What I really like is the sense of TODAY MUSIC that I hear
I can hear these songs (or most of them) playing out against the radio friendly bands of today (Imagine dragons, Vampire Weekend, etc)
Like them coming down to play the kids at their own game.
The Miracle - The more I hear it, the less I like it. It's a good tune, but it IS an ad song. Live it could kill any momentum of the show. 7/10
Every Breaking Wave - I just love it and can't get enough of it. The rough ending could've been better - 9/10
California - THE BEST SONG IN THE ALBUM. Show stealer, show opener, it has everything a 2014 U2 song should have. - 10/10
Song For Someone - It's growing and growing on me. I like the choruses, though the guitar solo seems too Coldplay for me- 8/10
Iris - and then the album just collapses... The build up is great, the pre chorus too... and then: "uUuUuUuU.. Iris..." AAAAAGH!!! I HATE IT, LIKE HELL!!! Worst chorus ever, and I'm counting The Refugee... the guitar sucks, the bass OH MY GOD WHAT?!?! and Bono... It was going to be great, but then shot down in flames. Let's hope the live version can save it - 2-3/10
Volcano - great rock tune, but I could do without the weird voices and specially without that stupid VOL - CA - NO... that being said, the "Now you don't wanna you don't wanna know!" part is amazing. The first of the "will be great live" trio - 6/10
Raised By Wolves - I love how rock and roll this song and album is, I just wish it would be more obvious. - 7/10
Cedarwood Road - Great great tune! I has somewhat of a Muse vibe. This is U2 going Metal (in their world, of course... I just can see the headbanging during this song live) - 7/10
Sleep Like a Baby Tonight - no no no no
... just a weird lullaby with an even weirder falsetto. I just can't take it. - 2/10
This Is Where You Can Reach Me Now - It's growing on me, especially the drums. I like the "haunted house" sounds. It reminds me of "Home By The Sea" of Genesis. But it has nothing to do with the rest of the album, to me. Just a B-Side. - 5/10
The Troubles - amazing. Amazing. If there were more diverse lyrics, Id' love it even more. The only "social" song of the album (to me). The "Someone else is in control" line gives me the chills... if they return from Encore with this then Bullet The Blue Sky, it will be gold! - 9/10
This album is not TOP 5 for me, but is a good album anyway. Sometimes it seems like a lot of singles mixed together, ever more so than HTDAAB. Sure, after hearing it like a 100 times you start to notice the differences, but the first ones just gave me the felling like they were all the same song, or just too identycal.
The first 4 can stand up on their own
The Rock trio (Volcano-Wolves/Cedarwood) will be killer live
The Troubles is great, just great.
I guess we can call it a 6-7/10
Not bad, really
I want to hear California live. That's all I need right now