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

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Lynd8, Aug 21, 2019.

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  1. Mr Sam

    Mr Sam "...don't look so good no more"

    Location:
    France
    Favorites include "When I Look At The World", "Grace" and "Peace On Earth", also "New York" and "Walk On".

    I don't revisit the rest very often, and after all these years, I still strongly dislike Elevation and Stuck.
     
  2. Fastnbulbous

    Fastnbulbous Doubleplus Ungood

    Location:
    Washington DC USA
    Zooropa had its moments, but I can't remember the last time I played ATYCLB. Which is also a not-great name for an album.
     
  3. y531ly5

    y531ly5 Forum Resident

    Location:
    France
    OverRatted as f***
    It's a succes in the band memory only because it's a US succes...
     
  4. Parachute Woman

    Parachute Woman Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    Not true. It sold 12,000,000 copies worldwide and went to #1 in the UK, Ireland, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and Sweden. It was a global success.


    I love this record. I have never understood (and will never understand) what is "sellout" about writing good songs. I think it's a beautiful and emotionally affecting record. My favorite part is the middle stretch of the record. Kite, In a Little While and Wild Honey are all among my favorite U2 songs. Just gorgeous and from the heart. Really got me through some tough times.

    I vote underrated because I'm sick to the death of the "U2 hasn't done anything good since the '90s" narrative, which I wildly disagree with.
     
  5. sunking101

    sunking101 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Yorkshire, England
    It has aged well due to the quality of the material they released subsequently. At the time of release it was a boring album with none of the passion and fire that U2 had brought to the table previously. Yes there are some good songs to be found on the album but it was considered a dull 'play it safe' outing by longterm fans when it came out.

    Now compared to HTDAAB, SOI and SOE it's a fantastic album so there is that....
    I guess it was the start of U2's second chapter and along with No Line On The Horizon it's their best album from this second era but when put up against the greats such as Tbe Unforgettable Fire, Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby it's not even in the same ballpark.
     
  6. LarsO

    LarsO Forum Resident

    This was the first new album I experienced as a fan. It might actually be my favorite even though Achtung Baby might be the masterpiece (Joshua Tree is great but it is a bit "top heavy").

    One thing I have been wondering about is...
    What if it was followed by a return to the experimental/boundry pushing side instead of the quite similar HTDAAB?

    Would it be seen as a refreshingly honest and straight album instead of "the moment they fell flat"? I actually think so. My theory is that it was HTDAAB that changed the image of ATYCLB.
     
  7. Parachute Woman

    Parachute Woman Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    This is all your opinion. I was around at the time of release and bought a copy. I wasn't among longterm fans, but I can speak to how I felt it was received from my perspective as a young person at the time. It sold gangbusters. The videos were in constant rotation on MTV and VH1. It won a ton of Grammys. It became synonymous with 9/11 and healing from that tragedy for many Americans, especially in the wake of U2's hugely successful and well-received Super Bowl halftime performance. People act like it's a fact that this was some big letdown, but it was a massive success and people loved it. Again, I can't speak for hardcore fans because I wasn't one at the time, but the general population loved this record.

    I will reiterate that I have never understood what is "playing it safe" about writing great songs from a real emotional place. In my world, obvious experimentation does not automatically equal 'better.' And I like all of their records of the past two decades. :)
     
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  8. sunking101

    sunking101 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Yorkshire, England
    I just remember being 29 or thereabouts and thinking 'meh' when I heard the first single.
    Beautiful Day, Stuck In A Moment, Elevation...yawn. U2 had gone all guitar pop. I distinctly remember feeling that they had shifted from being a rock band to a pop band. I didn't like what I was hearing. Sure it's only my opinion but man I loved U2 up until that point.

    They won me back with No Line On The Horizon and I can force myself to think that the two 'Songs Of...' albums are decent but ultimately I can never shake off the feeling that U2 lost it circa ATYCLB.
     
    TheSeldomSeenKid likes this.
  9. Spencer R

    Spencer R Forum Resident

    Location:
    Oxford, MS
    Yes, recording their carbon copies of the Warp Records catalog was such a bold leap into the future for Radiohead.
     
