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  1. Oh, PS

    NLOTH - 9
    Magnificent - 8
    MoS - 8.5
    UC - 8
    IGCIIDGCT - 7.5
    GOYB - 7.5
    SuC - 8
    F-BB - 9.5
    WaS - 6.5
    Breathe - 10
    Cedars - 8


  2. I know what you mean there. I think even just one misplaced lyric can jar a song for me, and I hate when that happens. It rarely does in so much of their earlier stuff. But I love Fez as a song, until I hear that horrible line about being born and 'a bleeding start'. Not sure if it's because I'm a woman and the thought makes me cringe, but it really makes me go and spoils the song. And I get so annoyed because it's almost perfect for me! Gah, Bono, you suck sometimes.
  3. No Line 9.5
    Magnificent 8.5
    Moment of Surrender 10
    Unknown Caller 10
    Crazy Tonight 9
    Boots 7.5 (Live version would be much higher)
    Stand Up Comedy 6
    Fez Being Born 8.5
    White as Snow 9
    Breathe 9.5
    Cedars 8
  4. Originally posted by bonoffee:[..]

    I know what you mean there. I think even just one misplaced lyric can jar a song for me, and I hate when that happens. It rarely does in so much of their earlier stuff. But I love Fez as a song, until I hear that horrible line about being born and 'a bleeding start'. Not sure if it's because I'm a woman and the thought makes me cringe, but it really makes me go and spoils the song. And I get so annoyed because it's almost perfect for me! Gah, Bono, you suck sometimes.




    I like that line in Being Born, i wouldn't compare it to the lines in SUC which are cringeworthy.

    Originally posted by Doc32:No Line 9.5
    Magnificent 8.5
    Moment of Surrender 10
    Unknown Caller 10
    Crazy Tonight 9
    Boots 7.5 (Live version would be much higher)
    Stand Up Comedy 6
    Fez Being Born 8.5
    White as Snow 9
    Breathe 9.5
    Cedars 8


    Too hard to do, all i know is Unknown Caller is the best song on the album, Breathe is 2nd maybe and GOYB and SUC are last


  5. Well I was expanding your point about lyrics that don't work for you, and saying that's one that doesn't work for me. It makes me uncomfortable, I don't know exactly why.
  6. Originally posted by djrlewis:[..]


    haha. That's the bit I like the most. Love singing along in the car to that. Maybe it's because I'm a 'dad-rocker'.....


    Me too. Cool song - I like it a lot more than Crazy Tonight and Magnificent. A bit of a rocker - what Bomb was missing.
  7. Agree about Boots live. Goes up to a 8.5 for me there. NLOTH goes up to 10 too.
  8. Originally posted by djrlewis:[..]


    haha. That's the bit I like the most. Love singing along in the car to that. Maybe it's because I'm a 'dad-rocker'.....



    But that part is SO embarassingly hammy! otherwise the song is great, funkiest thing they've done in a long time, love the rhythm and lyrics of the first verse and that riff.

    This is the problem with much of their post-2000s the concepts are sound but the execution simply isnt there.

    Boots is better live though, if only because it's less sillier
  9. Right, the album has been out for more 8 months now. I must say: some songs are really up there for me. Breathe, Magnificent, Unknown Caller, Moment of Surrender, Being Born, and to some extent the live version of No Line on the Horizon. These songs cut deeper than any song in HTDAAB, even though the HTDAAB singles certainly come across better on the radio.

    White as Snow and Cedars are also great songs to listen to. After 8 months, it's the poppy section that's not included in my playlist anymore.

    Btw: Disappearing Act, such a nice little gem.


  11. HAHA when did i say this, i thought id stopped posting on here while being pissed
  12. IMO/FWIW/etc etc...

    It's kind of hard for me to rate these now, with having the comparison of the live shows to make the album versions sound a little insipid (not solely a problem with this album, but a U2 trend in general), but I still feel like there are a several very strong tracks on this album. It's not the wonder that Rolling Stone and several other reviewers proclaimed it on its release, but nor is it the disaster some fans have labelled it.

    More interesting than HTDAAB, less interesting than AB, more adventurous than ATYCLB, less adventurous than Pop; it sits somewhere in the upper half of their albums for me. Musically, I think there's some very strong writing, but lyrically, to me it seems to have some serious rough spots and a probable case of too many cooks. It's over-produced and there's some dead cheesy syth/drum machine work in there, notably the horrible My First Casio disco backing on Magnificent.

    My overall impression of NLOTH is that it's an album that doesn't know what it wants to be and ends up being just a potluck dinner of several great dishes that don't all go together and a couple of mystery salads that no one quite knows what to do with. Whatever it is, U2 need to remember the immortal advice (which I'm probably mangling): "Never explain, never complain." They need to stop explaining what the songs are about and let them stand on their own two (metaphorical) feet and stop complaining that the fans are too uncool/ungroovy/whatever to appreciate them. That way leads to Anne Rice and tears.

    No Line: Solid 8.0 There's some really nice writing in these lyrics, and the time theme that appears in several songs on NLOTH is really strong here. Bono's certainly not being original in writing woman as mysterious and changeable, wise and powerful, but it's done well here. I know the 'traffic cop, Rue de Marais' line confused/annoyed some fans, but I kind of love it. I have to smile at the mental image of a typical French gendarme in his white gloves standing in the middle of an intersection trying to control the chaos of Parisian traffic (an exercise in futility as hopeless as trying to empty the sea with a teaspoon) as a metaphor for dealing with the chaotic nature of life.

    Magnificent: 5.0 I really don't like this song. Five is probably being generous for how much I don't like this song. Musically (and especially rhythmically) I find it tedious; lyrically, excruciating. Bono can and has done so much better. One dimensional and dull.

    Moment of Surrender: 7.5 This is a great song. No question about it, while this is thematic ground they've ploughed many many times, there is some really lovely writing here. Unfortunately, just because it's a good song, doesn't make it a good choice of closer for the concerts. But album-wise, it's well worth the inclusion. It has the universality that is the hallmark of a song with legs. I could (and possibly will) fill a whole post on its own with rambling on about the imagery and metaphor in this song, but for now I'll just mention the beauty that is the first verse:

    I tied myself with wire
    To let the horses run free
    Playing with the fire
    Till the fire played with me

    It's going there, taking the risks and dangling your arse out there into the abyss until you realise the abyss always keeps a little bit of you and how hard it is to get those back. My favourite U2 songs are those that explore the darker side of life (Bad, Love is Blindness, UTEOTW) and this fits right in with those. Still a lousy choice of closer though. And I took off points for the ATM machine.

    Unknown Caller: 6.5 I get where they're going with this, really I do. It's a metaphor for being lost and finding yourself, for chucking out the unimportant stuff and reinventing who you are. I get it, I just don't care. One day this song will sound as quaint and archaic as 'jiving at the sock hop'. Built-in lyrical obsolescence = a song with a limited shelf life. U2 are better than this. It scores higher than Magnificent only due to the loveliness of the first verse.

    Crazy Tonight: 7.0 (The live remix gets a 10) WHY??? Why this mannered, tentative version when there was all kinds of crazy goodness to be had? The lyrics want to go crazy, but the song couldn't be more polite and dull. I'm not hugely convinced by the lyrics in this one; it's a bit of a madwoman's breakfast - all over the place with no real cohesion. It almost feels like it wants to be 3 or 4 different songs. Filed under 'rescued by the remix'.

    Boots: 8.5 I know I'm in the minority, but I really love this song. I'm a big fan of U2 when they're rocking out and this one does it for me. We're looking at a vision of the future, Bono-style, and it's better than you might think. He's talking about the future here: dreams, visions, signs, and portents. The moon's not only a symbol of seeing the future; it's also very feminine. It's a return to the 'beauty as power' theme they've visited many times before, but it's worth the visit.

    Stand Up Comedy: 7.5 Makes me laugh, if only for Bono finally coming out and saying what many of us have known for a long time: no, he doesn't take himself all that seriously, despite what the haters say. It loses points for petering out into crappy middle of the road territory in the end ('soul-rocking people'? 'stand up, then sit down for your love'? really, guys? really?) Special love for Bono admitting that God doesn't actually need Mr Paul Hewson's assistance in running the universe, thanks all the same.

    Fez/Being Born: 8.5 This song always reminds me of something off TUF; atmospheric and a little fuzzy at the edges. I'm a sucker for lyrical sketches like this. Pretty and effective, but I don't understand the calls to have them play it live. It's fine where it is.

    White as Snow: 4.0 Didn't Simon and Garfunkel do this 40 years ago? Nothing new original or interesting about this one for me. Yawn.

    Breathe: 9.0 I've said many times how much I love this song, so this score should surprise no one. I love the smartness of the lyrics and I even love the bloody cockatoo because it's Bono juggling words like he's in the centre ring of the Great Moscow Circus. Most potent line: "There's nothing you have that I need". This one hits me right where I live. Being truly free of dependence is an amazingly freeing and rare thing. Being free to breathe your own air, hold your head up, and your arms out and let the world take its shot at you takes guts, and that, for me, is what it's all about. Another song I could write reams about.

    Cedars: 9.0 This is such an interesting song, for all that it's really straightforward and does what it says on the pack. Bono's voice sounds fabulous in this sort of half-sung/half-spoken track, with just the right mix of world-weary yearning.

    And wow, that turned into a novel. It's times like this we need a cut tag.
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