Adam Clayton's best album

[djerdap]

Listen City of Blinding Lights. Listen to that rhythm section.
Listen to that simple funky Crumbs bassline.
Listen Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own opening.
Listen the beautiful Yahweh opening.
Listen the Vertigo verses.
Listen the Love and Peace opening.
Listen to the groovy A Man and a Woman bassline.

Pop was great, but Clayton does his max in this one. Amazing. Never had respect for the man as I have now.

 

[paulrg]

Yep - and they are increasingly being sampled by the dance musicians. A Man And A Woman is a quite remarkable bass piece.

 

[ZeroDude]

His bass has always been great although I think your right he does amazing work on this album

 

[bedouin fire]

it's a great album for adam. just not sure if better than pop; do you feel loved and please are too much.

 

[Lo-Fi]

Yeah, I agree with that to a degree, I still feel Pop nudges it for me.

I have a friend, who really digs u2 now, always liked them, but is now really into them. He always had a problem with Adam and didn't really feel Adam's bass playing that compelling, but after this record he's really diggin' his playing and the cool thing is he's went back and dug out some of the older songs and is really starting to hear how good a bass player he can be when he makes the effort. Well done Adam, really nice work my man.

I still wish he was brought out just that little bit louder than he is on some of the songs. Probably just me, but I love songs that are lead by the bass in the mix and everything else just sit underneath it.

 

[jick]

I guess Clayton is a failure for making bass notes that stand out and get noticed.

For the longest time, the hallmark of Clayton's bass playing is that it is just there in the background not drawing any attention to itself so that U2's more flashy members can shine - Edge and Bono.

Clayton is supposed to be the disciplined one just holding the music together.

I guess now Clayton is craving for attention for him to be so noticed in this album. I guess HTDAAB has failed on the Clayton front, as Clayton has managed to cannibalize U2's own music and fight with Bono and Edge for the listener's primary attention.

To read this reaction you have put about Clayton would make him feel disappointed for sure. Clayton is probably a failure with this album if his bass stands out too much.

What happened to the tight repetetive rhythmic bass that held the music together? U2's music should have a sum greater than the parts. Perhaps Clayton should get back to the drawing board.

Cheers,

J

 

[djerdap]

Been waiting your reply to this thread, Jick. Classic.

 

[Salome]

if you weren't such an arse that would have even been funnier jick


the suggestion that you can't be a tight rhythm section and still come up with some intricate stuff is a pisser

 

[Lo-Fi]

I guess Clayton is a failure for making bass notes that stand out and get noticed.

For the longest time, the hallmark of Clayton's bass playing is that it is just there in the background not drawing any attention to itself so that U2's more flashy members can shine - Edge and Bono.

Clayton is supposed to be the disciplined one just holding the music together.

I guess now Clayton is craving for attention for him to be so noticed in this album. I guess HTDAAB has failed on the Clayton front, as Clayton has managed to cannibalize U2's own music and fight with Bono and Edge for the listener's primary attention.

To read this reaction you have put about Clayton would make him feel disappointed for sure. Clayton is probably a failure with this album if his bass stands out too much.

What happened to the tight repetetive rhythmic bass that held the music together? U2's music should have a sum greater than the parts. Perhaps Clayton should get back to the drawing board.

Cheers,

J

You feel he's failure because he's too prominet? is that what you're saying?

If you are I totally disagree with you, you should want all four members fighting for your attention in the mix. To me that's what creates longevity of songs. The more you listen the more you hear the more you want to come back to it. If it was all Bono and Edge Id' get bored of the songs really quickly. I'm glad Adam has created such great and promient bass line's on this record.

 

[jick]

If Clayton wants to get into fancy slick bass fingering to make U2 have the cluttered sound that has zero cohesion, then U2 might s well rename themselves into Dave Matthews Band.

Cheers,

J

 

[Salome]

the coherence of your posts is even more laughable though

 

[Lo-Fi]

It's every musicians right to improve themselves as a player, in fact I'm glad he's turned the heat up a bit with his playing as it was pretty bland on the last record. He's still got a fire in his belly and that can be only good for u2's future.

I can't believe you would rather he stayed stationary as a musician just so it fits your idea of what u2 should sound like.

 

[yimou]

I guess Clayton is a failure for making bass notes that stand out and get noticed.

For the longest time, the hallmark of Clayton's bass playing is that it is just there in the background not drawing any attention to itself so that U2's more flashy members can shine - Edge and Bono.

Clayton is supposed to be the disciplined one just holding the music together.

I guess now Clayton is craving for attention for him to be so noticed in this album. I guess HTDAAB has failed on the Clayton front, as Clayton has managed to cannibalize U2's own music and fight with Bono and Edge for the listener's primary attention.

To read this reaction you have put about Clayton would make him feel disappointed for sure. Clayton is probably a failure with this album if his bass stands out too much.

What happened to the tight repetetive rhythmic bass that held the music together? U2's music should have a sum greater than the parts. Perhaps Clayton should get back to the drawing board.

Cheers,

J

Is it possible for you to be positive at all ??

 

[Bonochick]

Enough with the personal attacks, please.

 

[TC2290]

Jick, with all respect, you are talking rubbish,

There are complex basslines on all U2's albums,

Stories for boys, New Years Day, 40, A Sort of homecoming, Bullet, ALL OF ACHTUNG BABY, ALL OF ZOOROPA, ALL OF POP... you get the idea. Don't forget Edge writes a lot of the basslines too.

Adam is doing what he has always done and it's just that you don't like it now for some reason, you're trying to justify to yourself why but maybe your tastes are just different from where U2 are right now.

