Here are my very general feelings. I like every album and love most of them. Boy - 8/10 - Energetic and already coming from a clear artistic perspective; great guitar tone October - 7/10 - Even better guitar tone and some strong songs; I love the spiritual subject matter but some of the material is slightly unmemorable War - 9/10 - aggressive pacifism; a bold, strident album with strong melodies; it also rocks The Unforgettable Fire - 10/10 - an incredibly beautiful and spiritually powerful record with gorgeous production; every piece is essential to the whole The Joshua Tree - 10/10 - perfect; I would not change a single note; one of my favorite albums ever recorded Rattle and Hum - 7.5/10 - the studio material is an 8, but I dock it a little for some of the live tracks; I love the American warmth of this album though Achtung Baby - 10/10 - their other perfect album; the reinvention of sound wouldn't have mattered if the songs were bad; fortunately, the song are superb Zooropa - 6/10 - I've tried and tried but I don't connect with it much; a cold album of the brain rather than the heart; I like Stay and a few other songs Pop - 7/10 - I like the contrasts in material, pairing comments on the material with the spiritual; not every song is good but the best ones are great All That You Can't Leave Behind - 8/10 - Personally special to me; kind, emotionally real music; the middle of the album is the best How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb - 7.5/10 - Their most fun album and one of their most uptempo as well; contains my favorite U2 song No Line on the Horizon - 8/10 - the meditative material at the beginning and end is superb; I wish they hadn't felt the need for the three songs in the middle Songs of Innocence - 8/10 - Wonderful songwriting and reflection on youth; strong melodies and good lyrical content Songs of Experience - 7.5/10 - Not quite as good as the previous IMO; major highlights all throughout but I don't like the singles much My 25 Favorite U2 Songs (11/16/2020) 01. Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own 02. MLK 03. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For 04. Heartland 05. Acrobat 06. In a Little While 07. Indian Summer Sky 08. Walk to the Water 09. Ultraviolet (Light My Way) 10. This is Where You Can Reach Me Now 11. Kite 12. Bad 13. Running to Stand Still 14. Angel of Harlem 15. Gloria 16. If God Will Send His Angels 17. New Year's Day 18. Where the Streets Have No Name 19. Red Flag Day 20. A Day Without Me 21. Drowning Man 22. White as Snow 23. So Cruel 24. Staring at the Sun 25. Deep in the Heart
Reading these lists I was tempted to give it a try myself, even though I know I'm horrible at ranking things. But really, I don't think I can do any better than this. I might quibble with whether something is a 7 or a 9 or whatever, but your explanations for your rankings are spot on. So if you don't mind, I'll just borrow your list ... with one exception. Try as I might, I cannot bring myself to love Achtung Baby. I respect it, but somehow, neither it nor Zooropa speak to me. (And your comment about the coldness of Zooropa strikes an especially strong note.) Both albums have songs on them I really like (Dirty Day, anyone?) but there's no question that they are the U2 albums I listen to the least. LOL, and I was so relieved when I first heard it! It took me awhile to realize it, but I think the burying of Bono's vocals on AB and Zooropa is one of the things that turns me away from them. That, and AB is so densely layered I can't always decipher it ... I vastly prefer a live version of Until the End of the World, for example. It soars in concert, but on the album, for me it just sort of grumbles along. ATYCLB, by comparison, bursts out into the open right from the start and stays there. I guess that just appeals to me more. This is why I never give music as a gift ... our tastes are all SO personal.
It came on the radio today. Hadn't heard it in months, and never really quite formed an opinion of it ... but this I quite liked it. Go figure.
(That's for it being played on the radio. I think it's an average/OK-ish song myself, have no issues with some other opinions.)
Yeah, my preference is for the buried voice, or at least reverb laden enough that it blends in with the overall sound. I think they did that well on most albums but it really doesn’t sit well with me what they did on ATYCLB. I don’t know whether it’s because the earlier albums were recorded on tape or what but all albums from Pop onward sound kind of artificial. (Pop does as well, but it was meant to as they were still exploring electronic music.) The other thing was that they went from, IMO, creating songs as an experience, i.e. songs you could get lost in, to just making ‘tunes’. Elevation and Beautiful Day were what disappointed me most. They are not bad when you first hear them, but they’re not built for long term consumption, for me at least.
I just listened to The Unforgettable Fire for the first time all the way through in awhile.. probably my favorite but there is a lot of competition. I have to say that what I got from this new listen was how even with the famous production team.. what came through was how daring the performances they got on tape.. Bono and the Edge just go for it on songs like Wire and Bad.. it feels spontaneous and alive.. the interplay between them.
U2 - A Day Without Me from Thames program "White Light" [ Tape/Airdate Oct. 2-6, 1980 ] credit: U2Songs.com/ U2Valencia Club
Well, as there's been a 40th anniversary white vinyl version of Boy released this week, I did a 40 minute video around the album and a few other things that came to mind.... the early days, demos, the early singles, unreleased songs, fanclub live albums, Ned's Atomic Dustbin, death (cheery!), PiL, Edge's use of a Gibson Explorer and his Memory Man echounit, the stable band lineup, Joy Division, Martin Hannett, and well, anything else I can think of. "Boy" is a great debut album that's nearly perfect, and showed little sign of the bands future direction. I'm a little harsh on some of their contemporaries who, over time, have turned into absolute rubbish in my opinion.
Here's another video in which I revisit U2's second - and in my opinion, worst - album "October", the bands crisis of faith, the hurried recording schedule, playing most of the album live for the first time in front of 50,000 people at Slane ("One of our worst gigs, ever" - The Edge), the cover photo of 'four people with bad haircuts', the associated singles "Gloria", "Fire" and "A Celebration", the 2008 2CD reissue, and the 2019 cream vinyl repressing.
Thanks for posting! Gotta disagree on this being their worst, though. Just the guitar playing alone makes it better than their last two records combined, IMHO. Haha. Plus it contains some stone cold classics, like the title track and Gloria. I really love this record (obviously). "Tomorrow" is a favorite of mine.
Oh "October" is very good, and very good by U2 standards is often better than other bands best ever albums. I think the guitar playing is very sparse on the album - I wish they'd've had more time to work on some of those songs more. Worst U2 album doesn't mean "bad", by the way!
Forgive me but what is this exclusive albums thing,I really like U2...not the biggest fan in the world...but this is new to me.Any more info you can give a noob please?
Paid subscribers of the official U2 site (U2.com) get a 'subscriber gift' each year. For most of the years this has been audio (sometimes on CD, sometimes on vinyl, usually also with corresponding downloads). Those releases feature live recordings, outtakes or remix albums. Here's an overview of their releases: U2 Dot Com
Just wanted to give a shout out: this thread last year helped me during the early part of pandemic. Thanks!
Your list of top 25 U2 songs is excellent. Some deep cuts that I really love. Good to see tracks like Acrobat, White as Snow, A Day Without Me, Red Flag Day, Kite, and Indian Summer Sky. You have excellent taste imo.
