still a trilogy theory

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allbecauseofu2

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I had heard for some time that this was gonna be a break from the last two albums and this was not gonna be part of a the trilogy-like cycle that has un-officaly been thier way thier entire career. I have listened to the album and why i don't know where i rate it yet, caused to sleep on it and let it grow a bit, i believe this is still part/extension of ATYCLB and HTDAAB . First its another long title. lol. Second, i just get the feeling its coming off of the same mindframe that started with ATYCLB and has evolved. You can see it with BOY/OCT/WAR and TUF/TJT/RAH and AB/ZOO/POP. The last album in those trios sounds like its going off ideas from the first but expanded. now its complete. ATYCLB/HTDAAB/NLOTH. Bono had said something about "dancefloor shock" and "trance". or something. i really don;t see any of that dancefloor shock on here. As far as how i feel about the album i know i def like 3 songs. and Have to explore it more. This is a u2 album, i can;t just decide in a matter of hours. lol.
 
I 100% agree.

And if its not part of that trilogy, then I think we're in trouble. Because when it comes down to it, its not the radical reinvention they've always brought us after such a trilogy.

Yes, there are steps taken on this album, but its more an evolution, not a revolution.
 
Boots, mag and fez all have trance elements. The theory is bullshit.
 
when i think dancefloor shock and u2, i think the 90's. I hear the elements of electronic on some songs, but thier just that. elements. Discoteuqe,DYFL,numb,DGPFYCC arn't "normal" u2 song with elements. Thier dance songs with elements of "u2" in them.
Its 2 things. How much on the surface is the element of whatever gerne thats in quistion is being used? and what was u2;s attitude toward it and its place in the song? When they wrote some of that stuff in the 90's, It appreared to me that they wanted to write the song with "electronic elements" in mind. On NLOTH, they simply used it to brush and colour the song. Its not on the forefront. Sometimes you have look under the surface of the song. but sometimes you don;t. POP has dancefloor shock. NLOTH dosn;t. And in reponse to the polka trilogy comment, hey i would like to see them, embrace irish traditional music. sorta like what black 47 does.
 
I can't believe there are people who actually want this album to be the next big step. I mean, you can think its awesome and I won't disagree, but to think its a reinvention rather than a continuation is crazy.

Beautiful Day has trance elements.

Yes, Fez is wild and out there, but its one track. If the album had a few more in place of pedestrian numbers like Stand Up or Crazy Tonight, then we'd be talking. But most of the album is just an extension of the last two. A step in the right direction, yes. But I still see it as just an extension.
 
I hate this trilogy theory, to me it makes no sense.

I don't think War is an extention of Boy or October...

I don't think UF fits with JT or R&H...

I don't think AB fit in with Zooropa or Pop...

Just like I don't think this album fits with the last two...

I think we need to stop using bullshit like "they're all experimental", or "they all have long names", or they all "talk about America" as indicators to make trilogies.

It takes a little more than that to make a trilogy...
 
I hate this trilogy theory, to me it makes no sense.

I don't think War is an extention of Boy or October...

I don't think UF fits with JT or R&H...

I don't think AB fit in with Zooropa or Pop...

Just like I don't think this album fits with the last two...

I think we need to stop using bullshit like "they're all experimental", or "they all have long names", or they all "talk about America" as indicators to make trilogies.

It takes a little more than that to make a trilogy...


1st one agree
2nd one eh
3rd on Ab Zoo and Pop are a true trilogy
 
I can't believe there are people who actually want this album to be the next big step.
What the hell does that even mean "next big step"? It's an album, it doesn't mean they obligated to go in that direction for a certain amount of albums after they record it.

I mean, you can think its awesome and I won't disagree, but to think its a reinvention rather than a continuation is crazy.

People in here get so caught up in this reinvention thing, most musical careers don't even have one reinvention, U2 we've had a few, but too many in here put too much importance on the fact if U2 are re-inventing themselves. But I can hear a lot on this album that U2 has never done before, and Fez doesn't even make that list.
 
Why are they a true trilogy?

What elements make then a trilogy?

