Niceman
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Bono's vocals on ATYCLB are pretty good overall
Only if you don't compare them to his vocals on ANY other albums. It's his low-point.
Bono's vocals on ATYCLB are pretty good overall
Niceman said:Only if you don't compare them to his vocals on ANY other albums. It's his low-point.
Do you have any objective points comparing it to say pop?
Bono's voice is supposed to sound world-weary on ATYCLB. Or, rather, the fact that it does is a happy accident. If he sounded like Josh Groban on it, the songs would come across as sugary and preachy; you couldn't feel Walk On or When I Look At The World.
His voice might be pretty bad on most ATYCLB tracks but his delivery of In A Little While is stunning.
you couldn't feel Walk On or When I Look At The World.
Despite his vocal problems around 96/97, I think he gets away with it on Pop, just.
The songs are maybe not overtly taxing on the voice, at least not compared to the type of stuff he was doing on JT and R & H. He made his shortcomings work in his favour and he's kind of been doing that in various different ways ever since.
ATYCLB is much more of a singers record, big vocals are centre stage again and I think, for the most part he steps up to the plate. To my ears, HTDAAB and NLOTH sound more inconsistent.
Sometimes You Can't Make It and Moment of Surrender both have brilliant moments, but then you also have the likes of Miracle Drug and Unknown Caller.
When I hear Wake Up Dead Man, there can be no doubt that the narrator is a broken down man, at the end of his tether. Any vocal shortcomings are perfectly acceptable. The problem emerges when Bono starts to use this approach as a kind of strut to fall back on.
The 'world weary' method is fine, but perhaps he uses it as an excuse at times.
If we're talking about lyrical ideas (as opposed to musical), then I agree about "Desire" and "Pride" being big and simple. But I don't agree as regards "Beautiful Day", "One", or "With or Without You". Those are all lyrically odd tunes. To this day, I really have no way to articulate what Bono is trying to communicate on "With or Without You".In general the most successful U2 singles are those with big, simple ideas at their core; Beautiful Day, One, With or Without You, Desire, Pride etc.
Actually, I'd almost forgotten this from over-familiarity with the record, but you're right that "Wild Horses" always sounded a bit out of place. I remember feeling that way even back in 91/92. It's probably because the lyric is quite earnest, and the chorus is kind of soaring, in an 80s-U2 kind of a way. However, the song is still so good that I don't mind it at all!I've always felt that Wild Horses was the weak link on AB, it does seem very much like a throwback to a previous era of the band and I think it sits a little uneasily on that first side.
Yes, agree. I think Bono (and maybe the band) had in mind a bit of a white-soul kind of sound for it. The high-point of that approach is probably "In A Little While", which hits all the right nerve centers and has a fantastic vocal. (The low-point, perhaps, being "Kite", which doesn't convince me -- it still comes across as a Celine Dion song to me.)ATYCLB is much more of a singers record, big vocals are centre stage again and I think, for the most part he steps up to the plate.
The main problem i have with "Moment of Surrender" (and indeed, NLOTH in general) is the sound of Bono's voice. I'm not sure it's entirely his fault -- I think the culprit is Lanois/Eno or whoever recorded his vocals, but his voice sounds far too exposed, naked, and shrill all over the album (it would have helped if he hadn't exacerbated this by singing "Oh-Oh-Oh-Oh" over the breaks in nearly every track). On "Moment of Surrender", I just think his voice sounds poor. I must admit I've not heard any live performances to compare... er, maybe I should.Sometimes You Can't Make It and Moment of Surrender both have brilliant moments...
Would it be out of line to suggest that the quality of Bono's voice is determined by what is required by (or suitable for) the song in question?
He's very good at noticing his weaknesses and then adopting a Pee-Wee Hermanesque pose so that he appears to have "meant to do that."
DevilsShoes, Let me preface this by saying, again, that I love your posts.
If we're talking about lyrical ideas (as opposed to musical), then I agree about "Desire" and "Pride" being big and simple. But I don't agree as regards "Beautiful Day", "One", or "With or Without You". Those are all lyrically odd tunes. To this day, I really have no way to articulate what Bono is trying to communicate on "With or Without You".
Yes, agree. I think Bono (and maybe the band) had in mind a bit of a white-soul kind of sound for it. The high-point of that approach is probably "In A Little While", which hits all the right nerve centers and has a fantastic vocal. (The low-point, perhaps, being "Kite", which doesn't convince me -- it still comes across as a Celine Dion song to me.)
The main problem i have with "Moment of Surrender" (and indeed, NLOTH in general) is the sound of Bono's voice. I'm not sure it's entirely his fault -- I think the culprit is Lanois/Eno or whoever recorded his vocals, but his voice sounds far too exposed, naked, and shrill all over the album (it would have helped if he hadn't exacerbated this by singing "Oh-Oh-Oh-Oh" over the breaks in nearly every track). On "Moment of Surrender", I just think his voice sounds poor. I must admit I've not heard any live performances to compare... er, maybe I should.