Rank the Album Among Others

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Amazing:
1. The Joshua Tree
2. War
3. The Unforgettable Fire
4. Achtung Baby

Great:
5. October
6. Boy
7. Songs of Innocence
8. Zooropa

Good:
9. How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
10. Rattle and Hum
11. Passengers

Alright:
12. All That You Can't Leave Behind
13. No Line On the Horizon

Not Good:
14. Pop
 
I finally feel able to do this after a good few more listens today:

The Unforgettable Fire
The Joshua Tree
Achtung Baby
Songs of Innocence
Boy
Pop
Zooropa
No Line on The Horizon
How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
All That You Can't Leave Behind
War
October
Rattle & Hum


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1 Boy
2 The Unforgettable Fire
3 The Joshua Tree
4 Zooropa
5 October
6 Songs of Innocence
7 Achtung Baby
8 War
9 Rattle and Hum
10 All that you can't leave behind
11 How to dismantle an atomic bomb
12 No line on the horizon
13 Pop

although this changes often
 
Well, its not that hard, in fact its very simple



SOI is possibly the album ive been waiting on them to make since....Achtung Baby. For many reasons.



I loved ATYCLB & HTDAAB for what they were. NLOTH had some great moments...along with some not so great moments. It left me dry and i haven't listened to or been excited about NLOTH for several years.



So fast forward to this week.... hearing Songs of Innocence for the first time....i was blown away. Still am in fact. There is not one clunker, not one uni-interesting song in the entire album. I see now that the opening of the album is one set of songs and the last half is another, so thats familiar territory of some of the classics.



But damn....after Miracle...the next 4 songs are fucking perfect. Every Breaking Wave, california, Song for someone, & Iris...what the hell????? These are vibrant songs, perhaps classics, definitely epic. How the hell do you put that up against anything since Achtung Baby? The rest of the album....there really is no drop off in quality....raised by wolves, sleep like a baby, cedarwood road, the troubles, all great. The two i didnt mention, very good.



So yeah. In a year when all i really needed was something to lift me up, after the grief and loss on a personal level, this album is at least as good as i could have hoped for. Can't say its better because i dont know what better is. But i have to shake the notion that *nothing* could ever top Mt Everest (joshua tree, achtung baby) because that mindset guarantees that nothing ever will.



Im open minded enough at least to think something possibly could. This album, while still new, is in my mind a classic already. From the first listen i felt there was something really special here. i fucking love it


Great fucking post. While I'd still put it below everything below the albums between 84-97 (except Rattle & Hum), I feel very similar.


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Two more October fans! Glad to see you DomCobb and SpiralStaircase. Please don't say you hate I Fall Down too though LOL.

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Please don't say you hate I Fall Down too though LOL.

No, mate, I think it's ace. There are some days where I'd possibly put October even higher in my mental list to be honest. Like quite a few U2 albums, for me, it's the best one while I'm listening to it.
 
Yeah I really enjoy October as well. It loses me a bit towards the end but still good.


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I'll give it a go

The Joshua Tree
Achtung Baby
Pop
Unforgettable Fire
Zooropa
Rattle and Hum
Songs of Innocence
All that You Can't Leave Behind
No Line
Boy
Bomb
War
October
 
So fast forward to this week.... hearing Songs of Innocence for the first time....i was blown away. Still am in fact. There is not one clunker, not one uni-interesting song in the entire album. I see now that the opening of the album is one set of songs and the last half is another, so thats familiar territory of some of the classics.

Yeah, I've really enjoyed it also. I've been home sick with the flu all week since Monday, and have had some time to spend with it...maybe, maybe too much time. It made me feel better through all the coughing, sore throat, etc...it's been great just putting on headphones losing myself in the record.

I still need to give it some time to see how long this record and these songs stick with me, I don't completely trust my ears about it right now, but early signs are good.
 
The Joshua Tree

Achtung Baby

The Unforgettable Fire

Songs of Innocence

Rattle & Hum

No Line On The Horizon

Zooropa

Pop

All That You Can't Leave Behind

War

Boy

How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb

October


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Yay! Rankings!

