Boy,October vs. ATYCLB,HTDAAB

[rock888nwo]

ok guys...if you only had to choose between U2's first two releases and their 2 most recent release...which would you pick and why?
for me, id go with the old stuff b/c i love songs like out of control, gloria and electric co....although the album october was a huge disappointment in my opinion, boy was such a great album with its raw sound
...but what does everyone else think

 

[bathiu]

I rate 'Boy' higher than ATYCLB and HTDAAB... but I rate HTDAAB higher than 'October'... and 'October higher than ATYCLB...
Boy>>HTDAAB>>October>>ATYCLB

I would pick Boy and October... the sound is on them and songs are

 

[Axver]

I haven't a clue. The way I see it:

- October knocks out ATYCLB in the first round.
- HTDAAB knocks out Boy in the final round.

HTDAAB > Boy > October > ATYCLB

I think I'd take Boy and October, though I don't know how I'd live without City Of Blinding Lights.

 

[Aardvark747]

First 2 for me.

 

[the soul waits]

Too hard a choice!!

 

[Sken]

Interesting thread. Now lets make it harder:

Boy/October or
War/Unforgettable Fire or
Joshua Tree/Rattle and Hum or
Achtung Baby/Zooropa or
Pop/Passengers or
ATYCLB/Bomb

which combo would you choose

 

[Irishteen]

ATYCLB>Boy>HTDAAB>October, hard choice, but I go with the new ones.

 

[Exit thru Wire]

Boy>October>ATYCLB>HTDAAB

first 2 for me, because of better songs ie stories for boys, electric co, rejoice + i threw a brick, with more replay value. The later 2 have more songs i dislike such as Wild Honey, A Man and a Woman.


For Sken's combos: AB/Zooropa

 

[Axver]

Interesting thread. Now lets make it harder:

Boy/October or
War/Unforgettable Fire or
Joshua Tree/Rattle and Hum or
Achtung Baby/Zooropa or
Pop/Passengers or
ATYCLB/Bomb

which combo would you choose

War/UF without a second's hesitation.

Life without UF is just totally incomplete and unfulfilling.

 

[Irishteen]

Interesting thread. Now lets make it harder:

Boy/October or
War/Unforgettable Fire or
Joshua Tree/Rattle and Hum or
Achtung Baby/Zooropa or
Pop/Passengers or
ATYCLB/Bomb

which combo would you choose

Easily War and The Unforgettable Fire

Boy/October 7/9=Average album position 8
War/Unforgettable Fire 5/1=Average album position 3
Joshua Tree/Rattle and Hum 2/9=-Average Album Position 5.5
Achtung Baby/Zooropa 3/8=Average album position 5.5
Pop/Passengers 11/12=Average album position 11.5
ATYCLB/Bomb 4/6= Average album position 5

So my order of best album groupings is
1.War/Unforgettable fire
2.ATYCLB/Bomb
3.Joshua Tree/Rattle and Hum____Achtung Baby/Zooropa
4.Boy/October
5.Pop/Passengers

 

[Chizip]

i bet U2 would be sad to find out that after 25 years of playing together and improving as musicians people would still prefer their first 2 albums to their last 2 albums

youd think after over a quarter century of improving your craft youd be able to create a better album than your first

btw - welcome to the forum and im glad you didnt start a ATYCLB/HTDAAB vs Pop/Zooropa thread

 

[Nisse]

Boy>>HTDAAB>>October>>ATYCLB

and the combo, War and UF

 

[Axver]

Easily War and The Unforgettable Fire

Boy/October 7/9=Average album position 8
War/Unforgettable Fire 5/1=Average album position 3
Joshua Tree/Rattle and Hum 2/9=-Average Album Position 5.5
Achtung Baby/Zooropa 3/8=Average album position 5.5
Pop/Passengers 11/12=Average album position 11.5
ATYCLB/Bomb 4/6= Average album position 5

So my order of best album groupings is
1.War/Unforgettable fire
2.ATYCLB/Bomb
3.Joshua Tree/Rattle and Hum____Achtung Baby/Zooropa
4.Boy/October
5.Pop/Passengers

Interesting way of looking at it ... I think I'll do that too.

