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Post by glider on Nov 28, 2017 23:33:23 GMT -5
American Soul is garbage. It sounds like it belongs in a movie that failed to secure a U2 license and settled on a soundalike. "Write something that sounds like U2. You know what I mean". It's not BAD really, but it's almost aggressively generic. Same. I don't think it's as terrible as Get On Your Boots, it's just bland and useless like You're the Best Thing. |
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Post by glider on Nov 28, 2017 23:35:53 GMT -5
So is this album worth a listen guys? Where would you rank it post Pop?
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Post by batfink30 on Nov 29, 2017 18:13:40 GMT -5
So is this album worth a listen guys? Where would you rank it post Pop? It's a strange album to me, some of it is awful (the singles) but some of it is great (Little Things, Lights of Home, Love Is Bigger, Love Is All We Have Left and a few others. Hard to tell this early where it ranks. |
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Post by Lennon2217 on Nov 29, 2017 18:17:58 GMT -5
So is this album worth a listen guys? Where would you rank it post Pop? It's a strange album to me, some of it is awful (the singles) but some of it is great (Little Things, Lights of Home, Love Is Bigger, Love Is All We Have Left and a few others. Hard to tell this early where it ranks. I'm digging it and that is really surprising me. |
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Post by batfink30 on Nov 29, 2017 19:00:21 GMT -5
It's a strange album to me, some of it is awful (the singles) but some of it is great (Little Things, Lights of Home, Love Is Bigger, Love Is All We Have Left and a few others. Hard to tell this early where it ranks. I'm digging it and that is really surprising me. I've been really busy for days so not had a proper chance to listen to it so will need to listen and let it sink in. |
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Post by durk on Nov 29, 2017 20:41:03 GMT -5
It's a strange album to me, some of it is awful (the singles) but some of it is great (Little Things, Lights of Home, Love Is Bigger, Love Is All We Have Left and a few others. Hard to tell this early where it ranks. I'm digging it and that is really surprising me. same. well... three quarters of it anyway. |
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Post by durk on Nov 29, 2017 20:47:26 GMT -5
So is this album worth a listen guys? Where would you rank it post Pop? better than the past 2 imo don't think it eclipses All that You Can't or Atomic Bomb, for me |
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Post by World71R on Nov 30, 2017 16:39:12 GMT -5
So is this album worth a listen guys? Where would you rank it post Pop? It's has its flaws, but it's a pretty good album. American Soul, You're the Best Thing, and Get Out of Your Own Way are probably the three weakest, but the last two do grow on you a little bit, and American Soul is okay if you just think of how good everything else but the chorus is (really that's the fatal flaw with the song imo). As a whole album, it's better than Atomic Bomb imo and not too far off of All That You Can't Leave Behind. In U2's discography, I would say the album is just below Boy and ATYCLB, and above SOI, NLOTH, Atomic Bomb, and October, which is pretty good. |
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Post by World71R on Dec 1, 2017 15:57:45 GMT -5
Just got through listening to the whole album. I think 13 may just be one of the best closers U2 has done in a while. It reuses the Song for Someone pre-chorus and chorus but does so well enough to act as a great companion to the song (unlike American Soul, as it is to Volcano). Bono and the boys did a good job with this album. Almost every track is at least a 7/10 or higher and there's some good production and work on there that sounds modern but not overdone, and is fresh.
