Happy Tenth Birthday 'Passengers: Original Soundtracks Vol 1'

[Kristie]

passengers

my favorite track on that one is Corpse, just because it totally creeps me out if I'm all alone and I'm listening to it on headphones. Any song that can evoke an emotional response like that gets a from me.

honorable mention: slug, one minute warning, your blue room, miss sarajevo. Actually, I quite like most of the stuff on the album... though it's not an album I'll leave in my car and rock out to on the way to the grocery store.

 

[Axver]

Do yourself a favor and don't bother.

Do yourself a favour and don't listen to this nut.

Slug is one of U2's five best nineties songs, One Minute Warning is eerily cool, Corpse is a creepy and (to me) sad little number, Ito Okashi is beautiful as long as you aren't closed-minded, Beach Sequence would be U2's most beautiful instrumental if it weren't for Bass Trap - I could go on and on.

 

[Earnie Shavers]

Do yourself a favour and don't listen to this nut.

Slug is one of U2's five best nineties songs, One Minute Warning is eerily cool, Corpse is a creepy and (to me) sad little number, Ito Okashi is beautiful as long as you aren't closed-minded, Beach Sequence would be U2's most beautiful instrumental if it weren't for Bass Trap - I could go on and on.

I agree. Slug & Your Blue Room are two of my favourite U2 songs of any genre, any period, any anything. I agree with the rest of your post as well.

 

[Ladera Heights]

Great thread for a great album. I spin this CD more than any other U2 album. Its full of highly original, experimental and listenable synth sounds thanks to Eno. Its too bad HTDAAB had to have the cheesy synth patches but what do you expect with no Eno.

And for me, Slug is right up there with Streets and any other anthem.

 

[chocky]

I can't listen to this album all the way through without getting distracted. But I have a shortened alternate tracklisting that keeps me interested:

Always Forever Now (alternate version from "Heat" soundtrack)
Your Blue Room
Slug
Corpse
Miss Sarajevo (single edit)
Beach Sequence
Elvis Ate America
Let's Go Native


Personally, AFN into YBR rather than the other way around seems so obvious.

 

[ClaytonMan]

AWFUL AWFUL AWFUL

 

[Aardvark747]

AWFUL AWFUL AWFUL

 

[Axver]

AWFUL AWFUL AWFUL

Your educated, elaborate arguments complete with quotes and references have convinced me to respect your opinion.

 

[Aardvark747]

A Different Kind Of Blue is the only one I tend to skip.

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

i love this album to pieces. i can understand why people wouldn't like it though, although it would be nice if they could articulate their thoughts a bit better than repeating an adjective and a smilie.

 

[ClaytonMan]

I would do but im currently at work, I could write an essay if required but the adjectives are all i can muster at the moment.

Dont get me wrong I love U2 to bits, but they went to far for me on this album, its not my scene at all and I dont get it.

 

[GibsonGirl]

Oh, and might I say, United Colours is the eeriest opening song to open any album ever?

 

[babyman]

fantastic thing..............................still waiting for volume no.2

 

[Clawgrabber]

Great thread for a great album. I spin this CD more than any other U2 album. Its full of highly original, experimental and listenable synth sounds thanks to Eno. Its too bad HTDAAB had to have the cheesy synth patches but what do you expect with no Eno.

And for me, Slug is right up there with Streets and any other anthem.

eno worked on HTDAAB

LAPOE = Original Production + Synths

 

[trabantland]

Slug

________________________________

 

[Lancemc]

It's a U2 album. Period.

Good point.

Seeing as how the Passengers project is just as heavy in Brian Eno material as it is with in U2 material, they simply can't call it a U2 album. You don't record an album with another artist, sharing nearly half the musical contribution to the project AND let the other artist produce the record and still claim it as your own. That's just dumb.

Passengers OS1 IS NOT a U2 album. It's almost like calling The Million Dollar Hotel Sountrack a U2 album, hell, I'd actually consider that a U2 album before Passengers, but that's beside the point.

Like I said before, it's obviously a collaboration in the truest sense of the word. Aside from 4 or 5 songs which feature U2 predominently, most tracks are practically Brian Eno compositions featuring U2 as his studio band. Passengers is clearly an Eno-centric project, a collaborative effort with the members of U2.

