Classic or Dud: U2

The most 90s U2 thing about it is "Cedars" as a moody closer in the "Love Is Blindness"/"Wake Up Dead Man". The collagey effects in the background remind me of the latter in particular.

I use an iPhone for work and every once in a while, not sure why, it starts playing U2

Every once in a while, our kids will be playing around with the ipad and will start playing the U2 album that was automatically downloaded to every apple device years ago, presumably because they started the apple music app and this is the only album on there for our account.

Also, that whole album automatically added to every apple device move is a pretty good demonstration of what makes U2 and their fans annoying to a lot of people. At apparently no point did it occur to anyone (either U2 or the U2 fans at Apple who were responsible for this) that somebody might not be happy to have a U2 album automatically downloaded to their phone. They just assume that everybody loves U2 and will want to hear the new album.

yeah, that album they shoved into every phone was unfortunately one of their most forgettable, which compounded the problem. ("Every Breaking Wave" is good, but that should've been on No Line on the Horizon.)

I posted too much about this already, but No Line on the Horizon is more like an A- album to me IF you slice out those three duds in the middle ("Boots," "Crazy," "Comedy") and replace them with "Every Breaking Wave" and then "Winter" from Linear. 10 tracks, still nearly the same length, and it fulfills my best hopes for an autumnal U2 album.

I have a soft spot for Zooropa because it's sort of the first one I really knew when it came out. (I probably was late to it by several months, but I know got into it the year it came out.) The "Numb" video was everywhere and that was U2 to me - it made finding out about U2 Mach I all the more bewildering later on. Like "Sunday Bloody Sunday" - that's the same band?? Anyway, one of the very few CD's I had, and I would have it on a loop, sometimes even the same track. I remember playing "Babyface" for like an hour straight. I think it was my introduction to Johnny Cash too - like I vaguely knew who he was, but it was the first time I really heard him sing. Will always love that album.

After Pop I feel like they threw in the towel and became a legacy act, because they were just making new music for people who didn't really want NEW music. It's even suggested in their business plan for their comeback, which hit the reset button with a greatest hits album. But I still think ATYCLB is excellent. It gets by on focus and songcraft. Like it would've been a perfect retirement album, a victory lap that reminds me of what they once accomplished and how there's still mileage in what they've done in terms of crafting more good stuff in that mold.

an extremely forced "We're back, and we're rockin'!"

One would not be surprised to hear them refer to "guys in a room" a la

Aging rock act on new album: This time we wanted to go back to the basics

This band I think falls into the "what have you done for me lately?" category that befalls many legacy acts. At the very least, almost every one of the band's first 8 albums, plus a live EP, plus Passengers, doesn't take too much effort to defend. That's a heck of a run for any act. The question becomes what to make of the next five or so, and how does or should that affect one's opinion of the band?

Atomic Bomb was the "guys in a room" one - or at least the back to basics one, in theory, because they went back to their Magazine/Banshees/et al EPs (even though I don't think this supposed Our Roots-ness comes over for most the album). Guys in a room not so much because Bono was apparently barely there.

listened to 'no line on the horizon' this afternoon and it's just . . . boring. i mean it sounds like u2 and is no more embarrassing than anything else bono is involved with, but there's no reason i would ever listen to it before 10+ other records of theirs

for me it's mainly notable for the ilx covers version, which featured this:

https://i.imgur.com/hZVFcSL.gif

I have a soft spot for Zooropa because it's sort of the first one I really knew when it came out.

I’d been following them fairly closely since The Unforgettable Fire — I first saw them in 1985, and it remains one of my favorite concert experiences. With each record I always wondered, “What’re they gonna do next?” Weirdly, that curiosity and anticipation were at a peak after Rattle & Hum. That is, “I assume they’re not continuing down this somewhat sucky road, but what will they come up with instead?” Achtung was more a fulfillment than a surprise, but Zooropa and Pop both felt very exciting at the time, further confirmations that they were going to keep challenging themselves (and, to varying degrees, their audience).

After Pop I feel like they threw in the towel and became a legacy act, because they were just making new music for people who didn't really want NEW music.

This is otm. I get that the process of assembling Pop was somewhat fraught, and that they were never completely satisfied with it, but instead of standing back and reflecting and thinking, “OK, let’s make the Pop album we REALLY want to make, and take our time and keep our schedules open…” they went the route of “No, wait, come back! We’ll be anthemic again, we promise! Edge, go on, show the people! Hit your delay pedal!”

pop is generally at its best when it's at its most processed so i really wish they'd had the time to make most of the arrangements denser, throw drum loops everywhere, etc. like on the first three tracks, really make their late 90s ~electronica~ album or whatever

They had no time. They wrote under a tour deadline.

