ATYCLB = over-rated

[Michael Griffiths]

'Ultraviolet' is better than 'Running to Stand Still'? I've always loved 'Ultraviolet', but 'Running to Stand Still' is possibly the most beautiful song U2 have ever written.

Guess it truly is all a matter of taste!

 

[MrBrau1]

'Ultraviolet' is better than 'Running to Stand Still'? I've always loved 'Ultraviolet', but 'Running to Stand Still' is possibly the most beautiful song U2 have ever written.

Guess it truly is all a matter of taste!

I think the fact Acrobat is not at the very top proves it's a matter of taste.

 

[Michael Griffiths]

Fair enough, Michael. I guess I'd be more inclined to JT's individual songs if I Still Haven't Found... & WOWY weren't overplayed to the point where I'm just completely numb to them even if I recognise their value as classics.

No!! You're supposed to argue with me, maybe even beat me down with a long stick! Okay, fine, Achtung Baby has better songs! There you go.

Oh, I have a really good method of making tired classics come back to life. Headphones! You need really good speakers though, and preferably in the dark, laying on your bed. You should try it, if you haven't already. Amazing.

 

[MrBrau1]

No!! You're supposed to argue with me, maybe even beat me down with a long stick! Okay, fine, Achtung Baby has better songs! There you go.

Oh, I have a really good method of making tired classics come back to life. Headphones! You need really good speakers though, and preferably in the dark, laying on your bed. You should try it, if you haven't already. Amazing.

Ya know what work amazing, good headphones, but leave the room speakers on! Fing sweet.

 

[Michael Griffiths]

I think the fact Acrobat is not at the very top proves it's a matter of taste.

Why hello, MrBrau1. Yes, I thought the same thing...well, sort of. There were a couple songs ahead of 'Acrobat' that I felt shouldn't have been, but that's just nitpicking on my part. Also, to nitpick further, I think 'Bullet' is a more complex work than 'Acrobat' and deserved to be higher.

 

[Michael Griffiths]

Ya know what work amazing, good headphones, but leave the room speakers on! Fing sweet.

Oh, cool. I wonder why? Is it 'cause you hear the sounds outside and inside of the phones?

 

[MrBrau1]

Oh, cool. I wonder why? Is it 'cause you hear the sounds outside and inside of the phones?

That, and the bass. You feel it on your much stronger than w/ headphones, not just your ears.

 

[Michael Griffiths]

Interesting stuff

 

[kosull]

Wow! This is the first time I've checked this thread since I posted it. Well of course everyone's entitled to their opinion and of course the ATYCLB thing is probably driven into the ground. But I still don't think that the album is among their best althouh certainly not among their worst. I'd say that I prefer Joshua Tree, Unforgettable Fire, Achtung Baby, and War but I won't knock everyone else's opinion. I completely agree that people are into U2 for totally different reasons and that's probably what makes them the best band in the world! Oh and I agree that New York live is much better. But that's my point, the songs were better played by the band as a band without over-production. And they're gonna be my only words in reply cos I reckon that this could go round in circles forever and ever. So it should be ended here probably!

 

[Seabird]

I agree that JT, AB, UF, War are better albums, but that doesn't mean this one sucks. It's my 5th favorite and that's still good. U2 is a good band!

 

[Bunbury]

POP is far superior than All That You Can't..... way more ambitious and gorundbreaking IMO.
But All That You Can't is still an awesome album but not as daring as the other albums.

 

[Catman]

ONE TREE HILL: Don't forget "Achtung Baby" has one more song than "Joshua Tree" does! Maybe your overall rating would be different...

 

[One Tree Still]

ONE TREE HILL: Don't forget "Achtung Baby" has one more song than "Joshua Tree" does! Maybe your overall rating would be different...

Good point - and I thought about that, but ignored it. I guess you could go by average score

JT = 11.45
AB = 11.66

Even that isn't really fair I suppose.

 

[Rastat]

ATYCLB is for me a very strange album.

