1. Originally posted by thefly07:[..]

    terrible is a strong word...Elvis Ate America is the hardest to listen to though, I happen to love Corpse, and overall the whole Passengers album, but i'm weird...yet i dont consider it a U2 album


    Just those four songs are not exactly top-end material. I love the rest of the album - I think that album and Pop were absolute masterpieces. Brian Eno has said on numerous occasions and in numerous interviews that he'd love to release the rest of the songs from those sessions, in their unfinished form, one day.
  2. Originally posted by drewhiggins:[..]

    Just those four songs are not exactly top-end material. I love the rest of the album - I think that album and Pop were absolute masterpieces.


    word, i hear ya
  3. Originally posted by drewhiggins:But that's the thing here. We don't know if the songs will lose their quality...we've never heard the originals, and chances are we won't. The only way you can judge if a song was originally, any good, is to hear the original, and hear what the original concept was.

    From the working titles we have so far, it sounds very much like a concept album. When it was said that this is as big a transition from The Joshua Tree > Achtung Baby, maybe they mean going from a basic set of songs, to a set of songs which tell a story, which equates to a concept album. That's my take on it, anyway.

    And with Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois producing, that is quite a possibility. He's known for his concept albums - Passengers has conceptual elements. Hopefully it doesn't end up like some of the songs from Passengers; Ito Okashi, Elvis Ate America, Theme From The Swan and Corpse to name but a few. All terrible songs.


    Good points. I agree about the good possibility of a concept album. I wonder if the band were too concerned that the new album might turn out to be another Bomb--great songs but no cohesion--that they went completely the opposite direction and emphasized the cohesion to the point of making a full concept album.


  4. Be glad for this album Akon and Co. isn't producing it. As a huge Michael Jackson fan, I was disappointed by the remix that he did for Thriller25. Add to that the other four remixes that happened to be on that disc, and you have 25 minutes of utter disappointments and boredom.

    Good points. I agree about the good possibility of a concept album. I wonder if the band were too concerned that the new album might turn out to be another Bomb--great songs but no cohesion--that they went completely the opposite direction and emphasized the cohesion to the point of making a full concept album.


    They are great songs, but Bomb sounded like a mess of songs and that they didn't know where to put them. The old quote ''saving the best for last'' didn't apply on that album, or even on ATYCLB. Yahweh and Grace - not the greatest U2 songs ever released. Heavy messages and great concept, but executed like crap. It's a pity it didn't go the way of Mercy - in that style, and six-minute songs. Ten songs of brilliance.

    If it were me, I would have put City of Blinding Lights first.
  5. Originally posted by AllBecauseOfU2:[..]

    Good points. I agree about the good possibility of a concept album. I wonder if the band were too concerned that the new album might turn out to be another Bomb--great songs but no cohesion--that they went completely the opposite direction and emphasized the cohesion to the point of making a full concept album.


    i just hope they aren't doing too many big overhauls. Fine tuning is fine I think, a little tinkering here and there to better the songs. I'm sure it will all turn out ok*fingers crossed*
  6. Originally posted by drewhiggins:[..]

    Be glad for this album Akon and Co. isn't producing it. As a huge Michael Jackson fan, I was disappointed by the remix that he did for Thriller25. Add to that the other four remixes that happened to be on that disc, and you have 25 minutes of utter disappointments and boredom.


    haha. yeah i wouldn't like that as i'm not the biggest MJ fan though I know Thriller is objectively one of the best albums of all time. Not a big fan of remixes either, I think they work ok as b-sides, but I hardly listen to them
  7. Originally posted by thefly07:[..]

    haha. yeah i wouldn't like that as i'm not the biggest MJ fan though I know Thriller is objectively one of the best albums of all time. Not a big fan of remixes either, I think they work ok as b-sides, but I hardly listen to them


    A reason not to bother with the second disc on Best of 1990-2000. North and South of The River and Your Blue Room make it worthwhile to have it, though. I'm not a huge fan of Thriller. Overrated album, but some real great tunes on it. Anyway, have U2 ever released something truly terrible (album-wise)?

    Originally posted by thefly07i just hope they aren't doing too many big overhauls. Fine tuning is fine I think, a little tinkering here and there to better the songs. I'm sure it will all turn out ok*fingers crossed*


    I hope it hasn't been the mixing that's taken this long, and trying to get a perfect sound. They may have recorded 50-60 songs (that we know of) but how many of those are any good, potentially, and live? 45 of those could be complete crap, or even just simple riffs or drum loops. They left Pop as it was - not overly mixed, rough as sandpaper, but look at how immensely popular that record is. But the problem is, to appeal to the young crowd, you have to overproduce your music and fine-tune it to a point where it is no longer fine.

    Do U2 need a massive chart-topper? They've had enough of them and people know that their work is going to be decent, no matter if they make a critically-panned record - you don't spend three years in a studio, and have it be a complete piece of crap. It's no longer sufficient enough to spend a few months in a studio. How would an album like Boy stand up today? Granted, pretty well, but how would it sell (which is the whole point of recording and the music industry)?
  8. A concept album gets my vote too, but I just hope the quality of the songs improve. Listen to the B-sides of HTDAAB. The majority of these B-sides, like Smile and Xanax and Wine are better than the material listed on HTDAAB.

    And was JT seen as a concept-album? Because they let some woman decide about the order of the songs. (dunno who it was, maybe Edge's mother. It's in U2byU2.)
  9. Originally posted by MWSAH:A concept album gets my vote too, but I just hope the quality of the songs improve. Listen to the B-sides of HTDAAB. The majority of these B-sides, like Smile and Xanax and Wine are better than the material listed on HTDAAB.

    And was JT seen as a concept-album? Because they let some woman decide about the order of the songs. (dunno who it was, maybe Edge's mother. It's in U2byU2.)


    Smile is a great tune.


  10. For sure...I still don't understand why they put the weakest songs on the album. I only like COBL, SYCMIOYO, All Because Of You and Original of the Species.

    The rest are fillers in my opinion.
    Native Son beats Vertigo, Yahweh Alternate Version beats Yahweh Album Version, Smile beats One Step Closer, Xanax and Wine beats Fast Cars (which I didn't get with the album), Mercy beats Miracle Drug etc. It could and should have been much better. And maybe U2 are doing this now with the new album. Reworking/re-ordering the songs before it's too late.
  11. Originally posted by MWSAH:[..]

    For sure...I still don't understand why they put the weakest songs on the album. I only like COBL, SYCMIOYO, All Because Of You and Original of the Species.

    The rest are fillers in my opinion.
    Native Son beats Vertigo, Yahweh Alternate Version beats Yahweh Album Version, Smile beats One Step Closer, Xanax and Wine beats Fast Cars (which I didn't get with the album), Mercy beats Miracle Drug etc. It could and should have been much better. And maybe U2 are doing this now with the new album. Reworking/re-ordering the songs before it's too late.


    Exactly my choice. I didn't like the Yahweh alternate. You didn't get Fast Cars on yours?

    I quite like One Step Closer.