what was the final U2 album you bought?

wau it's been over 20 years since I bought a U2 album

this is not "No Line on the Horizon" by U2 doesn't count either, alas

AB was the last and only one I purchased, used, about 15 years ago

the only U2 album i've ever purchased was all that you can't leave behind, when it came out. i was new to the popular music scene at that point and heard that U2 was a prominent name in the biz

The only two I own are not an option in the poll:

Million dollar hotel soundtrack (kind of qualifies as a U2 album) and the best of compilation 1980-1990: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Best_of_1980–1990

i have never purchased a u2 album

iirc All That You Can't Leave Behind was a decent album but I had no desire to own it

I bought a copy of zooropa for a dollar a couple years ago. It's also the only u2 album I've bought.

hola!

Never purchased

actually I'm now trying to remember if I ended up with a copy of Zooropa; I don't think so but... maybe?

xp envious ross

i love WAR but i inherited my dad's copy so that doesn't count

all that you can't leave behind, at chicago's virgin megastore, day of release (with the bonus tracks!)

Bought Achtung Baby on cassette when it came out. Loved the first 45 seconds of "Zoo Station." Everything after that was a disappointment. Have never looked back.

Pop, but I was never much more than halfway on the bus (had only bought the previous two proper U2 albums before that and wasn't exactly crazy about any of them).

I really dug 'Numb' and 'Hold Me, Thrill Me...' and kept being disappointed that none of the rest of their stuff really reached those heights.

not got the new one yet, but i will.
hence the answer is SOI.
and i love it.
not as good as zooropa of course, very few albums are.

Zooropa. I made the best choice.

The last one for me was the atomic bomb one. I thought it was half decent, but haven't listened to it since '04. Hated Songs if Innocence so I'm probably done with the band. I still like their earlier stuff for the most part.

Zooropa.

I bought them all up to and including The Joshua Tree but that last one was more out of some daft sense of loyalty rather than any real ongoing enthusiasm for their music.

In my late teens I bought from Joshua back to Blood Red. Then I heard Rattle and Hum and went back to The Jesus and Mary Chain and Cocteau Twins.

tape of JT

Atomic Bomb, which I still think isn't abysmal.

Yes, I remember your quote on the sticker

I think the first one I bought was Joshua Tree, like probably the majority of people. The last one I bought was Zooropa.

https://i2.wp.com/gifrific.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Mark-Wahlberg-Shock-and-Confused-Look.gif?ssl=1

"I Think This Isn't Abysmal...?"

A few years ago I got the "Magazine Edition" of NLOTH for maybe a quarter (certainly <$1) from the Fry's discount bin.

first i bought was 'under a blood red sky' and the last was 'pop'

i was working in a record store when 'all that you can't leave behind' came out and all i can remember about it is bono endlessly crooning new york new york new york. a better lyric than any to be found on the latest record, i'm told

I think the first one I got for free was "Pop," but before that I had purchased some version of all of them save "October." If I ever did buy "October," then "October" was last. "Blood Red Sky" was first.

Rattle & Hum. Caught the bus to the local record store lunchtime in school on the day it came out.

Only U2 record I've purchased since was the 12" of Lemon with the Morales/Oakenfold remixes on.

Soundtracks on vinyl

First one I bought was The Joshua Tree on cassette. I have a free copy of the new one on CD coming in the mail, but I'm gonna throw down some "coin" for the vinyl version. I also bought Songs of Innocence.

Bought Boy, got a promo of October, taped my roommate's copy of War, didn't enough for The Unforgettable Fire to own it in any form, got off the bus...

I bought HOW TO DISMANTLE, but I don't remember ever listening to it. Never bought another after that.

I bought some singles..

The double packs from "Fire" on, and "A celebration", plus the limited "Pride" which I think had the Hannet versions of the "11 o clock" single.

No albums

Last one I bought was achtung baby but didn't play it much as I was over them.

latest i own is pop but all that you can't leave behind is probably the last that's worth listening to

Zooropa, and in retrospect it's the best too.

'Pop' for sure. Fool me once!

i don't understand how people genuflect before brian eno but are too good for U2

Nah, I did lend an Eno album, it was hmmmmm except for one track but that just sounded like 'Trains and boats and planes'

I do like 'Seven Deadly Fins' though.

Man it's weird. U2 is now reaching REM levels of contempt witht the kids.

Think U2 are even worse off w/ kids. Finding a band taking up valuable mb's on their phones didn't help.

Eh, at the very least the band still tours and sells out arenas and stadiums, so their visibility is high. REM, there's no reason to know them at all, if you're a kid/young.

i have never purchased a u2 album

Think U2 are even worse off w/ kids.

They always were, tbh, even during the '90s. R.E.M. may not have known precisely when to knock it on the head, but they judged it a damn sight better than U2 have.

Isn't every U2 tour like the most successful in the history of the world?

i don't understand how people genuflect before brian eno but are too good for U2

lolz

xpost Well, REM didn't even try to appeal to young folks after a point. U2, one of the reason many (I) jumped ship is that the band started to try too hard to stay popular/relevant, which of course is not really how that works. I have friends who saw the Joshua Tree redux tour, and they said there were in fact young, or at least younger, people, and they were kind of eh about the Joshua Tree section, but went nuts for songs like Beautiful Day. Which of course is, what, almost 20 years old now? That song/album was designed to catapult the band back into the spotlight, and it worked, but never again quite like that.

