Reviews (page 8 of 8)
Safe, sad, soulless. Not interesting enough to be on this list, or any list, unless it is a list of albums that aren't interesting enough to be on lists
I wish I could leave bloody U2 behind.
Fuck you, 1001 Albums book. And fuck you too, U2. :) At least the one playing on this record. There are probably *2,000* albums more worthy of your attention out there. Oh, and by the way, a big "fuck you" to Rolling Stone magazine as well! Their own expectations and tastes for the reception of this record were so predictable that they're actually far more worthy of contempt than U2 themselves. At least, the Irish band were 'doing their job' right on a competency and professional level. Which is not the case for Rolling Stone as serious music critics. I'm not the one easily going for expletives on this app... But c'mon, praising this late-career attempt to become relevant again from the admittedly iconic Irish rock band is just plain ridiculous. Especially when you consider the obvious artistic flaws in the album, and this even in the context of a band that couldn't possibly top their past successful LPs (both artistically and commercially speaking). Case in point: "Elevation", which painstakingly tries to catch that *Achtung Baby* magic spark, alas to very mixed results. The issue here, as in the rest of this record, first stems from Bono's lackluster vocal performance--with his trademark mannerisms often worsened by some stifled or raspy inflexions at odds with the epic ambitions displayed throughout the proceedings. Add all those goddamn *generic*, middle-of-the-road compositions plaguing 90% of the tracklist, along with the eyerolls-inducing lyrics about "peace on earth", "redemption-through-love", and bla-bla-bla and so on--filled with so many hackneyed clichés that those lines of predictable words become sickening at best--and what you ultimately get is a borefest only aging critics and fans out of touch with the youth of the time could appreciate. Once upon a time, U2 could wear their hearts on their sleeves and yet still manage to elicit genuine emotions (the classic string of eighties albums, plus some other later songs at the start of the nineties). Or conversely, they could go through more abrasive and off-kilter territories, with a more cynical outlook, and thus offer a somewhat challenging version of what postmodern pop music could offer to the masses (through other songs mostly found in *Achtung Baby* and *Zooropa*). But here, you have none of those two extremities on a musical standpoint. You just have a bland middle-ground that's so calculated and calibrated that the whole thing quickly becomes sterile in your ears. Everyone is on full 'automatic mode' in this album: Bono and his sense of self-importance which prevents him from perceiving how ridiculous he is, Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois at the production helm, and even The Edge's guitar playing--the man does nothing grating for sure, and yet there's nothing to really get excited about in his own performance. Well, apart from a couple of moments here and there, like that interesting experimental solo at the end of "When I Look At The World"... Alas, those moments are too few. And they can't mitigate that overall impression that this record is ultimately pointless. I mean, how downright *boring* that second side is. And how awkward and self-conscious the first side feels like anyway... To put it in a nutshell, many talents are here gathered to record music cruelly lacking in stakes and even genuine "life" at times. Heck, even Coldplay's most middle-of-the-road tunes sound livelier than any of this (to use a reference point that's also related to Brian Eno's production chops). "Walk On" is a decent ballad, I guess. But let's face it: in albums *War*, *The Joshua Tree* or *Achtung Baby", that song would be a deep cut, and not the standout track. If only for this, there's no way I can give more than a 1/5 grade to this album. In truth, it's probably closer to a 2. But for once, I'm going to *lower* my grade to protest about how misguided that selection is. 1/5 for the purposes of this list gathering "essential albums" to listen to. 6/10 grade for more general purposes (5 for musical competency +1 for the actual artistry). Number of albums left to review: 129 Number of albums from the list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 377 Albums from the list I *might* include in mine later on: 223 Albums from the list I won't include in mine: 282 (including this one)
It started OK (Beautiful Day has been used in enough football montages that I quite enjoyed it) but by the time we were on to New York and Grace I was unable to continue listening...
trash
This is rock music for people who don't want to rock, written almost amateurishly by people who apparently also don't want to rock anymore. Mostly, it's pap. Auditory loft insulation. However, the insulatingly trite "Peace on Earth" and the soporific 'Grace' are so dismal as to move this from a 2-star, not great but tolerable to a 1. I could easily do without this in my life.
För att vara easy listening var det här en riktig utmaning! Jag lämnar det med glädje bakom mig :)
This album is like bad Coldplay. It's like hearing that ending, feel-good song on an album that no one likes twelve times in a row. It's like tuning into the Christian rock station, and getting what you deserve for thinking that was a good idea. It's awful. Bono was already slowly becoming the dullest vocalist to hit the big time, but luckily this album also lacks any interesting instrumentation, quality hooks or choruses for that matter, and really just reeks of "let's do what everyone else is doing!" Throw in some terrible lyrics that really don't even try, the entirety of Grace can show that off, and I think you have yourself the perfect mix of horrible, early 2000s schlock that only aims to be just inoffensive enough so that your grandma can finally become a fan of U2. Maybe that's why they've made permeant residence in Las Vegas for the time-being? So that your great aunts and uncles can catch them while they're on their biannual trip to the casinos to "make it big"? How did Eno get to be this dull; boredom? Was Talking Heads too much of a party, and he had to cool down with Jesus and the disciples for a few decades? Just rubbish, makes me more mad just thinking about it, don't put yourself through this, all is revealed in that "baby's first pop rock" of a hit single, so get your rocks off there, if you really need that U2 kick and War, Joshua Tree, Achtung Baby, literally any other album, or going outside doesn't satisfy that craving.
