For anyone who is a fan of these 2 albums let's discuss

U2 Had many great albums but these 2 always stuck with me the most, especially Achtung Baby i find these 2 albums back to back where just a double combo of epic, beautiful, dark haunting song's with great melodies, lyrics, sounds, singing, musicianship, imagery.

The Joshua Tree of course was a HUGE hit with the fantastic singles Where The Streets Have No Name, With Or Without You & of course I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For

Bullet In The Blue Sky is a dirty grungy rocker very dark 7 alluring, Running To Stand Still is a beautiful song with great singing from the bonz

In God's Country is my favorite off the album just a masterpiece of a song, it's short but powerful!, One Tree Hill is my 2nd fav

Now.... Achtung

Zoo Station is energetic opener with fantastic lyrics & some great guitar playing from The Edge, & larry's thumping powerful drums compliment Adam's thumping bass line.

Even Better Then The Real Thing- Great single, the crescendo, guitar & vocals are top notch this is a masterpiece of a song.

One- Another great single many argue it's the best single they ever put out, it's a song filled with sorrow, hope, helplessness & life all in ONE.

Until The End Of The World- Dark song, with a strong guilt & vengeance filled sound

Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses- Captivating & powerful song, post breakup with Bono sounding harsher & more hurt then ever.

So Cruel- A Crusher, i love the falsetto on this one, and the Edge does some fun guitar work

The Fly-Every artist is a cannibal, every poet is a thief/all kill their inspiration and sing about the grief. one of my favorite lines that Bono ever wrote

Mysterious Ways- This song has a powerful rhythm section & a sweeping epic sound to it, it's captivating & powerful. The lyrics tell a great story...

Trying To Throw Your Arms Around The World- A little more basic on this one, but still some great musicianship

Ultraviolet- Healing low self esteem, greats tory & lyrics, very down & out song.. haunting imo but i love it

Love Is Blindness- Perhaps my favorite song on the album,incredibly deep lyrics, that always move me and make me really go wow. And just.. give me this fantastic feeling

Well anyone feel free to talk about these 3 great albums

[Edited 4/4/11 12:35pm]

I'm kinda done with Joshua Tree forever. It was so great in its time, but..

then they did Achtung. You just can't go back.

abigail05 said:

I'm kinda done with Joshua Tree forever. It was so great in its time, but..

then they did Achtung. You just can't go back.

You know i wish i was born in that era instead of 90's even though 90's had good stuff to

I'm sure it was even MORE powerful hearing joshua in it's time period when it was first released...

But Achtung amazes me each time

abigail05 said:

I'm kinda done with Joshua Tree forever. It was so great in its time, but..

then they did Achtung. You just can't go back.

agreed

manray10 said:

Love these albums, but "Unforgettable Fire" started me on the journey to these albums.

Co-sign

I now have all of U2's catalog but my faves are:

1. Achtung Baby

2. All That You Can't Leave Behind

3. The Unforgettable Fire

4. The Joshua Tree

'Moment of Surrender' from "No Line on the Horizon," may be my favorite U2 song.

'Kite,' 'One,' "Bad.' and 'So Cruel' are the other contenders.

SUPRMAN said:

manray10 said:

Love these albums, but "Unforgettable Fire" started me on the journey to these albums.

Co-sign

I now have all of U2's catalog but my faves are:

1. Achtung Baby

2. All That You Can't Leave Behind

3. The Unforgettable Fire

4. The Joshua Tree

'Moment of Surrender' from "No Line on the Horizon," may be my favorite U2 song.

'Kite,' 'One,' "Bad.' and 'So Cruel' are the other contenders.

So happy someone else like's No Line i think it was a great album but fans really where harsh on it...

And yes All That You Can't Leave Behind is incredible it's my 3rd

Gunsnhalen said:

abigail05 said:

I'm kinda done with Joshua Tree forever. It was so great in its time, but..

then they did Achtung. You just can't go back.

You know i wish i was born in that era instead of 90's even though 90's had good stuff to

I'm sure it was even MORE powerful hearing joshua in it's time period when it was first released...

But Achtung amazes me each time

I was at school in NZ when Joshua Tree came out and U2 were inescapable. Everyone loved them. They used to irritate the shit out of me with their po-faced earnestness, even though I know it's a great album. Pop is fun, it's so not that serious was my feeling at the time.

I liked Achtung Baby when it came out, but apart from One (which I'm not fond of) I don't really hear those songs much at all. Haven't heard The Fly in ages. The Joshua Tree songs are still on regular rotation, and still sound amazing.

Both are amazing albums. I've listened to them hundreds times and I still find something new.

Achtung was good, but the only album I ever felt like buying from them was the extremely underrated Zooropa

Gunsnhalen said:

SUPRMAN said:

Co-sign

I now have all of U2's catalog but my faves are:

1. Achtung Baby

2. All That You Can't Leave Behind

3. The Unforgettable Fire

4. The Joshua Tree

'Moment of Surrender' from "No Line on the Horizon," may be my favorite U2 song.

'Kite,' 'One,' "Bad.' and 'So Cruel' are the other contenders.

So happy someone else like's No Line i think it was a great album but fans really where harsh on it...

And yes All That You Can't Leave Behind is incredible it's my 3rd

I'm a big fan of 'No Line on the Horizon', and "Moment of Surrender" is definitely one of their finest moments.

