The album’s not even out yet and people already love it like it’s the best thing ever and some hate it like it’s the worst thing ever. I remember when ATYCLB came out and I was on the U2 boards at AOL, I was in the minority of people who didn’t like it. I didn’t ‘get it’ at the time, and that can be said about every U2 album since Zooropa. It’s always taken more than one listen to get the album. I also remember being viciously attacked at the AOL boards for not thinking that ATYCLB was the second coming and that it was going to change my life blah blah blah…and blah.
I never went back to those boards cos it I didn’t like trying to have conversations with people that won’t take the time t stop and listen. What I love about this place is that people do listen, people do hear…oh, sure, you have the odd person out who I always imagine running around in some sort of Polyphonic Spree robe-like gear clutching a tattered copy of Bill Flannagin’s ‘U2 – At The End Of The World’ and quoting things like, “A reading from the book of Bono – Verse One Tree Hill – Line 6”. But they are few and far between.
OK – that’s out of the way.
ATYCLB, in my opinion, is a good album. Not great. Good. It has some strong songs. It has some great b-sides on the album. WILATW is a great idea that didn’t seem finalized. Grace is good, but I felt like there could have been so much more going on. Peace On Earth is a tremendous song with a tremendous idea, that I think got a bum rap because of where it was on the album. Which brings me to my biggest problem with the album (and the only time I’ve ever had that problem with a U2 album) the track listing. It doesn’t flow for me.
Acthung flows. Zooropa flows. Joshua Tree flows. POP most certainly flows. They all have a definitive beginning, middle and end. ATYCLB starts, stops and starts and then lurches and then drags and then starts and then…goes…somewhere… I ended up burning a copy with the track order I preferred, the order that flows for me and you know what? I love that album. This all stems from the fact that I managed to hear 90% of the album before I bought it, and I’ve got no doubt that that was the main factor for molding the album I wanted, not the album I got.
So why am I babbling about this for forever and a day? Two reasons:
1. Because I can
2. Because I want to hopefully point out an example that, even though I didn’t like the U2 album that was presented to me on a whole, I love the U2 album that I had to find in there.
Yeah, extra work on an album shouldn’t be, but sometimes it is. I really like Vertigo, but I’m not blown away by it. I have listened to the beach mix of LAPOE about a dozen times and just from what I could make out, I think I’ll love that song. It sounds bold and daring. I’ve only listened to those shitty clips of COBL and ABOY and wasn’t blown away (mostly cos of the stop-start of the clips) but I’ve vowed that unless it’s 100% crystal clear, I ain’t listening to it.
So that’s my perspective on the whole, “Here’s my judgment on the new album which I don’t have except in the form of crappy clips and one complete song and one Kraftwerk cover.” Take it for what it’s worth. Or don’t at all. It is a free country…sort of…
(hope I didn't offend any one)
I never went back to those boards cos it I didn’t like trying to have conversations with people that won’t take the time t stop and listen. What I love about this place is that people do listen, people do hear…oh, sure, you have the odd person out who I always imagine running around in some sort of Polyphonic Spree robe-like gear clutching a tattered copy of Bill Flannagin’s ‘U2 – At The End Of The World’ and quoting things like, “A reading from the book of Bono – Verse One Tree Hill – Line 6”. But they are few and far between.
OK – that’s out of the way.
ATYCLB, in my opinion, is a good album. Not great. Good. It has some strong songs. It has some great b-sides on the album. WILATW is a great idea that didn’t seem finalized. Grace is good, but I felt like there could have been so much more going on. Peace On Earth is a tremendous song with a tremendous idea, that I think got a bum rap because of where it was on the album. Which brings me to my biggest problem with the album (and the only time I’ve ever had that problem with a U2 album) the track listing. It doesn’t flow for me.
Acthung flows. Zooropa flows. Joshua Tree flows. POP most certainly flows. They all have a definitive beginning, middle and end. ATYCLB starts, stops and starts and then lurches and then drags and then starts and then…goes…somewhere… I ended up burning a copy with the track order I preferred, the order that flows for me and you know what? I love that album. This all stems from the fact that I managed to hear 90% of the album before I bought it, and I’ve got no doubt that that was the main factor for molding the album I wanted, not the album I got.
So why am I babbling about this for forever and a day? Two reasons:
1. Because I can
2. Because I want to hopefully point out an example that, even though I didn’t like the U2 album that was presented to me on a whole, I love the U2 album that I had to find in there.
Yeah, extra work on an album shouldn’t be, but sometimes it is. I really like Vertigo, but I’m not blown away by it. I have listened to the beach mix of LAPOE about a dozen times and just from what I could make out, I think I’ll love that song. It sounds bold and daring. I’ve only listened to those shitty clips of COBL and ABOY and wasn’t blown away (mostly cos of the stop-start of the clips) but I’ve vowed that unless it’s 100% crystal clear, I ain’t listening to it.
So that’s my perspective on the whole, “Here’s my judgment on the new album which I don’t have except in the form of crappy clips and one complete song and one Kraftwerk cover.” Take it for what it’s worth. Or don’t at all. It is a free country…sort of…
(hope I didn't offend any one)
