Rattle and Hum vs. ATYCLB

[One Tree Still]

R&H doesn't get a lot of love around here, but I am here to say I prefer it to ATYCLB.

Now - to be fair, R&H has 17 tunes on it to ATYCLBs 11, so there's more room for error...

AND

I was 18 when R&H came out, so there is more sentimental attachment to it than ATYCLB, but...

Consider what R&H gave us...

1. Van Deimen's Land - pure Edge!
2. Desire - a pretty damn good song now that you don't hear it on the radio every day.
3. Hawkmoon 269 - love it
4. ISHFWILF - a memorable live version
5. Silver and Gold - not a great song, IMO, but it brought us the classic "Am I buggin' you? Don't mean to bug ya...OK Edge, play the blues!" line that still gives chills
6. Angel of Harlem - not a bad song. As good as several on ATYCLB
7. When Love Comes to Town - again, not a great song, IMO, but some of Bono's best lyrics
8. Heartland - a gem
9. God Part II - a taste of things to come on AB. Fantastic song.
10. All I Want is You - U2's best love song? I think so! Great guitar.

R&H gave us 10 songs that, IMO, exceed the 11 songs on ATYCLB in many ways.

But that's just my $.02

What do you think?

 

[womanfish]

I must disagree

Rattle and hum was a good album, but i am a huge fan and i like it all. But this album really is a bit of a mess (although like you say it has a little more room for error with 18 tunes). I will compare below.


R&H gave us:
Van Dieman's Land
God Part II
Heartland
All I Want...


ATYCLB gave us:
Kite!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (cant say enough about this song)
Beautiful Day
Walk On
Elevation
In A Little While!!


I give the edge to ATYCLB

 

[U2002revolution!]

its all R&H, baby!
i love R&H
its a grrrrrrrreat album!!!!
its def. more rockin' than ATYCLB which i perfer

 

[FallingStar]

I couldn't compare these two albums in any way.....
They're completely different and both of them are fantastic.
Rattle and Hum with those rocky songs and ATYCLB with the more souly songs.
You could as well try to compare AB and UF.......
In my humble opinion they are simply incredible and you can't compare them really......

 

[Salome]

ATYCLB shows a much more focussed band

 

[Bono's shades]

I love Rattle and Hum. I think it gets bashed unfairly by a lot of people. It has tons of great stuff on it - Desire rocks down the house, All I Want Is You is absolutely gorgeous, Heartland, Hawkmoon and God Part II are incredibly underrated U2 songs, the gospel version of ISHFWILF gives a whole new life to a song that was already great in the first place, and Angel of Harlem, Love Rescue Me and When Love Comes to Town are good too. Even the cover versions of Helter Skelter and All Along the Watchtower aren't bad, although I'd prefer U2 to do their own material. What I think is great about R&H is how U2 did all this bluesy, R&B and gospel material and still managed to maintain their own identity and not sound like they were just copying someone else. There's a lot of raw emotion and passion in those songs that seems to be entirely missing from ATYCLB, with the exception of Kite.

 

[STING2]

First I would only compare the studio tracks on Rattle And Hum of which there are 9 to the the all Studio album ATYCLB. In that senerio ATYCLB easily beats Rattle and Hum. Only two songs on Rattle and Hum are perhaps superior to or at least equal to anything on ATYCLB and that is "All I Want Is You" and "Heart Land". Otherwise, most songs on Rattle and Hum are second rate compared to the songs on ATYCLB. I still love em, there just not as good. I'm talking about the quality of the music here regardless of whether something sounds more rocking or not. The Quality of the music is what is in important. Style is a far lesser importance.

 

[Roland of Gilead]

Sting's logic is exactly how I think here. All That... just edge's R&H.

 

[JessicaAnn]

I think they're two totally different albums and to compare them is very difficult ... studio album vs soundtrack.

 

[MonaVox]

[color=royal blue]I am in love with the whole vibe of R&H........just the whole bluesy thing they had going on.... not afraid to break out the harmonica.