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Post by Lennon2217 on Dec 1, 2017 16:01:58 GMT -5
Just got through listening to the whole album. I think 13 may just be one of the best closers U2 has done in a while. It reuses the Song for Someone pre-chorus and chorus but does so well enough to act as a great companion to the song (unlike American Soul, as it is to Volcano). Bono and the boys did a good job with this album. Almost every track is at least a 7/10 or higher and there's some good production and work on there that sounds modern but not overdone, and is fresh. I really dig the opening track and blackout. The latter reminds me of Acthung Baby. Very industrial. |
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Post by matt on Dec 1, 2017 18:34:05 GMT -5
So is this album worth a listen guys? Where would you rank it post Pop? It's has its flaws, but it's a pretty good album. American Soul, You're the Best Thing, and Get Out of Your Own Way are probably the three weakest, but the last two do grow on you a little bit, and American Soul is okay if you just think of how good everything else but the chorus is (really that's the fatal flaw with the song imo). As a whole album, it's better than Atomic Bomb imo and not too far off of All That You Can't Leave Behind. In U2's discography, I would say the album is just below Boy and ATYCLB, and above SOI, NLOTH, Atomic Bomb, and October, which is pretty good. I agree with all of this, and in terms of its ranking I think it's spot on. For all the hollow bombast of the previous albums and forcing it into peoples iTunes account, I think this album's more restrained nature than previous U2 albums is what sets it apart. It's not Zooropa style restraint but it certainly sounds less like a band desperate to capture everyone's attention, and feels more acceptant of their place in the music industry. It feels more personal and intimate in terms of its lyrical content. Certainly by U2's standard, the release of this feels a lot more low key than the previous two albums, and maybe they realised their current status in accordance with this. The pop fodder crap of the singles is something this album could do without - you can tell where Ryan Tedder's had his filthy hands all over it with some of the songs cheap gimmicks. But I was certainly impressed with the Song For Someone rewrite of 13 - astonishing how such a shite song could be turned into something so beautiful. I'm loving Love Is All We Have Left - proof that if U2 have to throw out broad sentiments like this, it doesn't always have to include lung bursting choruses and other such anthemic cliches and can be made a bit more intimate and, as a result, more romantic. Digging Summer Of Love too - Bono keeps the restraint and The Edge's simple little guitar riff is one of his best in years. And for all U2's desperation for a catchy, modern tune, The Showman is a bit more old fashioned and retro in its style but far catchier and less cliched than any of the singles. And The Little Things That Give You Away is achingly beautiful - maybe the best song out of the Innocence/Experience collection; I think it's Bono at his most human and fragile in years. In all honesty, from Summer Of Love onwards, the album doesn't put a foot wrong, although Love Is Bigger Than Anything In Its Way is forgettable amongst the three singles from the first half (would have replaced it with the bonus track Book Of Your Heart). It's not a classic but it's far superior to the last three albums (though not as good as All That You Can't Leave Behind), but this album just feels a bit more humble and less self conscious in its desperation to reach out to everyone, as opposed to the bravado that really spoils a lot of the previous three albums. Evidence that the more restraint U2 show these days (or at least Bono), the better band they are for it. |
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Post by The Invisible Sun on Dec 1, 2017 23:32:11 GMT -5
I gave this album a single listen as background noise and I kept finding myself paying more attention to it than what I was doing. It's a good album.
American Soul is the weakest track for me off the top of my head. I always liked You're The Best Thing About Me. The Blackout grew after a few listens.
Not yet acquainted with the rest, but it mostly sounds very strong. It has very personal, soulful vocals, something I think was lacking a bit on Innocence (But I love that album too).
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Post by The Escapist on Dec 2, 2017 10:15:22 GMT -5
Wow, this first track is pretty beautiful with the vocoder thing. Might listen to the full album. Expect a playlist from me sans-shit-singles  |
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Post by playthehitsgetoff on Dec 2, 2017 11:48:39 GMT -5
I cannot stomach U2...sorry..
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Post by The Escapist on Dec 2, 2017 12:04:30 GMT -5
Yeah, it's alright. Some nice tunes, a few really awful ones. Par for the course, really.
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Post by matt on Dec 2, 2017 14:13:19 GMT -5
I cannot stomach U2...sorry.. Thanks for notifying us.... again. |
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Post by matt on Dec 2, 2017 14:17:43 GMT -5
Wow, this first track is pretty beautiful with the vocoder thing. Might listen to the full album. Expect a playlist from me sans-shit-singles All praise to Andy Barlow from Lamb who produced that. Ditch the others and work solely with him on the next album. He also co-produced Little Things That Gave You Away (along with three more tracks, one of which was the bonus tune) - the beautiful ethereal opening brings much of the mystique and beauty back to U2s music, likewise with the intro track. His influence sounds contemporary without trying too hard and sounding cheap (ahem, Ryan Tedder); U2 could do with a lot more from him in the future. Of all the producers U2 have worked with over the course of these two albums, only him and Danger Mouse could be labelled as ‘artistically influential’. Danger Mouse and U2 did fuck all with regards to creating anything interesting, so Barlow is the only producer in my opinion from these two albums to come out with any credit. |
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Post by carlober on Dec 3, 2017 4:04:34 GMT -5
This album is quite good, surprisingly! Even if it's too generic in places.
