Red Mosquito

1. Joshua Tree
2. Unforgettable Fire
3. Achtung Baby - I think this is by far their best album, just not my favorite.

4. War / Under a Blood Red Sky
5. Boy

6. Zooropa
7. Rattle & Hum
8. How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb
9. All That You Can't Leave Behind - I find this album hard to listen all the way through. It starts out so strong but then just fades away.

10. No Line On The Horizon - Every song is so much better live. Hate how small the drums are in this album.
11. October
12. Pop - What a mess. Just sounds unfinished and lacking the correct focus.

I really miss the whimsical and poetry that used to be in some U2 songs. Now every set of lyrics is overly thought out, needs to have some big message and is too serious all the time. That's what I love about Unforgettbale Fire, it mixed the serious (Bad, Pride) with the poetic (Promenade).

did U2 ever do a countdown to a countdown

they've always looked up to pearl jam for really cutting edge ideas

stip wrote:REM lasted another 15 years without Bill Berry (about as long as they were together with him), produced another 5 albums, 4 of which were good to great.

Lotus, Hope, Daysleeper, The Lifting, I Wanted to be Wrong, Living Well is the Best Revenge. Uberlin, and It Happened Today are among my top REM songs. Accelerate is probably a top 5 REM record for me. At My Most Beautiful was the first dance song at my wedding.

I'm pretty thankful they didn't calll it quits then.

I totally disagree about 4 of the 5 albums being good to great (I assume you are omitting Around The Sun). Up is awesome and Accelerate had a bunch of good songs. They had some other good songs sprinkled throughout the other records but they still fell off a cliff after New Adventures. Basically Murmur through New Adventures is a ridiculous run of 5 star albums (except for Fables) and they haven't come close to it since, IMO.

j's brain wrote:[Basically Murmur through New Adventures is a ridiculous run of 5 star albums (except for Fables)

Aww man, I love Fables. Easily my second favorite REM record. So moody. Maps & Legends gets me every time.

I think fell off a cliff is way too strong when it comes to post-Berry R.E.M. The only out-and-out poor record they ever made was Around the Sun.

j's brain wrote:

stip wrote:REM lasted another 15 years without Bill Berry (about as long as they were together with him), produced another 5 albums, 4 of which were good to great.

Lotus, Hope, Daysleeper, The Lifting, I Wanted to be Wrong, Living Well is the Best Revenge. Uberlin, and It Happened Today are among my top REM songs. Accelerate is probably a top 5 REM record for me. At My Most Beautiful was the first dance song at my wedding.

I'm pretty thankful they didn't calll it quits then.

I totally disagree about 4 of the 5 albums being good to great (I assume you are omitting Around The Sun). Up is awesome and Accelerate had a bunch of good songs. They had some other good songs sprinkled throughout the other records but they still fell off a cliff after New Adventures. Basically Murmur through New Adventures is a ridiculous run of 5 star albums (except for Fables) and they haven't come close to it since, IMO.

Accelerate is the only one of these records that is as good as the 10 album run that preceded it (which alone is reason enough to be glad they stayed together). The other 4 albums, while all flawed in some way (up has some marvelous songs, but it has some duds as well, and the whole thing is a bit bloated) still have some amazing songs and shockingly few bad songs (around the sun has more than I 'd like). Failing to achieve perfection is hardly damaging your legacy, nor is it grounds to give up.

Lament wrote:

j's brain wrote:[Basically Murmur through New Adventures is a ridiculous run of 5 star albums (except for Fables)

Aww man, I love Fables. Easily my second favorite REM record. So moody. Maps & Legends gets me every time.

Seems we find ourselves agreeing again, Lament.

"Fables" is right up there in my top three as well, alongside "New Adventures" and "Automatic."

broken iris wrote:

stip wrote:You may not like U2's music, and you might think Bono is over the top, but they have produced some era defining music, and are one of the most important bands of the last several decades.

Absolutely. I don't go out of my way to listen to U2, but The Joshua Tree is one the best rock albums of all time.

Before I knew about 'The U2' I did enjoy their music. However, since then, and due to the lack of quality in outputs post Pop, I find it hard to take U2 and their music seriously even though I know their intentions often are serious - and whenever I read things like this I don't know whether to commend them or choke on my lunch:
"Bono also contributed to songwriting on guitar; the Spanish guitar melody in "Mothers of the Disappeared" originated from a song that he wrote in Ethiopia to teach children about basic hygiene."

Kevin Davis wrote:Seems we find ourselves agreeing again, Lament.

"Fables" is right up there in my top three as well, alongside "New Adventures" and "Automatic."

If I manage to land a few more points of agreement with you I might be able to fool people into thinking I have some idea of what I'm talking about.

LikeLukin wrote:I've never been really big into U2 (although I do love Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby) so I can't really comment on their legacy.

I know with Pearl Jam though, I feel like they have been increasingly embarrassing to me (for lack of a more fitting word right now) ever since the opening notes of the recorded Severed Hand intro followed by all those green lasers in Toronto in '06. Such an alienating moment in my life.

That concert ruled! Such a great bootleg out there. U2 = Motrin Pain

i thought all that you cant leave behind was an awesome album.same thing with no line on the horizon.

i think u2s legacy is probably worse, but then again theyre making a helluva lot more cash than pearl jam are. at least the last 2 albums u2 put out are actually pretty good unlike pearl jams. pearl jam just keep riding that punk rock train they suck at now.

pearl jam 1990-2003




but in all honesty, half of backspacer and half of s/t are decent to good, in my opinion. guess only radiohead can be radiohead.

and eddie keeps doing this thing when he sings live where he moves his jaw left to right really fast. it ruins the song. like, dude, sing the song! youre ruining it! this isnt american idol. youre singing to all these people yet youre singing like youre bored in the shower.

eciglover wrote:and eddie keeps doing this thing when he sings live where he moves his jaw left to right really fast. it ruins the song. like, dude, sing the song! youre ruining it! this isnt american idol. youre singing to all these people yet youre singing like youre bored in the shower.

Yeah, but Ed does sweet things like pronounces "wind" as "weee-yawwwnd" now. And that's like super cool or something.

Lament wrote:And that's like super cool or something.

Oh it's something alright.

Something else?

could be.

where were you for wrigley, Lament? On the field?

Yeah, we were in the GA pit (that's not my personal video I posted though). I actually ended up closer than that dude somehow. We were probably like twenty-five feet from the stage in the middle. 95% of the GA people smashed themselves into the first twenty feet, so it was nice and roomy where we were.

Lament wrote:Yeah, we were in the GA pit (that's not my personal video I posted though). I actually ended up closer than that dude somehow. We were probably like twenty-five feet from the stage in the middle. 95% of the GA people smashed themselves into the first twenty feet, so it was nice and roomy where we were.

Cool. Must have been an experience. I hope this summer (your winter) brings some good shows too.