namkcuR
ONE love, blood, life
My feelings about this record have been all over the place. When it first leaked, I loved it. I thought it was a great record, I was going as far as saying that I thought it was in their top 3. Most people here were. But then, towards the end of the holidays and as the new year began, I got bored of it. I just stopped listening to some tracks on it altogether. After going back and listening to the entire catalog again, I hit their opposite extreme and began to think HTDAAB was one of the worst records of their career. But that too, was temporary. To make a long story short, I think HTDAAB has reached the place for me where it will be for good, and that is this:
I don't think it's as good as their work in the 80s, and I don't think it's even close to the brilliance of their 90s work. But at the same time, that is no reason to not like HTDAAB or to say it's a bad record. It just depends on what you're looking for. Musically it is good, but safe, or at least safer than past works. Lyrically it is lacking, if - and that's a big if - you are looking for lyrics that make you think, that could have eight different meanings and so forth. But if you're looking for lyrics that are simple, what-you-see-is-what-you-get, straight-up, and so forth, then this record is quite good lyrically. It all depends on what you're looking for. I love lyrics that puzzle me and keep me awake at night. That's probably one of the reasons I love their 90s work so much. But that is no reason to scoff at HTDAAB. It's a very solid, very listenable record. To prove the point, next time you listen to it, try to zone Bono out and imagine there's another guitar or a keyboard playing the vocal melody. In other words, try to listen to it as an instrumental record, disregarding the lyrics. It's really good. The only thing keeping it from being great(aside from the lyrics) is that U2 appear to be trying too hard to sound like themselves. I don't know why they should want or have to. However, I would rather they try too hard than not try enough.
So yeah, this record isn't as good as most of the others, it would still be #10 out of 11 for me, but rankings like that don't mean much at all. What means something is that I just listened to Pop and I still think it's better than HTDAAB, but I still listened to HTDAAB afterwards because I wanted to. It doesn't HAVE to be a masterpiece, and I don't HAVE to think it's brilliant to enjoy it.
It's their business attitutude lately that's annoyed me, but that's another story.
I don't think it's as good as their work in the 80s, and I don't think it's even close to the brilliance of their 90s work. But at the same time, that is no reason to not like HTDAAB or to say it's a bad record. It just depends on what you're looking for. Musically it is good, but safe, or at least safer than past works. Lyrically it is lacking, if - and that's a big if - you are looking for lyrics that make you think, that could have eight different meanings and so forth. But if you're looking for lyrics that are simple, what-you-see-is-what-you-get, straight-up, and so forth, then this record is quite good lyrically. It all depends on what you're looking for. I love lyrics that puzzle me and keep me awake at night. That's probably one of the reasons I love their 90s work so much. But that is no reason to scoff at HTDAAB. It's a very solid, very listenable record. To prove the point, next time you listen to it, try to zone Bono out and imagine there's another guitar or a keyboard playing the vocal melody. In other words, try to listen to it as an instrumental record, disregarding the lyrics. It's really good. The only thing keeping it from being great(aside from the lyrics) is that U2 appear to be trying too hard to sound like themselves. I don't know why they should want or have to. However, I would rather they try too hard than not try enough.
So yeah, this record isn't as good as most of the others, it would still be #10 out of 11 for me, but rankings like that don't mean much at all. What means something is that I just listened to Pop and I still think it's better than HTDAAB, but I still listened to HTDAAB afterwards because I wanted to. It doesn't HAVE to be a masterpiece, and I don't HAVE to think it's brilliant to enjoy it.
It's their business attitutude lately that's annoyed me, but that's another story.
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