A Couple Years Later...Bomb is Forgettable

[LMP]

Re: Re: Re: Re: A Couple Years Later...Bomb is Forgettable

No, it just wasn't a very well written review at all. I don't really care what his opinion is, I just thought the piece was poor. Sorry.

Yes, but we are all poet laureats here at Inteference.

 

[Salome]

commenting on someone's (im)maturity in this forum reaks of sarcasm

 

[phillyfan26]

How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb is a solid album. It has some great singles: Vertigo, COBL, OOTS that are some of their best work. The other two singles are solid songs (Sometimes/ABOY) and LAPOE and MD are two good tunes. A Man and a Woman is a song that is average, and the other two are not good, but what other U2 albums have seven good songs? Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby. Overall, I'd say it's my fourth favorite album by U2, behind JT, AB, and Boy.

People expected a lot from Miracle Drug, but it's not a bad song.

I'd have made LAPOE a single instead of ABOY, but that's me.

 

[bsp77]

commenting on someone's (im)maturity in this forum reaks of sarcasm

I am never sarcastic

 

[rjhbonovox]

Re: Re: Re: A Couple Years Later...Bomb is Forgettable

LOL, I like your opinion. You're basically saying you like 8 of 11 tracks on each album. That's a pretty good ratio I think. I can't stand One Step Closer or Peace On Earth either.

Yeah I noticed that. Shiiiiiiiitttttttt, the bombs my favourite album! Seriously, its not as bad as I once thought but still ranks below all their 90's stuff and other than Boy, October and War, ranks below their 80's stuff as well. Yep I like Rattle and Hum as a better album than the Bomb or ATYCLB when you compare the studio tracks, more rawness and urgency than the bomb and ATYCLB which, for my liking are both far too over produced.

 

[powerhour24]

I love the album, 3rd best behind the given masterpieces. But I don't feel it has the flow those two, plus if you swapped out ABOY or AMAAW with Mercy, it'd be even better.

 

[clipper699]

It drives me crazy when: (1) people complain that HTDAAB and ATYCLB are "canned", that AB, Zooropa, and Pop challenged people, but fail to realize that although the music may have been superior, AB, Zooropa, and Pop were the most contrived, manufactured and marketed U2 albums/concepts; and (2) that somehow people in the US are unable to appreciate the greatness of U2... the greatness of U2 comes not with appealing only to the avant guard/hipster clan, but rather, comes with the understanding that there are many musical viewpoints and beliefs, that they should all be respected, and that dismissing someone because their views don't exactly correspond with yours is total bullshit. It is curious that folks who criticize the "American-ness" of ATYCLB and HTDAAB forget that The Joshua Tree is a uniquely "American". Care to tear down the Joshua Tree too?

 

[Swan269]

yeah, great for you (no irony, I'm honest)
but I feel the oposite with last two albums - every song cought me on the first listen, but than it became boring very soon...
I experienced what you are describing with former albums and I agree here - it's great when something grows on you in the long run....
it was just not the case for me with HTDAAb or ATYCLB

sometimes it takes longer than that, but I did not feel you were being sarcastic. its not your cup of tea, but thats cool. I think it took me 6 or 7 years to listen to October the whole way through. Making a good song is hard, but a good album is much harder.

 

[dietcokeofevil]

The Bomb disappointed me at first...but has grown on me.

 

[Sirus]

The thing about this album is that it probably is their weakest album to date. But all bands put out bad albums, but I've never herd of a good band following up a bad album with a worse one. So I do think that way better is to come, maybe the best, who knows. It's just part of evolving as a band for them. You can't expect every album to some kinda masterpiece you know. Plus knowing how brilliant a finished version of Mercy could be, it could possibly be their best song.

 

[Earnie Shavers]

The most disappointing thing about the Bomb to me is not anything in the song writing, in the lyrics, in Bonos voice, in how they promote it, in the genre of the music, in the sound of the guitar, in the style of the production - it's that the songs just leave me completely empty. We can debate the album endlessly, I can try and explain myself endlessly either in short blunt posts or long winded rants, but in the end it all comes down to the fact that when I give that album a spin, it gives me nothing in return. Completely devoid of soul/spirit/something I can't quite describe.

 

[Lancemc]

That's one of the most unique desriptions I've heard yet Earnie. Sad thing is I almost feel the same way. Fortunately the live versions do something for me where the album versions tend to fail.

 

[europop2005]

you could come up with a better title for this thread...

"the bomb fizzled"

"the bomb was dismantled"

"they cut the wrong wire on the bomb"

etc.............

