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  1. I'd drop NLOTH a bit but overall this is pretty accurate IMO.
  2. I dunno, ATYCLB is better than HTDMAATB. It’s basically 3rd best album for me after JT and AB. SOI should be 4th highest album/tied with UF, SOE should definitely be less than SOI, and the dip between SOE and SOS should be huge- SOS is their lowest work.
  3. IMO, I'd raise Zooropa and No Line a bit, then swap the points above SoI and SoE.
  4. I’m Interested to hear your thoughts on why you seem to have TJT and AB at the same level. I share your view on the trajectory but would have AB ahead on its own. Not critical of your view, just asking if you found it too difficult to split the two.
  5. Originally posted by TheRealEdge:forget popularity - forget album sales - forget tour records (that's just money ain't it) - forget chart positions (subjective to say the least)

    this graph is my own opinion on U2's greatest creative output solely

    agree?

    (to me, passengers is a collaborative side-project and should be viewed as so)

    [image]


    No, this is not a fair reflection. Doesn‘t have to. It is your feeling towards it. Mine is different, and many others here might (dis)agree on. But that is, what it is. And during the last 40 years also my view on different albums/ phases has changed. And, frankly, it has become really less importante for my life.

    But I try to join:

    - the first trilogy isn‘t that Extreme in ups and downs. My graph would elevate OCTOBER a lot, on the level of BOY, some days a bit higher, some days a bit lower. While WAR for me has the singles (all of them!) plus Drowning Man and Like A Song, but the rest of the album is less interesting than the first two albums. So yes, WAR is lower than the first two albums here.

    - the Americana trilogy starts with TUF surely higher than the BOY/OCTOBER - though this is not ‚fair‘, because we have another period, so another band in a way, but this problem is part of this joyful game comparing apples and pears - TJT for me is on the same ‚stellar‘ Level though. and I disagree with many and also the band: RAH is up there, too. The then ‚new‘ songs with terrific songwriting and musicality, the Cover versions on the album given a U2 spin, RAH might be a bit lower than TUF and TJT, but not not much. I mean really: Listen on full volume to God Part II - and try to explain me, this is part of a ‚failure‘? Sorry, if I might laugh out loud…

    - the 90ies albums are easy to handle in first hindsight: AB and POP are up there in the ‚stellar‘ Zone, too. Masterpieces of new sonic horizons and still this incredibile talent of songwriting. ZOOROPA as a song collection recorded on tour and inbetween loses a Little bit (Some Days…) but we talk about nuances there with great creativity on the other side. So, it‘s up there, too.
    Leaving Passengers and Million Dollar Hotel aside- that I do see as band albums in a way, pushing the experiment phase further - we arrive at the end of the 90ies at ATYCLB - which drops for from this ‚stellar’ high. It is a very clever album, crafty, yes, successful. But for me - with all its goods and an extraordinary tour- the album sound and its Parts has never won me 100 percent. The songwriting had changed. The sound was too polished. It‘s a very good line, but in the graph somewhere near WAR. The ‚stellar‘ line for complete albums has been lost since POP in my ears…

    - this means we arrive at HTDAAB and NLOTH. The first is „better“ than ATYCLB. NLOTH might have had the potential, but the final result is lower than ATYCLB.

    - SOI and SOE, well - I do it quick: SOI I‘d put on the Level of HTDAAb. SOE a bit higher than NLOTH. SOS not to be counted…
  6. --I wrote this w/ my 2am brain; which doesn't understand how replies work. Sorry--
  7. Originally posted by Sydney_MIke:I’m Interested to hear your thoughts on why you seem to have TJT and AB at the same level. I share your view on the trajectory but would have AB ahead on its own. Not critical of your view, just asking if you found it too difficult to split the two.
    yeh - too difficult to separate those 2 albums

    the thing about creativity is that it isn't its own genre

    you can be creative with nostalgia as well as with new music

    so whilst TJT is a glorious landscape awash with american nostalgia (though not always complimentary) - AB on the other hand, is so far removed from TJT sonically that it becomes another monster, one that takes risks and one with a cool couldn't care less attitude that is lacking on TJT

    so 2 different albums but both great - and both their greatest works
  8. Thanks
  9. Originally posted by TheRealEdge:forget popularity - forget album sales - forget tour records (that's just money ain't it) - forget chart positions (subjective to say the least)

    this graph is my own opinion on U2's greatest creative output solely

    agree?

    (to me, passengers is a collaborative side-project and should be viewed as so)

    [image]


    Why no "Under A Blood Red Sky"? That is as much a part of the canon as Rattle and Hum.
  10. UABRS is a mini live album that contains no new material - therefore no new creativity

    RAH does have new songs mixed in with live

    SOS also doesn't contain any 'new' material but has undergone a (huge) creative process
  11. Achtung Baby-Zooropa-Pop had the same creative level imo