I also can't believe there is a thread about Adam being TOO complicated, ROFL.

 

[JOFO]

oh for fuck's sake....there's nothing too complicated OR too simple; adam plays extraordinarily BALANCED bass lines that fit the songs perfectly.

discussion over.

 

[TheBrazilianFly]

This is what Jick wants, he is an attention seeker, he'll say anything to make others annoyed.

While I think this is one of Adam's best albums I think Pop is his best. But this might be his second best. COBL has one of his best basslines in my opinion and one of my favorites. I love what he plays on SYCMIOYO, it sounds to me like country music. And he proves once again that he is the groove master in A Man And A Woman. Yahweh, Miracle Drug and LAPOE also stand out. The man never fails, he knows exactly what each song needs!

 

[discotheque77]

I think Adam is also playing very well on the war album. It's more groovy. new year's day, two heatrs beat as one, like a song. but also mullen played better drums there, of course SBS but also the refugee --> great drums.

 

[zoopop]

I've been playing bass for about 5 years and I love playing U2. I can tell everyone that Pop is the hardest album to play. Mofo, Last Night On Earth, Gone, Miami, Playboy Mansion (HARD), Velvet Dress, and Please are tough songs to play. Adam really has some unique playing on Pop.

As for HTDAAB, its Adams second best I think. Sometimes....is a really tough song to play. It has a little things on bass that you can't really hear. Adam does an excellent job on all the songs though. I've been playing COBL lately and its a blast to play. The arrangments are very similar to Streets, but it is still a great peice by Adam. Its really nice to hear Adam on this album. The last record (ATYCLB) is really crap for Adam. I think Grace is the best song for Adam.

 

[Achtung Joshua!]

I love what Adam does on the October album myself.

 

[Anirban]

adam and edge always share a balance in every u2 song. if you play guitar, there are some u2 songs where edge plays chords and then either layers a second guitar part above it or switches off from chords to single notes. during chords, adam can play counter-melodies because the progression of the song is based on guitar. if edge plays some kind of riff with single notes, adam needs to play the notes that correspond to the chords of the song. for example, imagine the beginning of wowy with a moveing baseline...nothing would make sense because edge is just playing a melody. however, in like a man and a woman or desire, etc. he can pull out some sweet bass riffs since edge is carrying the rhythmic guitar section. adam does what is best for the song ... he is innovative when appropriate (edge just playing chords) and also keeps the song together with simple progressions (when edge goes crazy).

 

[jick]

Actually I never meant to diss Clayton's bass playing. He is a reliable bassist and this new album proves that. It's just that I am not too fond of people saying Clayton is playing overly complicated basslines therefore this album must be his best. Even Clayton himself would be the first to admit that his bass playing isn't designed to be complicated or to compete with Bono and Edge for the listener's attention. So if Clayton will get the "compliment" that his playing was actually complicated and unlike any previous album, he might takes that as an insult and deem himself a failure. But to my mind, Clayton didn't fail with HTDAAB, he just was typical Clayton with his overly simplistic tight basslines to hold the music togehter.

Cheers,

J

 

[tarquinsuperb]

I guess Clayton is a failure for making bass notes that stand out and get noticed.

Hang on I'm not an expert here and I am not going to pretend to be but isn't Flea widely considered to be the greatest bass player of all time and he has never been shy about people notcing him. The impression I've always got is the bass player raising his head and getting a bit complicated can only work if the band also has a really good guitarist. This is why the RHCP stuff when John Frusciante left by and large wasn't actually very good.
There's no doubt that the Edge isn't an awesome guitarist and let's face facts, chances are U2 wouldn't have got anywhere without him, I think it's fair enough that Clayton can stand out and get noticed.

I have to say after my first full listen of HTDMAAB my first thought was Clayton has stolen the show here, I thought this was supposed to be Edge's record if Bono and others were to be believed.
For my money I think Clayton definately get's the most underated member award.

 

[JOFO]

Hang on I'm not an expert here and I am not going to pretend to be but isn't Flea widely considered to be the greatest bass player of all time and he has never been shy about people notcing him.

Flea, while being an incredible musical and entertainment personality, is not "the greatest bass player ever". In fact, I consider him way over-rated. He's great, and is responsible for a huge part of the chilli peppers sound, and helped promote the idea of slapping the bass in punk/metal (not that that was a good trend, much like eddie van halen inspired a legion of hair bands doing long guitar finger tapping solos). But Flea is alot like Adam in a way; they both do what they do best in the bands they are in; neither one of them is versatile in other areas of music...whcih is totally cool; they don't have to or want to be.

 

[quadcaster]

its a fantastic album on all fronts, U2 once again delivers the goods

 

[Aardvark747]

AMAAW is one of Adams best performences in a long while imo.

 

[jick]

For my money I think Clayton definately get's the most underated member award.

U2's most underrated member has always been Mullen, back then and even until now. Mullen deserves more credit than he does.

Cheers,

J

 

[Aardvark747]

lol! Mullen! Sounds funnier than Larry!

 

[matt76]

Jick that's another hilarious few postings from you.. Nice one! You keep annoying people! Don't stop, as it's good to have someone who plays devil's advocate all the time. Still would be nice to hear what you really think, maybe one day...

 

[jick]

AMAAW is one of Adams best performences in a long while imo.

Wow if you consider that one of his best performances in a long while, I guess you are implying Clayton hasn't done anything in some time. After all, AMAAW is an average Clayton U2 track at best IMHO.

Cheers,

J