 

[Screwtape2]

That's one of the most unique desriptions I've heard yet Earnie. Sad thing is I almost feel the same way. Fortunately the live versions do something for me where the album versions tend to fail.

Make it three Earnie. I've never been able to put the lack of impact into words. I also agree with Lancemc about the live versions.

 

[bcrt2000]

When AB came out a lot of people thought that it's all finished for U2 - two years later they were at the top of the world in Japan on tha last stop of the tour and everybody was talking about AB as of masterpiece...

HTDAAB came out, a lot of people said it was all over for U2, a lot of people loved the album..two months later still same people said it was lame, a lot of people who loved it and said it was maybe the best ever came down from the high and said that it wasn't bad but it wasn't sooo good eithr...

two year later - only few people say that HTDAAB say that it's exceptional while majority agree it's mediocre and a lot of people think it's at the bottom of U2's work up to date....

I listend to the whole album for 10 days after I bought it and never again...nowdays I don't listen to any song from that album...
Im too old? Too indie? It's too elevator and mainstream? Give me My Morning Jacket, Arcade Fire, Interpol, Decemberists, Hard-Fi or Block Party any day over this....or AB, Zooropa or POP for that matter

The majority of who agrees? Go look out in pop culture, U2 has never been a stronger force. I'm not saying that its what makes a band good or not, but they are far from being percieved as old and stale by many people.

Its always a thing with U2 though, since they are an album band, and not a single/radio band. Every album loses some fans, and gains some fans, but overall U2 has never been as popular.

 

[wolfwill23]

Glad to see this post sparked so much debate. Nice.

As for my writing, well, I was in a bad car accident about four years ago and have not been 100% (maybe even 80%) mentally since then. Maybe the accident influenced some of my thoughts on Bomb but I know it has influenced my writing skills. But lets see you try to type with one hand and a steel plate in your head! And the only other thing I have to say is...SUCK IT TRABECK! SUCK IT LONG AND SUCK IT HARD! There was no car accident and my reivew rocked more than Bomb did! Be-low me! Bomb is weak! Admit it! ADMIT IT!!!!!!!

ps-Believe it or not, I am over 30 and hold an MFA.

 

[Lancemc]

Holy shit wolfwill, you had me going there for a while. Good one.

 

[Sleep Over Jack]

Another thing I find amazing about this bands attitude these days is their choice of what is a good song and not. I remember reading a few years back, when the 2nd best of was coming out, about how The Edge wasn't sure about The Fly being a good song anymore. And then there putting out crap like Grace, A Man and A Woman and Peace on Earth! Mmmmm now what is the best song out of AMAAW and The Fly? Mmmm now thats a toughie!

Agreed. I was amazed at his comments about The Fly actually.

 

[Earnie Shavers]

Agreed. I was amazed at his comments about The Fly actually.

Particularly coming from him, it being one of his singular standout tracks.

 

[Michael Griffiths]

The most disappointing thing about the Bomb to me is not anything in the song writing, in the lyrics, in Bonos voice, in how they promote it, in the genre of the music, in the sound of the guitar, in the style of the production - it's that the songs just leave me completely empty. We can debate the album endlessly, I can try and explain myself endlessly either in short blunt posts or long winded rants, but in the end it all comes down to the fact that when I give that album a spin, it gives me nothing in return. Completely devoid of soul/spirit/something I can't quite describe.

Very well put. I tend to feel the same way as you. Plenty of catchy songs that I find myself playing in my head, even singing, yet leave me feeling empty. Conversely, ATYCLB fills me with joy and a warmth...like a blanket protecting me from the cold. Does Bomb have consistently good songwriting? Sure. Do I prefer the overall feeling that a less consistent album like ATYCLB gives me? Absolutely.

 

[tonyhotland]

oh, are we still in 2004?

 

[Marko]

The majority of who agrees? Go look out in pop culture, U2 has never been a stronger force. I'm not saying that its what makes a band good or not, but they are far from being percieved as old and stale by many people.

Its always a thing with U2 though, since they are an album band, and not a single/radio band. Every album loses some fans, and gains some fans, but overall U2 has never been as popular.

I think that they were more popular during JT and AB era - then they sold more albums, they filled stadiums on both sidec of atlantic and in the rest of the world etc...
so in terms of popularity I think that they were bigger those days.