Find U2 a bit boring. Quite happy to be going back to forgetting they exist.
I want to like U2's albums, because of the involvement of Eno in a lot of them. But this is a fairly mediocre collection of songs that have a few interesting production gimmicks added in places, but other than that fails to grab the attention. Having not heard the opening track since ITV's Premier League coverage, I was surprised how mechanical and flat this sounded. The rest of the album seemingly took its cue from there. And how did they manage to write such a dull song about New York?
The definition of bland, u2 by the numbers.
I put this one off for two months. Probably could have used at least another two.
Beautiful day is a classic, but unfortunately not enjoyable enough to pull the rating away from 1/5
U2... gross
I think if it wasn't for nostalgia then I'd think 'Beautiful Day' was just bland radio slop too. Giving it a 1 because this album is the antithesis of everything I think rock music should be. It's bland, uninteresting, unexciting, has no passion, and nothing to say. Get it out of here.
Couldn't bring myself to listen, I don't like 'em .. and reading reviews, I didn't miss anything.
I strongly dislike U2.
DNF after wild honey. sorry dad, i hate your stupid band. U2 and Coldplay, two of the most irritating acts to ever come out of the british isles (not that every all male british group isn’t irritating). this 90’s/aughts middle aged white guy alt rock is just so bad. bands that just Sound Like The Bush Administration.
Beautiful day is a banger, the rest is meh
U2 sucks!
# Playlist track - Elevation # Notes - Album starts pretty OK. The first 3 tracks were huge back then, but didn't age too well. Still cool, as long as it's in homeophatic dosage. +3 stars - The chorus for "Beautiful Day" has some oomph to it, but its just way overplayed. Not their fault, tho. - "Stuck in a moment You Can't Get Out Of" suffers from an ever worse case. It's not even the whole chorus, it's just the first phrase. Just OK track, bad vocals, spectacular 1-liner. - "Elevation" still sounds cool. Corny cool. But cool. Bono is there to avoid it being great. - From there on it's just downhill. It's kind of amazing, really. One after the other, each subsequent track is worse. -2 stars. - A horrible album with a passable opening act.
Unfortunately I can easily leave U2 behind.
Some people just won't quit. And then after changing pop music with e.g. Zooropa, War, Achtung Baby make albums with the song Peace On Earth on it that makes you want to go to War with U2 itself. And make Beautiful Day, nothing wrong with the song, only they made 10 better similar songs before, which is (am I the only one) a ripp off of Aha's Sun Always Shines On TV. Earlier U2 albums in the list I gave 4 or 5 stars, this is a bloody disgrace for mankind.
Boring and cringe. Quimby wannabe lol. Fuck U2. I’ll never forgive them for that iTunes debacle. Coldplay is better.
The album that has our courageous anthemic heroes rest on their laurels and realize that they couldn't afford to leave behind the money train. Rinse/Repeat becomes all they couldn't leave behind and there's no sign of that changing since.
Could never get past the guitar style to listen to this band. His signature play-style is what I imagine repetitive water drop torture to the brain would be like. They are actually only one of three artists I permanently blocked from all my streaming services. Disappointing to see this album generated this morning.
Its aggressively 90s despite being released in 2000. There's a bit more nostalgia here than the other U2 albums we've had but I think that's as complimentary as I can be. Like the rest of the U2 discography, it's aggressively bland. Songs like beautiful day and elevation might could be okay but the distortion is turned all the way down and everything is compressed. Dont like Bonos singing, the woohoos in elevation manage to make it sound worse. It's a right dud, do not recommend.
Don’t like U2 at all so won’t rate highly. Sorry.
How about no
Samey-samey and utterly forgettable.
I don't want to try and bell curve all these albums. These are all classic albums, so hypothetically most of these should get really high ratings. On the other hand...growing up is realizing how much "Elevation" and "Move On" suck. And how little this is an album you have to hear before you die.
This is unbelievably bland. Listening to this was like having teeth pulled.
I thought this album was pretentious when it came out and it still is.
I personally do not like U2 so a bad pick for me
Yuck.
So very boring. And I usually like U2!
Kaksituhatta luvun musiikkiabkuka tahansa olisi voinut tehdä tämän albumin 5 minuutissa bruh en aio arvostella edes facebook vanha herra pätkivä häilyvö mielentila tyylillä mitä helvettiä märkä leipä
First listen Saved 0/11
Weichspül-Rock, mit dem ich einfach nichts anfangen kann.