I wouldn't rank it in my top 5 U2 albums (being those JT, AB, Zooropa, Pop and UF - not in that particular order-), but I still listen to it more than I listen to JT.

Why?

Well, despite it's the newest U2 record (and you always listen more to the newest release) it sounds to me comfortable, pleasant, nice and clean (talking always about the music, not the lyrics...).

So, I see it more as the easy listening record, background music for a nice time... more than a challenging experience, the door to a new landscape or a prove that you can always find a new way...

It's a good album... but... not an extraordinary album for me.

I was one of the people who didn't like AB first. Too used to JT, I was expecting another JT. So I didn't get what I wanted. By then, I still wasn't a U2 fan. Just a JT fan. But then I started to like AB. And Zooropa came out. And I hated it. So, I wasn't ready for changes. But then Passengers came out, and by that time AB was my favourite U2 album, and I was starting to really love Zooropa.
And I didn't like Passengers.
But I knew it just was a question of getting used to it. It's what happens with changes.

Then I became a U2 fan, because I think I understood what it was all about. It was about doing the unexpected, walking the hard way, taking a run to yourself... and Pop came out, and I half-liked it first, and loved before... although it wasn't as surprising for me as AB was, or Zooropa, it was an answer to those claiming for JT part II. Pop had flaws, obviously, but it was what U2 meant for me: Don't give people what they want. Give people what YOU want them to have.

And, ATYCLB, for me, and maybe I'm wrong, broke that rule. I said that before, it's a good album. But it's not a great album because you have heard it before, they have done it before, and they have done it better. There's a song here than could fit in any other U2 album, but there's none that couldn't fit nowhere. And that's what I'm looking for...

I understand the need of being simply U2 after 10 years, but I think it's a little of giving up...

But see, I don't think it's overrated. Just see the rankings, the lists and all that stuff we make every day. It doesn't rank even close to JT or AB (I like AB best, but it's a matter of taste...), so that is not its fight. Its fight is with the rest. And I think it's putting every thing in its right place.

Geez, maybe I'm just pissed off because they didn't give me what I was expecting...

 

[Saracene]

Well, if I ranked JT and AB's individual songs:

1. The Fly
2. Running to Stand Still
3. Mysterious Ways
4. Until the End of the World
5. One
6. Streets
7. Love is Blindness
8. Even Better Than The Real Thing
9. One Tree Hill
10. Acrobat
11. In God's Country
12. Mothers of the Disappeared
13. Bullet
14. Red Hill Mining Town
15. Who's Gonna Run Your Wild Horses
16. Ultraviolet
17. Zoo Station
18. WOWY
19. Trying to Throw Your Arms
20. I Still Haven't Found
21. Trip Through Your Wire
22. So Cruel
23. Exit

 

[Bunbury]

With ATYCLB I think the boys played it a bit safe. Stripped it down to basic, and put the Zooropa and POP experimentation in the backburner.
I want my U2 heavy (guitar and drums) like Achtung, Zooropa, and POP. ATYCLB is overall a good album but not as heavy as their previous albums.
Hopefully the new album will be a bit heavier than ATYCLB.
Thats the way I see it.

 

[Saracene]

Where's guitar on Zooropa?

 

[MrBrau1]

ATYCLB is metal compared to Zooropa. There are guitars all over Zooropa, but they've been bent and shaped so much they sound like keys.

 

[wavesofregret]

With ATYCLB I think the boys played it a bit safe. Stripped it down to basic, and put the Zooropa and POP experimentation in the backburner.
I want my U2 heavy (guitar and drums) like Achtung, Zooropa, and POP. ATYCLB is overall a good album but not as heavy as their previous albums.
Hopefully the new album will be a bit heavier than ATYCLB.
Thats the way I see it.

I don't think they played it safe. After Pop, anything they put out was taking a chance. It doesn't sound like anthing else U2 did before, or anything else that was on the charts at the time. How is it 'safe' to put out this soulful, melodic album when teen pop, hip hop and rapmetal ruled the day?!