They didn't lose me as a fan (not yet that is). And probably I'm biased because I hang with people that don't listen to mainstream music so I get my info about U2 status from them. And I have to say that I don't care what MTV thinks aobut U2, and what is the sales of the latest album...I don't care about popularity...especially as I think that they can be popular with anything they do, they already have that status... it's on them to decide which way they want to go. Unfortunately, for me, they decided to be the biggest and not the best

 

[Marko]

Make it three Earnie. I've never been able to put the lack of impact into words. I also agree with Lancemc about the live versions.

make it four! great description...no passion, no excitement...empty

 

[jacobus]

wolfwill23:...Now, they're putting out dentist office music that rivals the Goo Goo Dolls.

yep i call it music for the supermarkets

wolfwill23: ...I don't think records should be left-overs from other albums but rather an cohesive experience from start to finish.

thats the truth and thats my opinion too.

 

[Aygo]

Is this discussion still up? Wow...

 

[Goocher100]

I like the album personally. Is it the best record they've done? Not in my opinion. Is it a bad album? Not at all.

 

[Bean Skidds]

The most disappointing thing about the Bomb to me is not anything in the song writing, in the lyrics, in Bonos voice, in how they promote it, in the genre of the music, in the sound of the guitar, in the style of the production - it's that the songs just leave me completely empty. We can debate the album endlessly, I can try and explain myself endlessly either in short blunt posts or long winded rants, but in the end it all comes down to the fact that when I give that album a spin, it gives me nothing in return. Completely devoid of soul/spirit/something I can't quite describe.

I'll fifth this sentiment. It sums it up pretty well for me also. The songs on Bomb arent bad, they just leave me feeling completely empty. Crumbs and OOTS are probably the songs on this cd that have the most impact for me.

Im also afraid that U2 seem to not know a great song when they have it in their grasp anymore. And they also seem to "sterilize" their songs in an attempt to make a nice clean single, rather than a truly interesting or unique song.

An example of this: Native Son, for me, is about 10x more interesting than Vertigo. Vertigo is overly-distilled, and works great as a catchy single for the radio, but quickly loses its staying power. Just listen to Native Son, and tell me that its not more interesting than Vertigo.

And how about Edge's vocal on Native Son? Its fantastic.. What could be the argument for getting rid of that? Im just afraid u2 is losing their sense of what makes their music great. Native Son was a finished song, or darn near to it.

I would also argue that "Smile" was a nearly finished song, and a great one at that. Bono really grabs you in that song, in a way that he doesnt on nearly all of the released Bomb songs. Luckily for us they gave us the Complete U2 on itunes, or we'd never have heard it.

Having been a fan for 17 years, it hasnt been easy for me to figure out why U2 is losing me lately. But I think Im on to something here.

I spend more time listening to the outtakes than I do listening to the released cd.

 

[Zooropa man]

Love & Peace is an awesome song.... 10 times better played live. Dude, where were you in this part of the concert? taking a piss??? That has to be one of the highlights of the show.... geez.

 

[roy]

Love & Peace is an awesome song.... 10 times better played live. Dude, where were you in this part of the concert? taking a piss???

 

[Michael Griffiths]

I'll fifth this sentiment. It sums it up pretty well for me also. The songs on Bomb arent bad, they just leave me feeling completely empty. Crumbs and OOTS are probably the songs on this cd that have the most impact for me.

Im also afraid that U2 seem to not know a great song when they have it in their grasp anymore. And they also seem to "sterilize" their songs in an attempt to make a nice clean single, rather than a truly interesting or unique song.

An example of this: Native Son, for me, is about 10x more interesting than Vertigo. Vertigo is overly-distilled, and works great as a catchy single for the radio, but quickly loses its staying power. Just listen to Native Son, and tell me that its not more interesting than Vertigo.

And how about Edge's vocal on Native Son? Its fantastic.. What could be the argument for getting rid of that? Im just afraid u2 is losing their sense of what makes their music great. Native Son was a finished song, or darn near to it.

I would also argue that "Smile" was a nearly finished song, and a great one at that. Bono really grabs you in that song, in a way that he doesnt on nearly all of the released Bomb songs. Luckily for us they gave us the Complete U2 on itunes, or we'd never have heard it.

Having been a fan for 17 years, it hasnt been easy for me to figure out why U2 is losing me lately. But I think Im on to something here.

I spend more time listening to the outtakes than I do listening to the released cd.

Wow, once again, I agree word for word with every last thing in this post. Bizarre. 'Crumbs' was U2 at their most loose. They were drunk, and not that I think U2 should write songs drunk, but it just goes to show that they might need to just sort of "let go" a bit of their agendas. I also think 'Smile' is the one song I've heard from those sessions that grabbed me -- and I mean, REALLY grabbed me. It's not just sincerity; it's sincerity without self consciousness....it's truth without aiming for truth....like thinking without making thoughts your aim (to paraphrase Rudyard Kipling). That's the U2 I miss sometimes.