defend the indefensible: RATTLE AND HUM by U2

allmusic is exceptionally generous in their star ratings, christgau is notoriously rong much of the time, rolling stone lol, amazon lol

i say this as one of ilx's few u2 apologists btw

I'm in agreement here. I love a good bit of U2's catalog, pretty much everything from Boy to Pop... but this is not good at all. Their only big misstep before the last decade or so.

"When Love Comes To Town" was a single......

ok well the other singles. i like "desire," "angel of harlem" and "all i want is you."

And Neil Tennant is still an ugly, pompous, droning whiner. Most of his records are not nice to listen to.

The Pinefox is usually OTM but not in this case. I mean, I don't buy Neil Tennant's attack on U2 and what U2 used to stand for, or his entire pathetic "anti rockist" stance for that matter. But the guy has made a lot of really, really great music. Particularly after he struggled to dominate the charts, but got better than before at irony.

Hmmm.. I said I dislike all the singles there, which is not entirely true. "All I Want Is You" may be the greatest song on the entire album. "Desire", "Angel Of Harlem" and, most of all, "When Love Comes To Town" leave me very cold though.

XP to Ilxor: It was "Pop" that was their last misstep yet. The two albums after "Pop" have both been great. Particularly the first of the two.

i can take or leave the PSB and neil tennant, but his review of rattle and hum is pretty OTM esp. given what i remember was the mindset of some rock stars/critics circa 1988. in a way, rattle and hum is sort of the tales of topographic oceans of the 80s -- in the hubris of the creators of said records in making the damn things in the first place, that the creators themselves ended up none-too-pleased with the results, and that while the records themselves are FAR from the best things that the bands ever created there are still some good moments on both.

what i mean is, that neil tennant is skewering the attitudes of certain late 80s rock stars/critics in his criticism of rattle and hum -- and is on target as far as that goes.

wow! Geir is surprisingly otm regarding the album's singles. go go Geir Hongro!

Geir, you're crazy, Pop was great if a bit inconsistent. The next album was the first time U2 took a step back and retraced their previous sound, instead of doing something new within their style.

Then again, you don't care for Purple Rain, either, so I don't know why I'm even trying to argue my point here.

I think the best thing on POP might be 'Mofo'.

Is there a thread about POP, the U2 LP?

Doing something new is rarely a good thing. Plus U2's two 00s albums are different from their 80s in that they rely less on Bono's voice and The Edge's guitar playing and more on melodies and anthemic singalong choruses. The U2 of the 80s were never even remotely as melodically strong as they were on those albums. The influence from Britpop had a huge positive influence on U2 in that it taught them to rely more on writing strong tunes and less on the backing track and performance.

Then again, you don't care for Purple Rain, either

Not the song, no, but the album is ace.

And "Mofo" was the worst track on "Pop" and the best example of what was wrong about that album.

Doing something new is rarely a good thing.

As The Beatles demonstrated all through their career.

I'll agree that "Mofo" was the worst song on Pop, no contest there. But "Elevation" is much, much worse.

Doing something new is rarely a good thing.

I'll take doing something new and failing over treading water on the same sound almost every time. What U2 were doing in the '90s was infinitely more interesting than their '00s work. And I won't deny there are a few strong songs on their last two albums, but there is no exploration to be had, no risks to be taken, no height from which to fall. The songs may be structurally well written and catchy, but they reveal themselves almost entirely on the first listen and are not interesting beyond that in the least.

The best songs on Pop, for the record, are clearly "Do You Feel Loved," "Staring at the Sun" and "Please," all fucking great and among my favorite U2 songs, especially the latter two.

The Beatles were great not because they were doing new stuff but because they had the best melodies this side of Mozart.

I'll agree that "Mofo" was the worst best song on Pop

I want to see Geir and Vision talk at each other here.

I guess doing something new is maybe good if you're already doing something bad, and bad if you're already doing something good.

I don't think Britpop had any influence on U2.

Doing something new is good if you're doing something good already, but can do something new better.

I guess doing something new is maybe good if you're already doing something bad, and bad if you're already doing something good.

OTM

I don't think Britpop had any influence on U2.

Bono said himself in interviews around "Pop" that Britpop was an influence. Obviously it didn't influence tracks such as "Discoteque" or "Mofo" much, but the Britpop influence shines through in tracks such as "Staring At The Sun" and "If God Will Send His Angels" (the good songs on "Pop" that is)

hay guyz i took out all the live tracks and other shit and added in a b-side and reordered it. side 1 is more "country" or whatever, side 2 is the more rock stuff. no bono speechifying histrionics.

http://www.mediafire.com/?yj2tmiwzamx

thanks! I'll download this.

lol at pinefox -- or anyone -- calling Tennant pompous.

anyone see the You Tube RoseBowl show at the weekend? 10 million did so i assume 10 or so on her must have? anyone?

"Rattle & Hum" failed because the songs were generally too bluesy and not diatonic enough.

― Geir Hongro, Saturday, 27 September 2008 10:33 (1 year ago)

Rattle and Hum is a good title.

anyone see the You Tube RoseBowl show at the weekend? 10 million did so i assume 10 or so on her must have? anyone?

Ummm... I was actually *in* the Rose Bowl for the show if that counts.

Hattle and Rum. (If only 'hattle' meant something.)

"am i buggin' ya?" provided some MST3K chuckles, at least.
― Eisbär (llamasfur), Thursday, June 30, 2005 2:10 PM (4 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Hm, remind me where again.
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, June 30, 2005 2:13 PM (4 years ago) Bookmark

"magic voyage of sinbad"

four-and-a-half years late, but there you are.

:D

also, i 2d custos' and shakey's suggestions that "Rattle & Hum" be given the Rifftrax treatment.

XD

Rattle and Hum is a good title.

― Mark, Tuesday, 3 November 2009 04:04 (3 months ago)

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

four-and-a-half years late, but there you are.

Too kind of you.

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