Acrobat1977
Babyface
Just had my first listen and although I know I probably can't judge it after only one listening session I didn't like it at all this fist time. There is too much Eno/Passengers in this album. The best parts of the songs for me were mostly the endings, which is a bad sign for me. The best albums for me are always the ones that have to grow on me but another bad sign is that unlike with good albums in the past it now seems as if there are no parts that I really instantly like and compel me to listen to again. Ofcourse there are very good parts in many of the songs but they are now often ruined by things that come after these parts.
I hope it'll grow on me but for now I don't like the many whoohoohoo's of Bono, they come back in too many songs. I also don't like the depressing "Pink Floyd style" backing vocals thoughout the album. And although Edge's guitar work is present a lot (which I appreciate a lot) it has the same style and "voicing" throughout the album and thus can't really keep me surprised throughout, like it does on Achtung Baby where you can hear a real creative genius at work. It just misses the "X Factor" and doesn't sound inspired here.
Overall the album has a very heavy "forcing" atmosphere. The soundquality doesn't help in this area either. I thought/hoped this time it would be better than the average U2 album but the sound quality is the thing that disappoints me the most...to me it really sucks!! The overal sound is much too dense and heavy, compressed like hell. The bass is much too thick, voices sound suppressed and covered in veils and hi-hats sound like they were pulled through at leased three of the old Dolby noise suppressor filters that we used to have on our old tapedecks in a row! I also don't think there is a real purpose or reason to sound this way. It's just very unnatural, "over-produced", forced and low-fi.
For me it is a real album though, unlike for example Zooropa, seen in a way that the songs really belong together. Although Get on your boots and Cedars of Lebanon sound somewhat different, all the other songs give me the sense of being part of a whole.
I really, really hope I turn out to be wrong in my (now partly subconsious formed) feeling/opinion that for me it sucks. Not because of other people but because I really want to enjoy a good U2 album again and was really expecting and waiting for another masterpiece like Achtung Baby.
My U2 album top three for now stays the same:
Achtung Baby
Joshua Tree
Unforgettable Fire
I hope it'll grow on me but for now I don't like the many whoohoohoo's of Bono, they come back in too many songs. I also don't like the depressing "Pink Floyd style" backing vocals thoughout the album. And although Edge's guitar work is present a lot (which I appreciate a lot) it has the same style and "voicing" throughout the album and thus can't really keep me surprised throughout, like it does on Achtung Baby where you can hear a real creative genius at work. It just misses the "X Factor" and doesn't sound inspired here.
Overall the album has a very heavy "forcing" atmosphere. The soundquality doesn't help in this area either. I thought/hoped this time it would be better than the average U2 album but the sound quality is the thing that disappoints me the most...to me it really sucks!! The overal sound is much too dense and heavy, compressed like hell. The bass is much too thick, voices sound suppressed and covered in veils and hi-hats sound like they were pulled through at leased three of the old Dolby noise suppressor filters that we used to have on our old tapedecks in a row! I also don't think there is a real purpose or reason to sound this way. It's just very unnatural, "over-produced", forced and low-fi.
For me it is a real album though, unlike for example Zooropa, seen in a way that the songs really belong together. Although Get on your boots and Cedars of Lebanon sound somewhat different, all the other songs give me the sense of being part of a whole.
I really, really hope I turn out to be wrong in my (now partly subconsious formed) feeling/opinion that for me it sucks. Not because of other people but because I really want to enjoy a good U2 album again and was really expecting and waiting for another masterpiece like Achtung Baby.
My U2 album top three for now stays the same:
Achtung Baby
Joshua Tree
Unforgettable Fire
By the time I got home I found it in a newsgroup but since I registered here anyway and was a bit disappointed/depressed after listening I decided to post my first experience to maybe receive some "mental" support. 
