1. I agree that it hasn’t aged very well (same goes for “Bomb”) but at the time it was a pretty big deal. Also, the Elevation tour is one of their best and I can’t wait for another show to be officially released.
  2. The first 6 songs are incredible. It’s a shame Kite has been shelved like it has been. Similar to Gone from POP. 2 songs that should’ve been concert staples.

    The last 5 are average to below average, Wild Honey being the weakest Imo. Summer Rain has always been a better song imo.
  3. I still rate ATYCLB as a very good album even for u2 standards. Maybe not the masterclass I thought it was not so long ago but I don’t think there’s a poor song on it. The likes of wild honey and grace that get a bad name I think are both decent songs and work well when listening to the album in full. Nowhere near as bad as songs like Boots, American soul, showman or Miami. The live performances of the songs from the album have been excellent. I think the album actually suffers from its commercial success amongst the more die hard u2 fans. It’s almost a case of it being so popular it’s almost cool not to like it. It’s still a top 5 u2 album for me though, probably #5 to be more exact. The album tracks compliment the singles very well. New York would be in a Setlist of my favourite u2 songs, walk on and stuck in a moment would be in the conversation.
  4. I would agree with it being a top 5 in terms of quality and easily top 3 in terms of importance. If this album bombed, U2 would’ve been done.
  5. Originally posted by deanallison:I still rate ATYCLB as a very good album even for u2 standards. Maybe not the masterclass I thought it was not so long ago but I don’t think there’s a poor song on it. The likes of wild honey and grace that get a bad name I think are both decent songs and work well when listening to the album in full. Nowhere near as bad as songs like Boots, American soul, showman or Miami. The live performances of the songs from the album have been excellent. I think the album actually suffers from its commercial success amongst the more die hard u2 fans. It’s almost a case of it being so popular it’s almost cool not to like it. It’s still a top 5 u2 album for me though, probably #5 to be more exact. The album tracks compliment the singles very well. New York would be in a Setlist of my favourite u2 songs, walk on and stuck in a moment would be in the conversation.
    New York live was really powerful. A shame it fell by the wayside.
  6. Originally posted by Release3:I would agree with it being a top 5 in terms of quality and easily top 3 in terms of importance. If this album bombed, U2 would’ve been done.
    Yessir - and this site would, in all likelihood, never existed!
  7. It’s one of the reasons I prefer the Boston dvd to slane. Almost like a modern day Exit with the way the song builds up.
  8. Originally posted by deanallison:I still rate ATYCLB as a very good album even for u2 standards. Maybe not the masterclass I thought it was not so long ago but I don’t think there’s a poor song on it. The likes of wild honey and grace that get a bad name I think are both decent songs and work well when listening to the album in full. Nowhere near as bad as songs like Boots, American soul, showman or Miami. The live performances of the songs from the album have been excellent. I think the album actually suffers from its commercial success amongst the more die hard u2 fans. It’s almost a case of it being so popular it’s almost cool not to like it. It’s still a top 5 u2 album for me though, probably #5 to be more exact. The album tracks compliment the singles very well. New York would be in a Setlist of my favourite u2 songs, walk on and stuck in a moment would be in the conversation.
    I don't think it's "so popular it's almost cool not to like it" at all. Grace is terrible, I've always said on here that When I Look at the World is not a good song. Wild Honey is pretty poor. Otherwise, the remaining songs stand up albeit with dreadful production. I have a very love-hate relationship with it, because it was the first U2 album I ever listened to and eventually I fell in love with the band shortly after in my youth. But I think that's the problem: it was a huge commercial success that gave people the awareness of U2 as a youngster, eventually turning them into mega fans, that makes them romanticise the album. Almost like they have some sort of attachment to it because it effectively changed their life. I think some people aren't realistic about it, but that's my personal opinion.
  9. I would describe it as the precursor to the 2017 Exit.
  10. I was thinking about this the other day, but ATYCLB was a completely new U2 sound. A bit like how AB and POP was, I don't think they had done or released anything like ATYCLB before. Early U2 days were punk rock/almost jazz/blues like, the 90s were experimental and then all of a sudden they release an almost mainstream like album.
  11. The story was, Edge said while woodshedding, "It sounds too much like The Edge" and Bono replies, "But you are the Edge"
  12. Originally posted by KieranU2:[..]
    I don't think it's "so popular it's almost cool not to like it" at all. Grace is terrible, I've always said on here that When I Look at the World is not a good song. Wild Honey is pretty poor. Otherwise, the remaining songs stand up albeit with dreadful production. I have a very love-hate relationship with it, because it was the first U2 album I ever listened to and eventually I fell in love with the band shortly after in my youth. But I think that's the problem: it was a huge commercial success that gave people the awareness of U2 as a youngster, eventually turning them into mega fans, that makes them romanticise the album. Almost like they have some sort of attachment to it because it effectively changed their life. I think some people aren't realistic about it, but that's my personal opinion.
    I think a lot of people just like it because it’s a great album. It’s only a minority of fans that don’t rate it as highly and it’s usually on die hard fan sites. When I look at the world I think is a great song. And I don’t know how people can compare grace and wild honey with U2’s worst stuff. I do think like most u2 songs a lot of them sound better live but again that’s not unusual for the band. I still think some fans just don’t like it when there band becomes too mainstream even when it’s very good.