 

[Axver]

Funny, because U2 consider it a U2 album. Go look at your Best Of 1990-2000 & The B-Sides collection.

 

[Lancemc]

What exactly am I supposed to find there? Miss Sarajevo and Your Blue Room?

If that's what you mean, then that's all fine and dandy. Those are two wonderful U2 songs. But does the presense of a U2 song on an album automatically make it a U2 album?

 

[Earnie Shavers]

I think it's a U2 album. Go read up on it. It started with U2 mucking around without a focus or goal, not unlike the process that created Zooropa, and it could have gone anywhere. In the end they did acknowledge that Eno played a more collaborative role than normal, enough that he was a '5th band member' and that plus the realisation that a percentage of U2 fans are too narrow minded to accept certain things, are the only reasons why it took the Passengers moniker. Personally, it sits on my shelf in between Zooropa and Pop, and U2's jump from Zooropa to Pop is not complete without Passengers in between. They should be proud of it as a U2 album, and I think it's a shame it wasn't released as a U2 album. It shows off their reach and creativity. There are very fucking few bands that can go from Achtung Baby to Passengers in under 4 years, with a Zooropa in between, without completely screwing everything up or looking ridiculous. It's an incredible little progression there. Amazing.

 

[U2Man]

If it was a U2 album Why not title it: "U2: Original Soundtracks 1"?

On my cover it says:

Passengers:

Brian Eno
U2
Luciano Pavarotti
Howie B
Holi

Bottom line: I like parts of this album very much. But sorry, this cannot be categorized as a U2 album and U2 cannot claim that it is a U2 album - and they don't. It is the work of a collaboration of artists led strongly by Brian Eno. He is the mastermind here conducting. He is mostly using the other artists as tools here - in a positive sense of the word, of course. Even Miss Sarajevo and Your Blue Room says "written and produced by Brian Eno and U2" on the best of. The cover doesn't say who wrote the ordinary U2 songs since people should be able to guess that U2 did.

 

[Axver]

What exactly am I supposed to find there? Miss Sarajevo and Your Blue Room?

If that's what you mean, then that's all fine and dandy. Those are two wonderful U2 songs. But does the presense of a U2 song on an album automatically make it a U2 album?

Yes, if U2 made the rest of the songs, which they did. Passengers isn't meant to be some "Hits 1995" collection that happens to feature U2. Miss Sarajevo and Your Blue Room are cohesive members of the album. If they are U2 songs, the rest of the album contains U2 songs.

Of course, if you can't appreciate the fact that songs like United Colours and Slug are genius, no wonder you don't want this included in the U2 canon.

 

[-macphisto-]

A fricken GREAT U2 ALBUM, I love it.

Sometimes when Im driving around with my friends I will pop it in, and I get the silent treatment, and "what the heck is this" look. They dont understand it, and its great!!

 

[U2Man]

Yes, if U2 made the rest of the songs, which they did. Passengers isn't meant to be some "Hits 1995" collection that happens to feature U2. Miss Sarajevo and Your Blue Room are cohesive members of the album. If they are U2 songs, the rest of the album contains U2 songs.

Of course, if you can't appreciate the fact that songs like United Colours and Slug are genius, no wonder you don't want this included in the U2 canon.

Arrrrhhh, Axver. You're not telling me that U2 sat down and wrote Theme From The Swan, A Different Kind of Blue, Ito Akashi and One Minute Warning? That is 100% Brian Eno which anyone who is remotely familiar with his work should be able to realize.

 

[Lancemc]

Thanks for that U2Man.

Anyway, I pulled this stuff from an old article on atu2.com:
http://atu2.com/news/article.src?ID=1822&Key=passengers&Year=&Cat=

"Eno has a different kind of role on this recording than in other U2 records. Adam explains: "As we let the chemistry of the sessions develop, we put Brian in the role of choosing the material and deciding to what extent it needed finishing. We were really working under Brian's instruction so when we had those pieces identified, we then brought up the rear with melodies and other ideas...the chemistry has been a different one to a normal U2 record."

"Basically we made Brian captain," chimes Bono. "It's his ship and we've made ourselves available."

