U2's "All That You Can't Leave Behind" - is it Underated / overated / Mastepiece (Poll)

this!

always loved this album

chock full of good old fashioned songwriting!
hey! It's got KITE!!

right behind Achtung for me as well!

 

Like it a lot, but I think it is far from being underappreciated. Probably their third most popular album after Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby.

 

Very poor options you picked for a poll.

 

Great analogy. The singles are really good, and nothing else really is.

 

For me I agree about this album not having that spark, to me it comes down to production choices and the core songwriting not really trying to stretch or experiment but only to conform and ultimately as a result it just sounds like one of their most vanilla albums.

Achtung Baby and TJT have hits where they sound like hits because they were experimenting and creating unique soundscapes to go along with great songwriting. This album sounds like a few strong songs marred by boring production choices (Elevation's remix for the Tomb Raider movie was so much more rocking for example) and a really underwhelming second half. In my opinion of course, just how I personally think of it

Walk On, BD, Elevation, Stuck In A Moment, etc. are decent songs though, I quite like them

 

Absolutely.

 

I voted 'Commercial Sellout', but could have just have easily Voted for 'Boring' or 'Overrated', as all 3 apply to me.

'All That You Can't Leave Behind'-when I heard it, I thought 'what, the 1980s?' but this Album was just a Weaker version of their Older Music. As one person mentioned, in the first page of this Thread, U2 seemed to be trying to recover from the negative reaction(and I assume Sales) to 'Pop', but for some of it's Flaws, at least 'Pop' had some Good Songs and the Band tried to do something different.

Funny how at the time of this release, Radiohead was forging ahead into the Future and U2 was retreating to the safety of their Past. That being said, I actually liked 'How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb' better even though it was still a retreat to the past, but the Songs were better-IMO. Then, I thought 'No Line on the Horizon' was actually a better attempt to recapture their 1980s Sound, and think that Album was the Best one by U2 since 'Zooropa'.

I realize a lot of U2 Fans like 'All That You Can't Leave Behind', so I will just say that what I wrote is IMO and YMMV, as Taste in Music is Subjective. Maybe, I will pull out the CD again some day in the future to give it another chance(or just stream it instead of going to the trouble to pull the CD out of whatever Box I put in for long term storage). It was the only Vinyl Reissue from the past few years, that I skipped though.

I realize their last 2 Albums also are not Groundbreaking in more of U2 on AutoPilot, but I seemed to like 'Songs of Innocence' overall(especially the 2nd CD in the 2 CD Set with Acoustic Versions), and still have not spend much time with SOE.

 

All U2? Clearly your ears have not been exposed to War or Achtung Baby

 

Oh they have. Capitol B boring and Capitol O overrated

 

Oh no you did nt

 

I guess everyone is allowed to be Capitol W wrong sometimes

 

like all U2 the same songs done on tour always trump!

the Boston dvd was a magnificent show that really brought these songs to life.

especially KITE and WALK ON...………..magical!

WHERE THE STREETS.... (older tune, yes) was the definitive version IMO

point is...….you can never judge U2 by the studio album!
Every album they did was bettered done live. IMO

 

I don’t see how anyone can call it underrated, as it has been critically highly praised by everyone except Pitchfork (and well, it’s Pitchfork). Although it’s a commercial smash, I don’t think it’s an artistic masterpiece, and the Grammys went a bit overboard by awarding both “Beautiful Day” and “Walk On” with Record of the Year awards, but it’s too good to be called “overrated”, so I settled for one of the top5.

 

Because like David Byrne once sang, "Say something once, why say it again?"

Of course, not all Experimental Directions work for me. From the same time period as this U2 Album, I like some of Radiohead's Songs on 'Kid A' and 'Amnesiac', as some of the New Songs(at the time) worked for me('The National Anthem', 'Morning Bell', 'How to Disappear Completely', 'Knives Out', 'You and Whose Army' among a few others) and some Songs I was like 'WTF?'('Kid A Title Track', 'Packed Like Sardines', 'Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors', 2nd Version of 'Morning Bell'-pointless IMO). Radiohead should have put the 5-6 Best Songs from 'Kid A' and 'Amnesiac' onto 1 Album, as then it would ave made a Great Album-IMO(and the Songs were recorded during the same time/sessions as think the original intent was to put out a Double CD, but was then split into 2 Albums over 7-8 Months-IIRC, but still too much filler, which also happened with their next Album, 'Hail to The Thief' that should have trimmed off 3-4 Songs-IMO. At least they got it right with 'In Rainbows', where ironically the 2nd CD in the Deluxe Box Set had Songs as strong as on the Main Album-IMO.

 

Still stuck in my phone

 

Last U2 album I purchased. Solid.

 

Good post. I don't necessarily agree with your favorite songs, though. I go back and forth on whether 'Stuck' and 'Walk On' are great tracks or balls of cheese. I go for the acoustic 'Stuck', as it maintains the song's strong melody without sounding like they were desperate for a hit. I actually laughed when I first heard 'Walk On', as it sounded like U2 impersonating U2 of 1984. Strong composition, though, despite the whiff of cheese.

'Elevation', I can live without. "A mole / digging in a HOLE", and U2 trying to sound sexy just don't fly.

'Kite' is a great track, even if it was hard to believe Bono resorted to lyrics like, "I don't wanna see you cry / I know that this is not goodbye", sans irony. The U2 of earlier times would never resort to standard-pop cliche.

As I mentioned before, 'Beautiful Day' and 'In A Little While' are the clear standouts of the official album. Those two should make any future 'Essential U2' compilation.

I think both 'Peace On Earth' (final meditation on the end of 'The Troubles') and 'When I Look At The World' are fantastic tracks. 'Grace' is awesome, too.

But I never listen to these studio tracks without 'Summer Rain', 'Flower Child', or usually 'Stateless'. Great stuff.

('The Ground Beneath Her Feet' is okay, but I don't find it anything special. The lyrics are from Rushdie's book, which totally blows.)

 

It is definitely under appreciated, although many hardcore U2 fans don't rate it. I loved this album for a few years when it came out, especially when you compare what came immediately before and after it. Some great songs that I still go back to regularly. Not my favourite U2 album (that would be Red Rocks, followed by The Unforgettable Fire), but certainly up there with their best IMHO.

 

“Grace” is a great song to close an album. I also love Kite, Peace on Earth and When I Look At T he World.

 

I voted overrated, the first half of the albums has all the hits and the 2nd half is honestly a snoozer. When I'm in the mood to listen to anything from this album I usually listen to live tracks as they honed in on each song just a bit more and that's where some of them elevated (pun intended).

 

That's true. My experience of the serious U2 fans is that they pretty much hate this album. But the mainstream, top-40 audience loved it.

 

It belongs to the vast, seemingly still uncharted territory between "One of their Top 5 only" and "boring".

 

"Kite"

 

I'm a man, I'm not a child!