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All righty! Boy - What I like about Boy is that the early innocent sound of the band. They were, without a doubt, going places with that sound. My favorite tracks on the album are "I Will Follow," "Out of Control," "Electric Co.," "Into the Heart," "Stories for Boys," "Shadows and Tall Trees"... Shoot, I may as well list them all. | |
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You can read the little review I did of Boy HERE. Don't forget to add yours to this thread so it can be added to the appropriate album page in the Discography! | |
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OK LV, here goes...... “All That You Can’t Leave Behind�? This is by far one of my favorite albums by U2. I think it is one of those albums they you can listen to from the first song to the last without skipping over any tracks . Beautiful Day is a great start to off, & ending with Grace, wraps it up so nicely. I can listen to it, & know what song is next without looking at the cd cover, like I said it’s one of my favorites. Some songs that I will repeat & play over & over again, are In a Little While, Kite, and Walk On. Songs like Beautiful Day, (which is a great ring tone btw), & Elevation are so fun, & superb LIVE. I think the last four songs go together so well, they compliment each other, & wind your mood down; Peace on Earth, When I Look at the World, New York, (with the brilliant guitar), & Grace. All That You Can’t Leave Behind, definitely should be a part of a U2 fan’s collection. *Catchy title too!* | |
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| Achtung Baby
November 1991
Gone were the glitz and glam, moneyed 80's; where U2's job seemed cemented in growing rock a political and social conscience. Asking the average "Joe" ---other than money and clothes, what else out there really mattered? In comes the 90's. The world was changing. We had the fall of the Berlin Wall, the beginnings of a neverending war for oil brewing in the Middle East( Operation Desert Storm), human genocide in Bosnia; and the gradual shift from manufacturing bliss and excess, to technolgy. If ever we needed U2 back it was then. Well, they came back with a newfound and stark reality.
Shockingly different than the familiar righteous and grand U2; Achtung Baby was a whole new Rock and Roll child. This Baby was the birth of Alternative Rock. It was hard and industrial at times--sly and sexual others. It manipulated and peverted mass media. It exposed and left both us and the singer raw with a roller coaster of emotion. This was an unheard of blending of music styles. U2 took that collapsed Wall of communism and reconstructed it in Hansa studios, as a wall of sound. Here at once was hard driving guitar, Hip-Hop bass, wailing soul singing, and the use of every imaginable distortion of sound possible. 'The Fly' was the underbelly of society. 'One' was the anthem of Humanity--a cry for help, compassion, and love; beautifuly wound in a synergy together. 'Mysterious Ways' was the soldiers song--Johnny-- trying to figure it all out in a new kind of war of religions and power. It used a killer guitar oozing in sex and mixed with it a worldly beat to seduce the listener and mask the danger. 'Trying To Throw Your Arms Around The World' directly stold from Hip-Hop. White Man's soul. 'Ultraviolet'(Light My Way) is every person's need for that one individual in their darkest hours to swoop in and be their saving grace. 'Love Is Blindness' Is the consummate end song both to the album and to life. It is heartache and suicide. Someone or perhaps all of us(society as a whole) at the ends of our ropes---in desperate need of someone greater to intervene( maybe God?). Achtung Baby was/is the Wars, The Fall of Communism, The End Of The Cold War, AIDS, Sexual explorations, relationships, religion,unsatisfaction; the search for more meaning in life. The search for God. It was a band pushing themselves so hard they nearly self destructed, but instead stuck together; creating groundbreaking musical genius. I personally believe Achtung Baby is one of the most complex, outstanding rock albums ever released.The tour which followed(ZooTV),was equally groundbreaking and record setting. One can listen to this album (CD) over and over and still come away with a fresh perspective. It is lyrics that have one thousand meanings. Thinking songs. Music so unique it launched hundreds of copycats. It is a force of singer and band that hit in such a way it leaves you stunned and craving more.
Yes, the 80's had seen success, greed and ambition rise up to be a God. Now the 90's had us worship at the feet of technology and media(Watch More TV). So in walked U2(or rather they "Swaggered" in), questioning just what it is we have to sacrifice and sell of ourselves to obtain life's goals. Achtung Baby is indeed to be approached with "Caution"----cautious respect.
