defend the indefensible: RATTLE AND HUM by U2

I don't follow the general U2 bashing on ILM. But this album is overlong and actually rather bad. There are a few highlights ("All I Want Is You"), but generally it's way too Americana and also probably has the wrong producer. Jimmy Iovine was not the man they needed, and I guess they realized as they have never ever used him again afterwards.

contains favorite U2 song "desire"

I thought you'd love this, Geir: ugly white men playing melodies on guitars.

TS: U2 "Rattle and Hum" vs. XTC "Drums and Wires" vs. Sex Clark Five "Strum and Drum!"

by title:
sc5
xtc
u2

by music:
xtc
sc5
u2

i love two of these records to death.

though u2 did rebound rather nicely.

I thought you'd love this, Geir: ugly white men playing melodies on guitars.

"Rattle and Hum" is probably the least melodic U2 album of all. Extremely blues influenced, and the blues is boooooooring.

Don't mean to bug ya.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9NaIYULk6s

Saw this on bluray in hmv for a tenner, would I regret it?

For the most part yes.

man this movie is non-stop laffs

I'm putting that tenner to the test right now. Initial thoughts: this is a really odd thing, it's quite enjoyable and the music is actually pretty good, yet it's extremely ungaging. I'm now down to glancing at the screen once every couple of minutes. And yes, the only* bits that do stand out are the laffs - gawd, Bono writhing in front of a gospel choir while The Edge plays really quiet guitar is something to behold.

* not strictly true, the shots of Dublin are also quite nice but that's only because I know the place well enough to see how it's changed

I do now understand why people really, really hate U2, though

when my next door neighbor gets drunk he turns When Love Comes to Town up to 10 and hollers along.
not that i was ever going to like this record but still, thanks mark.

'unengaging' up there, not 'ungaging'

The 'Fuck the revolution' rant is good. If it really was a spontaneous response to events earlier that day, it's quite impressive.

Actually, whether it was spontaneous or not - let's not turn this into a salute to authenticity.

ugly white men playing melodies on guitars.

― Inculcate a spirit of serfdom in children (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Surely a problem with "God Part 2" is the lack of melody. Notice I didn't say *the* problem.

Then Play Long barely can defend U2, really: http://nobilliards.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/u2-rattle-and-hum.html

more like outright condemnation

I had never seen this video before today.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1GLDGiLE4c

Tremendous. So thrilling.

I have watched RATTLE AND HUM a number of times but this contains footage not in the film. Very well edited.

The band all look so thin! It's not just that they were young, but perhaps that - as when you look at photos from the 1940s - people were generally thinner then?

BB King plays great lead guitar and there is good footage of him.

I like the way that The Edge is asked to play a solo in a blues song and just plays a long, reverby arpeggio with a blue note in it.

This record was much maligned and even I didn't think it compared to the band's best. But how does it compare to U2's output now? I think it seems quite classic.

A good modern blues song and it had the virtue of bringing the great BB King to the UK charts. He liked the song and played it with his own band for many years.

"Angel of Harlem" is still awful.

In fact, let's grit our teeth, and go through all the Hat Tips on Rattle & Hum:

stealing Helter Skelter "back" on behalf of the Beatles
dedicating The Edge's effort to poet John Boyle O'Reilly, and dissing him in the sleevenotes
sticking Dylan on inaudible Hammond on Hawkmoon 269 (and Honey Cone on backing vocals)
Dylan again / Hendrix on All Along The Watchtower, because there's no chance of bathos there
yuk, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For goes gospel with the New Voices Of Freedom
Hey, Sterling Magee, Bobby Robinson & Macie Mabins, would you like 0:38 on our bloated album?
the brass nerve of "for Billie Holiday" on Angel Of Harlem: how wonderful it would be to hear which curse words she would use if she heard it
Bono and Bob set the Bible to music and Bob does backing vox on Love Rescue Me
Ladies and Gentlemen, Mister BB King
of *course
Eno is doing keyboards on Heartland -- a song you forget while you're listening to it
"for John Lennon", because God needed a sanctimonious updating
hey, dead Jimi Hendirx, would you like 0:43 on our bloated record, on which the guitars are also quite good?
"put El Salvador through the amp"
and after the rattle, the hum: Van Dyke Parks on All I Want Is You
"thanks to Tim Buckley"?!
the Spinal Tap Gracelands moments

― A.C.M.E. (A.C.M.E.), Thursday, June 30, 2005 11:19 AM (twelve years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

^^ booming post

i like the movie a lot, don't know the album too well.

There's far worse U2 songs than 'Angel of Harlem' ... I don't mind it, personally.

ANNNNNNNN-GEEEELLLLLLL

the two best tracks on this by far are Hawkmoon 269 and Heartland, they're both actually great songs. whenever i've made a U2 mix i stick both of them on.

I don't know much about Tim Buckley but - had never realized he was mentioned on this LP.

'Angel of Harlem' is one of the best new songs on it. I agree about Hawkmoon and Heartland also. In fact come to think of it, most of the new songs are good and, sadly, probably all better than U2's last two or three LPs.

I always liked the song title Hawkmoon 269 very post punk like Wire song title bigger

kick the darkness till it bleeds daylight

I still like "Desire," it's a good Bo Diddley riff.

its a musical journey

a car salesman who loved to play guitar

I like "All I Want Is You."

I recall some bootlegs of R&H outtakes knocking round years back and of course, they're all on YouTube, makes for some very glum watching, they look so unhappy/self-conscious. 'Outside It's America' is miles better than Rattle & Hum.

I've been wondering for a while when the death of 12-bar blues in pop music happened, and maybe it's "When Love Came to Town."

I do like the b-side "Unchained Melody" cover from this album.

*Comes to Town

Eheh it seems all their albums up to « Achtung Baby » have had a deluxe or remaster version... except for « R&H » ! Isn’t it weird !?

I REALLY like the line "but I did what I did before love came to town"

I like "All I Want Is You."

i've always felt that god part II was an unfairly underrated song, and mainly because it's on this album. i don't think the lyrics are spectacular or anything but i love the sound of it, it sounds more like a precursor to achtung baby than anything else here. if they'd used it as a b-side or something people would probably remember it more fondly.

what is OUTSIDE IT'S AMERICA?

I do have a dvd called RATTLE & ROLL which is RATTLE AND HUM outtakes that are mostly very rough indeed.

I think almost all the songs mentioned here are good - not U2's best, but still more powerful than most of what they have released since, say, 1993.

For sure, the worst part of the record is the live stuff/covers, imo. The best part of the record is that the band seemed to recognize how it had lost its way - iirc post-R&H was the closest they came to breaking up, at least post October - and made a conscious effort to change, which resulted in Achtung Baby. I don't think they would have done that had they not made this album and movie and had their missteps documented and mocked for all to see, including themselves.

I don't think there are any missteps!

Well, technically speaking...
http://www.gifbin.com/bin/052015/1431971132_u2s_the_edge_falls_off_the_stage.gif

Yes but not on RATTLE AND HUM! :D

The missteps are mostly tonal, like Bono's introductions or "play the blues!" or their faux naive embrace of Americana. This is the last band in the world that should be paying tribute to BB King or Elvis or Hendrix, let alone the Beatles or Lennon.

But 'play the blues' is exciting!

In a sense it redefines the blues.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xg48S4Ino0k

This is much more like the band stuff in Depeche Mode's 101 i always felt. As MaresNest suggests it's way more fun that Rattle. I think the cheap film stock helps.