Shuttlecock XXV: Cool Hats Club

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I heard Every Breaking Wave on the U2 XM channel today. It was my first time listening to it in forever. There is a good song somewhere in there, but the arrangement prevents it from manifesting. I think it's Laz who likes to hate on the guitar in the chorus; on this listen I found myself doing the same.
 
Sure doesn't sound like a guitar. More like a toddler playing its first keyboard.

DEE DEE DEE DEE DEE

The earlier, electric guitar-heavy version is far better.
 
More thoughts from random drives with U2's Sirius XM station. I like Magnificent a lot. I like the intro, I like the riff, and I like how fully Bono throws himself into the cheesy lyrics. I don't, however, like the slide solo.
 
I listened to HTDAAB the other night after Obama came out to City of Blinding Lights on the Biden campaign trail.

Horrendous vocals and the album sounds like the atomic bomb wasn't dismantled quickly enough, but there are some great songs on that album.

Vertigo slaps. Miracle Drug is super on the nose but resonates in the times we live in, so I get something out of it. I've had SYCMIOYO stuck in my head all week and I love the emotion in that track. COBL is still one of their best 21st century tracks, a perfect execution of a winning formula.

I skipped over LAPOE in that paragraph because it's a huge mess and fittingly can't put together my thoughts on it coherently. It's the SUC of this album, only with better individual pieces that don't fit together.

The run of ABOY, AMAAW and Crumbs is pretty controversial, but I like them all. Huge flaws in all of them, but overall enjoyable. ABOY has a great hook and solo and the first verse is strong. Really, I fuck with it outside of the intro and the poorly written second verse. AMAAW is a great left turn from them that badly needed an 80s Bono vocal and a couple lyric changes. Adam's bass part rules. Crumbs is a sloppy, inebriated mess that has a winning hook and great instrumental breaks. Bono almost ruins the song with some awful lyrics and double tracked vocals, but his impassioned HEY! late in the track pulls it together.

One Step Closer is honestly really nice. Gives me The First Time vibes and Bono comes across well here. It's not the most interesting track but the band does something they never do elsewhere on this album: exercise restraint.

The ending though...eugh. OOTS is still not a favorite of mine, full of dud lyrics and syrupy production. By the time Bono is shouting incoherently over Edge soloing brilliantly on a song about his own daughter, I'm out. Yahweh is a pretty melody and sentiment ruined by a sloppy arrangement, bad vocals and overproduction. I've always enjoyed the live version but this one is a mess.

Still though, I think HTDAAB has some of their catchiest tunes in a long time. I'd take it over the last two, and not just for nostalgia. The hooks here really hold up.
 
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It was my first U2 album. City of Blinding Lights is my user name, the single was my avatar for ages, it's a fucking stone cold 10 out of 10. Brilliant song. I genuinely love Vertigo, I think Sometimes is really beautiful, Miracle Drug is great, I love Crumbs (the guitar rules), and I think both One Step Closer and Man and a Woman are two of the best modern day U2 tracks. I really enjoyed the version of Yahweh that plays over the credits of U23D.

I haven't listened to the album in a million years. Maybe I'll do it today. Thanks LM :)
 
LemonMelon said:
I listened to HTDAAB the other night after Obama came out to City of Blinding Lights on the Biden campaign trail.

Horrendous vocals and the album sounds like the atomic bomb wasn't dismantled quickly enough, but there are some great songs on that album.

Vertigo slaps. Miracle Drug is super on the nose but resonates in the times we live in, so I get something out of it. I've had SYCMIOYO stuck in my head all week and I love the emotion in that track. COBL is still one of their best 21st century tracks, a perfect execution of a winning formula.

I skipped over LAPOE in that paragraph because it's a huge mess and fittingly can't put together my thoughts on it coherently. It's the SUC of this album, only with better individual pieces that don't fit together.

The run of ABOY, AMAAW and Crumbs is pretty controversial, but I like them all. Huge flaws in all of them, but overall enjoyable. ABOY has a great hook and solo and the first verse is strong. Really, I fuck with it outside of the intro and the poorly written second verse. AMAAW is a great left turn from them that badly needed an 80s Bono vocal and a couple lyric changes. Adam's bass part rules. Crumbs is a sloppy, inebriated mess that has a winning hook and great instrumental breaks. Bono almost ruins the song with some awful lyrics and double tracked vocals, but his impassioned HEY! late in the track pulls it together.

One Step Closer is honestly really nice. Gives me The First Time vibes and Bono comes across well here. It's not the most interesting track but the band does something they never do elsewhere on this album: exercise restraint.