My favorite U2 songs:

Moment of Surrender

Kite

Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own

Acrobat

So Cruel

With or Without You

The Unforgettable Fire

Gunsnhalen said:

abigail05 said:

I'm kinda done with Joshua Tree forever. It was so great in its time, but..

then they did Achtung. You just can't go back.

You know i wish i was born in that era instead of 90's even though 90's had good stuff to

I'm sure it was even MORE powerful hearing joshua in it's time period when it was first released...

But Achtung amazes me each time

With Or Without You was powerful. Where the Streets Have No Name and Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For were good, but annoying, because as notsusan said, they were absolutely inescapable that year, like oppressively. "Po-faced earnestness" sums it up nicely. I consider Joshua Tree to be a really great deluxe souped-up Unforgettable Fire.

Gotta give real credit to Rattle and Hum. Hawkmoon, Heartland, All I Want Is You..

But then came Achtung, and I personally had to wonder if they just faked the previous 10 years. Or realized how naive they were, and discarded all that for a new sound.

SUPRMAN said:

'Moment of Surrender' from "No Line on the Horizon," may be my favorite U2 song.

'Kite,' 'One,' "Bad.' and 'So Cruel' are the other contenders.

Cool, "Kite" is my favorite U2 song of all time. "Moment of Surrender" is my husband's favorite.

As far as "Joshua Tree" goes, I got burned out on it, but it isn't U2's fault the radio stations and MTV played it out. "Running To Stand Still" and "Red Hill Mining Town" are my personal favorites from the record. I never really cared for "With Or Without You" (no flames) back in the day, but it has definitely grown on me.

"Achtung Baby" is U2's best album. Without a doubt. "No Line on the Horizon" is my favorite U2 album. I wish more folks would have liked it. Oh well.

I was supposed to see them last summer but Bono hurt his back so the concert was moved to this summer. I hope they still perform stuff from "No Line," especially "Breathe" and the title track!! It will be my sixth time seeing them, and it is going to be my first outdoor concert ever. Woo hoo!!

[Edited 4/5/11 7:42am]

boner is a pompous twat

just needed to get that off my chest

carry on

Dewrede said:

boner is a pompous twat

just needed to get that off my chest

carry on

I guess you didn't like his rendition of All Along The Watchtower or Rainy Day did ya Jimi?

Achtung Baby is an all-time favourite album of mine. I hear one or two clunky lyrics today, but it's their strongest collection of songs, lifted by the Eno atmospherics that sounded amazing to me at the time.

paintsprayer said:

Achtung was good, but the only album I ever felt like buying from them was the extremely underrated Zooropa

Zooropa is a major miss for me.

No way that set is underrated.

SUPRMAN said:

paintsprayer said:

Achtung was good, but the only album I ever felt like buying from them was the extremely underrated Zooropa

Zooropa is a major miss for me.

No way that set is underrated.

to each there own, I consider the single song Zooropa far above anything else they have done

I agree Zooropa hasn't had its due, its Achtungs little brother.

I don't think I could take Joshua Tree in one listen, Bullet the Blue Sky is awful.

elmer said:

I agree Zooropa hasn't had its due, its Achtungs little brother.

I don't think I could take Joshua Tree in one listen, Bullet the Blue Sky is awful.

I love bullet [sad face]

Yeah i never understood folks dismissing everything u2 did after Achtung, because to me that got even stronger records later on, with a band or artist that has a real CATALOG u cant really compare an album they made when they were 25 years old to when they were hitting 50, your views of life are just different and if they arent , well then you havent been living a life. Everyone will say this or that is their fave album or song, fans will fight it out etc...we know the drill here by now. But these were two great albums to add to an already great catalog and one that got better down the line too!

elmer said:

I agree Zooropa hasn't had its due, its Achtungs little brother.

I don't think I could take Joshua Tree in one listen, Bullet the Blue Sky is awful.

It's definitely not related to 'Achtung Baby.'

"Lemon" is the only song I listen to from that album.

I've tried listening to it but, nah . . . .

abigail05 said:

But then came Achtung, and I personally had to wonder if they just faked the previous 10 years. Or realized how naive they were, and discarded all that for a new sound.

Like he put on his flyshades and said "I was just joking! We are not the messiah!"

I'm sure they have worthy later albums but I stopped paying any kind of attention post Zooropa.

Good list . I'd slip Zooropa into the 5 slot. Love that record.

SUPRMAN said:

manray10 said:

Love these albums, but "Unforgettable Fire" started me on the journey to these albums.

Co-sign

I now have all of U2's catalog but my faves are:

1. Achtung Baby

2. All That You Can't Leave Behind

3. The Unforgettable Fire

4. The Joshua Tree

'Moment of Surrender' from "No Line on the Horizon," may be my favorite U2 song.

'Kite,' 'One,' "Bad.' and 'So Cruel' are the other contenders.

Gunsnhalen said:

elmer said:

I agree Zooropa hasn't had its due, its Achtungs little brother.

I don't think I could take Joshua Tree in one listen, Bullet the Blue Sky is awful.

I love bullet [sad face]

Initially it was a bit of an album stand-out that reminded me of the Apocalypse Now movie with its sense of tension and Larry and Edge in particular sounding pretty stellar, but now I find the lyrics annoy me, the christian references ("souls on the tree of pain") and his overly-dramatic rap on the bridge (100! 200!) have become nauseating. It'd be a more cohesive album without this song imo.

Achtung is one unique and very gripping album. I enjoy its under-rated follow up Zooropa also.