― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Tuesday, 9 November 2004 12:57 (nineteen years ago) link
― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Tuesday, 9 November 2004 13:04 (nineteen years ago) link
― the bellefox, Tuesday, 9 November 2004 14:51 (nineteen years ago) link
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 9 November 2004 15:27 (nineteen years ago) link
― bg, Tuesday, 9 November 2004 15:27 (nineteen years ago) link
― john'n'chicago, Sunday, 14 November 2004 03:55 (nineteen years ago) link
― Jay Vee (Manon_70), Sunday, 14 November 2004 04:02 (nineteen years ago) link
― Jay Vee (Manon_70), Sunday, 14 November 2004 04:03 (nineteen years ago) link
― Jay Vee (Manon_70), Sunday, 14 November 2004 04:04 (nineteen years ago) link
― results not typical (Jody Beth Rosen), Sunday, 14 November 2004 04:13 (nineteen years ago) link
What are the other songs like?
― David A. (Davant), Sunday, 14 November 2004 06:43 (nineteen years ago) link
ermmmmmmmm, sorrrrrrrrt of. i can hear what you're saying.
― results not typical (Jody Beth Rosen), Sunday, 14 November 2004 10:48 (nineteen years ago) link
wonder if we'll see a reissue of the Compulsion back catalogue then .. or even a reunion ?
their last lp Medium is the Future was indeed a fucking excellent album .. all the freaky synth noises etc set to fantastic songs ..
― mark e (mark e), Sunday, 14 November 2004 20:49 (nineteen years ago) link
Vertigo, for some reason reminds me of Dirty Boots.
― dave225 (Dave225), Monday, 15 November 2004 12:58 (nineteen years ago) link
― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Monday, 15 November 2004 13:12 (nineteen years ago) link
Having finished Bono's memoir I go back to this CD. I'm a bit disappointed. It feels thinner than I hoped. Like ... "2000s rock-pop that might appeal to Steve Jobs", rather than the magical band I first loved.
"All Because of You", "Crumbs From Your Table", "Original Species" are all relatively low points.
I do have some affection for "Miracle Drug", tucked quietly between two 45s - and I was always quite impressed by "City of Blinding Lights". But I think the great underrated track here remains "A Man & A Woman". Melody, structure, voice, delivery, guitar, texture, words, it's all here - for once, in this era.
― the pinefox, Tuesday, 23 May 2023 12:40 (ten months ago) link
I was very underwhelmed with this album when it came out, but "City of Blinding Lights" is a keeper.
― Every post of mine is an expression of eternity (Boring, Maryland), Tuesday, 23 May 2023 15:40 (ten months ago) link
There's a lot of keepers on this, but despite everything it isn't that different from ATYCLB. They went on the attack, matching their New Rock-adjacent sound with the red/white/black album art and atomic bomb/target roundel icons, but they still gave it an unwieldy title rather than a quick snappy one - 'Vertigo' would have worked.
― you can see me from westbury white horse, Tuesday, 23 May 2023 15:44 (ten months ago) link
When this was first released I wasn't really enthusiastic about it, I mean their sound has always appealed and therefore I liked it but it felt flat. However I kinda found the vinyl reissue from several years back to be a bit revelatory, I don't know what they did but it sounds punchier and the songs sound more confident. If you happen to own a record player, I recommend picking it up. After hearing it anew i feel it's an album that hangs together much better than anything since, though it doesn't have the highs of NLOTH and does unfortunately have Yahweh, which is probably the least of Bono's religion songs.
― omar little, Tuesday, 23 May 2023 16:16 (ten months ago) link
Good, well-informed posts - thanks.
― the pinefox, Tuesday, 23 May 2023 16:22 (ten months ago) link
I agree w/your take on 'a man and a woman', kind of an unwieldy title but a really strong cut.
― omar little, Tuesday, 23 May 2023 17:05 (ten months ago) link
Same here. Still don't like the album, but when I saw them for the only time on the No Line on the Horizon tour, that track was a highlight, partly because "the spaceship" (or what was more commonly referred to as "the claw") opened up into a mothership out of a Spielberg movie and started spinning around, shining its lights across the stadium the entire time. A great spectacle even if the rest of the show was pretty uneven.
― birdistheword, Tuesday, 23 May 2023 18:55 (ten months ago) link
Just played 'Yahweh' again and I like a) the first few seconds before the verse starts and it feels like it will be more musically exciting than it is, b) when Bono dramatically sings, twice, 'this love is like a drop in the ocean' at the end of the bridge - the drama I think being in how he's belittling his own love (which with the minor chord music at that moment sounds ominous) rather than aggrandising it.
― the pinefox, Tuesday, 23 May 2023 18:55 (ten months ago) link
xp (I double checked and actually the structure itself didn't spin. Rather they created an illusion of spinning via the honeycomb of screens that covered the surface of the structure.)
― birdistheword, Tuesday, 23 May 2023 19:00 (ten months ago) link
"City of Blinding Lights," like "Happy" and "Can't Stop the Feeling!," became a staple of administrative gatherings + corporate nonsense that I couldn't hear it for the decent anthem it was for years. I prefer this album to ATYCLB: it's the Emotional Rescue without the title track, depending on what you think of "Vertigo."
― the dreaded dependent claus (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 23 May 2023 19:19 (ten months ago) link
Egregiously clunky album title
― Davey D, Tuesday, 23 May 2023 22:47 (ten months ago) link