All of them are Dark electro driven albums that grew out of the more experamental 90's AB Started the trend with Even better and the fly(along with others) and that momentum lead to Zooropa so you have to group AB and zooropa in the same thread. Pop is also an electronic album but more dark than Zooropa and more electronic than AB but it still was the bands natural evolution from a singular idea
 
Nobody's saying they're obligated to go in a certain direction for three albums, its just how it works out.

We were promised a reinvention. By Lanois, at least. By Bono's Moroccan Molten Metal and trance comments. Etc. We didn't get it and for that reason I think this album sits comfortably with their last 2.

No three albums fit perfectly together except the 90s albums, but I still think they can all be viewed as trilogies. Boy and October certainly fit, and I think War does too since it takes those albums, cleans 'em up, and writes bigger tunes and remains immediate and in your face.

Next, UF ditches immediacy for atmosphere and ambience. The atmosphere and ambience carries over into Joshua Tree which also brings out themes of America which is taken to an illogical extreme on Rattle and Hum.

Then the big reinvention, delving into dance culture on a trio of albums in the 90s.

Then a back to basics approach two albums in a row in this decade. NLOTH fits because its not a total reinvention and therefore is an extension of the past two albums. Back to basics still, but with a greater sense of adventure.

Its not that the trilogies are planned. Its not that each album in a trilogy fits perfectly with one another. Each is an extension of the last album. I think this one fits the last two. Its not a big enough departure not to.
 
war isnt part of a trilogy

Boy/october= punk/post punk
War=rock
they arent the same genre

read U2 By U2 They said they wanted to change musical direction in War so it was intended to be diffent to the first two
 
Zooropa sounds as much like Achtung as Rattle & Hum sounds like War :shrug:
except for maybe Stay none of the Zooropa songs could even almost be mistaken for anything on Achtung

I understand where the trilogy theory comes from
but maybe it is about time we don't mention it for another decade or so :d
 
Zooropa sounds as much like Achtung as Rattle & Hum sounds like War :shrug:
except for maybe Stay none of the Zooropa songs could even almost be mistaken for anything on Achtung

I understand where the trilogy theory comes from
but maybe it is about time we don't mention it for another decade or so :d

I dont think it link to AB is sound because i agree with you
if fits in more with theme and production type
 
All of them are Dark electro driven albums that grew out of the more experamental 90's AB Started the trend with Even better and the fly(along with others) and that momentum lead to Zooropa so you have to group AB and zooropa in the same thread. Pop is also an electronic album but more dark than Zooropa and more electronic than AB but it still was the bands natural evolution from a singular idea

See I don't think AB is nearly as "electro driven" as people claim, the experimentation with electronic music was pretty much to fill not to move. Zooropa and Pop had moments that were more driven. Plus I don't think Zooropa is as dark as AB or Pop...

I mean you can say one lead to the other, but that's almost true for every album...
 
war isnt part of a trilogy

Boy/october= punk/post punk
War=rock
they arent the same genre

read U2 By U2 They said they wanted to change musical direction in War so it was intended to be diffent to the first two

Yes but War is rock done by a bunch of post-punks. So it fits in as the concluding chapter of what could be viewed as a trilogy, even if the band didn't intend it that way, especially considering that with UF they went in a different direction again.
 
And while Pop may have some driving Bass, synths and drum machines I still consider it to be a collection of summer tunes which makes my love for it grow each day :applaud:. It's definitely not a dance album - Discotheque gave that wrong impression
 
The trilogy theory holds true for me until the last round of albums. All three trilogies have a similar but continuously evolving guitar aesthetic. The first 3 have a very angular approach to the guitar, and few major chords. The production on the first 3 albums also has a sonic unity, thanks probably in part to the fact that they have the same actual producer.

The next three bring in more major chords, starting with UF, getting into full-major chord arpeggios in JT, continuing in R&H. Synths are not present in the first three, but are brought into TUF. The lyrical obsession with America starts in TUF and reaches its culmination in R&H.

The next 3 are also cut from the same cloth. There is an increasing lyrical emphasis on the inner life, an introduction of more European influences musically, the rhythm sections loosen up markedly, the guitar textures don't have an underlying unity, as they are all over the place, but generally have an electronic tinge to them for most part, heavily distorted, as opposed to the clean processed sound that dominated the 80s.

