Ugh forgot to include Passenger Achtung Baby The Unforgettable Fire Zooropa The Joshua Tree War Pop Boy Passengers No Line on the Horizon Rattle and Hum October How to Dismantle An Atomic Bomb All That You Can't Leave Behind Songs of Innocence Songs of Experience
A couple more words of praise to alleviate my criticisms of SOE upthread: Summer of Love is my favorite track on the album -- it has a sort of effortless light quality that I enjoy. It's not a shout-from-the-rooftops anthem, but U2 does subtle these days very well. Red Flag Day is a good throwback song -- it seems like a clear nod to their War era, and even just the words Red Flag Day conjure up a time long past for these guys. It doesn't equal their early work, but there's a fire to it. The Blackout is a good rock song, and actually hearing it again I think it compares favorably to lesser latter-era riff heavy tracks like Get On Your Boots and American Soul. It's a bit nastier in its performance, which is a plus. The rest are agreeably all right and sometimes hooky enough. American Soul sticks out like a sore thumb, which I blame a bit on the production. Kendrick + Bono worked elsewhere, after all.
before i get to the final album, let me give my salute to our OP @GodShifter for job well done what these kind of threads need isn't someone with the most knowledge - one thing i've learned from this forum over the years is, there's always gonna be someone who knows more - but someone who could steer the thread ahead without accepting BS, someone with enough sense of responsibility & dedication but without too much sense of entitlement. i'm still amazed that this thread barely had any thread pooper in its 200 pages+, despite U2 being one of the more polarizing artist in this forum. another reason why we all feel good about this thread (it'll go down in forum Lore ) is...not only it was well-run but due to all the participants being rather thoughtful & respectful to each other throughout. too many times, these type of threads will turn into heated-shouting match full of drama queens... passionate fans getting too defensive or know-it-all snobs being in contest with one another...we didn't have NONE of that despite the obvious signs of vast knowledge & intelligence. that reflects well, not only on us but the band themselves. i don't know if any of the U2 guys read this forum (definitely possible) but i have a feeling this thread would've put a smile on their faces if they ever did ok....so onto SOE. i was disappointed upon release due to aesthetic reasons. i really thought band turned the corner with SOI by accepting where they were, no longer worrying too much about staying current, focusing on making cohesive, meaningful body of work instead. obviously, that wasn't to be the case...likely due to harsh reception that SOI got (some rather unfairly ~). i could just picture the band in the studio working on endless tweaking of tracks like 'You're the Best Thing About Me' & 'Get Out of Your Own Way' with 15 different producers (~) saying "we gots to have that radio Hit !!! ", "we gots to come up with Beautiful Day pt. II cuz that's what The mass want from us" with a compromised motive like that, what'll end up happening is a confused album that is neither here or there...similar example being No Line On The Horizon. still... overtime, i accepted the album as part of 'unofficial' double album with SOI rather than a separate release. U2 has never released a 'studio' double-album so this substitute for it rather fittingly. like most other double-albums, its bound to have some fillers so...it becomes lot more digestible when you accept it under that term. i actually play this (these) more often than any other U2 albums in last few years so...i must be fond of it. along with 'Electrical Storm', 'The Blackout' has to be one of my favorite 2000's U2 track. like the OP, i come from more of a 'harder' rock background and both songs definitely have more bite to them, to go along with more modern-sounding production. i wish tracks like 'Magnificent' had these kind of production behind it rather than what they ended up with... it would've been so much better Hell, i wish they make a full album with consistent sound like those 2 tracks (like they once did in the 90's ~). with all those hip, current producers at their disposal...i just don't understand why they can't do that if 'Every Breaking Wave' was the lost-U2 classic of SOI, then 'The Little Things That Gives You Away' gets the nod from SOE. fantastic song in every aspect. with just those 2 songs alone, both albums should be worthwhile for any U2 fans. i was most surprised by how many of you don't even own SOI/E even though i usually just put on both albums back2back when i'm in the mood for it, this is my condensed single-album version that i made/have in my car. 1. Invisible 2. The Miracle (of Joey Ramone) 3. Every Breaking Wave 4. Song For Someone 5. Iris (Hold Me Close) 6. The Troubles 7. The Blackout 8. Ordinary Love 9. Summer of Love 10. Red Flag Day 11. The Little Things That Gives you Away 12. Love Is All We Have Left i wonder what the reception would've been if they released something like that instead of 2 separate albums...they could've called it Songs of Ascent
@GodShifter absolutely nailed it with running this thread. No doubt about it. You have our sincere thanks! Also, thanks to the numerous regular contributors. Too many to name, but really, rare is a discussion this excellent, both in content and civility, found on the internet. With that said, could we not continue it and cover other band material, such as the singles/b-sides and fan club releases? I know there were discussions in a few cases where they were deemed noteworthy, but the caliber of discussion here has been amazing and I really don’t want it to end, haha.
