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  1. Every U2 album has at least 2 or 3 gems even if the album is kinda bad, my opinion is that I completely dislike ATYCLB and HTDAAB because that's U2 trying to fit in today's music rather than continue their course in experimental music. This move has an explanation and it's called POP, for me one of the best albums of all time but severely beaten down by the press, specially in America, so in that new decade U2 tried to forget Pop by making an album simple yet too easy sounding and somewhat Pop"ish", I mean what the hell is Elevation, BD and Stuck if not commercial songs, plain radio friendly, then we have Kite and In a Little While, great songs, the real gems in that album, and right after we have wild honey and peace on earth? No, definitely not my cup of tea.
    The best song they created from that period was The Ground Beneath her Feet, a majestic song and together with Kite and In a Little While, the only 3 songs I absolutely love from that time.
    Then, we have HTDAAB, which meant U2 trying to be more rock and roll and failing, I do like Love and Peace or Else and OOTS and maybe COBL but I hate the other songs and don't get me started on ABOY and AMAAW( the hatred is flowing )...
    I consider the 2000's the worst U2 era because of those 2 albums: easy and radio friendly songs due to mostly bad reviews of Pop and a bad reception for that album( not in Europe, here in Portugal we love the POp album and the whole 90's from U2) which lead to a bit of fear to enter the 2000's, musically wise.
    Those 2 albums did sell a lot but that does not mean they are masterpieces and for me they are terrible, of course U2's worst albums are the very best of a lot of bands but still it was, for me, a dark time in U2's history, followed by a great album called NLOTH, now that album I loved, still hear it everyday at least 2 or 3 songs in my mp3, while ATYCLB and HTDAAB I may have 4 songs, combined....

    They spend too much time working and remodeling the songs over and over again, their best work comes when they don't care if it sells good or not( see Zooropa and Pop or even Passengers), just follow your visions and stop caring about money and ipod's and stuff like that, you got plenty from tours and 30 years of making music, you got nothing to lose now!! And please 5 years is a lot to wait for an album, in fact it hurts the album because it gets overdone and too much remodeled, you once fucked up the mainstream, I don't ask for a revolution like AB, but stop following money and Blackberry's and focus on the fans, U2's image and specially Bono's are too much damaged, drop the glasses, drop the whole mega stars and just make music, an album 2 in 2 years, that is what I think and sorry for ranting but I wanted to say these things a long time ago, but my english is kinda poor
  3. Originally posted by Maclove:Every U2 album has at least 2 or 3 gems even if the album is kinda bad, my opinion is that I completely dislike ATYCLB and HTDAAB because that's U2 trying to fit in today's music rather than continue their course in experimental music. This move has an explanation and it's called POP, for me one of the best albums of all time but severely beaten down by the press, specially in America, so in that new decade U2 tried to forget Pop by making an album simple yet too easy sounding and somewhat Pop"ish", I mean what the hell is Elevation, BD and Stuck if not commercial songs, plain radio friendly, then we have Kite and In a Little While, great songs, the real gems in that album, and right after we have wild honey and peace on earth? No, definitely not my cup of tea.
    The best song they created from that period was The Ground Beneath her Feet, a majestic song and together with Kite and In a Little While, the only 3 songs I absolutely love from that time.
    Then, we have HTDAAB, which meant U2 trying to be more rock and roll and failing, I do like Love and Peace or Else and OOTS and maybe COBL but I hate the other songs and don't get me started on ABOY and AMAAW( the hatred is flowing )...
    I consider the 2000's the worst U2 era because of those 2 albums: easy and radio friendly songs due to mostly bad reviews of Pop and a bad reception for that album( not in Europe, here in Portugal we love the POp album and the whole 90's from U2) which lead to a bit of fear to enter the 2000's, musically wise.
    Those 2 albums did sell a lot but that does not mean they are masterpieces and for me they are terrible, of course U2's worst albums are the very best of a lot of bands but still it was, for me, a dark time in U2's history, followed by a great album called NLOTH, now that album I loved, still hear it everyday at least 2 or 3 songs in my mp3, while ATYCLB and HTDAAB I may have 4 songs, combined....

