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

I did this same thing only included a couple from HORIZON...

now my favourite U2 cd !

(my song list was different of course)
(where's GET OUT OF YOUR OWN WAY and VOLCANO?????)

 

I prefer the second disc and it's acoustic stylings to much of the "album proper"...………….SOI that is)

 

I’d say my favorite tune from SOI is Every Breaking Wave. What a beautiful song!

 

Yes, good point, and I think that's worth bearing in mind when the masses attempt to trash U2... as they endlessly do (for reasons I've never really understood).

To put those 34 years since the 1st album in perspective:
- Rolling Stones: Bridges to Babylon / late-90s' era
- McCartney: Anthology-era / Tug-boat / Thumbs-up Paul era after Off The Ground (Ringo in Pizza Hut commercial)
- Elvis: 13 years dead
- Johnny Cash: The Mystery of Life (failed to chart on Top-100)
- Sting: Symphonicities / The Last Ship (yawn...)

I mean, it might not be one of their best LPs (or it might), but Songs Of Innocence is incredibly strong for a band with its original line-up 34 years on from the first album...

 

I gave your comment a like but you’re saying any of the new albums are better than The Unforgettable Fire?

That’s bold!

 

Atomic Bomb is much better as a whole than Unforgettable Fire. *ducks*

 

As a longtime U2 fan, this is a really weird album for me. I like Every Breaking Wave, Song for Someone and Iris, but am not a fan of the other tunes.

 

I loved SoI when it came out, was thrilled that U2 gifted fans a free album. I loved SoE when it came out (was happy to buy it & complete the "companion set").

I also love the idea of combining the two for my own Songs of Innocence + Experience album. However, I'm not proficient (at all) with PhotoShop. I wonder if someone here wouldn't mind doing me a favor and coming up with something that combines the original Digital "Test Pressing" artwork with the artwork from SoE? (Someone did such a thing for me combining the artwork for McCartney's NEW with Egypt Station when I made my own album and called it She Got Matching Teeth!)

 

A photo of the grown Boy model at middle age might have been an effective cover.

 

I’m going to go out in a limb here and say UF is my least favourite album proper in the catalogue. So yes all four of those easily outweigh UF for me personally. I know it’s the exception to most people’s thoughts, but that’s what makes us all different.

 

Ranking U2s output since 2000:

Songs of Innocence
All That You Can’t Leave Behind
How to Dismantle An Atomic Bomb
Songs of Experience
No Line on the Horizon

 

ATYCLB is an easy #1 here for me personally, and I'd bump Songs of Innocence to #3... but these types of things are fun to discuss. When did you get into U2? For me, I was 13 when The Joshua Tree came out. I was instantly a megafan, and thanks to my stepsister, was able to work backwards in their catalog in short order.

 

9 years old when Joshua Tree came out and never looked back. Taught myself to play Desire when I was 11. Achtung Baby is probably my favorite album of all time. Was at the incredible show in Boston circa June 2001 that was ultimately released as a DVD.

If I am ranking all their albums:
1. Achtung Baby
2. Joshua Tree
3. War
4. Boy
5. Songs of Innocence
6. Pop
7. All That You Can't Leave Behind
8. Zooropa
9. Unforgettable Fire
10. Rattle and Hum
11. October
12. Atomic Bomb
13. Songs of Innocence
14. No Line of The Horizon

 

Wow! What a great DVD, and surely what a great memory that must be.

 

Got two SOIs here and no SOE.

 

13. Songs of Experience ;-)

 

Not terrible. You were obviously just including studio recordings, but aside from Joshua Tree, the U2 album I can't live without is Under a Blood Red Sky.

1. Joshua Tree (up 1 position - all time Masterwork!)
2. Under a Blood Red Sky (added because ESSENTIAL)
3. Achtung Baby (down one position - great album)
4. Boy (up one position but would be the same if UaBRS not included)
5. October (you under-rated this one)
6. War (would be higher if UaBRS wasn't on the list - just where you had it above Boy)
7. Songs of Experience (you underrated this one)
8. Unforgettable Fire (up a couple of positions)
9. All that You Can't Leave Behind (down one)
10. Zooropa (down one)
11 Rattle and Hum
12. Songs of Innocence (up a couple of positions)
13. Atomic Bomb
14. Pop (not a huge fan - I rated this much lower - but I haven't listened to it in a while)
15. Horizon (not a huge fan)

 

I agree with you that Live: Under a Blood Red Sky was an essential and very important U2 release, and also a very good one.

My own ratings of the U2 albums is like this, with spaces between to indicate distance-drops in quality:

1. The Joshua Tree
2. Achtung Baby
3. The Unforgettable Fire

4. Rattle And Hum (This would be up with the top three if not for the live tracks)
5. War
6. Live: Under a Blood Red Sky

7. How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb
8. Boy
9. Songs Of Innocence

10. All That You Can't Leave Behind (This would have been higher with better track-selection and less "pop" production/mixing.)
11. Zooropa

12. Pop
13. October





14. No Line On The Horizon (Can we just forget this one existed?)


Songs Of Experience I haven't heard enough of yet to rank it. I should get on that.

 

Upper tier
Achtung Baby
TJT
War
TUF

Middle tier
Zooropa
Rattle & Hum
Boy
Passengers

Lower tier
ATYCLB
Pop
SOI/E
NLOTH
HTDAAB

 

Pop is worth a revisit. The media narrative around the Pop Mart tour colored my memories of this album. But when you divorce yourself from that garish tour and period in their history, it is a bold, exciting album. Gone, Please, If God Will Send His Angels, Staring at the Sun, Do You Feel Loved and Last Night on Earth are pantheon U2 songs. I will take a half masterpiece/half disaster like Pop any day over a snooze fest like Songs of Experience.

 

Idk... a few songs aside imo U2 hasn't released anything worth listening to since Zooropa. It's a real shame too cuz I got into the group about a year after Zooropa's release and couldn't wait for the group's next album... which turned out to be Pop three years after that which is unlistenable garbage and then All That You Can't Leave Behind three years later which showed me that U2 was past clearly its prime. I couldn't believe the praise and reception that such an uninspired, middling MOR album got, and realized that it was getting praise because it was 'U2'and not because it was actually good, and that's been the case for every U2 album since ATYCLB.

Every release after that has only reinforced my feelings that U2 peaked with Achtung Baby, had enough left in the tank for Zooropa and has been a zombie version of itself ever since.

Nope.

 

Still haven't listened to my free copy. And I was a huge fan in the mid-80s.

 

NOOOOOOOOO

U2 To Work On New Album Soon, Ryan Tedder Says Making It

 

The album cover is atrocious and makes me uncomfortable (the exact opposite of the intention). I liked the incomplete original non-cover cover better especially in connection to the free release

That shouldn’t be important but it is a deterrent to the album which I’ve found to be full of dull songs unfortunately

I love u2 but songs of innocence is sub par
I know No Line was spotty but man the title track was great

Songs of Experience was a little better but still missing that killer track/hook the brings me back

That said u2 is definitely in my top 15 acts. I miss their energy in the post Pop era