Agree with Boring. Even diehard fans are okay with their output to date, and are not really hungering for more.

U2's lawyer sends a cease and desist to U2 who then tear it up on stage, yeah. How do you like that you fuckin sell outs!?

Bono needs to do a reverse Chris Gaines

Meanwhile Adam Clayton is still trying to figure out how to remove Songs of Innocence from his iPod

I got All That You Can't Leave Behind as a gift. Pretty good record.

Is that going to be the album cover? The Pop-looking thing with (for the Edge and maybe Adam and Larry) Pop-era photos?

“On the bass, Adam Clayton, he wrote this”

Ahah I was a huge fan as a teenager circa Achtung and the last album I bought (and listened to) was Zooropa. I have no idea what’s going on with them now but just noticed in Spotify « pride » as a new song. WTF ?

i prefer the original working title, "how long must we sing these songs?"

Fair play to Bono and the lads they bring out the laffs on ILX.

I think as a band they’ve always been served best by trying new things.

Is that a roundabout way of saying they would be better if they broke up? If they're so aimless that they're re-recording their old songs and playing a pricey Vegas residency, then maybe things really have run their course.

My sister and I used to joke that U2 would end up doing a Vegas residency.

"Sunday, bloody Sunday, little girl . . . whoa whoooooooooahhh!"

Everything goes to Vegas to die.

bono's book does detail how adam was notorious at school for standing by the slops table at school and eating odd shaped potatoes and 3/4 sausages left behind in a sea of cold beans that other pupils had discarded. also once they were a successful band he still would go along the corridors of hotels picking out bits from half consumed room service meals. so regurgitating old u2 songs is a happy zone for him I guess.

I still love joshua tree and always will.

Is that a roundabout way of saying they would be better if they broke up? If they're so aimless that they're re-recording their old songs and playing a pricey Vegas residency, then maybe things really have run their course.

― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, January 11, 2023 2:21 PM (twenty-nine minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

U2 doing this kind of project feels like some end of the line shit, I know they had been working on new material but maybe this is it? I had thought it was not. idk I think the last two albums have their good qualities, one more than the other, but when they were working with Eno on NLOTH, on the tracks that weren’t the boots/comedy/crazy trio, they sounded a lot more alive. It wasn’t exactly a success critically or commercially but it was a good one imo. If they want to go this route I guess it’s cool but it strikes me as kind of pointless.

Wasn't Bono just doing interviews talking about how they were gonna put out "a real ass-kicking rock 'n' roll record"? And now they're announcing...re-recordings of their old shit? Absurd.

they're working on two other new albums right now, one is songs of ascent which was previously the title to a nloth follow-up that didn't eventuate and is supposed to be almost complete, and the other is that "fuck off rock 'n' roll album" inspired by ac/dc that it sounds like they've only just started work on.

i guess this sort of project is what happens now that they've finally accepted that the pop charts are permanently out of reach for them. idk why they didn't just release it at the same time as bono's memoir if it's supposed to be the soundtrack to it though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thmcVMobt0s

i'll at least give them credit for putting in the effort to rearrange "pride" rather than just phoning in some barebones acoustic version, but it's still fairly pointless

Weird (but not surprising) for neither of their songs featuring the word “surrender” in its title to be included on this album. Both securely in the realm of deep cuts tho and not sure they really do deep cuts anymore.

Okay Edge, play U2!

i'll at least give them credit for putting in the effort to rearrange "pride" rather than just phoning in some barebones acoustic version, but it's still fairly pointless

I was waiting for it to be something more than "barebones acoustic," and yeah, after two and a half minutes it does get a little weird (in that it sounds like them imitating Primal Scream), but before that it sounds like they re-recorded it on commission, for the trailer to a Netflix teen romance. Gurgh.

Re-recording stuff is just such a coward move, letting the legacy of the songs do the heavy lifting.

they've. got. to. get themselves toGETHer.

lol, they're stuck in an album that they can't get out of (nor delete from their iTunes).

Nothing changes

on New Year's Day

ONE
WHERE THE STREETS HAVE NO NAME
STORIES FOR BOYS
11 O’CLOCK TICK TOCK
OUT OF CONTROL
BEAUTIFUL DAY
BAD
EVERY BREAKING WAVE
WALK ON (UKRAINE)
PRIDE (IN THE NAME OF LOVE)
CD 2 / LP 2: Larry
WHO’S GONNA RIDE YOUR WILD HORSES
GET OUT OF YOUR OWN WAY
STUCK IN A MOMENT YOU CAN’T GET OUT OF
RED HILL MINING TOWN
ORDINARY LOVE
SOMETIMES YOU CAN’T MAKE IT ON YOUR OWN
INVISIBLE
DIRTY DAY
THE MIRACLE (OF JOEY RAMONE)
CITY OF BLINDING LIGHTS
CD 3 / LP 3: Adam
VERTIGO
I STILL HAVEN’T FOUND WHAT I’M LOOKING FOR
ELECTRICAL STORM
THE FLY
IF GOD WILL SEND HIS ANGELS
DESIRE
UNTIL THE END OF THE WORLD
SONG FOR SOMEONE
ALL I WANT IS YOU
PEACE ON EARTH
CD 4 / LP 4: Bono
OR WITHOUT YOU
STAY (FARAWAY, SO CLOSE!)
SUNDAY BLOODY SUNDAY
LIGHTS OF HOME
CEDARWOOD ROAD
I WILL FOLLOW
TWO HEARTS BEAT AS ONE
MIRACLE DRUG
THE LITTLE THINGS THAT GIVE YOU AWAY
‘’40’’

