jick
Refugee
Taken from the recent Q magazine article as U2 revisited their 90's work for their latest Best Of compilation:
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Flood: "All of the records that I've worked with them on, it doesn't matter how much experimentation's been involved, the core has always been the four of them
playing together in a room. That was one of the things that threw the album off on a tangent that it never managed to get back from. It was the band at their most fractured you've got Larry who's struggling with his health, then Adam and Nellee weren't seeing eye to eye, and then Edge wanting to rediscover guitar and finding it difficult, then Bono's tendency to come in and vibe things up."
J's COMMENTS: Hey Flood are you nuts? I think the core of POP was U2 - the four of them pursuing artistic ambitions no other band has dared to pursue. So what if it doesn't sound like U2? It IS U2!
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Mullen: "It was like, Oh my God, this record isn't very good. But that was because of the time constraints. If we'd had an extra month, we'd have
been able to do a lot more with some of the songs."
J'S COMMENTS: Hey Larry, get a grip - this record is very good. While I'm a big fan of your drumming, I'm not a big fan of your musical tastes. If you had an extra month, your back would recover even more and you'd replace all those brilliant drum loops and drum machines in POP with your own prehistoric drumming with bare hands!
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Paul McGuinness: "How about never put out the record 'til you've finished the record."
J's COMMENTS: Hey Paul, you are the one who says it isn't finished. No wonder you may be considered the 5th member of U2 yet you are just a manager. You probably don't know how to play any musical instruments and you're best as managing - not deciding what's finished or what's not!
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Edge: "But it's a huge thing to let something go that you know you're not one-hundred percent with."
J'S COMMENTS: If the legendary POP album isn't 100% for you, I can only imagine how poorly you'd rate other albums! So what's Joshua Tree? 50%? How about ATYCLB? 34%? Where does that leave Passengers? 1%?
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MORE J COMMENTARY:
At least Mullen admits to being conscious about sales-figues --- contrary to what many people here believe that U2 don't care about sales figures:
Q: When the sales figures started coming in, were you worried?
Mullen: "Yeah."
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Damn! I thought only a few uneducated members of the U2 fanbase have not yet seen the art, the beauty, and the magic of POP. I never thought even the U2 members, producers and manager themselves are also ignorant of what lies beneath in the masterpiece that is POP. They are all blind! Who cares? Bono says it best "I'm happy to go blind." Don't worry U2, you are already blind!
Cheers,
J
The King Of POP
****
Flood: "All of the records that I've worked with them on, it doesn't matter how much experimentation's been involved, the core has always been the four of them
playing together in a room. That was one of the things that threw the album off on a tangent that it never managed to get back from. It was the band at their most fractured you've got Larry who's struggling with his health, then Adam and Nellee weren't seeing eye to eye, and then Edge wanting to rediscover guitar and finding it difficult, then Bono's tendency to come in and vibe things up."
J's COMMENTS: Hey Flood are you nuts? I think the core of POP was U2 - the four of them pursuing artistic ambitions no other band has dared to pursue. So what if it doesn't sound like U2? It IS U2!
*****
Mullen: "It was like, Oh my God, this record isn't very good. But that was because of the time constraints. If we'd had an extra month, we'd have
been able to do a lot more with some of the songs."
J'S COMMENTS: Hey Larry, get a grip - this record is very good. While I'm a big fan of your drumming, I'm not a big fan of your musical tastes. If you had an extra month, your back would recover even more and you'd replace all those brilliant drum loops and drum machines in POP with your own prehistoric drumming with bare hands!
****
Paul McGuinness: "How about never put out the record 'til you've finished the record."
J's COMMENTS: Hey Paul, you are the one who says it isn't finished. No wonder you may be considered the 5th member of U2 yet you are just a manager. You probably don't know how to play any musical instruments and you're best as managing - not deciding what's finished or what's not!
****
Edge: "But it's a huge thing to let something go that you know you're not one-hundred percent with."
J'S COMMENTS: If the legendary POP album isn't 100% for you, I can only imagine how poorly you'd rate other albums! So what's Joshua Tree? 50%? How about ATYCLB? 34%? Where does that leave Passengers? 1%?
**************
MORE J COMMENTARY:
At least Mullen admits to being conscious about sales-figues --- contrary to what many people here believe that U2 don't care about sales figures:
Q: When the sales figures started coming in, were you worried?
Mullen: "Yeah."
**************
Damn! I thought only a few uneducated members of the U2 fanbase have not yet seen the art, the beauty, and the magic of POP. I never thought even the U2 members, producers and manager themselves are also ignorant of what lies beneath in the masterpiece that is POP. They are all blind! Who cares? Bono says it best "I'm happy to go blind." Don't worry U2, you are already blind!
Cheers,
J
The King Of POP
Me too. I have a feeling if POP was a blockbuster saleswise it wouldn't receive as much backlash from the band. I know they say the album was unfinished & they ran out of time, but didn't they take longer working on POP than any other of their records? I guess the more technology you use, the more options you have.