The opening and closing track are two of the most genuine and inspired U2 moments in a decade or more.
I still think American Soul is the only awful track of it (it should have been replaced by the bonus track Book of Your Heart), the other singles are mostly standard U2-by-numbers but they're listenable.
Overall, it's good and it took me by surprise. It's not mindblowing but it's solid.
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Post by Lennon2217 on Dec 4, 2017 1:28:17 GMT -5
Noel (7.1) beat U2’s Pitchfork score (5.3) “The pursuit of relevance seems above all what motivates them to create. What are they doing, really, when time and again they endeavor to reinvent themselves, if not trying to remain fashionable—or, more precisely, to stave off obsolescence?” pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/u2-songs-of-experience/amp/ |
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Post by batfink30 on Dec 5, 2017 11:47:48 GMT -5
Noel (7.1) beat U2’s Pitchfork score (5.3) “The pursuit of relevance seems above all what motivates them to create. What are they doing, really, when time and again they endeavor to reinvent themselves, if not trying to remain fashionable—or, more precisely, to stave off obsolescence?” pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/u2-songs-of-experience/amp/U2 are at their best when they're not trying to stave off obsolescence. See the singles from the new album Vs songs like "Little Things". On a side note GOOYOW has really grown on me, there's a really good guitar riff and solo in there. |
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Post by Let It Bleed on Dec 5, 2017 14:05:32 GMT -5
I'll have to get this album, some good reception; I liked enough songs off the last album to actually buy a physical copy along with the free one, so....
Thanks.
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Post by carlober on Dec 5, 2017 15:32:01 GMT -5
Noel (7.1) beat U2’s Pitchfork score (5.3) “The pursuit of relevance seems above all what motivates them to create. What are they doing, really, when time and again they endeavor to reinvent themselves, if not trying to remain fashionable—or, more precisely, to stave off obsolescence?” pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/u2-songs-of-experience/amp/U2 are at their best when they're not trying to stave off obsolescence. See the singles from the new album Vs songs like "Little Things". On a side note GOOYOW has really grown on me, there's a really good guitar riff and solo in there. I quite like 'Get Out of Your Own Way' too. It's totally U2 on autopilot but it's enjoyable. The riff is cool. Nice to see The Edge playing a Rickenbacker 12-string again, that's a very unique-sounding guitar. |
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Post by matt on Dec 5, 2017 19:11:50 GMT -5
Noel (7.1) beat U2’s Pitchfork score (5.3) “The pursuit of relevance seems above all what motivates them to create. What are they doing, really, when time and again they endeavor to reinvent themselves, if not trying to remain fashionable—or, more precisely, to stave off obsolescence?” pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/u2-songs-of-experience/amp/U2 are at their best when they're not trying to stave off obsolescence. See the singles from the new album Vs songs like "Little Things". On a side note GOOYOW has really grown on me, there's a really good guitar riff and solo in there. The Little Things That Give You Away is the best song from the two Innocence & Experience albums for me. Love the lyrics and the fragility of it, and some classic Edge guitar riff at the end there too. Pulls off the feat that only U2 can do - widescreen sound yet intimate at the same time. Classic U2 - it might be my favourite song from them since Walk On. |
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Post by matt on Dec 5, 2017 19:25:33 GMT -5
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Post by World71R on Dec 5, 2017 22:00:38 GMT -5
I saw this one too! The love they give for the 90s albums is really nice to see, especially Pop. I'd have to agree with everything about this list until they get to around ATYCLB. I think SOE should be behind R&H, then followed by NLOTH, SOI/Atomic Bomb, and October. The most recent albums get slagged off very unfairly on this list. |
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Nov 4, 2024 5:04:30 GMT -5
Nov 4, 2024 5:04:30 GMT -5