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| The Joshua Tree 3/9/1987 Mormon pioneers named this Yucca variety the "Joshua" Tree after the prophet Joshua from the Old Testament. They saw the upraised, outbranched limbs of this scrappy desert tree; and it reminded them of Joshua pointing out the way for his people to the Promised Land. This is a fitting image for the album cover. I think U2 conveys here that in the middle 80's people were getting disallusioned. They began searching for some kind of personal Promised Land. They needed a moral compass...someone to forge on ahead and lead them. They needed hope. U2 delved deep in the making of this album; way down in the soul wells. They were dipping into some water of life. They saw people wandering in the midst of all the wealth and yuppies, political boasting, hunger for power and trampling of the underdog. I think they thought the world had left behind their collective conscience. So here they came with this bold, shouting, blazing, glorifying sound and imagry. The Joshua Tree was both musically complex and stripped down at the same time. It got back to the Rock basics. Superb song structure, vocal beauty, electrifying guitar solos, and strong underlying rhythm. There was a need for simplicity in music of the time and also in people's lives. Taking away all the fakeness and seeing what was left and what mattered. What I get from this album and what I think mattered the most then and now are people. The Joshua Tree is about people. If you think of the songs, they are stories about people. Something at a loss in the dance music and bubblegum pop of the middle 80's. The Joshua Tree was about our spiritual relationships/needs (Where The Streets Have No Name, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For), love (With or Without You, Red Hill Mining Town, Trip Through Your Wires), life struggles ( Running To Stand Still, In God's Country) even our well being and death (Bullet The Blue Sky, One Tree Hill, Exit, Mothers of the Disappeared). It all comes down to people.
U2 stood there in the studio and screamed with instruments and voices; Hey, look at people being killed in the drug trade (Bullet The Blue Sky); as it rampantly grew in the 1980's. They said care about those living under tyranny (Mothers of the Disappeared). Look at those struggling to make a living and a home in a world where industry was dying a slow agonizing death (Red Hill Mining Town, In God's Country). They wondered if there was real help for the hopeless (Running to Stand Still). They came to us wearing their hearts on their sleeves. They said in the shallowness of this decade it is ok to care. It is the right thing to do.
U2 used the haunting melodies and mesages of The Joshua Tree to bring us back from the watered down news and back to reality. This was serious and somber stuff for the most part. You might say a CNN type of album. Black is the main color choice for this album and it is fittingly so. This is no 1980's party with the bright pastels and gay synthesizer beat. This is a wake up call to pay attention. And a lot of us did. We reached for the lyric book because the singer's emoting made us want to know every word. We heard the striking musical composition and were hit with energy to accomplish. This album to me is chock full of meaning. It is outstandingly relavent. Guitar justice. Singing that bleeds with emotion. A drum and bass heartbeat of new life. U2's choice to use examples of a tree that grows amidst dry soil and harsh conditions, somber expressions, black clothing and color schemes, and that stark landscape of the desert were very deliberate. They wanted to stand out amongst the hairbands, club dance scene, techno beats, and carefree pop music; in order to affect our souls. They wanted to put feeling and lives back into Rock and Roll. They wanted us to remember Rock's roots in affecting social change. This album is about people to me. It is global society, and it succeeded in making U2 into global superstars. | |
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| Boy 10/20/1980 What's great about this album is that youthful belief that anything is possible. A sense that you are powerful, and have the world on a string. An awareness of your own self importance. Cockyness. Every song on Boy is a teenager's dreams, yearnings, and life. No matter how old you are you are taken back to the bedroom you occupied in your parents home. Back to your teenage lair.
That isn't to say however that this album is without weight or moments of very adult seriousness. Quite the contrary. Who ever said being a teen stuck in that "I'm not a stupid kid, and I'm not yet fully mature" phase is easy, after all. Not I. Not anyone who recalls their formidable years or have teens of their own. Not anyone after listening to this album.
Boy tells us of all the heartache (I Will Follow), angst ( Out Of Control) ,Frustrations, (An Cat Dubh, Shadows and Tall Trees), anger (The Electric Co.), and elations (Twighlight); of those hard growing up years. Once more Boy does it effortlessly and expertly. And, why shouldn't it--this was after all the ultimate teenage diary. Boy is written and performed by the young band living these songs.
Boy is ambitious and at times almost ridiculously energetic. Mostly a fast tempoed frantic paced album with only a few songs where we can catch our breath. Like the U2 boys in a hurry to be men; the lyrics are hurried and scattered---poetic enough and serious beyond their years perhaps---but presented in an untrained, blurted stream. This is what is real about Boy. The singer and band are not too rehearsed. This is what an honest to goodness, starting from scratch band sounds like. It is no copy of anything existing. It is forming and becoming its own identity...much like a youth doing their growing up. U2 felt no need to change because at this stage they can feel--no they KNOW, they'll be big...someday.