Not a u2 fan
Boy band Pop Gewäsch.
Haha, une assez franche détestation pour ce CD. Je mets U2 dans la même catégorie que Coldplay et compagnie en mode "usines à tubes", "concerts dans des stades", etc. Je laissais le bénéfice du doute à cet album mais non, je crois que tout ce qui est postérieur à Sunday Bloody Sunday j'y arriverai pas. Déjà énervé au bout des 30 premières secondes d'écoute.
Awful
forgettable
This album is very not good. I actually really dislike it. I tried going in with an open mind, and it's just nothing. I don't know why it exists. I can't believe this was as popular as it was. 1.49/5
Fuck U2. I'm not even going to listen to this. Everything they have ever made is hot garbage.
This thing is so pompous I'm gonna throw up
I can certainly leave this album behind
Bono trying so hard to be revelant and deep in the most cringe and awful way. All of it at the top of boring sounds that would be nothing without reverb and delay. The 1001 should have let this one behind.
Weird choice for this list. They produced so many great albums in thr 80s and early 90s, but by this point they were creatively over, and this is deathly. After Coldplay yesterday, our Spotify algorithm may be permanently trashed.
I've never liked the major singles that came of this album, which I now have noticed are all front-loaded on here. "Beautiful Day" and "Elevation" are supposed to be the bangers, but they only annoyed me on release. It sounded like an old rock band phoning it in. "Stuck In A Moment" never did anything to me, not even the hopeful lyrics. The only decent single that came of this album was "Walk On." "Kite," "In A Little While" and "Wild Honey" are all very decent but also incredibly safe songs. A little trumpet here and a couple of strings there in the background to fill the sound out. After that, I think this album is like chewing gum where the nice taste disappears too quickly.
U2 sucks. Honestly is every U2 album on this list? How? They are truly awful. And this album is from AFTER they were relevant. So it's not even like it's one of the albums considered good!
1/5. Just a super boring album. Not interesting at all. No song stands on its own and surprising the hit single from the album has anywhere near that many listens. It’s awfully mediocre at best.
Is this a good album? No. Are there a couple good songs on here? I guess? Are the lyrics REALLY bad? 1000% The only reason this album feels like it belongs on the list is for Beautiful Day, maybe Stuck in a Moment. But so much of the song writing is shallow, uninspired, and at times just plain awful that it just brings down the entire album. It's way too safe and lacks anything inspiring. I want music with soul, not this dribble.
U2 sucks, fuck bono
Oh please God no. It opens with three of my least favourite songs ever. And if they were the singles, what aural excrement was deemed not good enough to be a single? I'm not even listening to the first three. They'll no doubt be shoved down my throat by a television producer who hates people soon enough. I made it another track and a half in before deciding the next 40 minutes of my life would be better spent working out how many nails I'd need to drive through my genitalia before I pass out from the pain. Had U2 died in a freak cheese making accident in 1991 I'm sure they'd be fondly remembered. The tragedy is that they lived on. I might be willing to amend that to about 1997 cos Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me was a tune (but not as good as Seal's Batman song). Definitely the last twitch before the life support was turned off though.
Garbage
The emptiest band in rock. Hate all of it.
If you want to hear the sound of Western capitalism cresting, listen no further. This has everything: Bland optimism Fat complacency Self satisfaction The ability to make loadsamoney Your former rawness polished to a pleasantly marketable shine The Edge In its defence a.) those first three tracks are pretty good and b.) they had no idea re: the twin towers and subsequent slide of the West into late capitalism and all the grimness that involves. Ultimately it has some relevance as an aural-historical document, but limited relevance as an album.
U2: Mein Papa hat mal eine Rechnung bekommen, weil er angeblich U2 illegal runtergeladen hat. Man kann uns vieles vorwerfen, aber das ist SICHERLICH nie passiert.
Nope, no thank you.
Where to begin with this... I can start by saying I let out an involuntary sigh and "ugh" while I heard the first few keys of "Beautiful Day" which would be the only song I make it through. Only lasted about 30sec into "Stuck in a moment..." "Elevation" is embarassing and to be honest I can't remember much else. Maybe "New York" is closest to any kind of decent U2 that I can recall. This is SO disappointing as a HUGE U2 fan. I grew up on Unforgettable Fire, Joshua Tree, Achtung Baby and more. Heck, I'll even take Discotechque or the entire Pop album over this mess. U2 seems like they bought the farm in 2000 and isn't looking back. Which is a shame, but I'll still jam to anything prior to this album, any day...
"everytime I clap my hands a child in Africa dies" “Well stop fucking doing it then!!”
I think what's so frustrating about this album is that it could be so much better if the arrangements were allowed to go even a little off the rails. The opening track and 'When I Look At the World' get close, but otherwise the production is so sterile it saps all the fun out and leaves mega-cheesy ballads behind. Sounds like a Keane album.
Not good. Never good
Fuck U2
shite
four overplayed singles and a buncha throwaways
Bok gibi