Mine is "Acrobat" or "Ultraviolet," but the only real stinker on the whole thing is "One," which everyone hails as this classic song and I just don't get it at all. Doesn't even fit the mood of the album; feels more like a Joshua Tree b-side than anything.

"Where The Streets Have No Name": greatest album opener of all time? It's in the conversation for sure.

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an intoxicating bouquet, offering some Fischerspooner with not-so-subtle hints of LCD Soundsystem and Arcade Fire (pick em), a lingering taste of Last Broadcast era Doves on the finish youtu.be/LXaqZLkG3TE

I hear a little New Order in it. The sparse beat in the beginning reminds me of Cabaret Voltaire, whom LCD Soundsystem pretty much ripped off.

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this was their post-post-encore closer (most folks had left at that point, as the DC Metro shut down at midnight) in the rain at RFK when I saw them on that tour--with "Jerry Was A Race Car Driver" band opening in lieu of the disintegrating Pixies on that tour, not that I knew anything about either band at that point.



If only Bono had, well, something about trading places with Cobain.

Cabaret Voltaire remind me of late 80's/early 90's Wax Trax--Thrill Kill Kult, Sister Machine Gun, even Front 242? Yeah, James Murphy has a better record collection than anyone. Wouldn't mind hearing what he could do collaborating with someone like U2 or Jack White or Stephin Merritt?... I dunno. Maybe he should crowd-source that. Murphy did say he spent a day in the studio with Britney Spears and they parted ways without recording anything because there was nothing there.

Juan Atkins, David Axelrod, Electric Prunes, GIL SCOTT-HERON!!!

CabVol almost seems more suited for being sampled than listened to on its own. They have a few tracks I really like -- "24-24," "Split Second Feeling," "Crackdown" -- but mostly it's just some sparse beats on lo-fi cassette tape. Kinda boring, but I made sure to listen to them when I was making sure to listen to lots of weird music. Still there in my library next to good old Can. Ah, Can. If someone can come into this thread and affirm that Jaki Liebezeit is one of the best drummers who ever lived, it'll make my day.

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I dunno if Murphy drops this in concert, but he should. David Axelrod is money.



Can, didn't they record a b-side to an album that was just the a-side either sped up or slowed down, to satisfy their record company contract? And I think middle-period (uh, late 70's?) Bowie derived a lot from Can. I have a Can album that's pinkish-red on white and sounds like Wilco's "Spiders".

I think you're thinking of the other big German krautrock band, Neu!, who sound like "Spiders" on every song and outside a self-taught course in mid-period Wilco antecedents, are unlistenable. Neu! 2 is the one with the pink cover where it's just the same tracks played at different RPMs (16, 78). It's an obvious influence on Berlin-trilogy Bowie, but more in the sense that raw egg is an influence on cookies.

Can was more free-jazz-influenced, jammier, but they could be tight when they wanted: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9a1NhRbNJ_Y

Best David Axelrod track ever, of course: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SJe8kbrTiY Compton, Long Beach, INGLEWOOOOOOOD

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But thats when they made their best music

No way.

All that you Cant leave behind was great.

I like Passengers more than most people do, but ooh, I don't know about that one.

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Your thoughts on Achtung Baby continue to amaze. One fits perfectly.

You would like Acrobat and not One

Well, Im reading that as Spanky jumped off after Joshua Tree/Rattle and Hum (That's when they were on Time Magazine)

If so, he missed Achtung Baby

I thought he was done when they made the song for Matban, which would have been '95

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You might be right.


I think Pop turned off a lot of people. All the you Cant leave behind was great. Pretty much a better version of Joshua Tree

I really like Pop, good album that was a year late. It is the logical conclusion of what they started with AB. There is some great stuff on it and the tour was good. The 2000's stuff has been uneven. ATYCLB was good, How to Dismantle wasn't and NLOTH is something I liked but it wasn't great.

Pop was also rushed for the tour.

Please, Last Night on Earth and Mofo were all remixed for the singles and they were all far superior to the album versions.

If you put those versions on, its another really good album

All That You Can't Leave Behind isn't better than The Joshua Tree. It's a very good album and showed U2 still had it, but I wouldn't call it a game-changer.

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"Zoo Station" is such a fantastic opener. That buildup in the intro is so money. "One" is a phenomenal song and totally works on the record. Those gut-wrenching lyrics spoke to me at a time when I needed it. I have a demo/alt. version somewhere of "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses" that absolutely slays. Might have to bust that one out today.

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Sex isn't dirty, sex isn't a crime. It's a loving act between two or more consenting adults.

-Hank Kingsley

Tempo Bar Remix or something. Really good.

Tons of great remix/b side stuff out there, tons. I have an older U2 remix disc that has the alt US version of New Years Day that has that spare keyboard at the beginning. Really good. I could talk U2 all day.

It seems like I'm always being the contrarian when it comes to bands and the point where they started to "suck" in peoples eyes but I really don't see U2 having ever hit that point. Achtung is by far my favorite album (with One and 'Until The End of the World' being my two favorite U2 songs...go figure) and it's really the first one I consumed heavily, so that's my starting point with them. I own Joshua Tree and listen to it every now and then, and I can see why people hold it in acclaim, but it just doesn't do it for me like that. I've also listened to each of their older albums at some point or another but nothing really made me want to buy it and listen on a regular basis.

I like Zooropa and Pop enough...I think All That You Can't Leave Behind is a really great album five or six tracks in but it becomes just really really good (splitting hairs, but it doesn't hold on like Achtung does for me all the way to the end)...

I think I might be the only person I've read here who thought "How to Dismantle" was a better album than "All You Can't Leave Behind"...the latter absolutely has the best individual songs when you look at the two (Beautiful Day, Walk On, Kite and New York on a loop could get me through any day) but if I have to listen to the whole thing start to finish (which is how I typically do music) give me Dismantle over any U2 album that isn't Achtung.

I also thought No Line on the Horizon was decent enough but I wouldn't hold it in any higher esteem than Zooropa or Pop...a few songs I love, most I like, and some I can press skip without any remorse.

I think Darkside has a version of that recorded too that slays but not in a good way...

Pop.


/thread.

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Pop is what?

ANSWER ME!

U2's best album, and probably their best tour as well.

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Achtung Baby and ZooTV and its not close.

Achtung Baby and ZooTV and its not close.

Had to post it twice, huh?

I think you can argue it.

Maybe not the tour but i think the album comparison is fair

Not Pop or Popmart though

Pop was an incomplete album. Even the band admits it.