Boy/October: 4/6 = Average: 5
War/Unforgettable Fire: 5/1 = Average: 3
Joshua Tree/Rattle And Hum: 3/9 = Average: 6
Achtung Baby/Zooropa: 7/8 = Average: 7.5
Pop/Passengers: 11/NA [I've never considered Passengers in my album rankings; it'd probably be in the bottom four] = Average: 11
ATYCLB/HTDAAB: 10/2 = Average: 6

Thus:
1. War/Unforgettable Fire
2. Boy/October
3. TIE: Joshua Tree/Rattle And Hum
3. TIE: ATYCLB/HTDAAB
4. Achtung Baby/Zooropa
5. Pop/Passengers

 

[BVS]

I'd take October and HTDAAB

 

[Earnie Shavers]

btw - welcome to the forum and im glad you didnt start a ATYCLB/HTDAAB vs Pop/Zooropa thread

There'd be blood.

 

[IrishDawg]

Interesting thread. Now lets make it harder:

Boy/October or
War/Unforgettable Fire or
Joshua Tree/Rattle and Hum or
Achtung Baby/Zooropa or
Pop/Passengers or
ATYCLB/Bomb

which combo would you choose

There is no way in hell I can pick a favorite out of those, although I know my least favorite would be Pop/Passengers.

 

[Sken]

IrishDawg, its pretty bad isnt it. When I was typing it I was adament that my choice would be AB/Zooropa(still my choice), then after some thought I realised that each album has its strengths, strengths that define U2. I then realised that you couldn't appreciated Joshua Tree without UF, or AB without R&H etc etc.

I guess the decision really comes down to what is your favourite album, or what album you couldnt go without, and from seeing some of the responses thats the direction most people have based their decision on.

 

[MacPhistoPT]

Boy (6) / October (11) = 8,5
War (7) / UF (4) = 5,5
Joshua (1) / Rattle&Hum (8) = 4,5
Achtung (2) / Zooropa (10) = 6
Pop (5) / Passengers (12) = 8,5
atyclb (9) / htdaab (3) = 6

To be honest, the only one that I'd dismiss 'd be Passengers. The other 11 are great, even if I have my preferences.

Between the 2 first and 2 last I'd choose the 2 last but 'd be hard because Gloria, Out of Control and Electric Co. are some of my favourite U2 songs.

From the 6 combos I'd choose with any doubt JT/R&H.
U2 without Streets, Still Haven't Found, Bullet the blue sky, RTSS, In God's Country, One Tree Hill, God pt.II, Heartland, Hawkmoon, Angel of Harlem, Helter Skelter, Red Hill Mining Town and All I want is You would not be the same thing.

 

[D'oh!]

Boy and October are both great but i wud pick the last two without a moment's hesitation.
I just cannot live without BD, Walk on, kite, SYCMIOYO, MD and COBL............. to name a few.

ATYCLB (3)/ htdaab (4) = 3.5
Pop (11)/ passengers(12) = 11.5
AB(1)/ Z (5) = 3
jt (2) / RH (10) = 6
w(7)/ uf(6) = 6.5
b(8) / o(9) = 8.5

 

[popacrobat]

I would take All That You Can't Leave Behind and How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb.

Minority.

 

[namkcuR]

1.AB
2.Pop
3.JT/Zooropa
4.ATYCLB
5.War
6.R&H
7.UF
8.Boy/October
9.HTDAAB

ATYCLB(4)/HTDAAB(9) = 6.5
Pop(2)/Passengers(NA) = 2
AB(1)/Z(3) = 2
JT(3)/R&H(6) = 4.5
War(5)/UF(7) = 6
Boy(8)/October(8) = 8

Order:

AB/Zooropa
Pop/Passengers
JT/R&H
War/UF
ATYCLB/HTDAAB
Boy/October

That said, I don't know that I'd neccessarily take ATYCLB/HTDAAB over Boy/October.

All 12 records are good/great though.