The ending though...eugh. OOTS is still not a favorite of mine, full of dud lyrics and syrupy production. By the time Bono is shouting incoherently over Edge soloing brilliantly on a song about his own daughter, I'm out. Yahweh is a pretty melody and sentiment ruined by a sloppy arrangement, bad vocals and overproduction. I've always enjoyed the live version but this one is a mess.

Still though, I think HTDAAB has some of their catchiest tunes in a long time. I'd take it over the last two, and not just for nostalgia. The hooks here really hold up.
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I'm surprised how much on the same page we are. But I'll point out where we differ:

Miracle Drug on paper looks pretty bad. But I was getting something from it even before the pandemic. That chorus is huge, and as awkward as "in science and in medicine" is to sing, I love Edge taking a verse and passing back off to Bono. The slide solo is fine, but iYup said, we didn't need one on track 2 of the subsequent album too.

I'll stand by my feelings of Sometimes being my least favorite track because it's just a snooze musically, and reminds me too much of Coldplay on at anemic chorus. Only when the electric guitar comes in at the end does any life start to come into it. So I appreciate the lyric and Bono's performance but the tune itself isn't fit to hold One's jockstrap. Or Stay's jockstrap. Or Stuck's jockstrap (despite the poor production).

I guess I like LPOE more than you do, maybe because I just like the rare T-Rex glam vibes the track gives off. But you made a good comparison to SUC in that it doesn't quite "work" but at least doesn't have godawful elements involved in the Frankenstein job.

OOTS is the Stuck of this album to me. The production is pretty ersatz-sounding but there's legit passion in the performance that makes me like it regardless. Just like Bono's drunk "Hey" in Crumbs saves it for you, I also appreciate his shouted "No!" in the middle of the last chorus. The rare live versions with electric guitar validate the song's worth and jettison the overproduction. Had they recorded either of these during the Rattle & Hum era with legit strings and/or horn sections they'd both be undisputed classics, IMO.

Despite not being religious, at all, I've always had a soft spot for Yahweh. It's basically because the intro makes me think of TUF/JT era. And I do like the guitar work, which builds to that climax after "this love is like a drop in the ocean". The earlier, bouncier version just doesn't do it for me.

I'm going to deduct 2 points from your review for not mentioning Fast Cars or Mercy, which should be on any reasonable person's custom Bomb tracklisting.
 
Just the mention of Mercy makes me mad. By a mile their best song since 97 and the one they didn't release.

I have bad feelings towards LAPOE because it was the lead in to that boring ass version of Bullet on the Vertigo Tour.
 
phanan said:
Hopefully this gets the same treatment as ATYCLB in 2024 and we finally get the full, unedited version of Mercy released.

Their biggest travesty since 2000.
Click to expand...

Be careful what we wish for; they could give us a "new" studio recording of that shitty live version, or maybe they already re-recorded it.

I've said it before, but they should pull a "Rumours" and insert it back into the album for the anniversary release/remaster.

I also prefer Fast Cars over most of the album's official songs; much like The Ground Beneath Her Feet and ATYCLB.
 
lazarus said:
I also prefer Fast Cars over most of the album's official songs; much like The Ground Beneath Her Feet and ATYCLB.
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Agreed on this. Fast Cars is the best song of the Bomb era IMO, the only one where they feel even remotely casual. Everything else is so damn labored that it's hard for me to listen to it.
 
Headache in a Suitcase said:
Big Red Flag Day fans over at the Vedder house


https://www.instagram.com/p/CG60T7lphfv/?igshid=152v9ps3pljlr
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lazarus said:
This fills me with an incredible amount of joy.

Hopefully The 2 won't take this as a sign they can still capture the teen market.

And hopefully GAF doesn't take it as a sign that he can still capture the teen market either.
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My first thought was how atypical for a 16 year old. (Certainly that wasn't GAF's first thought).
 
lazarus said:
I also prefer Fast Cars over most of the album's official songs; much like The Ground Beneath Her Feet and ATYCLB.
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iron yuppie said:
Agreed on this. Fast Cars is the best song of the Bomb era IMO, the only one where they feel even remotely casual. Everything else is so damn labored that it's hard for me to listen to it.
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I actually prefer Xanax & Wine to Fast Cars. By a considerable margin.
The "Save me from myself..." chorus plus the more electric, less flamenco guitar elevate the song greatly in my opinion.

But I did get to see them play Fast Cars on my birthday in 2005 in an ultra rare 3rd encore, and enjoyed it thoroughly. (I tell folks they pulled out the 3rd encore just for me as it was my birthday)
 
LemonMelon said:
Vertigo slaps.
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Vertigo is indeed classic. Though, I do have to mention Native Son. I'm not going to be one of those people who claim that the latter is definitely better than the former, but there's something to be said for it. Vertigo is a better single, but Native Son has a deeper lyric and the "FREEEEEEE" bridge is one of Bono's great studio vocal moments of the last twenty years imo and practically nobody has heard it. So, they're both great in their own ways.