  10. guidedbyvoices

    guidedbyvoices Old Dan's Records

    Location:
    Alpine, TX
    Love Elevation, the rest is merely good to meh, so I voted "overrated". I remember Rolling Stone called it their third masterpiece in their review, massive eye roll there. Hardly an embarassment, but it's where I started to lose interest in them as a current band, and the next album sealed it
     
    sunking101 likes this.
  11. patient_ot

    patient_ot Senior Member

    Location:
    USA
    Bland-o boring pap. A far cry from where the band was in the 80s.
     
    TheSeldomSeenKid likes this.
  12. sunking101

    sunking101 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Yorkshire, England
    To be fair that's all meaningless. Bieber, Beyonce, Ed Sheeran etc all get the sales and media recognition.
     
    Hammerpeg likes this.
  13. VeeDub

    VeeDub Senior Member

    Location:
    Denver, CO
    A weaker album than every proper U2 album that preceded it, but better than each one that has followed. There is some strong songwriting throughout ATYCLB, but for a band known for frequently taking risks with their sound, this one struck me as a homogenized distillation of everything they had done up to that point. I know many fans saw this as triumphant - and I find the 9/11 connection that Parachute Woman referenced as undeniable - but for this long-time fan, it all came off as a bit bland. I still like it, but that's about it.
     
    JeffMo likes this.
  14. With the exception of a few singles (Beautiful day, Vertigo and a couple of others) post A'Baby U2 has never held my interest.
     
    Ghost of Ziggy likes this.
  15. jeddy

    jeddy Forum Resident

    It was a good return to simple catchy songwriting.
    something Bono and Edge can do excellently.
    Don't you think BEAUTIFUL DAY was worthy of it's acclaim?
    It's probably their biggest single they ever released
     
  16. cement_head

    cement_head Forum Resident

    Location:
    Oxford, Ohio 45056
    Good record, not quite Joshua Tree, but certainly very close...
     
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  17. jeddy

    jeddy Forum Resident

    totally agree here

    can't understand criticism of good songwriting (IMO of course)
    it's like U2's SMILE album (in their catalogue)
    U2 AFTER Achtung… get the same "crap-on" as the Stones - post TATOO YOU
     
  18. Erik B.

    Erik B. Fight the Power

    Where’s the option to vote for Bono being a self-righteous hypocrite ?
     
    Hammerpeg likes this.
  19. dkmonroe

    dkmonroe A completely self-taught idiot

    Location:
    Atlanta
    I'd say it's got just enough rat in it.

    [​IMG]
     
  20. jeddy

    jeddy Forum Resident

    hahaha
    true!

    but aren't we all?
     
    ARK and Erik B. like this.
  21. BadJack

    BadJack doorman who always high-fives children of divorce

    Location:
    Boston, MA
    Actually never really connected with that song. I like a lot of the other tunes better.

    "Kite" is a big favorite. I saw someone in the thread mention the "life shouldn't be fragrant" lyrics and I thought those seemed out of place with the rest of the words. I once heard a live version that ended with a reprise of the "you wonder what has happened to me" lines and found that much more poignant.
     
  22. GentleSenator

    GentleSenator what if

    Location:
    Aloha, OR
    Overrated, but still quite good. Ever since then they've seemed confused, however.
     
  23. Rockford & Roll

    Rockford & Roll Forum Resident

    Location:
    Midway, KY
    Not quite a masterpiece but a great record that totally fit its time and still sounds wonderful. Wild Honey is an overlooked gem.
     
  24. TexasBuck

    TexasBuck Forum Resident

    Location:
    Dallas, TX
    Didn't know how to vote on this one so I didn't.

    I don't feel it's a masterpiece.
    It's not in my top 5 U2 albums
    It's certainly not boring
    I don't feel it was a commercial sell out
    I'm not familiar enough with other people's/media ratings of the album to comment if it's over-rated or under-rated.

    I would rate the album a solid 4 stars out of 5. Excellent but not a classic. A nice recovery from the inconsistent "Pop".
     
  25. Silvertrain

    Silvertrain Forum Resident

    Location:
    Netherlands
    In my top 3 with Achtung and Joshua. Very front loaded like most U2 albums. Very happy they wrote some real songs again after the Pop album, which I still do not like at all.

    Favorites: In A Little While and Stuck In A Moment.

    Bought Atomic Bomb and No Line, but only liked a few songs off each. Still haven’t listened to their last 2 studio albums.
     
    Rockford & Roll likes this.
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