Then a qualification: "At the same time it's not that simple, because we're a band with a very strong identity and strong ideas about what we want to do -- so inevitably some songs, for instance, have appeared, which were not part of the original plan."

But it's worked well: "It's not a U2 record, it's a U2-Brian Eno record, so it's much better," says the singer."



Well, that certainly doesn't sound like they consider it a U2 album. Go figure.


Also, I want to restate my earlier post. I don't dislike Passengers. I don't want anyone to get the wrong idea here. Some days I enjoy it, others not so much. I do feel it's a weak effort compared to every other U2 album and a lot of Brian Eno's other albums. But there still is some fantastic stuff on here. Your Blue Room and Miss Sarajevo are the two best. Slug and a couple others are also nice, but surely overrated by many here.

 

[Axver]

If it was a U2 album Why not title it: "U2: Original Soundtracks 1"?

On my cover it says:

Passengers:

Brian Eno
U2
Luciano Pavarotti
Howie B
Holi

Bottom line: I like parts of this album very much. But sorry, this cannot be categorized as a U2 album and U2 cannot claim that it is a U2 album - and they don't. It is the work of a collaboration of artists led strongly by Brian Eno. He is the mastermind here conducting. He is mostly using the other artists as tools here - in a positive sense of the word, of course. Even Miss Sarajevo and Your Blue Room says "written and produced by Brian Eno and U2" on the best of. The cover doesn't say who wrote the ordinary U2 songs since people should be able to guess that U2 did.

New Zealand rock group Shihad have released material under the name Pacifier and it is still considered part of the Shihad canon. By the same logic, U2 released an album under the name Passengers and it can still be considered part of the U2 canon.

Progressive rock group Dream Theater brought James LaBrie into their band to be their vocalist. Dream Theater itself is essentially Petrucci/Myung/Portnoy, but no-one considers their vocal songs to be some other band, some Dream Theater + LaBrie hybrid group. By the same logic, U2 can invite in Brian Eno to make music with them and it can still be considered to be a U2 project. Other bands have invited in additional musicians and they haven't been considered to be a different group just because they have an extra member(s).

So if Dream Theater is legitimately Dream Theater with or without James LaBrie and if Shihad's Pacifier material is part of the Shihad canon - both of which are true statements - then Passengers can be comfortably assimilated into the U2 canon even though it's not under the U2 name and involves Brian Eno as a fully fledged band member.

 

[Axver]

Arrrrhhh, Axver. You're not telling me that U2 sat down and wrote Theme From The Swan, A Different Kind of Blue, Ito Akashi and One Minute Warning? That is 100% Brian Eno which anyone who is remotely familiar with his work should be able to realize.

Aaaaand in 1987, if I'd played Numb, Zooropa, or Lemon to you, you should've asked me something similar.

 

[financeguy]

No. Passengers is not a U2 album, in the ordinary sense of the word. It's not even up for debate guys. Sorry.

 

[financeguy]

Of course, if you can't appreciate the fact that songs like United Colours and Slug are genius, no wonder you don't want this included in the U2 canon.

That is not even remotely the point. We are not discussing the quality of Original Soundtracks Vol I here, we are simply discussing whether or not it can be properly described as a U2 album.

As someone already said, the release has more in common with a Brian Eno work.

 

[Axver]

Well, that certainly doesn't sound like they consider it a U2 album. Go figure.

Adam appears to consider it a U2 album, just different from normal. There was a time Achtung Baby was different from a normal U2 album too. Same with The Unforgettable Fire. In fact, why do you consider The Unforgettable Fire to be a U2 album? It's so obviously the sound of a band working with the Brian Eno influence - only Pride stands out as being anything like previous U2 material and 4th Of July and Elvis Presley And America are so Enoesque.

But oh wait, it has U2 written on the cover. Got to be obvious here, don't we?

 

[U2Man]

Aaaaand in 1987, if I'd played Numb, Zooropa, or Lemon to you, you should've asked me something similar.

No. Those songs don't sound anywhere near as Enosque as the ones I mentioned.


I cannot really believe we are discussing whether an album that wasn't even labelled as a U2 album, was a U2 album?