Rank the Album Among Others

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MadForIt said:
There are only 2 decent songs on the album.
Miracle and Cedarwood. Rest is filler.
Poor effort from the lads.
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:lmao: Holy fuck, you saw through his limited brain. But unfortunately if a person is deranged then their range isn't likely to notice how much better U2 is than Oasis. Even Noel Gallagher would agree with me. His musical knowledge is like eating cardboard cookies.
 
When I first posted in this thread, I was basing it off my initial reaction to the album (approx. one week of listening). Now that I've had a month, this is where the rankings stand; complete with my personal score out of 10. (This time, I won't do a review of each album and make a mess out of my post)

The Classics and the reason U2 are my favorite (AKA - "The Big Three")
1. Zooropa - 9.25
2. Achtung Baby - 9.13
3. POP - 9.08

Essential U2 (Not mindblowing, but still superb material)
4. The Joshua Tree - 8.91
5. WAR - 8.65
6. Boy - 8.3
7. October - 7.91
8. Rattle & Hum - 7.78
9. All That You Can't Leave Behind - 7.71

Take it or Leave it (Solid material, but casual fans wouldn't be amiss to overlook them)
10. Songs of Innocence - 7.68
11. No Line on the Horizon - 7.62
12. The Unforgettable Fire - 7.4
13. How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb - 7.21

A couple of comments - These are averages based on song rankings. I also rate Rattle & Hum from the studio material. I was surprised October landed so high on my list. SOI has really started to sink in and despite it being a highly listenable album (with the exception of starting to skip over Iris a lot), its standout tracks are not as strong as the standouts on No Line; hence why it's about on par with it, so far. It is a grower, and most really great U2 albums are. This time, next year, it could land much higher. We'll see.
 
Rich79 said:
When I first posted in this thread, I was basing it off my initial reaction to the album (approx. one week of listening). Now that I've had a month, this is where the rankings stand; complete with my personal score out of 10. (This time, I won't do a review of each album and make a mess out of my post)

The Classics and the reason U2 are my favorite (AKA - "The Big Three")
1. Zooropa - 9.25
2. Achtung Baby - 9.13
3. POP - 9.08

Essential U2 (Not mindblowing, but still superb material)
4. The Joshua Tree - 8.91
5. WAR - 8.65
6. Boy - 8.3
7. October - 7.91
8. Rattle & Hum - 7.78
9. All That You Can't Leave Behind - 7.71

Take it or Leave it (Solid material, but casual fans wouldn't be amiss to overlook them)
10. Songs of Innocence - 7.68
11. No Line on the Horizon - 7.62
12. The Unforgettable Fire - 7.4
13. How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb - 7.21

A couple of comments - These are averages based on song rankings. I also rate Rattle & Hum from the studio material. I was surprised October landed so high on my list. SOI has really started to sink in and despite it being a highly listenable album (with the exception of starting to skip over Iris a lot), its standout tracks are not as strong as the standouts on No Line; hence why it's about on par with it, so far. It is a grower, and most really great U2 albums are. This time, next year, it could land much higher. We'll see.
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You could take or leave The Unforgettable Fire?! That is astounding! I can understand putting SOI there at this time, but in the future... I cannot fathom putting TUF in this category! :huh:
 
U2BROTHR said:
All I know is NLOTH is 2nd last on my list....with October being last.



Top of the list would be AB, JT, UF, SOI.



Yeah... I think SOI is that good.
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Hmmmm......you don't like Walk On but I can overlook that because your taste in albums is near perfect!


Sent from my iPad using U2 Interference
 
This thread is interesting because a lot of people rank SOI in the middle at the moment. I went back and looked at the NLOTH rankings (initial leak and 3 month later threads) and most people had it in their top 3 with some saying it might be their best album. Now some of those same people have it towards the bottom of their list (Mikal....lol).

I'm very guilty of hyping up new material too, which is why I haven't ranked SOI just yet. It's just that, it doesn't seem that this album got the "hype" NLOTH received around here and I'm curious if over time it will be the opposite and actually grow on people.

And Mikal, I didn't mean to single you out but most of the posters in those threads don't seem to be active (remember the oh so positive GibsonGuitar?) when I saw your Brett Farve avatar, it caught my eye. You ranked it 3rd in the "3 months later" thread, then in the "1 year later" thread it was top 5 and now you have it 9! By SOE, you may refuse to acknowledge it :)

I have to search to see if I posted in that thread....oh boy :(




Sent from my iPad using U2 Interference
 
1. Achtung Baby 10/10
2. The Joshua Tree 9.5/10
3. War 8.5/10
4. The Unforgettable Fire 8.5/10
5. Zooropa 8/10
6. Rattle & Hum 7.5/10
7. Pop 7.5/10
8. Boy 6.5/10
9. All That You Can't Leave Behind 6.5/10
10. October 5.5/10
11. Songs of Innocence 5/10
12. No Line On the Horizon 4/10
13. How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb 3/10
 
CosmoKramer said:
This thread is interesting because a lot of people rank SOI in the middle at the moment. I went back and looked at the NLOTH rankings (initial leak and 3 month later threads) and most people had it in their top 3 with some saying it might be their best album. Now some of those same people have it towards the bottom of their list (Mikal....lol).

I'm very guilty of hyping up new material too, which is why I haven't ranked SOI just yet. It's just that, it doesn't seem that this album got the "hype" NLOTH received around here and I'm curious if over time it will be the opposite and actually grow on people.

