Irvine511
Blue Crack Supplier
i still really like it, and though i take breaks from it, i enjoy it every time i return.
i suppose i agree with the initial criticism, that there's no obvious standout tune, or anything as transcendent as BD or COBL or MOS. but then again, there's no real dud here, either (except for Vol-ca-NO for me, but others like it).
i may be in the minority, but i love the album version of EBW and find it bracing and thrilling and just-80s-enough, and i don't really mind Miracle. i think The Troubles is the standout tune, and the direction i'd most like U2 to continue. i find the lyrics and the repeated verse mysterious and complex, it seems like it's about domestic violence, but it's really about Ireland, about using the construction of a familiar domestic abuse situation to explore what is really a dysfunctional relationship with Irishness -- in a post-colonial sense -- that the band sought to escape. the limitations on dreams and ambition that they've talked about in 1970s Dublin, they pushed back against that colonized mentality where you blame each other for your problems and hold each other back and the psychic toll exacted when you're forced to "take on the shape of someone else's pain." there's a lot going on in these songs, and lots of violence. it's always engaging, interesting listening. i'd say that "Iris" has grown the most for me, and as someone who has lost a parent tragically, the lyrics are now almost gut wrenching to listen to, and some of the strongest on the album.
i give it an 8, a solid mid-tier U2 album for me. i hope on SOE we get away from trying to rawk and reach for the stars a little more.
i suppose i agree with the initial criticism, that there's no obvious standout tune, or anything as transcendent as BD or COBL or MOS. but then again, there's no real dud here, either (except for Vol-ca-NO for me, but others like it).
i may be in the minority, but i love the album version of EBW and find it bracing and thrilling and just-80s-enough, and i don't really mind Miracle. i think The Troubles is the standout tune, and the direction i'd most like U2 to continue. i find the lyrics and the repeated verse mysterious and complex, it seems like it's about domestic violence, but it's really about Ireland, about using the construction of a familiar domestic abuse situation to explore what is really a dysfunctional relationship with Irishness -- in a post-colonial sense -- that the band sought to escape. the limitations on dreams and ambition that they've talked about in 1970s Dublin, they pushed back against that colonized mentality where you blame each other for your problems and hold each other back and the psychic toll exacted when you're forced to "take on the shape of someone else's pain." there's a lot going on in these songs, and lots of violence. it's always engaging, interesting listening. i'd say that "Iris" has grown the most for me, and as someone who has lost a parent tragically, the lyrics are now almost gut wrenching to listen to, and some of the strongest on the album.
i give it an 8, a solid mid-tier U2 album for me. i hope on SOE we get away from trying to rawk and reach for the stars a little more.
I can't get enough of it. Really hope they play it on the tour!