LemonMelon said:
Miracle Drug is super on the nose but resonates in the times we live in, so I get something out of it.
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lazarus said:
Miracle Drug on paper looks pretty bad. But I was getting something from it even before the pandemic. That chorus is huge, and as awkward as "in science and in medicine" is to sing, I love Edge taking a verse and passing back off to Bono. The slide solo is fine, but iYup said, we didn't need one on track 2 of the subsequent album too.
Click to expand...

You know how one of the common complaints around here about The Miracle Of Joey Ramone is that it's too lyrically clunky? I don't agree with that, as I love that song, but that's kind of how I feel about Miracle Drug. The lyric is too clunky and too sappy. Sometimes sappy can work if it's executed well, but it's not here. What nearly saves the song is great vocals in the choruses and pretty much everything Edge is doing, his atmospherics, the guitar solo, his vocal verse, etc. So the song has some great moments, but it still usually ranks in the bottom half of HTDAAB tracks for me.

LemonMelon said:
I've had SYCMIOYO stuck in my head all week and I love the emotion in that track.
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lazarus said:
I'll stand by my feelings of Sometimes being my least favorite track because it's just a snooze musically, and reminds me too much of Coldplay on at anemic chorus. Only when the electric guitar comes in at the end does any life start to come into it. So I appreciate the lyric and Bono's performance but the tune itself isn't fit to hold One's jockstrap. Or Stay's jockstrap. Or Stuck's jockstrap (despite the poor production).
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Think I'm gonna side with El-Mel here. I do get what Laz is saying; the verses are not particularly melodically interesting and it can feel like a bit of chore to get through sometimes until the song picks up midway through.

But once the song does pick up, it's one of the band's most emotionally satisfying moments of the last twenty years. The build up of Edge's guitar work; Bono's memorable vocal performance; the best lyrics of the song("gotta let you know/a house doesn't make a home/don't leave me here alone"); all of it.

Laz is right though - the song is not as good as One or Stay. But that's more of a testament to the greatness of those songs than it is a criticism of this song.

LemonMelon said:
I skipped over LAPOE in that paragraph because it's a huge mess and fittingly can't put together my thoughts on it coherently. It's the SUC of this album, only with better individual pieces that don't fit together.
Click to expand...

lazarus said:
I guess I like LPOE more than you do, maybe because I just like the rare T-Rex glam vibes the track gives off. But you made a good comparison to SUC in that it doesn't quite "work" but at least doesn't have godawful elements involved in the Frankenstein job.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I don't agree at all with El-Mel's take on this one. I don't really see the SUC comparison, other than that they're both dark-sounding rock songs. SUC is, as has been said, a Frankenstein's monster, in that it sounds like fragments from several different songs stitched together. LAPOE is not that. It's more or less one musical idea - which is that it's a glam rock pastiche. Now, whether you like that musical idea is a matter of personal taste, as is whether or not you think it was well-executed. But I've never heard LAPOE as a Frankenstein type song like SUC.

Anyway, I like the song. U2 doesn't do heavier rock songs like this very often anymore, so I'll take it where I can get it. Here's a hot take for you: this song is far superior to The Blackout; even though I'm a defender of SOI/SOE, I've never understand why The Blackout is so popular here.

LemonMelon said:
The ending though...eugh. OOTS is still not a favorite of mine, full of dud lyrics and syrupy production. By the time Bono is shouting incoherently over Edge soloing brilliantly on a song about his own daughter, I'm out.
Click to expand...

lazarus said:
OOTS is the Stuck of this album to me. The production is pretty ersatz-sounding but there's legit passion in the performance that makes me like it regardless. Just like Bono's drunk "Hey" in Crumbs saves it for you, I also appreciate his shouted "No!" in the middle of the last chorus. The rare live versions with electric guitar validate the song's worth and jettison the overproduction. Had they recorded either of these during the Rattle & Hum era with legit strings and/or horn sections they'd both be undisputed classics, IMO.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I agree with El-Mel that Bono's shouting over Edge on OOTS is not a great moment.

It's not necessarily a favorite, because the production is bloated on the album, and in general the band were insistent on trying to make it into a Hey Jude-like anthem when it really could've benefited from some restraint. And also because the lyric needed work.

But there is a pretty melody in there, for sure.

Laz, do you like the single version of the song? It's a totally different recording that, I believe, used real strings.

Also, what about the early keyboard-only live performances? I always thought that was arguably the best arrangement of the song, because it showed the restraint I desired.

Last thought about this song - while I think there is a pretty melody in the song, the song is still not as melodically strong as Stuck, so I'll disagree with Laz on that one.

