U2's Songs of Innocence....Five Year Later

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by americanscientist, Sep 9, 2019.

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  1. markreed

    markreed Forum Resident

    Location:
    Imber
    Lyrically it's a very good song. Musically, I feel "Sleep Like A Baby Tonight" to be incoherent and cold. That's why I don't like it. It's probably in my bottom 3 U2 songs musically, alongside the ploddingly dull "Wild Honey" and "Miami".
     
  2. sunking101

    sunking101 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Yorkshire, England
    ...and Grace.
     
  3. Gavaxeman

    Gavaxeman Take me back to dear old Blighty...

    Location:
    West Midlands U.K.
    And the daddy of them all..Elvis Presley and America
     
  4. sunking101

    sunking101 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Yorkshire, England
    I love that one, and it's taken from arguably their greatest album.
     
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  5. Gavaxeman

    Gavaxeman Take me back to dear old Blighty...

    Location:
    West Midlands U.K.
    Love that album but that track kills the second side ..should’ve made way for one of the b sides imo ..
     
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  6. sunking101

    sunking101 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Yorkshire, England
    Subjective...but I wouldn't change a thing. That album is perfect IMO. 10/10
     
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  7. Phasecorrect

    Phasecorrect Forum Resident

    Location:
    WI
    Indeed. Add Echo and the bunnymen, an overpriced Canadian Goose parka, and Jameson! Note: echo had a famous winter lp cover (Porcupines?) and a penchant for long overcoats. Bring back the 80s snow wear!
     
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  8. Jimmy Mac

    Jimmy Mac Zooropa... better by design

    See how subjective everything is....U2 is my band, but Fire is the weakest album in the entire catalogue for me. I couldn’t live without Bad, but there’s not another song on that album that would kill me if I never heard it ever again.
     
  9. sunking101

    sunking101 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Yorkshire, England
    Fair enough. Out of curiosity, what are your top 5? I'll go...

    The Unforgettable Fire*
    The Joshua Tree*
    Achtung Baby*
    Boy
    Rattle & Hum

    *There really is a cigarette paper between the top three.
     
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  10. muzzer

    muzzer Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    Porcupine is an incredible record. I’ll take pretty much all of the Bunnymen in preference to U2 (*ducks*)
     
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  11. Gavaxeman

    Gavaxeman Take me back to dear old Blighty...

    Location:
    West Midlands U.K.

    For me ..

    Joshua Tree
    Achtung Baby
    Unforgettable Fire
    War
    Boy
     
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  12. sunking101

    sunking101 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Yorkshire, England
    Right ballpark for me.:thumbsup:
     
  13. Jimmy Mac

    Jimmy Mac Zooropa... better by design

    Very tough question but in order....

    Zooropa
    Achtung
    How to Dismantle
    Joshua Tree
    No Line
     
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  14. Ghost of Ziggy

    Ghost of Ziggy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Hell
    Actung
    Joshua
    Zooropa
    War
    Fire
    Passengers

    The rest
     
  15. PoeRaider

    PoeRaider Forum Resident

    I like Every Breaking Wave and Iris. Red Flag Day is ok. Everything else from the last 2 albums is forgettable, or even cringeworthy. U2 had never really bored me up until "Wild Honey". Actually "Staring at the Sun" was probably the first stinker that clued me that something was going wrong with the songwriting. Up until '97, they could do no wrong in my book. I even thought Numb was genius, and Passengers was pretty cool.

    I was a diehard fan up until the early 2000's. I thought the Elevation Tour was fantastic, I saw 6 shows. Ever since then they have gradually lost me, to the point where I haven't listened to SOI or SOE in years. SOE is the bottom by far.

    Speaking of Miami, it wasn't great on the album but I loved it live right next to Bullet. Grace never bothered me, I can listen to it.
     
    Last edited: Dec 20, 2019
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  16. Ghost of Ziggy

    Ghost of Ziggy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Hell
    If you look at them with Pavarotti doing the Passengers era, they look inspired and still fairly cool.

    A coupe of years later, it’s like your dads trying to dance at a wedding, with embarrassing tunes. Their image was weird too, they didn’t even look like U2 anymore.
     
  17. HotelYorba101

    HotelYorba101 Senior Member

    Location:
    California
    I like SOI, however the bar was set really high for U2 via their '80s and '90s albums. I wouldn't necessarily assume the causation of this album's criticism coming from not enough listens, as much as that bar of greatness being set as high as it is.
     
    Last edited: Dec 21, 2019
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  18. Chris Bell

    Chris Bell Forum Resident

    Location:
    Derby, UK
    Agree with this, saw them extensively between 92-2005. Also caught one of the London shows in 2015. The beginning of the decline in image for me was when Edge started using a roaming radio mic in 2005 and Bono started doing that "screaming into the camera" look all the time! Some of the Pop outtakes on YouTube, they looked incredible. The (backwards) leap from this to 2001 was quite incredible:
     
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  19. Ghost of Ziggy

    Ghost of Ziggy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Hell
    I did attend a pop show but they just seemed out of touch, I couldn’t believe it was the same band who came up with Zoo Tv and Achtung Baby. If the songs were strong they could have gotten away with it, but they weren’t.
     
  20. AH55

    AH55 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Canada
    Does anybody have a decent vinyl pressing of this album? My copy has a lot of crackles (in between songs, especially) and the vocals sound comparable to a 128kbps mp3. I have the 2-lp white version.

    A real shame since this is a good album from the band. Some great songwriting.
     
  21. Jimmy Mac

    Jimmy Mac Zooropa... better by design

    My white vinyl copy is one of the nicest pressings of anything I own.

    Sorry you got a bad one. :(
     
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  22. PDK

    PDK Forum Resident

    Location:
    Central Florida
    I think it's a really good album and I do like my white vinyl very much. It has aged well for me.
     
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  23. Nomadicarchivist

    Nomadicarchivist Forum Resident

    Location:
    Washington D.C.
    That was my thought. The Memphis stop of the Pop Mart tour was a complete disaster.

    Bono's voice was shot, they tried to slow the songs down for him so he could hit the notes to no avail.

    The band was also under rehearsed. So much so that they they stopped "Staring at the Sun" mid way thru and started over again only to sound sloppy and out of tune again.

    All of that with the medleys complete with Monkees tunes and it was a total ZERO.

    Vowed NEVER to pay to see them again and i didnt for almost 25 years.
     
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  24. ausgraeme

    ausgraeme Forum Resident

    Absolutely, Love Comes Tumbling or Three Sunrises seem inexplicable exclusions from Unforgettable Fire.
     
  25. markreed

    markreed Forum Resident

    Location:
    Imber
    I don't think they were finished in time for the LP release.
     
    PDK likes this.
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