    They spend too much time working and remodeling the songs over and over again, their best work comes when they don't care if it sells good or not( see Zooropa and Pop or even Passengers), just follow your visions and stop caring about money and ipod's and stuff like that, you got plenty from tours and 30 years of making music, you got nothing to lose now!! And please 5 years is a lot to wait for an album, in fact it hurts the album because it gets overdone and too much remodeled, you once fucked up the mainstream, I don't ask for a revolution like AB, but stop following money and Blackberry's and focus on the fans, U2's image and specially Bono's are too much damaged, drop the glasses, drop the whole mega stars and just make music, an album 2 in 2 years, that is what I think and sorry for ranting but I wanted to say these things a long time ago, but my english is kinda poor


    The thing is, after POP I think they don't want to risk doing their own thing again. They lost many american fans on that tour, as well as sales in North America, and I think they're afraid to do that again, hence the mainstream kind of feel. But even if the feel of the first two albums of the decade was more of a "rock" and mainstream type feel, in my opinion they were still really good. They did basic rock, but they did it well.
  4. Originally posted by RattleandHum1988:[..]

    The thing is, after POP I think they don't want to risk doing their own thing again. They lost many american fans on that tour, as well as sales in North America, and I think they're afraid to do that again, hence the mainstream kind of feel. But even if the feel of the first two albums of the decade was more of a "rock" and mainstream type feel, in my opinion they were still really good. They did basic rock, but they did it well.


    +1

    I think this is entirely too true, unfortunately...that album has truly scared them away from releasing an album without at least one radio-friendly song. Even though "Pop" was supposedly rushed, and the songs were never finished, the new mixes of songs on TBO 90-00 are all worse off than the original mixes, in my opinion. Even though I'm one of the few that really enjoys the studio version of Crazy Tonight, I'll be the first to admit it sounds sort of out of place on the new album. Could be the track placement, could be the song all-together...but it just screams radio whereas the rest of the album screams new direction.

    Whether or not that direction was a step forward or backward will be forever argued until the day we all die, but one thing's for sure- NLOTH does sound different than the past two albums. It almost seems as though ATYCLB collided with Zooropa. Slightly experimental...but still undoubtedly U2.


  5. VERY well put! That might be one of the best comparisons I've seen here.

    With that being said, I'm a little tired of people ripping on these albums too. I really love them. ATYCLB is in my top 3 (#1 for my pick of top albums of the 00's) and HTDAAB is in my top 6. I really love them. They were what got me into U2 in the first place really. That being said, I love No Line too. And I really don't see anything wrong with wanting to appeal to the masses at least once in a while...just to prove to yourself that you are "in touch" or something...
  6. Originally posted by kris_smith87:[..]

    VERY well put! That might be one of the best comparisons I've seen here.

    And I really don't see anything wrong with wanting to appeal to the masses at least once in a while...just to prove to yourself that you are "in touch" or something...


    1) Thank you I was proud of that as well haha

    2) Your're entirely right, now that I'm reading it that way. There's nothing wrong with showing people you've still got it, in terms of mass-popularity Almost like they interrupt the album midway and go, "Hey everyone! Just in case you thought this was gonna turn out like 'Pop', we like to take the next 5 minutes of your time to prove you wrong."

    Because Boots/Stand Up follow Crazy, and even though Boots wasn't completely successful, they thought it would be since it was their first single, and Stand Up is as rock-guitarry as the album ever gets. So that could have been the dividing line between the two more experimental halves of the album, for people that were scared that the whole thing was gonna "suck" (If they didn't like NLOTH thru UC)
  7. Don't know why this thread is in the NLOTH section - but had to drop in my 2 cents here.

    The great thing about U2 is that they have recorded albums in a variety of genres. Country, gospel, "electronica", experimental, rock, punk, folk...reggae (thinking of their "Don't Take Your Guns to Town" cover). And all of is is a sort of pseudo-"blank"...they dabble...sometimes they do it well...sometimes it doesn't hit the mark.

    I think there are some great tracks on ATYCLB, but a lot of the songs on HTDATB just didn't hit right...they didn't feel genuine to me. There was just something lacking...something labored about that album that didn't make it click. Somehow the album felt forced.

    With that same sense, I feel NLOTH has more songs that feel genuinely inspired...like Moment of Surrender and Unknown Caller...where I hear a vacancy of that drive in something like Original of the Species and All Because of You,

    Now, I love Zooropa, Passengers, Pop, the more experimental stuff on NLOTH...so that's where I'm coming from. I'm sure there is a group of folks here that hated that period and were happy for "rock" to come back center stage. But that's what makes U2 so great...if we all got in a room together, we'd probably split up into totally different camps defending totally different sounds...all from the same band.

