Shuttlecock XVIII - SAVE US, REFU-JESUS

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I'd argue Boy is one of the more underrated debut albums of all time. It should be treated as one of the greats, but it usually isn't.
 
lazarus said:
lol, no.
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Guess it depends on parameters. A bunch of musically-untrained teenagers with limited resources spend a couple of months making an album. The songs are imcredibly strong, the guitar is revolutionary and the lyrics are bold, personal.
Those qualities stayed with them for the next 15 years.

I reckon it's in the conversation.
 
the tourist said:
The drumming is also fantastic on that record. I’m probably one of the biggest (only?) fans of Is The All? on this board. The drumming and guitar work (playing and tone) on that song though. So good!
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I love Is That All? so you're not alone, probably my third favourite behind Gloria and Brick.

I love how sinister the rhythm sounds, and the pleading vocals from Bono
 
kiwilad said:
Lillywhite. That and the fade-out SURPRISE! fade-back-in are the only annoyances. Greatest debut album ever?
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Don't get me wrong, I think Boy is great... but yea, nah.

For my money it's Are You Experienced? But there's a million others.

Heck, of my own personal holy trinity of artists... U2, Springsteen & Pearl Jam... Boy would come in third behind Ten and Greetings From Asbury Park.
 
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Boy is probably the best U2 album. I'm increasingly persuaded of that ahead of UF.
 
DaveC said:
the edge plays a shit ton of harmonics on the first few albums. when's the last time he played a harmonic on a song? i feel like i can't remember a single one after rattle & hum.
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He does them on Iris (well the live version at least, not sure about studio)
 
Axver said:
Boy is probably the best U2 album. I'm increasingly persuaded of that ahead of UF.
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I would partially agree. I think it is one u2s most cohesive sonically and thematically, but I don't know if I could place it among the "best." I don't even know how to measure that. Are we talking cohesiveness? Culturally impactive? Artistically adventurous? Iconic? If we're talking all of the above I think I'd have to go with TJT and Achtung.
In any rate you comment has prompted me to start up Boy this morning to listen to all the way through for the first time in ages.
 
Hewson said:
Lots of stiff competition there.
Albums like Appetite For Destruction, Ten, Van Halen, Led Zeppelin 1 jump immediately to mind as better debuts, and I'm sure there's plenty more.
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For more modern bands I'd say The Strokes and The Killers both had solid debut albums with classic songs on each.
 
The Clash
Velvet Underground and Nico
Patti Smith - Horses
R.E.M. - Murmur
Big Star - #1 Record
Liz Phair - Exile in Guyville
X - Los Angeles
Television - Marquee Moon
Pavement - Slanted & Enchanted
The Band - Music From Big Pink

I'd probably rank all of these above Boy.
 
My favorite stretch of U2 is firmly solidified as Boy through UF. Relistening over the last few days has only confirmed that.

I'll put forward what I'm sure will be an unpopular opinion: what brings down Achtung Baby is the duo of Wild Horses and So Cruel. Wild Horses is pretty rote IMO, and So Cruel is a slog, probably 4 minutes longer than it needs to be to make its point. Lyrics on both of those are questionable as well ("empty as a vacant lot," "love is a screaming flower" etc). Everything around them is killer though.
 
"Brings down". :rolleyes:

Both songs are phenomenal. Even if Wild Horses is the most conventional song on there, the dissonance heard right at the beginning and the turbulent guitar heard throughout is certainly not been there, done that territory from them.
 
Wild Horses is a remarkable pop song (that chord progression!) with enough grit to fit the album's overall style, while So Cruel has one of Bono's most engaging vocal performances. The fact that U2 manages to keep my attention for 6 minutes without a great deal of shifting in the arrangement is very impressive.

Achtung Baby doesn't have any low points, I've just heard it so many times that the peaks are a little lower for me than some of their other classics. I'm talking hundreds upon hundreds of listens.
 
For some reason I never reach for Achtung Baby. Boy, War, and UF: yes, relatively frequently. I think they did the post-punk / quasi-Eno style better than any other hat they have tried on.
 
Kieran McConville said:
Then there's Funeral by Arcade Fire. Which happens to be their peak.
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It's not even their second best album.

iron yuppie said:
I'll put forward what I'm sure will be an unpopular opinion: what brings down Achtung Baby is the duo of Wild Horses and So Cruel. Wild Horses is pretty rote IMO, and So Cruel is a slog, probably 4 minutes longer than it needs to be to make its point. Lyrics on both of those are questionable as well ("empty as a vacant lot," "love is a screaming flower" etc). Everything around them is killer though.
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Bullshit. Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses is fucking thrilling, and so far from rote. What a ridiculous thing to say. That first minute or so is absolutely thrilling, as Laz says some of the sonics going on pushes the boundaries for them, the chorus is an absolute monster. I remember the first time I listened to it with good headphones, years after I first heard it, and it was like hearing it for the first time. There's so much going on in the very back of the mix, different instruments coming through different channels.

And So Cruel is a huge achievement. I can see how some could consider it a slog but the slog is the fucking point of the song, imo. It's the band wading through a heap of shit and coming out on the other side. Bono's vocals in the final take of the chorus are stunning, to me: a man finally snapping out of the haze, realising the toxicity of the relationship he's in and coming to a place of acceptance; I can see Bono smiling as he sings that reworded final line: "to stay with you, I'd be a fool / oooh love, sweetheart, you're so cruel..." The music is great as well. The rhythm section is the winner, and then there's some lovely guitar playing from Edge as well as the piano.

The lyrics to both - in particular So Cruel, as LM says, one of Bono's top performances both vocally and lyrically - are stellar if you ask me. I have never had an issue with the empty lot line. Who gives a shit. It hardly takes you out of the song. Maybe it's a slightly clunky metaphor but it's delivered well and the song's great.
 
cobl04 said:
Bullshit. Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses is fucking thrilling, and so far from rote. What a ridiculous thing to say. That first minute or so is absolutely thrilling, as Laz says some of the sonics going on pushes the boundaries for them
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Come on man. You've listened to a lot of music. "Fucking thrilling" is hyperbolic. Yeah there's some distortion there. Who gives a shit.

Where the hell is Axver to support me on this anyway.
 
iron yuppie said:
Come on man. You've listened to a lot of music. "Fucking thrilling" is hyperbolic. Yeah there's some distortion there. Who gives a shit.

Where the hell is Axver to support me on this anyway.
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on "Where the Streets Have No Name"

It's just some guy singing. Lots of guys sing. Oh, and he's using words in English? How original. Pick a less played out language, for fuck's sake.

Guitar with delay? Oooooh wow, delay. That's never been done. If it was 1970, maybe I would give a shit.

And wow, Brian Eno is bald, so what? Does that make him a genius or something? Who cares? Fuck him and fuck you!
 
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