Nothing from October, the one record that would benefit most from this boneheaded malarky.

Finally, a solo bass version of "Desire" (with the Edge telling him what notes to play)!

that version of Pride is abominable.

the last U2 album I bought was Zooropa (if passengers doesn't count). I forced myself to listen to everything after that earlier this year and it was an unpleasant experience. Unbelievable drop off in quality.

Just four guys in a room

This one really just feels like halfway between U2 unplugged and a book companion. Let’s face it if it wasn’t U2 the vitriol would be muted, this seems like a pretty standard sort of late career thing, less of a coward’s move than just sort of a looking back cliché. Bono’s health issues maybe played a part in it, prob feeling a bit nostalgic or something and I’m guessing is the primary if not almost sole navigator of this whole endeavor.

band too cowardly to remake their best song, "mofo"

Actually I don’t know if U2 is unplugged on this deal, whatever the case they’d be better served by Brian Eno kidnapping them and taking them to an abandoned island to make an album with him

lmao "WALK ON (UKRAINE)"

It's totally cowardly, it's the same reason one of the most risk-forward big rock bands retrenched and became so self-conscious about alienating their fans and/or abdicating their superstar throne. Freedom from the charts should mean freedom from expectations, but the band clearly doesn't know what it wants. We're completing a song cycle! We're doing a balls to the wall rock album! We're experimenting in Morocco! We're releasing unused material from No Line on the Horizon! Wonder if all this restless wandering has anything to do with Paul McGuinness leaving as manager in 2013. To be replaced by the guy that handles Madonna and RHCP.

"WALK ON (UKRAINE)"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zi8wxpzTvY4

i didn't realise they wrote new lyrics for that

as a fan of their unloved later albums, this does nothing for me.
at this stage i am waiting for them to hand over their tapes to giles martin and ask him to make a mixtape of their classics a la LOVE.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned as a U2 fan, it’s one shouldn’t believe a word they say about whatever they’re doing next. McGuinness probably helped them focus, and Eno/Lanois probably helped them work a bit faster maybe, but those ships have sailed.

What’s disappointing obv is that up to a point they were not really at all risk-averse, yeah. They have however reached a certain age where maybe they just don’t have the ambition anymore, especially if these dudes all live in various parts of the world and are closing in on retirement age. I’ll buy this and whatever else they’re gonna do I’ll just hope to be pleasantly surprised by the next new work.

even the 4cd version where each cd has been curated by each band member ?

i suspect the 4cd edition will include a lot of acoustic versions that have the chance of ending up soundtracking a john lewis advert.

(and yeah, i hate the glut of acoustic versions of pop songs that has become a massive thing in the uk in recent times)

I mean I may wait for this to take the inevitable deep discount plunge

they should release a reggae album.

Just the title “miracle of Joey ramone” is enough to make me never want to listen to them again

even the 4cd version where each cd has been curated by each band member ?

I'm getting a flashback to the KISS solo albums.

they should release a reggae album.

― Josh in Chicago,

well, i know of one producer who loves to add a reggae groove to indie guitars/rock bands.
actually, trying to think if u2 have ever done the on-u sound thing ..
given that on-u sound remixed everyone back in the day when remixes were all the rage, hello shed 7, i dont think there was ever a connection.

In Ukraine of love

But I still haven't found what I'm Ukraine for

Ukraine in the membrane

Stuck in a Moment that Ukraine Get Out Of

Sometimes Ukraine Make it on Your Own

Ukraine Baby

The Joshukraine Tree

All That Ukraine Leave Behind

U2 will release their “back to basics” album around the same time Radiohead delivers their “Smiths-inspired” record they’ve promised for 2 decades

It’s funny how Bono said that he wanted to update/“correct” the lyrics on some of these re-recordings, but they didn’t do anything from October, the record with lyrics that were famously lost and then rediscovered decades later

Bono should redo all the lyrics in Esperanto, the universal language.

Well tonight thank god it's you instead of them

pretty ridiculous that they included more songs from the 10s than the 90s

well, those were the albums they'd been working toward their entire career, just four guys in a room at the peak of their powers, with even better yet to come.

In 1996, totally unheralded, a remake of October's "Tomorrow" was issued on an obscure compilation CD and it's absolutely incredible.

https://www.discogs.com/release/1191206-Various-Common-Ground

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgkJonNiGyM