And where are the days, when they looked for something other?

[TheFlyOnTheWall]

Look, I'm not to obsessed with the Bomb, but I can make difference between music that is less creative (or even good/quality if you want) and the music I don't like.
i.e. I don't find most of the songs from October appealing to me, but I don't think October is a bad album, there was some big progress with the band and the music.
I'm not saying everyone has to see the (new) album the way I do, I (or the ones that "should go visit some other sites) have my own opinion which is of course in contradiction with some others. That's discussed here many times before, so please, change the subject...

 

[TheFlyOnTheWall]

But it could easily be argued that with HTDAAB they are repeating themselves. This is the first U2 album since the early 80's where they did not surprise us with a new sound. I like the album, a lot, but I am a little dissapointed with it being ATYCLB Part II. While it may be a little more guitar driven than that album, you can easily switch songs between the two albums and it would not be a jarring change. Try that with any other two U2 albums and it won't work.

And if you're a being with some common sense, you'll agree with that. We have ears, don't we?

 

[Yahweh]

Im sorry guys but your idea of creativity doesnt hold up much weight when you look at many artists of the past that were seen to have changed music such as Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Bruce Spingsteen, Roy Orbison, and many many more....these artists are seen as some of the all time most creative artists in music....and they basically did at least 5 albums exploring the same idea....HTDAAB is very creative and a very good album whether you chose to think that or not that is fine.

You are probably the same crew that I was arguing with about how the POP album was really great, while most of this bored wanted U2 to go back to their so called roots....Ive got news for you U2 doesnt have any musical roots they do what they want when they want to do it.

HTDAAB is great and will be even greater after seen live.

 

[Axver]

But it could easily be argued that with HTDAAB they are repeating themselves. This is the first U2 album since the early 80's where they did not surprise us with a new sound. I like the album, a lot, but I am a little dissapointed with it being ATYCLB Part II. While it may be a little more guitar driven than that album, you can easily switch songs between the two albums and it would not be a jarring change. Try that with any other two U2 albums and it won't work.

Joshua Tree and Rattle And Hum? Heartland was originally a JT song! Achtung Baby and Zooropa? Some Zooropa material comes from the AB sessions! U2's two supposedly greatest albums, and you can swap around songs with their following records. RAH is a lot closer to JT and Zooropa a lot closer to AB than HTDAAB is to ATYCLB - indeed, Zooropa's tour was just an extension of AB's.

U2 didn't surprise us with a new sound when they went from JT to RAH, and while Zooropa may have surprises from AB, it's still just an extension of that album. HTDAAB is an individual album, it's not an ATYCLB Part II and it never will be. If anything, HTDAAB is everything ATYCLB should have been.

 

[zooroper]

Oh, wait, U2 don't repeat themselves. Sorry, we're not going back to the nineties. If you want U2 to be uncreative and do that, too bad.

THEY DON'T REPEAT THEMSELVES?!?

THEN WHAT DA HELL ARE THEY DOOING NOW?!?

THIS IS NOT REPEATING?!?

I'm not expecting "The Fly II" nor "MOFO 3" nor "Lemon 5", but I didn't expect "Beautyfull day 5" nor "I Will Follow 3".

Geddit?

Wait, wait, wait, wait....you're kidding right?!?

 

[zooroper]

HTDAAB is an individual album, it's not an ATYCLB Part II and it never will be

Good Joke!

 

[bsp77]

Joshua Tree and Rattle And Hum? Heartland was originally a JT song! Achtung Baby and Zooropa? Some Zooropa material comes from the AB sessions! U2's two supposedly greatest albums, and you can swap around songs with their following records. RAH is a lot closer to JT and Zooropa a lot closer to AB than HTDAAB is to ATYCLB - indeed, Zooropa's tour was just an extension of AB's.

U2 didn't surprise us with a new sound when they went from JT to RAH, and while Zooropa may have surprises from AB, it's still just an extension of that album. HTDAAB is an individual album, it's not an ATYCLB Part II and it never will be. If anything, HTDAAB is everything ATYCLB should have been.