I have an incredibly long drive to and from work these days, so I've listened to SoI perhaps more than U2 themselves. :wink: While I obviously don't have the "live" aspect to consider, I feel I can confidently rank the album now with U2's catalog.

1) Unforgettable Fire - this is the album that turned me from "I like U2" to "I love U2"! I had a cassette and wore it out (got the CD later). Still love it to this day (obviously).
2) Achtung Baby - after the UF/JT/R&H era, there were a few things I didn't like about this album - mainly the lack of Bono's soaring vocals. But AB more than makes up for it is SO many ways. Still sounds fresh today. This album saved U2 in so many ways and for great reason. I often find a track that I can listen to over and over now, over 23 years after its release.
3) Boy - speaking of sounding fresh, this album ranks, IMO, as one of the best debut albums ever. I can easily see a new alt band releasing this album in 2014, even though U2 began recording it 35 years prior.
4) ATYCLB - this is probably the highest this album has ranked for me. Over the last 14 years, while I still hear some flaws, there's a certain comfort in the album. It's like a warm blanket, with your favorite snuggle food (chicken soup?) on a cold, blustery day. It warms the soul.
5) War - Bono's vocals are probably what keep this album from ranking higher. Had he put in some effort, I think this album would compete with Boy. That said, the lyrics and musicianship are brilliant.
6) SoI - this album may move up or down over time. It's tough for me to rank it too much higher yet, but all those repeated listenings have proven to me that at least 6 tracks are simply outstanding. There are some songs I do not like. What I find interesting is that those same songs are often listed among people here and even with critics as highlights of the album. So my views may change. Live performances may also push this album higher.
7) Zooropa - this album is a bit like SoI in that it took me a while to really get into. SoI was not to my taste at all upon the first listen and neither was Zooropa. With the exception of one or two tracks, I have come to really enjoy this album significantly and love the experimentation.
8) Rattle & Hum - Yep, it's above JT (I'll explain why below). I'm not going to consider the live tracks because if I do, then I should rank other live albums. But the 9 new tracks are dark and amongst my favorites. Bono's vocals are brilliant - perhaps his best ever.
9) NLOTH - This album has some real clunkers (Crazy Tonight), but it also contains perhaps U2's best song ever in MOS. It's this mixture of great with poor that pushes the album down. When I first bought NLOTH, I noticed a similarity to TUF and even listened to the two albums together in a random manner. They did blend well. But in some ways, this hurts NLOTH a bit as it is a bit too reminiscent of U2's past.
10) JT - it's a classic, for sure. But every time I listen to it, the songs just blend right into each other. It's as if Edge has one type of guitar sound and varied it just slightly from song to song. If people only know JT, I can see why some have said that all U2 songs sound the same. This folksy sound is great and this album is still great compared to other artists, I do not think it's amongst U2's best.
11) HTDAAB - I loved this album initially. Sadly, over time I've grown less fond of it. This contrasts ATYCLB which I've enjoyed more over time. It sounds like U2 pushing too hard to be popular. This is why I like SoI more - it has elements of U2 trying for that hit (nothing wrong with that), but it's still very much U2.
12) October - this penultimate album in my list clearly shows the sophomore slump. But I still enjoy songs like Gloria and don't mind the experiment with more religious themes. However, it pales compared to Boy and War.
13) Pop - Like HTDAAB, I enjoyed this upon release. But it hasn't stuck with me at all over time. In fact, I almost never choose a Pop song when I want to hear U2.
 
The most impossible conundrum I am tasked with as a U2 fan is tweaking my list every month or so.

1. Achtung Baby
2. Joshua Tree
3. The Unforgettable Fire
4. War
5. All That You Can't Leave Behind
6. Songs of Innocence
7. Rattle and Hum
8. Boy
9. Zooropa
10. No Line on the Horizon
11.Bomb
12. Pop
13. October

Probably have SOI too high at the moment because I'm riding the wave of release hype, but it's damn good and seriously has no clunkers while keeping a very high bar throughout.
 