 

[rock888nwo]

i'm glad everyone seems to like the thread...some more thoughts from me....i think boy/octobober has better individual songs (although most songs from octobober are pretty mediocre)..the electric co, out of control, i will follow, an cat dubh/into the heart, and gloria are all personal favorites of mine
however, in my opinion there has been a wealth of great "new stuff" including beautiful day, elevation, kite, walk on, new york, vertigo, miracle drug, sometimes, love and peace, cobl, oots, and yahweh...
thats basically 5 songs from the first two albums vs. 12 songs from the last two albums
overall, i think if you are looking for a bunch of really good U2 songs (which anyway is better than 100 great songs by any other artist imo) then go with atyclb/bomb
but if you want a few songs that are probably better individually go with the boy/october combo

 

[BigMacPhisto]

HTDAAB and ATYCLB are both better than Boy/October.......so that's an easy choice......as for ranking the twofers.....

1. Achtung Baby (3rd) / Zooropa (4th)
2. All That You Can't Leave Behind (2nd) / How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb (7th)
3. War (6th) / UF (5th)
4. Joshua Tree (1st) / Rattle And Hum (12th)
5. Boy (9th) / October (8th)
6. Passengers (10th) / Pop (11th)

 

[xtihn]

Boy > HTDAAB > ATYCLB > October

this is a hard choice...but i'd have to pick ATYCLB/HTDAAB over Boy/October. I really really like Boy but I'm not so thrilled with October. ATYCLB and HTDAAB are more familiar to me. Not my favs but each album has a few good songs.

Interesting thread. Now lets make it harder:

Boy/October or
War/Unforgettable Fire or
Joshua Tree/Rattle and Hum or
Achtung Baby/Zooropa or
Pop/Passengers or
ATYCLB/Bomb

which combo would you choose

actually these choices make it MUCH easier for me to choose. Without hesitation: Achtung Baby/Zooropa

1. AB/Zoo
2. JT/R&H
3. ATYCLB/Bomb
4. Boy/October
5. Pop/Passengers
6. War/UF

 

[Exit thru Wire]

AB (1)/ zooropa (5) av. 3
War (3)/UF (4) av. 3.5
JT (2)/ R+H (8) av. 5
Boy (6)/ October (9) av. 7.5
Pop (7)/ Passengers (12) av. 9.5
ATYCLB (10)/ HTDAAB (11) av. 10.5

 

[Catman]

Hmm...touch choice, but ultimately I'd think I'd take ATYCLB & HTDAAB over Boy and October.

Boy and HTDAAB are pretty neck and neck for me, but October is my absolute least favorite U2 album (disregarding Passengers), so ATYCLB gets the edge over that one...plus "Beautiful Day" is the song that got me into U2

 

[LMP]

this is tough, but I'd have to take How to Dismantle/ATYCLB

and with the duo rankings...

Achtung Baby (1)/Zooropa (8)
The Joshua Tree (2)/Rattle and Hum (11)
How to Dismantle... (3)/ATYLCB (10)
War (9)/The Unforgettable Fire (4)
Passengers (12)/Pop (5)
Boy (6)/October (7)

1// AB/Zoo = 4.5
2// JT/RaH = 6.5 (TIE)
2// HTDAAB/ATYCLB = 6.5 (TIE)
2// War/UF = 6.5 (TIE)
2// Boy/October = 6.5 (TIE)
6// Passengers/Pop = 8.5

 

[thrillme]

I'd take October and HTDAAB

Yeah same here.

But this is really really hard, I mean, these are my top 5/6 U2 albums.

1. War
2. JT
3. AB
4. October
5. Boy/Atomic bomb (before the tour started btw).

Can't do it, gotta go with October and Atomic Bomb.

 

[PopFly]

The last two albums destroy the first two. I love the Boy album, but October is just so weak that it cannot make up the ground. I rate U2's last two discs pretty highly, however.

Boy (6)/October (12) = mean average of 9
War (9)/Unforgettable Fire (10) = mean of 9.5
Joshua Tree (1)/Rattle & Hum (8) = mean of 4.5
Achtung Baby (1)/Zooropa (7) = mean of 4
Pop (3)/Passengers (11) = mean of 7
ATYCLB (4)/HTDAAB (5) = mean of 4.5

 

[namkcuR]

I'd take ATYCLB and October. I am in the minority who think October is better than Boy.