Popmartijn
Blue Crack Supplier
... War is my least favourite U2 album!
I cannot deny it anymore and I do not wish to hide this feeling. Of all the albums U2 have released in 23 years, War is at the bottom of my list. Yes, it has quite a good first side (it was released in the vinyl area and so can be reviewed as such), but the drop off in quality on the second side is the biggest I've seen on any U2 album. The Refugee and Red Light are horrible songs (only the intro is acceptable). Two Hearts Beat As One and Surrender do nothing to me, not saying that they are terrible (they aren't), but they are unremarkable. It is up to "40" to rescue this side.
And then there are Bono's vocals. On this record he's trying to hard. As a consequence his vocals sound forced and that's not a pleasant sound. Listen to Drowning Man (one of my favourite U2 tracks, not everything's bad on War), listen to the difference between his 'quiet' voice and his 'squeaking' (sp?) voice ('Hold on!').
It may have been their breakthrough album with SBS and NYD, but in retrospect it doesn't hold up to later work, or even the earlier albums Boy and October. Fortunately, U2 have always had that hunger to grow, so they took a big step forwards the following year with The Unforgettable Fire (my favourite '80s U2 album).
These threads about early U2 made me relisten all those early albums (again). I heard many great songs again, but unfortunately did the War album remind me also of some of their early mistakes...
Marty
*edited to correct a smiley*
I cannot deny it anymore and I do not wish to hide this feeling. Of all the albums U2 have released in 23 years, War is at the bottom of my list. Yes, it has quite a good first side (it was released in the vinyl area and so can be reviewed as such), but the drop off in quality on the second side is the biggest I've seen on any U2 album. The Refugee and Red Light are horrible songs (only the intro is acceptable). Two Hearts Beat As One and Surrender do nothing to me, not saying that they are terrible (they aren't), but they are unremarkable. It is up to "40" to rescue this side.
And then there are Bono's vocals. On this record he's trying to hard. As a consequence his vocals sound forced and that's not a pleasant sound. Listen to Drowning Man (one of my favourite U2 tracks, not everything's bad on War), listen to the difference between his 'quiet' voice and his 'squeaking' (sp?) voice ('Hold on!').
It may have been their breakthrough album with SBS and NYD, but in retrospect it doesn't hold up to later work, or even the earlier albums Boy and October. Fortunately, U2 have always had that hunger to grow, so they took a big step forwards the following year with The Unforgettable Fire (my favourite '80s U2 album).
These threads about early U2 made me relisten all those early albums (again). I heard many great songs again, but unfortunately did the War album remind me also of some of their early mistakes...
Marty
*edited to correct a smiley*
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