I think they can do better than NLOTH. I gave it another listen again in the car yesterday. It starts out so promising....and then......
I know this will stun many, but that's exactly how I felt with JT back in '87.
I'd listen to the first three songs, then "Bullet "would come on and I'd turn off the CD.
It literally took about a year before I even heard a few tracks on JT! I sometimes would skip "Bullet" to hear a few other tracks, but rarely did I listen to the entire album.
My point is not to knock JT, but to show that every album has strengths and weaknesses.
NLOTH does have weaknesses (I'm looking at you "Crazy") but as with U2's best, the strengths easily surpass the weaknesses. The soaring vocals, solid lyrics, innovation and overall quality and passion in the work have me impressed. I'll gladly have an NLOTH 2, but with some tweaking (meaning, no catering to the Adult Top 40 crowd - if a song becomes a hit there, great, but don't force it).
Trip through your wires lowers the average on JT, and same goes for Tryin' to throw your arms around the world being on AB. Had they put Heartland on JT instead, yes, JT would be the one U2 album without a *bad (weaker) song.
I fully agree with this. And, again a shocker to many U2 fans, I'm also not a fan of Ultraviolet's lyrics. But the music is good and Bono does have one line that I love ("opera in my head"). However, "Trying to Throw" is just weak and "Trip" is a convoluted mess.
EP and America is pretentious, along with being bad. Almost as weak as Red light and Is that all. UF is not in the same league as JT and AB.
As much as I agreed with you above, I disagree here. The EP's (either "Wide Awake" EP) are like long singles. So I don't really count them as an album. I enjoy having them and they both contain tracks not found elsewhere (with some repeats), but shouldn't be in the same league as U2's albums.
IMHO, TUF is one of U2's best. I love the mix of rock with the Eno-influenced ambient music. Bono's vocals were a considerable step up. U2 were serious but at the same time, whimsical. This allowed for a more free-flowing album. It may not be as tight as JT, but that also makes it better. But I realize most would disagree.
Boots is the weakest link. You can feel how they thought they had another Vertigo on their hands...
Crazy, while out of place on something like NLOTH, is good enough at being a pop song.
SUC, it's a good riff. Should have been played live. It's bizzare with the above two this one gets so much hate.
I like "Boots" overall, but I fully agree with your statement. This song turned out to be "Discotheque" - U2 trying too hard to have that big rock single. They can and have, but usually when they follow a bit more traditional pattern. That is, rock out, but have a song that people can relate to, such as "Pride", "Desire" and "Beautiful Day". All three were lead singles that rocked and really helped their respective albums.
I'm not a fan of "Crazy", but love the concert version. IMO, "Crazy" should have been a b-side or something thrown to fit a movie soundtrack.
Lastly, I fully agree with you on SUC. I'm not sure why this song is hated so much. People pick up on that one bad lyric (God/old lady) but that shouldn't destroy a song.