I think there's sufficient evidence for people to justifiably think of albums till then as comprising trilogies. If you don't want to view things in that mold, it's fine with me, but that's what my brain is doing.
 
Nobody's saying they're obligated to go in a certain direction for three albums, its just how it works out.
I don't buy that...


We were promised a reinvention. By Lanois, at least. By Bono's Moroccan Molten Metal and trance comments. Etc. We didn't get it and for that reason I think this album sits comfortably with their last 2.
You can't hear the departure? How many songs have they done like NLOTH, MOS, Cedars, UC?
 
See I don't think AB is nearly as "electro driven" as people claim, the experimentation with electronic music was pretty much to fill not to move. Zooropa and Pop had moments that were more driven. Plus I don't think Zooropa is as dark as AB or Pop...

I mean you can say one lead to the other, but that's almost true for every album...

I agree with the electro part of AB but it did start the whole idea of a more European/electro vibe and in my post i already stated that zooropa wasnt as dark as pop for me it goes
zoorop<Ab<Pop on a dark scale
 
I hear small departures. I hear no unifying whole of a departure.

They're clinging to their last albums as they're moving forward. This was not the case with Achtung Baby.
 
To me its not about reinvention its about taking a step forward, which it has done, instead of taking a step back, which the other 2 tried to do
 
I hear small departures. I hear no unifying whole of a departure.

They're clinging to their last albums as they're moving forward. This was not the case with Achtung Baby.

I agree it's not a departure like AB, but anyone who thinks we'll see another one of those may be waiting a long time...
 
I had heard for some time that this was gonna be a break from the last two albums and this was not gonna be part of a the trilogy-like cycle that has un-officaly been thier way thier entire career. I have listened to the album and why i don't know where i rate it yet, caused to sleep on it and let it grow a bit, i believe this is still part/extension of ATYCLB and HTDAAB . First its another long title. lol. Second, i just get the feeling its coming off of the same mindframe that started with ATYCLB and has evolved. You can see it with BOY/OCT/WAR and TUF/TJT/RAH and AB/ZOO/POP. The last album in those trios sounds like its going off ideas from the first but expanded. now its complete. ATYCLB/HTDAAB/NLOTH. Bono had said something about "dancefloor shock" and "trance". or something. i really don;t see any of that dancefloor shock on here. As far as how i feel about the album i know i def like 3 songs. and Have to explore it more. This is a u2 album, i can;t just decide in a matter of hours. lol.

:yes:
 
Every album sounds a little bit different (well, excluding October, which is an extension of Boy), so I've never been able to understand the trilogy theory, either. U2 are always experimenting, and the new album is a new experiment; it has traces of classic U2, but generally it's a new sound for them.
 
NLOTH is unrelated to the two preceding works- it really is that simple in my view. ATYCLB and HTDAAB pulled in the same direction- away from keyboards towards "a band aesthetic" augmented subtly with technology or not at all. NLOTH pulls in an altogether different direction, towards the trancier more mysterious world of their 90s work and perhaps TUF. Lyrically, the same is true- HTDAAB and ATYCLB saw pared down or to be more accurate, lazy lyrics- NLOTH takes the same radical steps as Pop or Zooropa. In short I see it as an evolution of their nineties work, which is what they ought to have aimed for after Pop. Instead with ATYCLB we got an album-length apology for a record of which they ought to have been proud!
 
I hear small departures. I hear no unifying whole of a departure.

They're clinging to their last albums as they're moving forward. This was not the case with Achtung Baby.

I'm not sure if I agree. Firstly I think the radicalism of NLOTH has been underestimated, secondly I think that of AB has been over-estimated so they meet in the middle. Yes clearly AB was a radical departure, and a brilliant one may I add, but WGTRYWH, UVLMY, One and even UTEOTW update and refresh existing sounds. Zooropa was the real curveball I think. You will remember also how Zoo Tv also started out fairly cautiously in indoor arenas, gainnig more and more confidence and ambition as it went on. So I think AB was radical but its chief importance was to make possible even more radical works in the future.
 
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