I am so glad they dropped that whole disco theme. Welcome back to the land of rock Mr. Edge. Let your rockin' axe sing!

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customerjon @gmail.com is where information happens.

I wouldn't call it a perfect album. "Vertigo" just isn't a classic like "Sunday, Bloody Sunday" or "Where the Streets have No Name". I would call it a damn good album though, and say that U2 at 90% of their best can beat just about any other band out there.

"say that U2 at 90% of their best can beat just about any other band out there. "

Word!

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customerjon @gmail.com is where information happens.

I´ve had it for a couple of weeks and love it. Joshua Tree is still the best, but this one comes in second.

clm

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clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com

I think the Unforgetable fire was their best, IMO (Pride, Bad) but you really can't go wrong with Joshua Tree.

Dave from VA

I just wanna say that I dug their music well before it even reached "alternative" status. I'm fairly sure I was the first at my high school in '81 or '82 to get into it.

Gotta get the new album. Haven't bought one since they became "too" popular in the late 80s...

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Too f@ckin depressed from various injuries to care about having a signature line.

Sponsored by Blue Shield PPO.

I knew them back when they where just building bombs back in Ireland. ;-)

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customerjon @gmail.com is where information happens.

since i got the album, i've probably listened to it 20x ... it's on constant replay on my iPod and in my truck. every song is strong and unique, new but definately U2. i would say this is their 2nd best ... behind 'joshua tree' and slightly ahead of 'achtung baby'.

time will tell if vertigo becomes a classic ... but 'sunday bloody sunday' is a pure punk anthem, no doubt. but it took a while before it became a classic.

one of the most memorable events i've seen in concert was U2 performing 'New York' on the elevation tour. tear wrenching.

"U2 at 90% of their best can beat just about any other band out there." and they're all in their 40s.

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*****
"In case of flood climb to safety"

Ugh. I was perfectly happy with Rattle and Hum and everything before it. I think their later stuff is commercialized rubbish. U2 - the same band that wrote Sunday Bloody Sunday - doing iPod commercials? Who woulda thought???

What about "War" and "October"? IMO still their best material.

As I said, I was perfectly happy with Rattle and Hum and everything before it. Good stuff.

Back in the early 80's, I had to secretly listen to my sister's copies of War and Boy because my friends at the time thought U2 was gay (yet Judas Priest was perfectly acceptable - ironic, huh...). I stuck with them through their classic years, Red Rocks, Unforgettable Fire, Joshua Tree, the singles, Rattle and Hum, and Achtung Baby, but they lost me with some of the later stuff - Pop? WTF was that all about? Anyway, All That You Can't Leave Behind brought me back on board, and HTDAAB is stellar.

Can't wait for them to come back around on tour - hopefully we can catch them in a smaller venue. I would have paid a mint to be in the audience at SNL last week. Rumor has it they did an additional 3 songs after the 3 they did during the broadcast.

how have you had it for a couple of weeks? I thought it was jsut released last week.

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[reply]What about "War" and "October"? IMO still their best material.[/reply]

Absafragginlutely. I'm one of the few who still think Joshua Tree is actually the beginning of a 15 year down hill turn for U2. But I loved what they've been doing in the last few years. And I definitely like the three songs I've heard from "Bomb."

Rockin' all the way.

Stolen copies hit the file sharing sites earlier this month. clm, have you been naughty?

I started listening to U2 just after joshua tree came out, and quickly got all their earlier stuff. i think they started improving and evolving with forgotten fire and took a false start with a few from the early 90s (anyone remember 'zooropa'?), then came back with a vengeance with achtung and the latest.

in the 80s, i was a hard core punk rock skate rate, listening exclusively to black flag, tsol, metallica, anthrax and ... U2. my U2 fetish was the laughing stock of my skate pals and bandmates (i played guitar and later bass in a sordid succession of really shitty punk, metal and hard core bands).

ive always loved U2, cant help it. theres something about bons voice and the edge's guitar playing.

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"In case of flood climb to safety"

"took a false start with a few from the early 90s (anyone remember 'zooropa'?), then came back with a vengeance with achtung and the latest. "

Actung Baby came out a couple years before Zooropa.

U2 - the same band that wrote Sunday Bloody Sunday - doing iPod commercials? Who woulda thought???

well, it kinda depends on how you look at it. U2 isn't exactly doing a commercial for iPod - - at least that's how I look at it. Its more of a joint promotion.

Its my understanding that U2 wasn't paid for the commercial.

On the ranking issue, I couldn't listen to anything they put out in the early 90s - - Achtung, Pop, Zooropa. The past couple of albums turned it around IMO and I'm back on board.

Joshua Tree = perfection.

Its common for fans to complain when a band's sound changes, but its a neccessary evolution. If a band puts out the same album sound over and over again, it will wither and die (2 successive Unforg. Fires, and you never would have heard from them again). Its such a mixed bag because change is neccessary, but it often carries the group to a bad place. Glad to see that U2 got out the area it reached in the early 90s.

How many tracks do you have on your copy? In Japan, it's normal for there to be a bonus track (the CD costs more because they have to include the lyrics in japanese so the bonus track helps ease the pain).

There are 12 tracks on the Japanese copy - bonus track on this CD is Fast Cars I think.

dt.

Me? No. A friend who gave me a gift? Perhaps.

clm

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clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com

I don't mind a band's sound changing. It's certainly necessary. It's more that U2 themselves changed into a commercialized, glamour band, which for me kills the soul of their music. When the Sorority girl in line behind me at the Starbucks says "the new U2 album is soooo good!" it's clear to me that they're not the same band they once were. To me, they're more about the sound than the message. For me, the music is not the primary draw, what I enjoy is well-written, meaningful lyrics. U2 strayed from that and, in my eyes, started playing music that they thought people would like, rather than music that was true. Once that happens, I lose interest regardless of who the band is.

you cheater, you

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one of the interesting things of living here is the stories you get to hear about famous folks like . . . well, Bono and U2. A masseuse I know worked on the Edge. An ex-colleague's boyfriend was in Roquebrune late one night (real early actually) and nearly tripped over Bono lying kind of drunk in the street. Another couple of friends were down in Juans les Pins and U2 popped into the beach bar they were at for an impromptu jam session.

Joshua Tree was my fav, can't wait to hear the new one.

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Just to help keep all the different U2's straight ...

U2: Boy, October, War

USA2: Unforgettable Fire, Joshua Tree, Rattle & Hum

Euro2: Actung Baby, Zooropa, Pop

U2000: All That You Can't Leave Behind, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb

If you really, really like U2 (or if you don't, but just enjoy Casey Kasem) you gotta download this / these: http://www.negativland.com/audiogadgets.html

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin