

The sad thing about Boots is that there are some good elements in there. It sounds like they took three really good songs and two okay songs and mashed them all together in the worst way possible.

Also, all this time I've been listening to the Brothers version of Winter, thinking "ugh" every time I hear it. Now I hear the Linear version and, wow, it's really good! Not great, but good. And I was completely unaware of Soon until just now somehow, so thanks guys (it's kind of weird though, not much of a song but I like it).

 

[bobsaget77]

Wild honey?


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My top 5 worst U2 songs list consists of the following
1. Stand Up Comedy
2. Stand Up Comedy
3. Stand Up Comedy
4. Stand Up Comedy
5. Love and Peace



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[andy76]

2. Fez - Being Porn

Lim. Ed.?

 

[bobsaget77]

The sad thing about Boots is that there are some good elements in there. It sounds like they took three really good songs and two okay songs and mashed them all together in the worst way possible.

Also, all this time I've been listening to the Brothers version of Winter, thinking "ugh" every time I hear it. Now I hear the Linear version and, wow, it's really good! Not great, but good. And I was completely unaware of Soon until just now somehow, so thanks guys (it's kind of weird though, not much of a song but I like it).

What version of winter are you listening to? How long is it? My version is 6:21 and it's absolutely atrocious. I really hope thats the alternate version and a good version actually exists.


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[DomCobb]

Yeah it's 6:21 and that's one of the reasons it's not great. Cut it in half and you have a great song. Also I'm not crazy about the Viva La Vida opening. But in comparison to the Brothers version and some of the other NLOTH songs it's pretty good.

 

[rennowba]

1 breathe
2 nloth
3 mos
4 magnificent
5 unknown caller
6 crazy tonight
7 boots
8 fez
9 stand up comedy
10 white as snow
11 cedars

 

[Bonoisgodly]

1. Magnificent
2. No Line On The Horizon
3. Breathe
4. Moment Of Surrender
5. Unknown Caller
6. Fez - Being Born
7. Cedars Of Lebanon
8. White As Snow
9. Get On Your Boots (Dogshit)
10. I'll Go Crazy If I don't Go Crazy Tonight (Dogshit)
11. Stand Up Comedy (Dogshit)

 

[Mrs. Garrison]

Not going to rank this...I like this album, but even the songs people absolutely love on this album are just kinda 'meh' for me.

I saw the performance of GOYB from the Letterman Show(s) in '09 and I remembered the absolute excitement for this song and album when it first appeared here...to the now utter contempt for it. GOYB suffered from, what I'll call, 'Vertigo Syndrome' but it's not a total waste of a song. The meandering Unknown Caller takes that cake for me.

i cant be bothered to rank it either. Love Moment of Surrender, aside from that song i could care less if i hear any of this album ever again. Sounds pretty harsh but its where im at today. Maybe someday i change my mind...who knows. I haven't listened to this one in 3 or 4 years.

 

[andy76]

Was about to do this and then I realized that those songs more or less had been erased from my mind. Just couldn't recall how most of them sounded. Seriously. Gone.

Good riddance really. To do a re-rank I would have to go back there and that's not an option right now as I'm in a very good place right now.

 

[Reggie Thee Dog]

i cant be bothered to rank it either. Love Moment of Surrender, aside from that song i could care less if i hear any of this album ever again. Sounds pretty harsh but its where im at today. Maybe someday i change my mind...who knows. I haven't listened to this one in 3 or 4 years.

And that is my 'meh' song...it's not as offensive to me as Unknown Caller is, and it reminds me slightly of Bad, but it never takes off for me......I know this is the new Holy Grail for some U2 fans, I just can't find a way into this song...

 

[Mrs. Garrison]

And that is my 'meh' song...it's not as offensive to me as Unknown Caller is, and it reminds me slightly of Bad, but it never takes off for me......I know this is the new Holy Grail for some U2 fans, I just can't find a way into this song...

The opening 4 songs are pretty good but after that the album takes such a shocking nose dive and never really recovers. Even though i like Fez BB, after listening to that awful middle 3, im ready to toss the album out of a window and never look back.

 

[Axver]

Last month I listened to NLOTH for the first time in three years, and good god has it aged badly. Boots in particular is excruciating, and my memory told me that Unknown Caller was good apart from its chorus but instead it's awkward shite.

1. Fez
2. Magnificent
3. White As Snow
4. Crazy Tonight
5. No Line on the Horizon (NLOTH II would bump this up a spot)
6. Cedars of Lebanon
7. Moment of Surrender
8. Breathe
(Winter, either version)
90. Unknown Caller
100. Get on Your Boots
1,100. Stand Up Comedy

 

[The Panther]

The triple-whammy of crap songs on NLOTH ('Boots', 'Stand Up', 'Crazy') are so incredibly awful that they sink any chance this album had of being great.

But even if they were removed/replaced, I don't think this album has much chance. Too much mediocrity, U2-by-numbers-sounds, over-singing by Bono (with voice much too exposed in the mix), and the same overworked and labored 'sound' resulting in a highly compromised collection of songs.