Here are mine...

My favorites:
Achtung Baby 10/10
The Joshua Tree 9.5/10
All That You Can't Leave Behind 9/10
Songs of Innocence 8.75/10

Very Good
Rattle and Hum 8/10
War 7.5/10
The Unforgettable Fire 7/10

Not my favorite but still like
How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb 7/10
Pop 6.5/10
Zooropa 6/10
Boy 6/10

Blah
October 5/10
No Line On the Horizon 2/10 (hated it!)
 
1) Achtung Baby
2) Joshua Tree
3) Songs of Innocence
4) Unforgettable Fire
5) POP
6) All That You Can't Leave Behind
7) No Line on the Horizon
8) HTDAAB
9) War
10) Boy
11) October
12) Zoopoopa



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What separates this from many other albums is the strength of the 2nd half. It gets better as it goes along which is really really different (and good).

I'd say the album is slightly better than ATYCLB just because it takes more risks, and pulls them off whereas NLOTH's experiments often fell flat. In that case it's way better than NLOTH and BOMB.

I can't say it's as great as POP or their first 3 albums, just yet. Have to see how this one ages. One thing's for certain, tt's definitely not top shelf like AB, JT, UF or Zooropa. But the fact that it's a major improvement, and has reignited my faith in this band, is an achievement in itself.
 
1. Achtung Baby
2. The Joshua Tree
3. The Unforgettable Fire

4. Zooropa
5. Pop
6. Songs of Innocence

7. Boy
8. ATYCLB
9. NLOTH
10. War
11. October
12. Rattle & Hum
13. HTDAAB

Top 3 are untouchable. I'm comfortable putting SOI in my second tier.
 
What separates this from many other albums is the strength of the 2nd half. It gets better as it goes along which is really really different (and good).

I'd say the album is slightly better than ATYCLB just because it takes more risks, and pulls them off whereas NLOTH's experiments often fell flat. In that case it's way better than NLOTH and BOMB.

I can't say it's as great as POP or their first 3 albums, just yet. Have to see how this one ages. One thing's for certain, tt's definitely not top shelf like AB, JT, UF or Zooropa. But the fact that it's a major improvement, and has reignited my faith in this band, is an achievement in itself.

Yes, yes, yes.

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1) Achtung Baby
2) Joshua Tree
3) Songs of Innocence
4) Unforgettable Fire
5) POP
6) All That You Can't Leave Behind
7) No Line on the Horizon
8) HTDAAB
9) War
10) Boy
11) October
12) Zoopoopa



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Where do you place Rattle and Hum? I'm excluding Passengers because almost nobody is rating it.
 
What separates this from many other albums is the strength of the 2nd half. It gets better as it goes along which is really really different (and good).

I'd say the album is slightly better than ATYCLB just because it takes more risks, and pulls them off whereas NLOTH's experiments often fell flat. In that case it's way better than NLOTH and BOMB.

I agree that SOI opposes to ATYCLB (or even War, I think) due to a stronger B-side (weaker B-side in those ancient ones).
But I don't think that SOI's B-side is stronger than ATYCLB's A-side. I don't think that "The Troubles", "Cedarwood Road" or "Sleep Like A Baby Tonight" are better than "Beautiful Day", "Elevation", "Walk On" or "Stuck In A Moment".
 
I'm not big on ranking stuff, but I'll give it a shot.

1. Achtung Baby
2. Zooropa
3. The Joshua Tree
4. The Unforgettable Fire
5. Boy
6. No Line on the Horizon
7. Pop
8. War
9. October
10. Rattle and Hum
11. Songs of Innocence
12. How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
13. All That You Can't Leave Behind
 
With 45 rankings here's the status:

Achtung Baby
The Joshua Tree
The Unforgettable Fire
Zooropa
Songs of Innocence
Pop
Boy
All That You Can't Leave Behind
War
No Line On the Horizon
Rattle and Hum
How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
October
 

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