 

[Bunbury]

I don't think they played it safe. After Pop, anything they put out was taking a chance. It doesn't sound like anthing else U2 did before, or anything else that was on the charts at the time. How is it 'safe' to put out this soulful, melodic album when teen pop, hip hop and rapmetal ruled the day?!

I said a bit safe, because ATYCLB makes the "U2 sound" apparent.
For me this album reminds me of Unforgetable at times, I just don't think it had the fresh and original ideas like past albums.
By the way, rapmetal is pretty dead thankfully

 

[U2Kitten]

I said a bit safe, because ATYCLB makes the "U2 sound" apparent.
For me this album reminds me of Unforgetable at times, I just don't think it had the fresh and original ideas like past albums.

What's wrong with sounding like U2? Shouldn't everybody do what they are best at? Trying too hard to be something else just for the sake of it can lead to music that is not quite up to standard. That's true not just of music, but athletes, writers, actors, anything really.

I remember an interview from 2001, I'd love to find it. Edge was quoted as saying they were in the studio one day, coming up with ideas for their new album which would become ATYCLB. He came up with a riff and played it for Bono. Bono said, "no, it sounds too much like The Edge, too much like U2." Edge replied, "I AM The Edge. We ARE U2. What's wrong with that?!" It was like a realization for them. They had been running from themselves, but there was nothing wrong with themselves. They were good, just the way they are. So maybe the biggest and bravest thing they ever did was be true to themselves as artists and as people. One of the reasons I love ATYCLB so much is that it is so real, so from the heart, and into their souls. If you hate the album, I believe you hate Bono, Edge, Larry and Adam, because parts of them are in there. Of course parts of them are in every album, but this one in particular was a soul bearing, here we are, stripped down and honest, all natural with no artificial preservatives

I don't see anything wrong with sounding like "unforgettable times." Those were good times, no need to hide from them. Many of us remember them lovingly. They took what they did best, and did their best with it. I'm satisified. 9 million others were too.

 

[Bunbury]

If you hate the album, I believe you hate Bono, Edge, Larry and Adam, because parts of them are in there. Of course parts of them are in every album, but this one in particular was a soul bearing, here we are, stripped down and honest, all natural with no artificial preservatives

I don't see anything wrong with sounding like "unforgettable times." Those were good times, no need to hide from them. Many of us remember them lovingly. They took what they did best, and did their best with it. I'm satisified. 9 million others were too.

When did I mention I hate the album?
First all of all Larry has mentioned Achtung, Zooropa, and POP are the albums that defined them the most, and I agree with him. They did these albums because they wanted to prove how far they can take it musically.
I believe they did an incredible job at it.
Again, ATYCLB is a good album I love 9 out of the 10 songs but some of the hard edge from the previous 3 albums is missing thats all I'm saying.

 

[Bono's shades]

When I heard Beautiful Day for the first time I was really disappointed. I thought it sounded like watered-down U2 or "U2-lite." I didn't care all that much about ATYCLB as a whole when it first came out either. I thought it was just a bunch of pleasant melodies and nothing more. I actually didn't listen to it for months. Then I put it on again sometime in the summer of 2001 and decided it was better than I thought it was. Then I heard live versions of the songs and liked them even more. I still don't like some of the lyrics - not that they are crap, but I just think Bono is capable of better work - but there ARE some really beautiful lines in it. I just wish there was more guitar and the production wasn't so slick and and smooth and shiny. I want some of the rough edges back - which is what I'm hoping will happen with the next album.

 

[U2Kitten]

When I heard BD I was blown away. I thought it was the best song, lyrically and musically, that I had heard in years from anybody. Really. It's a great song.

That quote from Larry, is that recent? I can't believe that. Surely no member of U2 would make a list like that and not include JT, or at least a variety of sounds. I've heard Larry and Adam were not as happy with the 90's work as the others had been. If I were going to pick albums that defined them, it would be War, JT and ATYCLB. But really you can't pick, because they ALL do, just in a different way.