I remember a Spin article from the time where they admitted they were rushed. And a few years before that Edge admitting that a lot of Zooropa was unfinished, particularly mentioning Dirty Day’s mix fluffing the dramatic “The days run away like horses over the hills” climax.

You probably can tell Dirty Day is one of my absolute favorite U2 songs.

Zooropa is their masterpiece imo

zooropa is prob my favorite u2 album outside of boy yeah. "some days" and "dirty day" are incredible

"Stay (Faraway So Close!)" is one of my karaoke jams

zooropa is absolutely their best

Yeah Bono should only record vocals when he has a cold

Agreed on Zooropa as best album.

"Dirty Day" is fantastic - good use of a drone, and also that the main chordal interruption to said drone is actually the only bit with Eno (a bit like how the three most metallic songs on Achtung are the three without any Eno credit) (another contradiction I think is Bono's vox there are the most Pop-foreshadowing).

Favourite song is "Lemon" and I wish they'd done the full thing live rather than just the single edit.

"Lemon" single edit certainly loses something. It's a quiet epic

extremely late to this thread but as a Zooropa truther this latest turn warms my heart

Good interview with Bono here:

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/10/24/magazine/bono-interview.html

Every once in a while he does one of these, where he plays good sport and sort of takes the abuse while cleverly subverting the appearance of self-awareness to his (more or less) rhetorical advantage.

I want the whole band to know that I for one know NLOTH was meant to be them getting their art rock on again (flawed though it is).

The art rock aspect was not the problem. It's (at the very least) flawed because they wimped out on that promise.

Precisely

It’s a very good album despite the flaws. I think the iTunes album is really good as well, obv they fucked up the release so much though. If they’d just gone the traditional route and maybe dropped a song or two its legacy would be better. Unlike the much lesser followup it sounds like a respectably uncool and occasionally subtle album. I guess it says a lot about me as U2 fan that I still find some positives in Songs of Experience but the only thing SOE has on SOI is it not being slipped into everyone’s library. Their strengths (1984-1997) were their more artsy endeavors, and even several tracks found on Rattle and Hum managed to be pretty great in that vein.

yep. for such an ambitious group their career has been marked by several crises of confidence.

What the, Bono was not naturally black haired?!

https://scontent-ord5-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/323437554_876775090039239_2210211909803804679_n.jpg?_nc_cat=103&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=5cd70e&_nc_ohc=FjxHdajU2WcAX-jK6a2&tn=bnunni0g8BRzxpO7&_nc_ht=scontent-ord5-1.xx&oh=00_AfAoUoc8kOcJ2OvnRkMvad5RCPRwhKDQnbdhRJEXh-klDQ&oe=63CBBAEC

Wow, he looks so much better without the dye job.

lol, he looks like the Irish poet he's always fancied himself!

I just want to call him pappy now that I see the deep wrinkles streaming from his eyes and that distinct mouth/jawline he's got. I'm glad he's embracing the look and idea of being an old man. Kind of wish he had done that much earlier.

into silver fox bono <3

Should see Adam Clayton these days, he’s gone full bearded troubadour.

also a fan

lookin' good bono!

he looks fantastic, hope he keeps it that way

As seen out the car window this morning:

https://i.imgur.com/T7JmrE9.jpg

So the big news of course last night was U2's official announcement of their Las Vegas money printing venture, but the small print is that Larry will indeed be out. Replacement is some dude named Bram van den Berg.

Bram van 3000

How to Dismantle an Atomic Bram

That trailer is fucking cringe

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I think the only U2 concert without all 4, to date, is one in Japan (?) when Clayton was hungover (?).

So this is a different ball game really. Makes U2 rather more like the Stones, Cure, or other band where lineup is variable.

I don't know more about the tour.

That was Sydney in November 1993, the day before the Zoo TV film was done (my fav concert film EVAH)

Kinda wish they'd just have retired from touring instead of replacing Larry. It's quite astonishing how long they've gone on with just the four of them and a bit sad to break that streak

I'd rather they'd just wait til Larry's well, and skip over the idea of a Vegas residency anyway.

My guess is with this also being kind of the big launch event for the Sphere thing is that there was a lot of legal wrangling to make it happen and it's probably really difficult for U2 to back out or postpone at this point. But yeah, I've never seen U2 and probably never will, but no Larry is a big bummer.

Yeah I didn't realize he was only undergoing surgery and plans to rejoin. They definitely should have waited for him, not like they need the money

Are there musical reasons for wanting Larry there, or is more about tradition and personnel continuity?

I like Larry and Adam fine bit (speaking as a drummer and occasional bass player), I think their parts are replicate. I would not say that of the other dudes

* but

** replicable