Search results

By far my favourite up-tempo song on the album, I don't even mind the Ba-Ba-Barbara intro and that whole metaphor about 'no end to grief, no end to love' seems to be the heart of SOI. The live version doesn't quite work though, and its the chorus that lets it down for me. Whereas the album...

Undeniably, loads of songs try and replicate this formula, most of U2's actually, I guess its all about execution at the end of the day. Theoretically All I Want Is You should have been a huge hit but wasn't. There's no real formula, but maybe you can reduce your chances of having a flop if you...

Yeah its definitely personal preference and I'm sure that Vertigo would probably rank in their somewhere. I don't know how the mainstream audience feels about U2 in the US but in the UK I'm not entirely certain most people, irrespective of age, would be still be able to name which band created...

Yeah, timing is everything, the Paul McCartney of 1985 couldn't have written the classics his 1965 self did. It doesn't mean that the bands that I mentioned didn't write any good songs after their heyday, many did, and I think its a shame that all too often a mainstream audience doesn't...

Every band obviously wants to write classics but I don't think Lennon ever really envisioned just how lasting the appeal of Strawberry Fields would be and in the case of McCartney, he probably had no idea Hey Jude would probably go onto become his best loved song. He more than likely had far...

I’ve always been a bit sceptical about the bands desire to now write ‘classic and timeless’ songs rather than continue to push in new and unfamiliar directions. That’s partly because I don’t think you can ever really be that calculated about writing ‘an all-time great’ and whenever anyone...

By all accounts none of the band members really enjoyed making AB, yet due to its huge success all of them appear to see it as kind of painful process they had to go through. I guess they feel that all the hardship is worth it if it ultimately pays off. NLOTH commits the cardinal sin of being...

It's definitely worth checking out the latest issue of Mojo, the band are in fiery form, especially Bono and Larry. There's also some interesting stuff on their feelings towards NLOTH now, turns out that making it was not a pleasant experience. Larry in particular seems to have disowned it and...

I’d agree, if we’re talking about the acoustic sessions we’ve been hearing on the promo tour and not the album version. I think by attempting to go for a more commercial take on SOI, the band have extracted the songs inherent pain and pathos, it shines as a stripped back acoustic piece. I have...

SOI is light years ahead of NLOTH for me, which goes to show that U2 are often sharper when they’ve been a bit humbled. There’s nothing outright obnoxious on here like SUC and no real pastiches of other artists work which always end up feeling a bit limp. This is a band content to be in its...

It was a good idea for the band to actually be interviewed. With a performance it can be hard for the casual listener to see behind the bravado and 'egomania'. When people don't see an act for 5 years, they start to distrust them, the interview allowed the band to show that they can be witty...

Ironically, the album version of EBW is my least favourite rendition of the track, ventures too far into Killers territory for my liking. The acoustic version reveals the emotive core of the song far more clearly and the BBC session is even better, Bono's vocal in particular is exceptional...

I’m really hoping this whole campaign works for the group, the high-impact approach has clearly got people talking about U2 again but so far it’s been nothing but sound and fury. In order for this thing to have any kind of proper momentum it has to come back to the music. What the band needs is...

That is a fantastic image. How the band could produce this yet also deem the picture for HTDAAB to be in anyway a suitable album cover is beyond me.

Whilst I think grand departures are pretty much off the table at this point, there are one or two simple things the band could do that would at least make it appear as though they are making a break with the past to recapture some attention. Like changing the way they look. The bands image...

I feel the same thing has happened with U2 as a live act, in the 80's they were inconsistent as hell but on their night they were awe-inspiring By becoming so much more proficient as musicians their performances have become more clinical. They can produce solid show after solid show, but the...

What concerns me is actually how long hey are prepared to wait for 'God to walk in the room' again. They are all fully aware of just how long its been since the last album ( let along the last time they had a bona fide hit i.e: Vertigo n 2005), but if something special doesn't spark over the...

I wonder if the slightly underwhelmed response to Invisible has anything to do with this? If the reaction of the casual listener had been stronger and the band felt they were on to a sure-fire smash hit, they would have been eager to ride the momentum and get the new campaign underway as soon...

It's good to see Bono going for a more universal lyric this time around, sure some moments fall back into typical U2 cliché, but the overriding message about feeling disregarded and not wanting to be lost in the crowd is much more relatable. The problem with Boots was that it was all just too...

I think those who abhor Imagine simply because human beings inherent selfishness can, in extreme circumstances, have disastrous consequences, should direct their ire towards the predilections of human nature rather than the song itself. Whatever the evils of the contemporary world are they were...

I agree, and even if you don't like the message, few other songwriters have been able to communicate an idea with so much clarity, simplicity and resonance. They are a truly fantastic set of lyrics. Not only that, but the piano melody remains one of the most distinctive and haunting in pop...

I think the only way the next tour will be album-centric is if said album is a success, if it isn't they'll fall back on the 80's/early 90's classics again. Sometimes when I hear Edge say how restless the band are and how they are always seeking to carve out new paths, I feel he is almost...

As long as there are U2 fans these debates are just gonna keep rumbling on. I'd just like to echo LemonMelon on the view that Lovetown often gets a hammering for being the tour where Bono didn't bother singing and just screamed at the audience for 2 hours every night. Just check out pretty much...

The word 'coasting' was not in 80's Bono's vocab, it was all or nothing everytime. To listen to his performance in that version of that One Tree Hill performance and reach the conclusion that he 'just coasted through it' is a logic I'll never understand. If that's the definition of coasting...

As much as it pains me to say it, but this really was inferior to TDK in pretty much every way. Perhaps that's to be expexcted but I felt that Nolan would still come a lot closer to it than this. As strange as this sounds, I think the main problem with it is the fact that it suffers from too...