Best Album Survivor: Round Six

[digitize]

In round five, Rattle and Hum was eliminated! It receives the highly coveted spot of ninth place. It is now time for the sixth round. You have 24 hours to vote for your least favorite remaining album.

The ranking as of now:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9. Rattle and Hum
10. All That You Can't Leave Behind
11. How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
12. Original Soundtracks 1
13. October

 

[djerdap]

No Line on the Horizon

Underwhelming is the right word for that record. Plus it has Stand Up Comedy.

 

[bonocomet]

I'd listen to Stand Up Comedy before I'd listen to Red Light, any day. (And I like Bono's vocals on Red Light, but I really can't stomach the rest, no matter how many times I've tried.)

 

[gvox]

+ 1 on NLOTH. I was pretty glowing in my reviews of NLOTH when it first came out.

On later reflection, however, the tunes just haven't stood up. I like Breathe and Unknown Caller, I love but think Magnificent would have been better as a slightly faster single, and Moment Of Surrender I absolutely love.

But 2 loves and 2 likes does not a complete album make in my books. The rest of the stuff, while not overtly vile in the SUC or GOYB vein, is largely forgettable imo.

 

[LadySpinHead]

Things are gettin' ugly.

War. Again.

 

[LUNEDEMINUIT]

Pretty revealing to notice that none of their work past "Pop" will make it in the top 7

 

[Galeongirl]

DA DA DA



Yeah. Time to wage War. I'll certainly hope NLOTH isn't dying too soon.

 

[U2girl]

Pretty revealing to notice that none of their work past "Pop" will make it in the top 7

More like not surprising at all.

Pop, of course.

 

[U2360]

I feel like I'm one of the few people that likes Get On Your Boots. I really like Magnificent; Moment of Surrender has grown on me; No Line, Crazy and Breathe are pretty good, especially live; Unknown Caller is alright; the rest eh.
Overall probably not as good as War. But I do not believe either of these albums are next to go for me...

 

[iron yuppie]

No Line on the Horizon

Underwhelming is the right word for that record.

Agreed. What a missed opportunity that one was, though it has three songs that I would count among their best.

 

[LadySpinHead]

I feel like I'm one of the few people that likes Get On Your Boots. I really like Magnificent; Moment of Surrender has grown on me; No Line, Crazy and Breathe are pretty good, especially live; Unknown Caller is alright; the rest eh.

This, pretty much all of it. Except add that Fez:BB had potential to be awesome, but just turned out slightly interesting, which is still good.

 

[gvox]

By my last recollection more of the people who voted to eliminate RnH said in other comments that they preferred War to NLOTH. Therefore, we should see those same people vote these sentiments in this round, thus eliminating NLOTH.

Let's be frank: NLOTH does next to nothing for U2's legacy. War is an extremely pivotal and vital part of their growth and notoriety as Rock N Roll Hall of Famers, dislikes of 1 or 2 songs notwithstanding. The few gems on NLOTH do not stand up to the strength of timeless classics NYD, SBS, Like A Song, Two Hearts, 40 and (for some) to a lesser extent stuff like Surrender, Seconds etc..songs that will be listened to for generations long after NLOTH is just another afterthought on their career. I hate to state it like it's a fact, it's clearly my very strong opinion on it, but it would be good to reflect on what the War album and the songs on it mean to U2's history and legacy.

 

[popacrobat]

War, to save No Line.

If I were voting on which I like the least of the remaining albums, though, it'd still be Boy.

 

[OpenG180]

Imagine a world without WAR.


Now imagine a world without NLOTH.


What kind of world would you prefer?

 

[bonocomet]

Once again though: In this contest I don't care about legacies or relevancy. It's which album do I want to put on and listen to start to finish, if I only had those^ albums available.

(Not War.)

 

[corianderstem]

I've voting for War, and I don't need to give any damned rationalization.

 

[OpenG180]

Until the philosophy which hold NLOTH
Superior and WAR inferior
is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned
Everywhere is war, me say war.