LemonMelon said:
Yahweh is a pretty melody and sentiment ruined by a sloppy arrangement, bad vocals and overproduction. I've always enjoyed the live version but this one is a mess.
Click to expand...

lazarus said:
Despite not being religious, at all, I've always had a soft spot for Yahweh. It's basically because the intro makes me think of TUF/JT era. And I do like the guitar work, which builds to that climax after "this love is like a drop in the ocean". The earlier, bouncier version just doesn't do it for me.
Click to expand...

While I used to dislike the song, I've grown to like it a lot, so I agree with you both. But in terms of arrangement, I have to go with El-Mel. The acoustic live versions from the tour were gorgeous. And I also prefer the "alternate" version that Laz apparently dislikes, to the album version. The album version, like much of Bomb, is overcooked to me. There's more space in the alternate version, and you can hear the double-tracked vocals better. In general, the more stripped down the song is, the better.

lazarus said:
I'm going to deduct 2 points from your review for not mentioning Fast Cars or Mercy, which should be on any reasonable person's custom Bomb tracklisting.
Click to expand...

:up:

Though some might take Xanax And Wine over Fast Cars(see Hewson below). Which I know you strongly disagree with. All told, I'm probably taking Fast Cars as well, but I do think Xanax has its merits depending on what kind of mood you're in.

LemonMelon said:
COBL is still one of their best 21st century tracks, a perfect execution of a winning formula.
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There is a notion that COBL is like a weak imitation of Streets, but looking at the song strictly on its own merits, I agree, it's exceptionally executed. Except for the fact that Larry's drumming in the intro doesn't properly accelerate into the start of the guitar riff. Still annoys me. He always kills it live, but it was just a missed opportunity in the studio.

LemonMelon said:
The run of ABOY, AMAAW and Crumbs is pretty controversial, but I like them all. Huge flaws in all of them, but overall enjoyable. ABOY has a great hook and solo and the first verse is strong. Really, I fuck with it outside of the intro and the poorly written second verse. AMAAW is a great left turn from them that badly needed an 80s Bono vocal and a couple lyric changes. Adam's bass part rules. Crumbs is a sloppy, inebriated mess that has a winning hook and great instrumental breaks. Bono almost ruins the song with some awful lyrics and double tracked vocals, but his impassioned HEY! late in the track pulls it together.
Click to expand...

A Man And A Woman is arguably a top-5 track on the album and one of their most under-appreciated tracks of the last two decades.

ABOY is fine, it's fun, it's catchy, it gets far too much hate, but I feel like EBTTRT does everything ABOY tries to do, but better.

Crumbs is the most on-the-nose song about Bono's activism that he ever wrote. One of the things that strikes me about it is that it's actually a pretty brutally angry lyric, but that anger is sort of cloaked by the bright, upbeat instrumentation. Easily the best part of the song is the epic outro that segues into OSC.

LemonMelon said:
One Step Closer is honestly really nice. Gives me The First Time vibes and Bono comes across well here. It's not the most interesting track but the band does something they never do elsewhere on this album: exercise restraint.
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Agreed. Feels like it could've been an MDH track. I think we all wish they'd explored that MDH vibe more.

LemonMelon said:
Still though, I think HTDAAB has some of their catchiest tunes in a long time. I'd take it over the last two, and not just for nostalgia. The hooks here really hold up.
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I might take it over SOE, but probably not SOI. I love SOI.
 
i was looking through evernote for my stuffing recipe and found this instead

From the breakfast bar
Comes a donut hole
You had two sticks of butter
So you could butter your roll
I had biscuits and gravy
That I whipped up myself
And a fresh stack of pancakes
From the box on the shelf

You speak of nooks and crannies
And I need a plate of pastries
I wouldn't eat if I was able
But I'm waiting on the crumbs from your bagel
 
Headache in a Suitcase said:
i was looking through evernote for my stuffing recipe and found this instead

From the breakfast bar
Comes a donut hole
You had two sticks of butter
So you could butter your roll
I had biscuits and gravy
That I whipped up myself
And a fresh stack of pancakes
From the box on the shelf

You speak of nooks and crannies
And I need a plate of pastries
I wouldn't eat if I was able
But I'm waiting on the crumbs from your bagel
Click to expand...

bonoBIG_228x323.jpg
 
Headache in a Suitcase said:
i was looking through evernote for my stuffing recipe and found this instead

From the breakfast bar
Comes a donut hole
You had two sticks of butter
So you could butter your roll
I had biscuits and gravy
That I whipped up myself
And a fresh stack of pancakes
From the box on the shelf

You speak of nooks and crannies
And I need a plate of pastries
I wouldn't eat if I was able
But I'm waiting on the crumbs from your bagel
Click to expand...

Holy shit! That is awesome!! :lol::lol:
 
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