And Mikal, I didn't mean to single you out but most of the posters in those threads don't seem to be active (remember the oh so positive GibsonGuitar?) when I saw your Brett Farve avatar, it caught my eye. You ranked it 3rd in the "3 months later" thread, then in the "1 year later" thread it was top 5 and now you have it 9! By SOE, you may refuse to acknowledge it :)

I have to search to see if I posted in that thread....oh boy :(
Sent from my iPad using U2 Interference
Click to expand...

NLOTH was kinda odd. I didn't find it all that accessible and that in a way made it interesting to me. I was the same with Pop and Zooropa but I now love those albums. So it's possible that I had a bit of a knee jerk positive reaction to it just because it sounded like a rejection of the previous 2 albums.

That's now worn off and I don't really feel the urge to revisit NLOTH much at all. Still a big fan of Moment of Surrender though.
 
Achtung Baby
Joshua Tree
Pop
Songs of Innocence
Unforgettable Fire
Zooropa
How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
Boy
War
All that You Can't Leave Behind
Rattle and Hum
October
No Line...

Still not too confident in some of the middle rankings, and some will think I am crazy for ranking Bomb so high (despite the production problems, I just really like the collection of songs - I don't own vinyl, so maybe it sounds better in that format).

SOI might be just "new album" euphoria, but it's been almost two months and am still not tired of it. Add the bonus tracks, Invisible, and Ordinary Love, and that's a great run there.
 
Amazing
1 The Joshua Tree (11/10)
2 The Unforgettable Fire (10/10)
-Very close between these two and I've gone back and forth. But Running To Stand Still was my tiebreaker. Streets and Bad are tied as my favorite song, RTSS is a very close 3rd and put JT over the top.
Great:
3 Zooropa (9.3/10)
4 Achtung Baby (9.1/10)
5 Songs Of Innocence (8.8/10)
- Zooropa barely nudges out AB for my #3 spot. SOI is ranked high since I'm including my own alternate track listing in this and I include LH, Invisible and TCB. If not for my changes, it would be around 7-8.
Really Good:
6 October (8.6/10)
7 Boy (8.6/10)
8 War (8.3/10)
-I rate these albums, especially October, higher than most. But I just love these albums.
Good
9 Pop (8/10)
10 All That You Can't Leave Behind (7.8/10)
11 Rattle and Hum (7.7/10)
12 How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb (7.3/10)
-Pop has some really good songs, but mostly good songs. Doesn't have any duds or classics imo, but Discotheque and Please (live) are in the ballpark. Rattle and Hum is good and I love the differentness of it, but the live songs screw it up. Very similar feelings to Pop. ATYCLB and Bomb are close for me. I like most of the songs, but poor production hurts them.
Below Average
13 No Line
-I just don't like this album. Fez is amazing. NLOTH, MOS, etc. are solid. But alotta crap and no b sides to help make up for it. There's nothing from this era, that hurts in my rankings.



Sent from my iPhone using U2 Interference
 
1. Achtung Baby
2. The Joshua Tree
3. War
4. The Unforgettable Fire
5. Rattle & Hum
6. Zooropa
7. Pop
8. Boy
9. Songs Of Innocence
10. All That You Can't Leave Behind
11. How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb
12. No Line On The Horizon
13. October
 
What I find most difficult about ranking all the albums is the position I'm in now as a fan.
I'll be honest that I really don't care to hear a lot of the "classics" any more.

SBS, NYD, Pride, BD, even Streets and ISHFWILF.

That said, now when I listen through War, there isn't much there. Maybe three of songs I really like (if I'm not counting SBS and NYD)

So if I were ranking albums for a new fan that wanted to know the greatness of the albums, I would put War higher on my list, than if I'm making a personal list of albums that I enjoy listening to.

In fact, I went back and listened to October and War recently and I enjoy October much more.

Anyway, I just see people ranking War way up in the top and October always near the bottom, and I wonder if we are just used to thinking that's how it's "supposed to be" or if people have actually gone back and revisited these albums in the last year with new ears.

Just an observation.
 
1 Joshua Tree
2 Zooropa
3 Boy
4 TUF
5 Achtung Baby
6 War
7 SOI
8 ATYCLB
9 Pop
10 October
11 Rattle and Hum
12 Atomic Bomb
13 NLOTH


Sent from my iPhone using U2 Interference
 
I've had it at the top for a while now, but I think it's finally going to settle down as number 4.

1. Pop
2. Joshua Tree
3. Achtung, Baby!
4. Songs of Innocence
5. No Line on the Horizon
6. The Unforgettable Fire
7. All That You Can’t Leave Behind
8. Zooropa
9. How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
10. War
11. Boy
12. October
13. Rattle and Hum
 
It's had a fair bit of time to settle in and it has settled into a mid-table sortof album, which is still very good and as much as I guess we should expect from them at this stage.

1. Achtung Baby
2 The Joshua Tree
3 The Unforgettable Fire
4 Zooropa
5. Boy
6. Passengers
7. Pop
8 SOI
9. October
10. War
11. Rattle and Hum
12. ATYCLB
13. NLOTH
14. Bomb
 
still right up there for me - I don't like ranks as all their albums are different and I re-visit them in different moods and times.
It's a top album in their arsenal - top 3 for me
 
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