And Bunbury I didn't mean you personally said you hated it, but others on the thread had made comments like that. I must ask, why does everything have to have a 'hard edge?' If it all did, they would be sticking to one sound, which is what so many of you claim you don't want them to do, so what it all comes back to is, you want them to do what you like. It's kind of funny, all the 90's fans bitching about U2 'changing' sounds with ATYCLB, and some of them are the same ones who complain about 80's fans not liking the band changing sounds! So it all comes home in the end Yeah, I think that's it, everybody wants the band to do what they want them to do. Because this band has done so much there are going to be fans who like one thing or another and bitch about something else. What's the point?

 

[Strato Edge]

I think it's pure crap that people get all offended that U2 went back to "sounding like U2". What the hell else are they suppose to do? I think that ATYCLB is their best album, simply because they focused more on songs than the experimental stuff. I think they pushed that experimental period as far as it could go. It was logical move for them and I hope is carries onto the next album with the "Electrical Storm" sound.

 

[Bunbury]

When I heard BD I was blown away. I thought it was the best song, lyrically and musically, that I had heard in years from anybody. Really. It's a great song.

That quote from Larry, is that recent? I can't believe that. Surely no member of U2 would make a list like that and not include JT, or at least a variety of sounds. I've heard Larry and Adam were not as happy with the 90's work as the others had been. If I were going to pick albums that defined them, it would be War, JT and ATYCLB. But really you can't pick, because they ALL do, just in a different way.

Yes that quote is real Its from the Year in POP that came on ABC back in 97. I recorded it so I watch it once in awhile.
I want my U2 rockin!

 

[U2Kitten]

Yes that quote is real Its from the Year in POP that came on ABC back in 97.

Ah yes, just as I suspected That's why I asked if it was recent. As someone said in another thread, they said a lot of things back then like they thought it was the greatest thing, but in time, in retrospect, I am sure they see things differently. I know so, because I have seen more recent quotes.

Originally posted by strato edge
I think it's pure crap that people get all offended that U2 went back to "sounding like U2". What the hell else are they suppose to do? I think that ATYCLB is their best album, simply because they focused more on songs than the experimental stuff. I think they pushed that experimental period as far as it could go. It was logical move for them and I hope is carries onto the next album with the "Electrical Storm" sound.

 

[Bunbury]

Ah yes, just as I suspected That's why I asked if it was recent. As someone said in another thread, they said a lot of things back then like they thought it was the greatest thing, but in time, in retrospect, I am sure they see things differently. I know so, because I have seen more recent quotes.

Regardless I still agree with what he said
Electrical Storm is a kick ass song it should have been put on ATYCLB.

 

[U2Kitten]

Electrical Storm is a kick ass song it should have been put on ATYCLB.

It's a good song, but it couldn't have been on ATYCLB considering it was recorded almost 2 years after the album came out

 

[mystery girl]

I like ATYCLB well enough, but I don't think it's their best work. That's just my personal opinion, based on personal taste. I know there are people who disagree. And I think that's great.

I don't think there's ONE U2. There are lots of U2s. There's Unforgettable Fire U2, Achtung Baby U2 etc. and they are all very different. People who think U2 were "true to themselves" with ATYCLB - do you think they weren't true to themselves with Zooropa??

I think one of the reasons U2 has been so successful is that they never stuck to just one "sound", one formula for making music. They were never like, "Ok, we are U2. This is what U2 sounds like, and all our albums are gonna have the same U2 sound. Cos that is who we are. No use hiding it."

That is why U2 appeals to so many different types of people, who have different tastes in music. That is why people who don't like Pop or ATYCLB very much still consider themselves big U2 fans.
If U2 hadn't "experimented" so much, I am sure they would not have as big a fan base as they have now.

I'm looking forward to hearing the new album - and really hoping it doesn't sound too much like ATYCLB.