It's a weird one, but I still think 'Cedars of Lebanon' is the only A+ song on this album. It's not the sort of song you'd want as the stand-out on a mainstream U2 album, but it's the only one that completely succeeds in what it's trying to do (it also helps that Bono speak-sings, instead of over-singing for once). Lyrics are amazing, atmosphere is unique.

The other day I listened to 'Magnificent' amid a bunch of other uptempo U2-2000s songs, and it was surprising how average it sounded even in that (not very rarified) company. And that's probably the 2nd-best track on this album!

There's enough good stuff here to make an amazing EP of about 4 songs that would have been much better than the album.

Basically, I didn't think much of the album the week it was released and my opinion on it hasn't changed.

(Still haven't heard the new one.)

 

[Mrs. Garrison]

I was thinking possibly an EP as well, though i would want maybe 6 songs on there instead which i don't know if that still classifies it as an EP?

Anywhere here goes:

NLOTH 2
Fez BB
Magnificent Remix (cant remember which one)
Cedars of Lebanon
Unknown Caller
Moment of Surrender

thats the best i can do

in this case though, less certainly is MORE

 

[Aygo]

Can't remember how I ranked it 5 years ago (would be interesting to compare) but here it goes:

1st White As Snow
2nd Magnificent
3rd Cedars Of Lebanon
4th Unknown Caller
5th Get On Your Boots
6th Breathe
6th Moment Of Surrender
6th Fez - Being Born
6th No Line On The Horizon
10th Crazy Tonight
11th Stand Up Comedy

I'd place "Winter" [Linear version] between "Cedars" and UC; and "Soon" right after "Magnificent"

Anyway, my alternative NLOTH on my iPod remains the same for more than a year:
1) Soon
2) No Line On The Horizon
3) Magnificent
4) Moment Of Surrender
5) Unknown Caller
6) Breathe
7) Get On Your Boots
8) Fez - Being Born
9) Winter [Linear]
10) White As Snow
11) Cedars Of Lebanon

 

[RoKKeR]

1. Moment of Surrender
2. Fez - Being Born
3. No Line on the Horizon
4. Unknown Caller
5. Magnificent
6. Cedars of Lebanon
7. Breathe
8. White as Snow
9. Crazy Tonight
10. Stand Up Comedy
11. Boots

Overall: 6/10

(album order)
First 4 songs: GREAT
Middle 3: NO
Last 4: SOLID (Fez standout)

 

[Snowlock]

Not going to rank this...I like this album, but even the songs people absolutely love on this album are just kinda 'meh' for me.

I saw the performance of GOYB from the Letterman Show(s) in '09 and I remembered the absolute excitement for this song and album when it first appeared here...to the now utter contempt for it. GOYB suffered from, what I'll call, 'Vertigo Syndrome' but it's not a total waste of a song. The meandering Unknown Caller takes that cake for me.

I feel the same way about Boots. It's sooooo contrived. It's like they sat in a room and said, "Hey Vertigo was successful, lets make a song just like it, but give it a psychedelic 60's vibe and paste on that cool "let me in the sound" part we've had lying around.

When I do playlists of their singles, I need to move it as far away from Vertigo as possible so I don't get too disgusted. Btw, Miracle is a tad bit Vertigoish for comfort too, but its such a cool song, I can make myself ignore it.

Agreed too on UC. What a cocked up hookless mess that song was.

1. NLOTH (NLOTH 2 is even better)
2. SUC
3. Crazy
4. Fez/BB
5. Breathe
6. Mag
7. MOS
8. Boots
9-11 the other weaker filler songs.

 

[Musikwala]

Last month I listened to NLOTH for the first time in three years, and good god has it aged badly. Boots in particular is excruciating, and my memory told me that Unknown Caller was good apart from its chorus but instead it's awkward shite.

1. Fez
2. Magnificent
3. White As Snow
4. Crazy Tonight
5. No Line on the Horizon (NLOTH II would bump this up a spot)
6. Cedars of Lebanon
7. Moment of Surrender
8. Breathe
(Winter, either version)
90. Unknown Caller
100. Get on Your Boots
1,100. Stand Up Comedy

Interesting ranking, Ax. And I mostly agree. I'm a bit surprised that you like Crazy Tonight that much though.

Here's my attempt at a ranking after 5 years of NLOTH:

1. Magnificent
2. Moment Of Surrender
3. No Line On The Horizon

4. Fez Being Born (I don't like that they included that stupid "let me in the sound" line in this one too, though! )
5. Cedars Of Lebanon (best vocals on the whole album!)
6. Breathe
7. White As Snow
8. I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight (atrocious title but a pretty enough melody)

900. Unknown Caller (a total mess with a nice guitar solo at the end)
1000. Stand Up Comedy (only redeeming quality of this song is that it reminds me of Led Zeppelin)
1100. Winter (boring as a dog's ass... to borrow a phrase from Nick ... but at least it is not as god awful as Boots!)

16 trillion. Get On Your Boots.