Boy is the perfect analogy. It is a time capsule. It is a glimpse of 4 youngster's lives. It is a smart but awkward young man. It is imperfect U2 that in the end became the perfect example. It was the launchpad and not the surface of the moon itself. What is forever endearing to U2 fans, is how whenever we take out our copy of Boy and have a listen---we feel we never really have to grow up. | |
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| All That You Can't Leave Behind
10/31/2000 Favorite Songs: 'Beautiful Day', 'Walk On', 'Grace' This is the U2 album that made me love and appreciate U2 as people; and the fantastic, talented band they are all over again.
I think ATYCLB is the most openly personal album in U2's catalog. Simply a gorgeous collection of songs. Lyrics so complete, mature and masterful, they seem too perfect to be written by anyone but God's hands (to me). This is a spiritual tour de force. A nation's band-aid at the time of rising terrorism and the events of 9/11. It is touching on every emotional level. The familiar U2 was back. The band that we noticed back when most of us were teens or young adults really hadn't gone too far away. They had grown and changed physically, as they --like us--aged. They'd become megasuperstars worldwide in fame; yet they still cared about what was going on in the world in a way no other rock band or even celebrity seemed to.
With ATYCLB it was like they could read their fan's minds. It seemed like this album was made about our lives. You listened to ATYCLB and thought it was about you. That is because Bono and the band shared of themselves like no other lead singer and his mates ever had or will. Some might say that U2 have paid a high price for being so open and sharing. Yes, they have in ways (such as their privacy); but they've also been greatly rewarded by doing so. Rewarded with an enourmous worldwide fan base-- who genuinely love these four guys. They feel a kinship and loyalty; a respect and caring when they listen to U2 or go see them live. The relationship between this band and its fans is unmatched. It is like old friends, brothers--like family--like going home.
I love that U2 share their lives in song, interviews and onstage. They want to be real--not some worshipped 'Rock Gods'. Real people. They've been through losses too (deaths, divorce, love break-ups). They've seen their world around them change (economics, politics, war, terrorism, and jobs). They've had marriages and raised children. They have faced illness, depression and set-backs. When you listen to a U2 song it is about them. It isn't some contrived 3rd person fairytale. This makes their music much more poignant.
I think this album hits on a great thing about U2; maybe the biggest reason they are the biggest band...love. Love shared between U2 and their fans. This band feels enough to take that leap--that risk, and instead of holding back..open themselves up. That is love.
On a personal note I've had 7 chronic illnesses since early childhood. It is 34 years now that I've been ill/disabled (for lack of a more poetic way to put it). Everytime I listen to ATYCLB it strikes me with such beauty...such a wonderful sense of understanding. It is a great comfort to me. I want to say "Thank-You", to the guys of U2. Thanks for saying I've been there. Thanks for sharing your own heartache. Thanks for telling me everything will work out. Thanks for saying "hang in there". Thanks for all the musical joy and the belief. Thanks for the faith. Thanks for the triumphs. Thank-You for the love.