I certainly encourage your notion. I would be a participant instead of the OP, but I’d definitely be interested if someone wants to move forward. I’ve said that earlier. Go forth, and do us proud
Hilarious, it is a Friday night I can only assume you have been drinking Jimmy. I am glad you qualified that you are talking about songs way more important to you.I can't tell you what is or is not important to you. I think we started this fun with you saying you would trade the first 4 albums for the last four. Clearly we are both fans here, and it appears you took umbrage at my comment that if you discover the entire u2 catalogue in 2018, it is different than if you discovered in real time, with each subsequent release and living those leaps forward, but I believe that to be true. I am glad we both love Zooropa! But for the sake of discussion I will say I like many of those songs you listed- but in no way could I believe they are more important than early U2. The late doesn't ever arrive without the growth of the band in the early years, where it was 4 guys in a room - with Steve L, then Brian and Dan. As I said I like many of the songs you listed, but particularly in the last couple of albums there has been a virtual army of co writers, guests and producers. It is just different. Comparing those two eras is more than a little flawed. I will even double down and say I will happily remove your 2 fave early cuts from the conversation ...Bad and 40 are not allowed in my argument. Fair enough. Again there is no fact here just opinion but I will even go further you have listed 32 songs over a 4 album arc that you prefer. Fair enough. 32 songs over a 14 year period is what that is. In fact adding up main album tracks - no hidden tracks no dance remixes - but album tracks in that 14 year period the band released 46 songs- of which you have listed 32... In my sample the band released 42 songs in 4 years. I will give you the benefit of having 2x the number of choices that I will take. your 32/2= 16 cuts for me from 4 albums produced over 4 years. The albums you have listed were released between 2003 and 2017. The albums I will list and the songs are recorded over a four year period. Think about that...4 years. Your 4 albums approx 8 songs per album over 14 years, and I will provide a sample size of songs that are half that. I may never convince you but I know I am not alone in this. My 16 songs are "more important to me" and I expect more important to the band too, but we will never know 1- Out of Control 2 Into the Heart 3 An Cat Dubh 4 Twilight 5 I will Follow 6 October 7 Gloria 8 Sunday Bloody Sunday 9 New Years Day 10 Like a Song 11 Drowning Man 12 Pride 13 A sort of Homecoming 14 The Unforgettable Fire 15 Promenade 16 MLK * I like 40 and Bad too, but I removed them from my list because you said that other than those 2 songs you would rather hear any of your list over any remaining tracks from the first 4 albums....
Putting favorite songs in order is tough, but going with a top 20... 1. All I Want Is You 2. Where the Streets Have No Name 3. Ultraviolet (Light My Way) 4. Bad 5. Until the End of the World 6. The Unforgettable Fire 7. New Year's Day 8. Running to Stand Still 9. Sunday Bloody Sunday 10. Bullet the Blue Sky 11. Hawkmoon 269 12. I Will Follow 13. The Fly 14. Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me 15. Van Diemen's Land 16. Staring at the Sun 17. Love Is Blindness 18. Wire 19. Kite 20. The Electric Co.
Thanks @GodShifter for this fine thread. It's always amazing to go back and think deeply about this unique band's long and remarkable achievement. 5 Stars -- Magnificent collections that have greatly enriched my life The Joshua Tree Achtung Baby The Unforgettable Fire *Rattle & Hum (studio tracks only) 4.5 Stars -- Remarkably strong records that take a dump on most famous bands' best albums War How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb 4 Stars -- Great recordings full of strong material that may be limited by one or two minor flaws *Rattle & Hum (actual released album) Songs Of Innocence Zooropa Live: Under A Blood Red Sky Boy 3.5 Stars -- Strong recordings, but with serious track-listing / mixing / production flaws All That You Can't Leave Behind Pop 3 Stars -- Mixed-bag recordings (the 1st is all over the place in quality; the 2nd more consistent but with few peaks) Songs Of Experience October 2 Stars -- A quite weak recording by U2's lofty standards No Line On The Horizon 1.5 Stars -- A thorough waste of the band's time (arguably not a real "U2" album) Original Soundtracks 1 Of course, this is just the LPs. EP's like Wide Awake In America and the Please one, and some other stuff, would also rank very high in the above list. If you've followed my posts in this thread, you'll notice that my critical faculties are sharp and I'm not easily impressed. So, the fact that I have rated no fewer than 10 U2 albums (one a live one) as 4-star-or-higher recordings is absolutely amazing... to me. (And even the two -- Pop and ATYCLB -- that fall just under that cut-off, could, on my better days, be considered 4-star recordings.) The 10 LPs that I rate very highly in fact represent 67%, or 63% (if you count Original Soundtracks), of the band's entire output. That is an incredible figure for a band that's been around for as long as I have.
Well, this is more bittersweet than I expected ... I've enjoyed this thread a lot, but it's harder than I thought it would be to see it winding down. I want to add my thanks to Godshifter for starting it and staying with it, and thanks to everyone who participated ... I didn't know this much civility existed on the internet! It's refreshing. It's also bittersweet because I wanted so much to love SOE ... but it doesn't quite make the grade for me. Maybe my expectations were too high after SOI, which I thought was their strongest album in over a decade ... but although there's nothing on SOE I actually hate, there's none of that "energy" I was waxing poetic about on SOI. Except ... Little Things. Holeeeee spit ... that guitar, that's worth the whole price of the album right there. I didn't even notice this song at first because it starts so modestly, and I guess I just didn't pay much attention to it. Until I suddenly did, and ... wow. More, please. I like Red Flag Day quite a bit ... I didn't realize it harked back to the War album until several people mentioned it, but dang, they're right. (See why I love this thread? ) I also like You're the Best Thing ... I recognize it's a pop tune, but it's a good one. Fun video. Agreed that I wish Kendrick Lamar had not been allowed in the studio door. I don't mind what he says, but there's no beauty in the way he says it. Even at their dirtiest, U2 has always been one of "the most beautiful sounds I've ever heard", this does them no favors. And the rest of the tracks are just sort of ... there. Not awful, I think there's only a couple I tend to skip (and yes, American Soul is one of them), but it's not an album I really want to listen to all the way through ... it's better off on shuffle. Individually, there's some nice tunes, but as a whole they just don't catch my attention. And then there's 13. Another one I missed at first, but the circumstance of my life changed. One day it came up in the shuffle, and suddenly it had a tremendous amount of meaning to me. One of the few songs where the lyrics mean more to me than the music. One of the few I try to get non-fans to listen to, because of the lyrics. Hope in a time of darkness. Yet bittersweet, because it reminds me the end is nearer than I want it to be. I still stop whatever I'm doing when I hear it, and just listen. I've actually misted up a couple of times listening to it, and I do not mist up easily.
1) Achtung Baby 2) All That You Can’t Leave Behind 3) Joshua Tree 4) Unforgettable Fire 5) War 6) Boy 7) Pop 8) How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb 9) Songs Of Experience 10) No Line On The Horizon 11) Rattle And Hum 12) Zooropa 13) Songs Of Innocence 14) October 15) Passengers
Hey dudes, don't forget that Live: Under A Blood Red Sky was a 'real' U2 album, and a very, very important one!
My current favourite 15 songs 1. WTSHNN 2. Zoo Station 3. Ultra Violet 4. Acrobat 5. Ride Your Wild Horses 6. Slug 7. HMTMKMKM 8. Running To Stand Still 9. Bullet (Zoo Tv version) 10. EBTTRT (Perfecto mix) 11. Lemon 12. Seconds 13. At Cat Dub 14. Into The Heart 15. Lady With The Spinning Head Honourable mentions: Bono & Gavin Friday - In The Name Of The Father I guess I am just stuck in the time warp known as ZOO TV....
If we're doing top 10's, I did recently pull together a top 40 to counter the Guardian's Top 40 By U2 article... rather than c+p everything, my top 20 are 1. Bad (live) 2. Lemon 3. Where The Streets Have No Name 4. The First Time 5. Please 6. Miracle Drug 7. No Line On The Horizon 8. All I Want Is You 9. Song For Someone 10. Stay 11. Love Is Blindness 12. North and South Of The River 13. A Sort Of Homecoming 14. One 15. With Or Without You 16. Invisible 17. The Blackout 18. Crazy Tonight (360 Version) 19. Beautiful Day 20. Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own That's more than enough!
Not that anyone cares, but if I had to make 3 career-spanning CDs to overview their career (divided in the obvious way), with only studio tracks, this is probably how I'd do it. I've got 16-tracks per album, which will actually fit on a real CD. I would never have more then four tracks from one LP, and even that's stretching it (but is necessary in the nineties, due to less material available). U21980s 1. I Will Follow 2. Gloria 3. New Year’s Day (LP) 4. Sunday Bloody Sunday 5. Drowning Man 6. A Sort Of Homecoming 7. Pride (LP) 8. Bad 9. Bass Trap 10. Where The Streets Have No Name (LP) 11. With Or Without You 12. I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For 13. Running To Stand Still 14. Dublin (rehearsal from Rattle & Hum film) 15. Heartland 16. All I Want Is You U21990s 1. The Fly 2. Until The End Of The World 3. Mysterious Ways 4. One 5. Slow Dancing 6. Stay (Faraway, So Close) 7. Numb (LP) 8. Some Days Are Better Than Others 9. Dirty Day (Bitter Kiss mix) 10. Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me 11. Your Blue Room 12. Discothèque (Train mix) 13. Staring At The Sun (LP) 14. If God Will Send His Angels (single) 15. Please (single) 16. Sweetest Thing U22000s 1. Beautiful Day 2. In A Little While 3. Flower Child 4. Walk On (LP version) 5. Vertigo 6. City Of Blinding Lights 7. Miracle Drug 8. Mercy (2004 version) 9. Electrical Storm (William Orbit mix) 10. Cedars Of Lebanon 11. The Miracle 12. Every Breaking Wave 13. Raised By Wolves 14. Sleep Like A Baby Tonight 15. The Blackout 16. The Little Things That Give You Away
Trying to narrow it down to just 20 personal fave ones, in chronological order. It may change tonight! Stories for boys An cat dubh New year's day Drowning man Party girl (the live version on Under a blood red sky) The unforgettable fire A sort of homecoming Where the streets have no name Bullet the blue sky Red hill mining town Heartland Angel of Harlem A room at the heartbreak hotel Until the end of the world Ultraviolet Zooropa Lemon Staring at the sun A man and a woman FEZ/Being Born Edit: I'm stupid. Desire was my first 7" and should've been there! Oh well
Here's a short film - "Liner Notes" from January 2018, where Bono narrates the sleeve notes of Songs Of Experience with a remix of "Love Is All We Have Left" as backing.
blackout and north and south are not in my top 20. I would include the lady with the spinning head UV before either, probably night and day, certainly dirty day, the first time, velvet dress are all contenders ...good list though- I thought the guardian list was questionable
I see most people have ducked the top ten challenge. I'll do the same, then! My top twenty, chronological not ranked: Seconds New Year's Day Two Hearts Beat as One A Sort of Homecoming Wire Promenade With or Without You Running to Stand Still In God's Country Zoo Station One Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses Even Better Than the Real Thing Acrobat Zooropa Lemon Daddy's Gonna Pay for Your Crashed Car Stay Slug Your Blue Room Man, that was difficult and will change in five minutes' time!
Yes love for "Slug"! though I like Always Forever Now more than blue room- even though it goes nowhere