    To be really cheesy about it, U2 cooks up a lot of flavors in their music, and we all have different tastes. So you could be tired of people ripping on those albums, but just accept the fact that it wasn't to the taste of a handful of fans. No prob...we all still love the band, that's why we're here.


  8. I'm dead serious. If Mercy had been finished it would have taken the place of both Crumbs and A Man And A Woman.

    But...Mercy, I really think is finished and we've heard it. Some people here have said they don't think so, but I really do. Which song on NLOTH does it sound like?
  9. Originally posted by drewhiggins:[..]

    I'm dead serious. If Mercy had been finished it would have taken the place of both Crumbs and A Man And A Woman.

    But...Mercy, I really think is finished and we've heard it. Some people here have said they don't think so, but I really do. Which song on NLOTH does it sound like?


    Yes, A Man And A Woman is decent it's groovy, Crumbs is much worse (that and One Step Closer - which is BORING).

    Mercy would be amazing if they'd finish it. The first verse is great, and the ending too, but the middle of the song sags too much of Bono shouting his 00s style half-sensical lyrics.
  10. Originally posted by vanquish:[..]

    Yes, A Man And A Woman is decent it's groovy, Crumbs is much worse (that and One Step Closer - which is BORING).

    Mercy would be amazing if they'd finish it. The first verse is great, and the ending too, but the middle of the song sags too much of Bono shouting his 00s style half-sensical lyrics.


    I like slow, melodic music - have you ever listened to Eno's Music For Airports? Listen to that, each track twice, then come back and tell me what you think of OSC.

    Mercy would be a nice track when finished but surely don't you think it sounds like Breathe in more ways than one?
  12. Originally posted by Maclove:Every U2 album has at least 2 or 3 gems even if the album is kinda bad, my opinion is that I completely dislike ATYCLB and HTDAAB because that's U2 trying to fit in today's music rather than continue their course in experimental music. This move has an explanation and it's called POP, for me one of the best albums of all time but severely beaten down by the press, specially in America, so in that new decade U2 tried to forget Pop by making an album simple yet too easy sounding and somewhat Pop"ish", I mean what the hell is Elevation, BD and Stuck if not commercial songs, plain radio friendly, then we have Kite and In a Little While, great songs, the real gems in that album, and right after we have wild honey and peace on earth? No, definitely not my cup of tea.
    The best song they created from that period was The Ground Beneath her Feet, a majestic song and together with Kite and In a Little While, the only 3 songs I absolutely love from that time.
    Then, we have HTDAAB, which meant U2 trying to be more rock and roll and failing, I do like Love and Peace or Else and OOTS and maybe COBL but I hate the other songs and don't get me started on ABOY and AMAAW( the hatred is flowing )...
    I consider the 2000's the worst U2 era because of those 2 albums: easy and radio friendly songs due to mostly bad reviews of Pop and a bad reception for that album( not in Europe, here in Portugal we love the POp album and the whole 90's from U2) which lead to a bit of fear to enter the 2000's, musically wise.
    Those 2 albums did sell a lot but that does not mean they are masterpieces and for me they are terrible, of course U2's worst albums are the very best of a lot of bands but still it was, for me, a dark time in U2's history, followed by a great album called NLOTH, now that album I loved, still hear it everyday at least 2 or 3 songs in my mp3, while ATYCLB and HTDAAB I may have 4 songs, combined....

    They spend too much time working and remodeling the songs over and over again, their best work comes when they don't care if it sells good or not( see Zooropa and Pop or even Passengers), just follow your visions and stop caring about money and ipod's and stuff like that, you got plenty from tours and 30 years of making music, you got nothing to lose now!! And please 5 years is a lot to wait for an album, in fact it hurts the album because it gets overdone and too much remodeled, you once fucked up the mainstream, I don't ask for a revolution like AB, but stop following money and Blackberry's and focus on the fans, U2's image and specially Bono's are too much damaged, drop the glasses, drop the whole mega stars and just make music, an album 2 in 2 years, that is what I think and sorry for ranting but I wanted to say these things a long time ago, but my english is kinda poor


    Great post
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U2start is run by fans for fans. Help us reduce personal costs. Consider to make a donation to support us.
U2start is run by fans for fans. Help us reduce personal costs. Consider to make a donation to support us.