dan_smee
ONE love, blood, life
United colours has its own vibe going on. AFN is great. Theres some interest in some of the others too
Ah yes, this is where Duran Duran filmed their video for Rio 43 years ago this May. Perhaps U2 will be filming a video here on a yacht with a body-painted woman in 2025.Bono and Edge in Antigua, lucky them.
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No, you were right the first time around.I’ve been listening to Passengers since the announcement. I’ve always loved certain elements and just never listened to others. I think I just felt it was a bit inaccessible and odd - not in a good or interesting way.
It has been an album of two halves for me forever - the first half is wonderful listening. AFN and Slug are just gorgeous and belong in any conversation about U2’s best 90s work. The atmosphere and adventure, while still retaining the U2 dna was a work of genius. But the second half was a slog. Just hard work to get through without pressing skip. It’s probably why I never justified completing a vinyl collection with the crazy prices online. The RSD announcement to me just meant I’d grab it and wear out disc 1 and never touch disc 2. But my thoughts have changed and I think I get it now.
Ito Okashi is haunting and could soundtrack a scene in Twin Peaks,
One Minute Warning is probably just decades ahead of its time - it’s still a bit random-noisy, but it foreshadows some of the industrial pastiche of The Cooper Temple Clause,
Corpse is like a lounge tune in space - again it could have been on a Twin Peaks soundtrack,
I still don’t get Elvis - it’s funny but also just such a throwaway beside.
Plot 180 is probably a whole lot of nothing? Can someone enlighten me?
Theme from Swan is GORGEOUS. So simple, and it’s breathtaking. It was greyed out on Apple Music and I wouldn’t have listened since I bought the cd in about 1998.
Theme from LGN sounds like another offshoot of LWTSH. A bit simple, but fine to listen to.
Anyone else have a recent appreciation for Passengers?
Fun fact... the outro of the Salomé (Zooromancer Remix) has a synth part that is quite similar to the intro for Save a Prayer. Bono has supposedly told the Duran boys that it was U2's tribute to them!
I’ve been listening to Passengers since the announcement. I’ve always loved certain elements and just never listened to others. I think I just felt it was a bit inaccessible and odd - not in a good or interesting way.
It has been an album of two halves for me forever - the first half is wonderful listening. AFN and Slug are just gorgeous and belong in any conversation about U2’s best 90s work. The atmosphere and adventure, while still retaining the U2 dna was a work of genius. But the second half was a slog. Just hard work to get through without pressing skip. It’s probably why I never justified completing a vinyl collection with the crazy prices online. The RSD announcement to me just meant I’d grab it and wear out disc 1 and never touch disc 2. But my thoughts have changed and I think I get it now.
Ito Okashi is haunting and could soundtrack a scene in Twin Peaks,
One Minute Warning is probably just decades ahead of its time - it’s still a bit random-noisy, but it foreshadows some of the industrial pastiche of The Cooper Temple Clause,
Corpse is like a lounge tune in space - again it could have been on a Twin Peaks soundtrack,
I still don’t get Elvis - it’s funny but also just such a throwaway beside.
Plot 180 is probably a whole lot of nothing? Can someone enlighten me?
Theme from Swan is GORGEOUS. So simple, and it’s breathtaking. It was greyed out on Apple Music and I wouldn’t have listened since I bought the cd in about 1998.
Theme from LGN sounds like another offshoot of LWTSH. A bit simple, but fine to listen to.
Anyone else have a recent appreciation for Passengers?
United Colours is on my Halloween Playlist. Creeps me out and strikes me as one of the weirdest choices they could have made for track 1 at a time when the first track of an album really mattered a lot.
Then comes One Minute Warning (the only song from the album to actually be used in a film, I think?)
I'm...not hearing that at all. Especially when If You Wear That Velvet Dress exists.Plot 180 and Theme From Let's Go Native are probably the two most sexually charged pieces of music that U2 have ever been involved in.
If you've ever seen Heat, with Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro, Plot 180 was used in a deleted scene. It fits the vibe of the film perfectly, which makes sense given the premise of the album.Plot 180 is probably a whole lot of nothing? Can someone enlighten me?
Sadly I think the fans who love that experimentation are in the minority, even amongst the hardcore. It's alienating to them, which is why they've resorted to bland meat and potatoes nonsense like American Soul or Atomic City.Personally - and I know it's not everyone's cup of tea - this kind of experimentation is why I got into U2 in the first place (through Pop). It comes sixth in my list of favourite U2 records, better to my ears than anything they've made in the twenty-first century (except maybe half of NLOTH).