ATYCLB=Love, Love, Love | |
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| Zooropa July 5th, 1993 My Favorite Songs= 'Lemon', 'Stay', 'Dirty Day' and 'The Wanderer' The Zoo Baby's Baby. Obscure, experimental, mismash, quirky fun. Fun that masks the serious tones that are a constant in the lyrical content that is U2. A successful musical trip to the future. Listening was at once like a brand new friend and a very old one coming together. The expansion of Achtung Baby and ZooTV. This album is a tour experience album. It is the barage of technolgy in the early 1990's put to song. It is a continuum of the over-the-top spectacle that was the ZooTV Tour. Just like the opening confusion of ZooTV; the opening song on this album- 'Zooropa', begins and builds in voluume a head spinning, illogical mix of traditional instrumentals(piano) and space age sounds. It is like the old U2 was morphing and contorting to cope and fit in somewhere in the new mainstream music scene. They weren't going to be that big 80's band that had their day and then faded away to oblivion. In a media world that cried out for more, more, more...U2 rose up to the challenge. They heard the cry. In fact they not only heard it, but they used it and bent it to suit their needs. If more was what the MTV generation sought; then U2 were going to give it to them...in spades. But, not just vacant noise and great to look at graphics. No. Not just big honking video screens and flashy costumes. Nope. They also gave messages and politics, religion and analogies of life. All of this was classic U2 wrapped up in a shiny new box. Zooropa(like ZooTV) is a deceiving little devil. You are so enchanted by the sounds that sometimes the full meaning/agenda goes over your head. This is because of that mesmerizing wall of sound. That is one of the most stand out traits of this particular album to me. The sound absolutely fills up a room at once. It is hypnotic and so rich...so big it is hard to believe it is just the guys in U2. Masterful. Simply masterful sound exhibited here. But, the lyrics are there also. If you listen you will catch some dark tales and warnings of excess living ('Zooropa',"Numb','Daddy's Gonna Pay For Your Crashed Car'). You will hear of religious conflict('The Wanderer') and pained family relationships(' Dirty Day'). You will learn of unconditional love ...that of God, parents, a spouse, and friends('Lemon', 'The First Time'). It is all here as before with U2, but presented in a whole new way. With Zooropa, U2 forged on in new directions they had to take in order to stay alive, fresh; and on their quest to be relavent to the times and make cutting edge music. U2 didn't want to be the same band looking the same way and playing the same way; like a needle that got stuck in the records groove. So they skipped that stuck needle and replaced it with one that played a whole new tune....but on the same old system. Personal note time now: What stands out to me about Zooropa (other than my aforementioned favorite songs) is the genuine surprise it was. That doesn't happen anymore thanks to the internet; but in 1993 it still could. I will recall this album forever now as the last time I had no real notice that the biggest band around, had a new album out. I remember the pure joy of walking into a mall in Florida while I was there visiting my Grandma, and seeing posters lining the windows of the record store for Zooropa --which would be out the next week. It was so exciting to me. I absolutely loved Achtung Baby and had seen ZooTV live...so to have another album to listen to this fast was fantastic. I still had the ZOO Fever and I will always remember the anticipation of Zooropa. Zooropa was a quick little surprise. A pleasant one. Zooropa---That Achtung Baby which was born and came from U2's creativity screaming and bawling with new life---becoming its own little person. | |
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| War
Released 2/28/1983
Favorite Songs: 'Sunday Bloody Sunday', 'New Years Day', 'Drowning Man', 'Surrender', '40' "The Activist's Album" The title of this album along with the striking cover photo; pretty much conveys the meaning or theme of this collection of songs...War. But, it isn't just what we initially think of as a bloody conflict between countries. It isn't all tanks, and bombs and guns. U2 is speaking of all kinds of wars; and there are many. There are indeed the first to mind wars between countries ( New Years Day), but there are also broader worldwide wars of threats and acts of terror (Seconds, Sunday Bloody Sunday ). There are wars against our personal freedoms, and liberties (Like A Song, The Refugee ), drug/addiction wars ( Drowning Man, Surrender,) wars of exploitation (The Refugee, Red Light, Surrender ), and religious wars (Sunday Bloody Sunday ). Finally, there is a promise of reconciliation, love and hope in the midst of these conflicts ( Drowning Man, Two Hearts Beat As One, 40 ). All the wars spoken of are here in U2's album 'War'. The conflicts are exhibited in lyric and music with earnest and exuberant fervor. They come marching at you with such force and conviction that it is impossible to not ready yourself. That is sort of how I feel when I put on War. It isn't a casual listen. This is the U2 CD you put on when you feel fired up, or need to get fired up. It is loud, bold and forceful. It is the activist's cry. It says "Do Something!" and that is what it does for me and many U2 fans. whether it has inspired you to march for a cause, Donate money or time to a cause, write a letter for a cause...or simply pray for a cause; the point is it inspires. War is so honest and wrought with feeling that it is anything but phony. Bono and U2 and their passions are for real here. They are living and feeling in the moment here. These issues and struggles matter to them, and it all comes through clearly in their microphones and instruments. U2's War is waged with earnest intelligent skill mixed with young courageous risks. In my opinion with this album...U2 were victorious at cementing their future iconic status. | |
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| HTDAAB 11/22/2004 Favorite Songs= Miracle Drug,SYCMIOYO,COBL,Crumbs. "How do you dismantle an atomic bomb? With love."(Bono in interviews'04,05) This is U2's most religious album. In my opinion even more clearly so than the Christian themed October. It is an exploration and declaration of their faith. Faith being tested in every way possible by the world. In the world Governments were shifting and bending. Terrorism was alive and expanding--forever looming. Things like divorce, addiction, pornography and greed grabbed headlines. Gone was the nuclear family. Violence increased against women and children. People's rights were being abused unchecked. Untreatable disease claimed millions of victims. Everything pointed to a need for change. Change is what was needed and with HTDAAB U2 cried out for it. They looked to God for it, and they encouraged the listener to help affect it. The theme of great crisis in our world and religion; U2's religion--intersect and intertwine in a way that tells a complete story on HTDAAB. It is a story of sin, temptations, the promise of forgiveness, salvation, doing works, and heaven. Finally it is the story of their belief that ultimate change will be brought about in the world by Jesus Christ. Being a Christian I could never listen to HTDAAB and hear it another way. The lyrics say it all on this album and they are lyrics full of biblical reference. 1) Vertigo: Modern take on the temptation of Jesus Christ in the Bible. Luke 4:1-13, Matthew 4:1-11, Mark 1: 12&13. 2)MD: A cry for us to have compassion for those dying for lack of medicine. A need for mercy. Contains part of the Bible verse Matthew 25:35 3)SYCMIOYO: Theme of forgiveness, acceptance and grief. 4)LAPOE: Mentions the themes of prayer, being born again, the relationship between God and Israel and mentions Zion and Abraham. Isaiah 42:1 5)COBL Has themes of heaven and the Christian Rapture.
