Achtung Baby vs. Ok Computer

[MrBrau1]

2. I won't ever believe that a band like U2 released an "unfinished" album or something ever slightly different from what they had envisioned for Pop in 1997. Sorry Bono but I don't buy that one. What may have happened is that in hindsight (1999/2000 perhaps?) they may have felt, in view of sales figures or the plans they had for the band, that it had been a mistake to release an album like Pop - but that's a different story altogether.

If all we had were the BO remixes, you'd be right.

But in the spring of 1997, they reworked large chunks of LNOE for a "single" version.

They also rerecorded Please in summer 1997 for a single release.

Plus, the background vocals for Playboy Mansion were recorded while mastering the record. Highly unusual.

So there goes that theory. They were uncertain with Pop from the start.

Also, they announced and sold tickets for the tour 1 month before Pop came out. Hardly a logical decision.

U2 were fucked up in 1997.

 

[namkcuR]

If all we had were the BO remixes, you'd be right.

But in the spring of 1997, they reworked large chunks of LNOE for a "single" version.

They also rerecorded Please in summer 1997 for a single release.

Plus, the background vocals for Playboy Mansion were recorded while mastering the record. Highly unusual.

So there goes that theory. They were uncertain with Pop from the start.

Also, they announced and sold tickets for the tour 1 month before Pop came out. Hardly a logical decision.

U2 were fucked up in 1997.

We get it. You think Pop, generally speaking, sucks.

 

[U2DMfan]

HTTT seems to be underrated on this forum. I have to be in the right mood but when I am it is an unequivocally -worthy record.

I think it's Radiohead's ATYCLB, not sonically of course but in the sense that it has 4 or 5 excellent songs and some filler. I do like some of those filler tracks on certain days and not on others, but Backdrifts, I could listen to almost every single day.

It's a very hit and miss album with me, as was Amnesiac.

I love Radiohead, but I think they have 3 fucking great records and two average/good (depending on the day) records and one shitty one (pablo).

 

[MrBrau1]

We get it. You think Pop, generally speaking, sucks.

That's not my point. Parts of it suck. Parts of it are great. But that's neither here nor there.

People discount U2's current criticism of Pop as "unfinished" as a reaction to bad sales.

Yet their actions in 1997 prove they were being genuine. They were tinkering with it from the get go. It didn't start with the BO in 2002.

 

[ultraviolet7]

Single versions aren't against the norm. They released single versions for the last two albums and also two different versions of a new song included in BO: Electrical Storm.

I've heard the Playboy Mansion story - I don't know if there's any truth in it. It always sounded rather suspicious to me: no band as big as U2 is forced to finish a recording the day they have to master. It may have happened but it seems highly unlikely to me.

 

[ultraviolet7]

People discount U2's current criticism of Pop as "unfinished" as a reaction to bad sales.

Not necessarily. They may have seen it as a bad move in view of the direction they wanted the band to take. (i.e. appealing to a wider audience, etc.)

 

[xaviMF22]

Yea I think the vocals to "Last Night On Earth" were reportedly recorded at the mixing desk the day the album was to be sent for pressing.

 

[Zoots]

On a totally unrelated note... the extended guitar solo on Mysterious Ways, Zoo Dublin is just musical sex!

 

[MrBrau1]

Single versions aren't against the norm. They released single versions for the last two albums and also two different versions of a new song included in BO: Electrical Storm.

It was against the norm for U2 in 1997. They'd done single remixes, but never the new and re-recorded bits we got on Please and LNOE.

The closest would be the Temple Bar Remix of WGRYWH. Another song they were said to be unhappy with.

 

[namkcuR]

It was against the norm for U2 in 1997. They'd done single remixes, but never the new and re-recorded bits we got on Please and LNOE.

The closest would be the Temple Bar Remix of WGRYWH. Another song they were said to be unhappy with.

You do make some valid points.

But...what about the single version of 'Out Of Control' on the U23 Single vs the album version of 'Out Of Control'?