 

[gvox]

Until the philosophy which hold NLOTH
Superior and WAR inferior
is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned
Everywhere is war, me say war.

Very nice version!

 

[gvox]

If I were voting on which I like the least of the remaining albums

You have 24 hours to vote for your least favorite remaining album.

God forbid we vote on which album we like least of the remaining albums!

lol

I've voting for War, and I don't need to give any damned rationalization.

Explain yourself, please!

 

[U2360]

I just found out that simply clicking on an option in the mobile app does not send a vote, I didn't see "vote" in the upper right corner. So my previous votes have not been counted

 

[mikal]

War this round, NLOTH next round.

 

[gvox]

I just found out that simply clicking on an option in the mobile app does not send a vote, I didn't see "vote" in the upper right corner. So my previous votes have not been counted

There's still time to make it right..hintNLOTHhint

 

[lemonfly]

Everyone who has been voting War over the last few rounds must be getting royally pissed by now MOS is one of the best things they've ever done, but alas it's not enough to salvage the clusterfuck of the middle three atrocities.

 

[LemonMelon]

No Line because, shit, War shouldn't be going yet.

At least have the damn things tie.

 

[lazarus]

Once again though: In this contest I don't care about legacies or relevancy. It's which album do I want to put on and listen to start to finish, if I only had those^ albums available.

(Not War.)

This. For some people, War defines what U2 is: the intensity, the passion, the politics.

For me, the band is about the variety of styles they are willing to attempt, and how often they succeed when doing so.

Both War and No Line are uneven and could stand to lose a couple tracks (and we know each have better songs from those sessions). So that's a bit of a draw.

Lyrically, there's no doubt that Bono has some MAJOR eye rollers on No Line, but I also admire the storytelling and different personas he takes on in some songs. War has some nice imagery at times, and its directness is admirable, but its not exactly standout writing

So yeah, when I think of SBS or New Year's Day that's tough to top. But I ultimately have more admiration for an album tha can go from the title track to Magnificent to MOS to Unknown Caller to Fez to White as Snow to Breathe to Cedars of Lebanon. There aren't many other bands who could.

 

[Vlaco]

War, but things are getting hard by now.

 

[popacrobat]

God forbid we vote on which album we like least of the remaining albums!

yeah, but the whole premise of "survivor" is to play strategically.

otherwise, we could just have one poll for about 2-3 weeks, ask each member to rank the albums 1-13, assign point values for each standing, and rank the albums that way.

 

[Nick66]

Hmmmmm.

Of course, Pop (certainly), Zooropa or Boy (probably) should go before War or NLOTH, but since a vote for one of those would be a waste at that point, I guess I'll have to choose between two pretty strong (but nonetheless uneven and flawed) records.

Interestingly, where both Boy and ATYCLB marked the beginning of something, and set the stage for what was to come (this is one of the reasons ATYCLB is more of an important record for them than War), War and NLOTH were the third act culminations of a U2 "era"...the first and their most recent. After War U2 went in a very different direction, as they did after JT and most certainly will after NLOTH.

War's best song, New Year's Day is one of my Top 5 U2 songs of all time. It was the first song I ever heard from them (actually, saw the video), and for that reason War is a sentimental favourite.

However, the best song on NLOTH, Moment of Surrender, is better than the best song on War, and is probably U2's best song since Streets.

So it's with great regret that I must cast my first vote in this series for War. Though I'd guess NLOTH will get voted off this round...which is kind of funny because has this contest taken place in the month's after it's release, I have no doubt it would have made it much further. I don't think that records aged well among the U2 faithful.

 

[gvox]

yeah, but the whole premise of "survivor" is to play strategically.

otherwise, we could just have one poll for about 2-3 weeks, ask each member to rank the albums 1-13, assign point values for each standing, and rank the albums that way.

True. Hopefully there will be some counter-strategists who will offset your diabolical plot

 

[flybabe]

No Line. Even though it has a few beautiful songs, (Magnificent, White As Snow and Cedars of Lebanon) its pretty much forgettable.