I'm...not hearing that at all. Especially when If You Wear That Velvet Dress exists.
The thing I've learnt over the years is that the kinds of U2 fans we each are individually can be reliably defined by the moment we stepped on the train. I was in my teens when Pop came out and really into electronic music, so I loved the remixes, the experiments, etc - and probably always will favour that side of the band's spirit.yeah the experimentation was the factor for me too
It’s probably the thing that has grown the most is not so much the fondness for the songs lately (even though it has), but it’s the thought that the complete work makes more sense the more I immerse myself in it. I think everyone will have the tunes they think feel a bit out of such, but Corpse is probably one of the biggest growers for me of late. The sad Radiohead vibes seem like a direct inspiration for Thom Yorke to throw out the convention songwriting script and so far ahead of its time.I had a similar epiphany about fifteen years ago. I loved the more straightforward stuff (Miss Sarajevo, Blue Room, etc) but one day it all just clicked. And it was Ito Okashi that made it click. A truly beautiful track.
Then comes One Minute Warning (the only song from the album to actually be used in a film, I think?) What a brilliant rhythm Eno created.
Plot 180 and Theme From Let's Go Native are probably the two most sexually charged pieces of music that U2 have ever been involved in.
Corpse is the only song I don't like from the second half. Even Elvis has its place.
In case anyone hasn't read it, Brian Eno's diary, A Year With Swollen Appendices, has some interesting insights into the recording process - including the battle (which Eno lost) to put it out as a U2 album.
Personally - and I know it's not everyone's cup of tea - this kind of experimentation is why I got into U2 in the first place (through Pop). It comes sixth in my list of favourite U2 records, better to my ears than anything they've made in the twenty-first century (except maybe half of NLOTH).
Atomic City is somewhat of a throw-away track, but sounds like a masterpiece next to American Soul. American Soul is the dregs of their catalog. It's just awful in every way. I don't love Atomic City, but it has its place in their catalog. I love the more experimental side of U2, and prefer it for sure, but I still enjoy Atomic City. I don't think its a simple category of either/or.Sadly I think the fans who love that experimentation are in the minority, even amongst the hardcore. It's alienating to them, which is why they've resorted to bland meat and potatoes nonsense like American Soul or Atomic City.
Beach Sequence for days
Atomic City is somewhat of a throw-away track, but sounds like a masterpiece next to American Soul. American Soul is the dregs of their catalog. It's just awful in every way. I don't love Atomic City, but it has its place in their catalog. I love the more experimental side of U2, and prefer it for sure, but I still enjoy Atomic City. I don't think its a simple category of either/or.
I think Bono & Edge's chasing being great songwriters and then defining it by whether the songs can be played acoustically or stripped down is more to blame than alienating fans by experimentation. I still blame the failed Rick Rubin experiment as messing with their experimental nature of writing songs and sending them chasing the great songwriter's recognition. I still have a hard time listening to Rick Rubin's self-important babbling about how people pay him for his great taste, when in the back of my mind he killed the experimental nature of U2.
other thanbootsSUC. that song sucks.
Definitely think this is true. I do think the Rubin episode sent them in this direction sooner.I think they the only way U2 can continue — given the structure of their current lives — is to have the songs fairly set to go before the enter the studio. They don’t have the time (or, frankly, interest) to jam for hours while waiting for “one” to appear like they did when they were 30. Their lives are not being U2 anymore.
Yes to all this. I love songs of theirs from every category.i think the idea that you have to like experimental u2 or more straight forward u2 is a load of malarky. there's room for both. one is not necessarily better than the other. sunday bloody sunday is direct and straight forward. i will follow. out of control. pride.
songs like one and stay - arguably the most popular off those two albums - are also the most straight forward and least experimental.
the idea that anything that isn't experimental isn't good is just one that i can't subscribe to - and obviously one that U2 doesn't, either.
that said - i do think they need to pick a lane. when they try to thread the needle - like on no line - the results are true dreck. this idea that somehow a song like unknown caller is better than some of the better tracks from SOI to Atomic City because, hey, at least they tried - is not something i can subscribe to in any way.
a song is good or it isn't. experimental doesn't make it good or bad. straight forward doesn't make it good or bad.
taste is also, obviously, subjective. there is no definitive yes or no answer to "is a song good."
other than boots. that song sucks.