 

[Yahweh]

Thom Yorke is an ignorant prick. Radiohead put out 2 good albums The Bends and OK Computer, the rest of them have been marginal at best.

The whining and growning of Radioheads style gets old very fast.....lets try to extend one phrase to last 2 minutes...thats cool isnt it? Its what they do all the time.

 

[namkcuR]

Thom Yorke is an ignorant prick. Radiohead put out 2 good albums The Bends and OK Computer, the rest of them have been marginal at best.

The whining and growning of Radioheads style gets old very fast.....lets try to extend one phrase to last 2 minutes...thats cool isnt it? Its what they do all the time.

 

[Axver]

You do make some valid points.

But...what about the single version of 'Out Of Control' on the U23 Single vs the album version of 'Out Of Control'?

Out Of Control on U2:3 came first. Boy's Out Of Control was recorded almost a year later on far superior studio equipment.

It's not even relevant to the discussion, really.

 

[GibsonGirl]

Thom Yorke is an ignorant prick. Radiohead put out 2 good albums The Bends and OK Computer, the rest of them have been marginal at best.

The whining and growning of Radioheads style gets old very fast.....lets try to extend one phrase to last 2 minutes...thats cool isnt it? Its what they do all the time.

That's really funny. I'm going to listen to We Suck Young Blood on repeat. Just for you.

 

[AtomicBono]

On a totally unrelated note... the extended guitar solo on Mysterious Ways, Zoo Dublin is just musical sex!

That is totally unrelated, but I felt like quoting it anyway. Because it totally is. Mysterious Ways live = sex.

 

[Mr. MIKEphisto]

Thom Yorke is an ignorant prick. Radiohead put out 2 good albums The Bends and OK Computer, the rest of them have been marginal at best.

The whining and growning of Radioheads style gets old very fast.....lets try to extend one phrase to last 2 minutes...thats cool isnt it? Its what they do all the time.

There is nothing in my collection that draws me back to listen again and again like Radiohead. to sasy that their music gets old simply shows that you don't understand them, or their brilliant music. Some people can't see it, and others just don't want to.

To get back to the thread.. OK Comp and Achtung are both AMAZING (and probably are my 2 favorite albums). I'm not going to bother to rank either higher than the other. Kid A is also on the same plateau.

 

[twochordcool]

Achtung Baby Beats Ok Computer in every way possible for me.

agreed.

and I'd go one step further, I think Achtung Baby *SHITS ON* OK Computer!

How can you compare them?

Seriously, I think people pose questions like these here just to antagonize me!

 

[twochordcool]

...to say that their music gets old simply shows that you don't understand them, or their brilliant music. Some people can't see it, and others just don't want to

You know, I say the same thing about Sasha and John Digweed's Northern Exposure 1 and 2...

but OK Computer is just numbing to me.

 

[Tarvark]

Well I feel like I should start this post with a disclaimer. Something along the lines of “this is my opinion only, not fact, one music fan and his observations and perspective”. Now lets see, Radiohead and U2.

Too great albums but I have to admit, Computer bothers me for a few reasons. I think the major problem was that it was intended to be a concept album, vs. Atchung which turned in to sort of one (Songs to ZooTv to Zooropa). I think Radiohead got lost in their experiment and ideas, producing music that I think often fails to connect to a listener. Fitter Happier I think is an example of that as is Climbing up the Walls.

I think Radiohead kept on going in to Albums the same way. Having a concrete roadmap before. I also think they went allittle too fair on the spectrum.

Music is humanity to a tune. I think on records they forgot parts of that. It was now about the experiment or the concept, not about the connection.

Atchung connects for me. Ok Computor does not. That simple.

 

[rjhbonovox]

OK Comp and Achtung are both AMAZING (and probably are my 2 favorite albums). I'm not going to bother to rank either higher than the other. Kid A is also on the same plateau.

I agree with this, the 2 GREATEST ALBUMS EVER MADE with Achtung Baby the number 1. Anybody who doesn't appreciate tracks as great as Subteranean Homesick Alien has shit music taste. Just listen to the vocal and guitar inter-play in this song, it is truely wonderful!

 

[GibsonGirl]

Too great albums but I have to admit, Computer bothers me for a few reasons. I think the major problem was that it was intended to be a concept album, vs. Atchung which turned in to sort of one (Songs to ZooTv to Zooropa). I think Radiohead got lost in their experiment and ideas, producing music that I think often fails to connect to a listener. Fitter Happier I think is an example of that as is Climbing up the Walls.

See, now, Radiohead songs like Climbing Up The Walls tend to connect with me far more than a lot of U2 songs. With Radiohead, it's not really about the lyrics - it's about the music, the way Thom Yorke uses his voice like an instrument, and the way the combination makes you feel. The music in OK Computer sounds very alienated and distant to me. Especially on songs like Climbing Up The Walls or Exit Music. I can identify a lot more with that feeling than the failed relationship kind of idea that's presented in Achtung Baby.

Really, it does just come down to taste and personal experience. You either find something to connect with in Radiohead or you don't, it's as simple as that.

 

[Axver]

the way Thom Yorke uses his voice like an instrument

That's it exactly - Thom Yorke sounds like an out of tune instrument to me. There's only so long I can listen to a 'sick' sounding guitar, and the same applies to a voice.

 

[1stepcloser]

The first half of OK Computer does nothing for me, the second half of it i like a lot (minus Fitter Happier).

I love Achtung Baby all the way through.

 

[GibsonGirl]

That's it exactly - Thom Yorke sounds like an out of tune instrument to me. There's only so long I can listen to a 'sick' sounding guitar, and the same applies to a voice.

I happen to see it a little differently, but oh well.

 

[xaviMF22]

See, now, Radiohead songs like Climbing Up The Walls tend to connect with me far more than a lot of U2 songs. With Radiohead, it's not really about the lyrics - it's about the music, the way Thom Yorke uses his voice like an instrument, and the way the combination makes you feel. The music in OK Computer sounds very alienated and distant to me. Especially on songs like Climbing Up The Walls or Exit Music. I can identify a lot more with that feeling than the failed relationship kind of idea that's presented in Achtung Baby.

Really, it does just come down to taste and personal experience. You either find something to connect with in Radiohead or you don't, it's as simple as that.

I completely agree with you. Its all about the music with radiohead, no U2 song is as beautiful as "let down" sonically.

 

[Tarvark]

See, now, Radiohead songs like Climbing Up The Walls tend to connect with me far more than a lot of U2 songs. With Radiohead, it's not really about the lyrics - it's about the music, the way Thom Yorke uses his voice like an instrument, and the way the combination makes you feel. The music in OK Computer sounds very alienated and distant to me. Especially on songs like Climbing Up The Walls or Exit Music. I can identify a lot more with that feeling than the failed relationship kind of idea that's presented in Achtung Baby.

Really, it does just come down to taste and personal experience. You either find something to connect with in Radiohead or you don't, it's as simple as that.

Very true. I suppose it is all about experience. All though I do feel that I connect with Ok sometimes, its an on and off thing, where Atchung is always there for me.

 

[xaviMF22]

.

 

[1stepcloser]

Its all about the music with radiohead, no U2 song is as beautiful as "let down"

I'll see this statement and raise you 'If you wear that velvet dress', 'One Tree Hill' and 'Tomorrow' as U2 songs more beautiful than Radioheads 'Let Down'.

 

[ZeroDude]

^
In your opinion they are.

I completely agree with you. Its all about the music with radiohead, no U2 song is as beautiful as "let down" sonically.

"The Unforgettable Fire" is in my opinion but that of course is all we can deal in.

Empathy people please.

 

[GibsonGirl]

I completely agree with you. Its all about the music with radiohead, no U2 song is as beautiful as "let down"

Let Down is one of those songs that only Radiohead could pull off with such perfect execution. It's brilliant. Probably my favourite song on the album. I haven't listened to it in a while. I think I will now.

"Hysterical and useless..."