6)ABOY:References Exodus chapter 3, specifically verses 14&15. Lyrics also hint at being born of grace, returning to God in death and being made whole or perfect again through God/salvation. 7)AMAAW: Blessing of marriage and trials of depression. 8)CFYT:Uses the story of faith from Matthew chapter 15 in the bible. Bono is saying that the dying in Africa are waiting on their crumbs from the master's table; or healing from Jesus.
9) OSC: A dying person one step closer to knowing/seeing God. 10)OOTS: Love for children, and our own wish to be like a child in our hearts. 11) Yahweh: The Biblical correct name of God. This song asks God to use them in his service. It also references the birth of Christ, the 2nd coming and the new Jerusalem. Exodus 6:3, Luke 2:1-7, 1st Corinthians 15:23, 2nd Thessalonians 2:1-9, Revelations 21:1-6 12)FC: Choices in life good vs. bad. The detox of sin. How we can become out of control.
HTDAAB is U2 once again using all their musical expertise and lyrical skill to showcase their religion and its partner politics. Something uniquely U2. U2 are again unashamed, and unmatched in making Chritianity and God mainstream; and the quest to live the right way something we should all be constantly working at. | |
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| Okay...I'm going to give my thoughts about Boy. It is by no means like the fantastic reviews that Unhitched gives, but here goes: Boy I think this album is incredible for a debut album. It's strong and it's confident. It's easy to see that they were going to go far and make something of themselves. | |
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| Okay, here's my review of October: October - This is such a powerful album for a band so young. The lyrics are strong and the music is wonderful. I love the drums on this one. A risky follow-up to their debut album, but for U2 it definitely works. | |
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| U2 October Released October 1981 Favorite Songs: Gloria, Rejoice, Tomorrow, Stranger In A Strange Land
The Christian Album; or unoficially so anyway. This was U2's 2nd album and I think their bravest step in album making (outside of the leap to Achtung Baby). It is certainly not a typical rock and roll album. Every song references a biblical passage or story, and is a faith proclamation few would own up to in such a business. I personally admire the truth of the lyrics in October, and I think the album itself tells of the personal belief struggles going on at that time within the band. Perhaps struggles still waging today(albeit in a lesser degree with U2's stature, knowledge and maturity). The members of U2 were trying to reconcile being Christians, and being in a rock band. This is evident in October. It tells a story of people who have the faith and are in various forms of strife in their lives. Ultimately October answered U2's own quandry for them. You can make rock music and not sacrifice your beliefs.
 Some Biblical References contained in October are: Gloria--Psalm 50:51 I Fall Down-- 1st Samuel 1:10
I Threw A Brick Through A Window--John 9:40,41 Rejoice--Romans 12:12, Psalm 9:2, Psalm 56:3
Fire--Revelation 6:12,13 Tomorrow--Matthew 27:51, Revelation 3:20
October--Psalm 145:13, Psalm 46:6 With A Shout--Psalm 47:5, 1st Thessalonians 4:16 Stranger In A Strange Land--Luke 24 Scarlet-- Same as Rejoice Is That All--Colossians 2:8, Ecclesiastes 6:12
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