I will agree that certain individual songs can be switched. Certainly Heartland could be on JT, but I would argue that you can't put Desire or When Love Comes to Town on JT. And yes, Zooropa is an extension of Achtung Baby, but they sound completely different. Try switching Lemon and Until the End of the World.

On the other hand, I could switch ANY song on ATYCLB and ANY song on HTDAAB, and it would still fit, just might have to adjust the tracklisting order. You even said it, HTDAAB is everything ATYCLB should have been. So that means they made a similar album, just better.

I like the album but there is no shock of the new which is one of the reasons they are my favorite band.

 

[zooroper]

I like the album but there is no shock of the new which is one of the reasons they are my favorite band.

That's the whole point about U2. Always something new, but the same.


Well...maybe this is the new shock...Nothing new.

 

[Axver]

I will agree that certain individual songs can be switched. Certainly Heartland could be on JT, but I would argue that you can't put Desire or When Love Comes to Town on JT. And yes, Zooropa is an extension of Achtung Baby, but they sound completely different. Try switching Lemon and Until the End of the World.

You can nicely fit Desire around In God's Country and Trip Through Your Wires. Same for When Love Comes To Town. Put God Part II before Bullet. All I Want Is You after WOWY. You can do all sorts of things.

You can switch some AB and Zooropa tracks. So Cruel and The First Time could be swapped. Wild Horses and Dirty Day. One and Stay. You get the point.

On the other hand, I could switch ANY song on ATYCLB and ANY song on HTDAAB, and it would still fit, just might have to adjust the tracklisting order. You even said it, HTDAAB is everything ATYCLB should have been. So that means they made a similar album, just better.

I like the album but there is no shock of the new which is one of the reasons they are my favorite band.

No, you're misinterpreting what I said. ATYCLB was a reinvention with some nice songs. HTDAAB, however, is what that reinvention should have been - a cohesive album that flows and contains sensational songs.

And if you think LAPOE sounds like anything they have done before, then I'm not totally sure what band you're listening to. Also, Vertigo rocks just as hard, if not harder, than anything U2 has done, and ABOY has rock and roll that's rarely present in their music. They're exploring new territory, even if you don't recognise it.

 

[Axver]

That's the whole point about U2. Always something new, but the same.


Well...maybe this is the new shock...Nothing new.

Yeah, all eleven songs on HTDAAB, we'd heard them before, huh?

Give me a break. It's new and it's creative.

 

[zooroper]

Yeah, all eleven songs on HTDAAB, we'd heard them before, huh?

Give me a break. It's new and it's creative.

Yeah Right.


And I'm the only person In the world who thinks otherwise!

 

[bsp77]

You can nicely fit Desire around In God's Country and Trip Through Your Wires. Same for When Love Comes To Town. Put God Part II before Bullet. All I Want Is You after WOWY. You can do all sorts of things.

You can switch some AB and Zooropa tracks. So Cruel and The First Time could be swapped. Wild Horses and Dirty Day. One and Stay. You get the point.

No, you're misinterpreting what I said. ATYCLB was a reinvention with some nice songs. HTDAAB, however, is what that reinvention should have been - a cohesive album that flows and contains sensational songs.

And if you think LAPOE sounds like anything they have done before, then I'm not totally sure what band you're listening to. Also, Vertigo rocks just as hard, if not harder, than anything U2 has done, and ABOY has rock and roll that's rarely present in their music. They're exploring new territory, even if you don't recognise it.

I am not going to argue about song switching anymore, as I will never agree that songs from past albums can be switched as easily as the two most recent. In terms of HTDAAB, one of the first things I thought when I heard it was that this is the album they should have released 4 years ago. Which I think is fairly similar to what you saying. For me, this means that they are too similar, maybe you can argue that the songs on HTDAAB are much better, but they are not that different.

I completely agree that there are some new sounds on HTDAAB - the ones you mentioned and Fast Cars as well if you count that. The rest of the songs sound almost identical to the sound on ATYCLB. Again not talking quality, just sound. Those four songs are much more aggressive than the rest of the album, which almost makes them out of place. Not saying that the album does not flow (it does) but since they are different than the rest of the album, they could still have been on ATYCLB and just been different there. See what I mean? Sorry, it is hard to explain. Bottom line, I did not listen to the entire album and think, "Wow, I would not have expected this". Can you honestly say that the album was completely unexpected, like their past albums have been?