RattleRattleloveyouRattle[/color]

 

[One Tree Still]

STING2 -

What do you mean by "quality" of music?

Production value? Originality? Writing?

I think any way you slice it, it's all subjective. I mean, some of U2's least polished songs are my favorites.

This is good discussion, but I think we need to stay away from dictating what is a "quality" U2 song and what is not. The fact is, they are all quality in their own right - that's why U2 sells records and sooooo many people who try to do the same, never do.

The question is really more about what people like - what is appealing to people.

Obviously, ATYCLB appeals to you - and it doesn't to some of the rest of us.

I think you might be a little hung up on "rocking' vs. "adult contemporary" tags. While I agree that a lot of people talk about wanting the next U2 album to rock, that isn't the issue with me.

I am a big fan of U2's mellow stuff as well as their rocking stuff, but to me - the lyrical content is the most important part of a song. If they make me think, paint a picture for me in my mind, surprise me, challenge my thinking - then I tend to like them more. I am also a big fan of Bono-isms (see Always).

ATYCLB doesn't do much for me in that dept.

 

[wertsie]

Easy one...ATYCLB

 

[Giant Lemon]

My vote goes to ATYCLB for this one. On R&H U2 was trying to emulate a style instead of creating their own, and this makes ATYCLB better (in my mind, at least). Also, I really don't like the All Along the Watchtower and Helter Skelter covers- besides the fact that those songs are pretty cliche, the originals are much better (or the Jimi Hendrix version in the case of AATW). This is really just a matter of personal opinion, but I absolutely cannot stand the gospel ISHFWILF. And I think BTBS is kind of flat. So basically, I prefer ATYCLB because it seems to me like U2's heart was more into it. Instead of covering songs and duplicating a set style, they did their own thing. I'm sure most people would agree that All I Want Is You is the best song on R&H, and it is definitely the least R&Hish on the album. U2 was being themselves and not trying to be something else.

Just my $0.02.

 

[One Tree Still]

Hawkmoon 269, Heartland, God Part 2 and Desire are U2 being themselves too, IMO.

On ATYCLB, I see U2 emulating Van Morrison's style (Stuck, In A Little While), Beatles-esque pop (Wild Honey), David Bowie (New York) and an array of musical styles. IMO, ATYCLB is more "here's a little something for everyone" than R&H.

R&H is, for the most part, thematic, which I find cool in an album.

 

[Giant Lemon]

R&H is, for the most part, thematic, which I find cool in an album.

I agree with you on that. But I think if you took the covers and live versions out of R&H it'd be a way better album.

 

[SweetOnU2]

Rattle and Hum!!! A lot of people tend to dislike this album, but I love it!

 

[ishkash]

...slowly love....

I think Rattle and Hum is U2's one of the most raw records in terms of energy generated and unfortunately production.The best thing that can sum up Rattle and Hum is "Love Rescure Me". The song has a gem of a lyrics, but then it has no music at all.I mean when the horns section come in, you always feel that U2 blew up something over there. I think Rattle and Hum was done in parts.Some parts were rerally hushed onto the album, like almost all the covers except for Helter-Skleter. But when they sat down and put their heads in we had "Heartland", "God Part II" and the magnificient "All I Want Is You". I think Rattle and Hum was a good album to support a documentation of a band trying to record its statement. But in the category of album , its not up to U2's high standards.

I don't when it will happen, but I am sure it will happen when people (and I mean music community) will say that All That You Can't Leave Behind is the best album of all time. 11 beautifully crafted songs, rather like Beatles than Radiohead. But as for now, its the overstatement of the day.

 

[TrailerTrashTracie]

Both!

 

[Zooropa]

ATYCLB is more consistent than R & H, and overall has stronger songs. I don't count the live versions on Rattle and Hum, they were not written for that album, so I only include the studio tracks. ATYCLB gets my vote.