 

[Lancemc]

Anyone who can't hear a huge difference between ATYCLB and HTDAAB simply doesn't want to hear a difference.

 

[Axver]

I see your point (even if I disagree) and I think you see mine, and I don't think we need to argue any further.

This wasn't an unexpected change like War --> UF or RAH --> AB or anything, but I think it is U2 furthering, developing, and crafting a beautiful sound. There's nothing wrong with that. Start with a sound and craft it into a masterpiece. U2 have become masters at songcraft and developing music. I approve.

 

[zooroper]

Anyone who can't hear a huge difference between ATYCLB and HTDAAB simply doesn't want to hear a difference.

Thank you mister Einstein, your remark will be taken as a consideration!

 

[bsp77]

I see your point and I think you see mine, and I don't think we need to argue any further.

This wasn't an unexpected change like War --> UF or RAH --> AB or anything, but I think it is U2 furthering, developing, and crafting a beautiful sound. There's nothing wrong with that. Start with a sound and craft it into a masterpiece. U2 have become masters at songcraft and developing music. I approve.

I agree with you 100% there. I posted an Amazon review where I chided the negative posts saying that it sounds like U2. Yeah, so? - I like the way U2 sounds. I just miss the shock of the new, although I have to admit that both Vertigo and Love and Peace or Else shocked me.

 

[Lancemc]

I only say that because there is a huge difference between the two albums. It's like saying October is Boy part II.

 

[bsp77]

Hey, you edited your post to say "even if I disagree". I thought we were becoming friends.

Just kidding. Time to go home and get a beer. Beer

 

[Axver]

I agree with you 100% there. I posted an Amazon review where I chided the negative posts saying that it sounds like U2. Yeah, so? - I like the way U2 sounds. I just miss the shock of the new, although I have to admit that both Vertigo and Love and Peace or Else shocked me.

I can't believe some people complain about U2 sounding like U2. Complain about U2 not doing something truly new like RAH --> AB, and that can be legitimate, but to bash them for being themselves? Stupid.

 

[Axver]

Hey, you edited your post to say "even if I disagree". I thought we were becoming friends.

Just kidding. Time to go home and get a beer. Beer

YOU ARE MY SWORN ENEMY!!!!

Just kidding. I guess what I'm trying to say with my disagreement to your point is that while it doesn't sound like a total reinvention or a foray into totally new territory, the album still sounds very fresh. I agree with Lancemc's point that it's like calling October Boy Part II. Similar in style and sound, but totally new and fresh album with some added areas (like how October, the song, is something not done on Boy and LAPOE is something not done on ATYCLB).

 

[Marr]

I only say that because there is a huge difference between the two albums. It's like saying October is Boy part II.

I'll have to disagree, again.
HTDAAb is not that kind of album that can blow my mind, for three reasons:
1.it's not that hard and heavy
2.there was no song on this album that would schock me, leave me speechless, it was just like "yeah,that's good, very good,next please"
I though that some of the ideas or sound were just used somehwere before or they just miss the element, the power that would blow your mind --"Crumbs" seems to be "Walk on Part II", "Love and Peace or Else" lacks a powerful solo, "Vertigo" has poor lyrics, many songs are just ballads with some guitars added near the end, so it is a bit harder version of pop tunes off ATYCLB, "A Man and A Woman" is a simple pop song, Bono often reapets himslef with his old lyrical ideas(the more...,the less etc.) and so on...

This album has a lot in common with ATYCLB, some of the songs are ATYCLB outtakes!

And one more thing, I love albums like AB/Zooropa/Passengers/Pop, but also i love October, Joshua Tree, War....but I cannot accept U2 turning into a pop band, or into a rock band writing songs that lack a meaning, like "Vertigo"...

 

[zooroper]

I can't believe some people complain about U2 sounding like U2. Complain about U2 not doing something truly new like RAH --> AB, and that can be legitimate, but to bash them for being themselves? Stupid.

Nope.

It's not RAH --> AB

It's Boy ---> October --> War --> UF --> JT --> R&H --> AB --> ZOOROPA --> POP <---ATYCLB <-- HTDAAB

 

[anitram]

Anyone who can't hear a huge difference between ATYCLB and HTDAAB simply doesn't want to hear a difference.

Yeah, that must be it.

 

[tomtom]

I think we've been a bit spoilt in the past by U2's breakneck reinvention speed. On average, since UF, we got something totally new and unexpected every other album. Someone else here made a very good point that even artists that are regarded as great by most people's standards don't change gears that quickly. Springsteen and Dylan for example. Springsteen made 5 albums with essentially the same sound until Nebraska (there was some evolution of course, but no discrete difference between, say, Darkness on the Edge of Town and The River). Same goes for Dylan-it was a few albums before he went electric. And Coldplay- do you think that they will EVER be capable of writing a song like Love and Peace? To expect U2 to change sounds every goddamn album is ridiculous IMO. Even Radiohead hasn't broken anyone's balls since Kid A, and that was 2000. So maybe U2 are still exploring the territory of 'tunes' at the moment, and aren't quite done with it.

Another thing some people don't seem to have noticed is that both UF and Pop were released riding off very high waves of success- War and Achtung Baby respectively (Zooropa wasn't a full-blown release I would argue). For a band like U2 that has always been concerned with being big, that is to be expected. They have always wanted to have eat their cake and have it too. Post Pop, U2 was in an extremely precarious position with respect to this latter goal. They had blown almost all of the currency of relevance that their past had provided. There was no way they were going to continue pushing in this direction. If some of you have a problem with that, you've chosen the wrong band to identify with- this is a fucking HUGE band, and they want it that way. Sure, they really like experimenting with sounds, but if that comes at the cost of reaching a far smaller audience consistently, they aren't going to do it. I think HTDAAB may have given them enough currency and confidence to go and start fucking their sound up again, but I might be wrong.

By the way, I'm not justifying U2's actions or even supporting them. I think Pop was brilliant and ATYCLB save Kite was a piece of crap. But if the fact that U2's fear of being a whole lot less loved than they want to be turns you off, wrong band guys.

 

[MrBrau1]

U2 simply writing and recording songs is bad?

 

[Zoots]

A lot of interesting posts here! As much as I think that the R&H-AB transformation was a lot more exciting than the Pop-ATYCLB one, I totally agree with tomtom. If U2 had released another album like Pop, I don't think they would've become the biggest band in the world. Even if they'd released ATYCLB after Pop part II, the damage would've been pretty bad. And I say this knowing that Pop is bloody brilliant. At the end of the day, it is a business and U2 couldn't afford doing what they were doing. And we have to accept it. I think it's a tad harsh though to say that Kite is the only decent song on ATYCLB.

 

[Pero]

There were 2 transformations-blue and yellow transformer
R&H->AB
Pop->ATYCshitB
Achtung->Zooropa->Pop is comlete sequence, the most complete of all sequences u2 made.

Put it this way: listen to this playlist
I will follow-October-NYD-WIRE-STReets-Angel of harlem-FLY-NUMB(or lemon)-MOFO-KITE
it goes to the crazyest and the Kite which isn't a bad song, but after mofo just is

 

[zooroper]

ok, it's clear that U2 is deconstructing itself...so the next album might sound like War or Boy? if so...then that's ok.

but i fear that they are NOT running on inspiration ot anything like that...if they are so affraid of beein turned down by the mass audience - they they are really becoming bon jovi.

they should call it quits then. and i would not mind. Pop could have been theyr last album.

 

[yimou]

HTDAAB is a fucking great album. I am excited about what they have created, and it pisses all over 95% of all other albums released in 2004...

Ofcourse i would love to hear them create something even more exciting,, but lets see

 

[zooroper]

HTDAAB is a fucking great album. I am excited about what they have created, and it pisses all over 95% of all other albums released in 2004...

Well....true!

Oooops.....looks like Franz Ferdinad pisses all over HTDAAB.


Oh Oh Oh....and Morrissey! "Youare The Quarry" ...sorry it's also better than HTDAAB. HTDAAB comes in as 3rd.