Classic or Dud: U2

I think they're a dud because of Bono's rather predictable vocal stylings and with a handful of exceptions I've not seen much in the songs to redeem that. But they were onto something production wise with the Eno/Lanois sound on the Joshua Tree, a kind of stadium artrock shimmer which was marred by Bono's OTT bellowing but made for some grand rock singles anyhow. Since they discovered 'irony' they've been utterly unbearable.

1984 -- "What's this 'Pride' song on the radio? Hm, sounds nice."

1987 -- "This _Joshua Tree_ album is pretty good."

1988 -- "This _Rattle and Hum_ album is pretty shit, one or two tracks aside."

Through to the present -- occasional good tune to the contrary, *snore*

At this point, seeing U2 would rank up there as a 'pleasure' for me in the same way that seeing the Rolling Stones or Bruce Springsteen would. I leave that kind of joy to the deadened, blinkered likes of Robert Hilburn. Never has the continuing mainstream critical consensus been ever so increasingly frustrating and obnoxious, but I suppose they make a great band for somebody who buys one album a year.

I thought they might be onto something with 'Achtung Baby', which I don't mind, but then of course pomp and bluster took hold again, and it's back to business as usual.

the earnest stage, in, like the 80s, when they really meant it, and they rocked and all that stuff, and i don't even remember, just some ugly people on the tv. turn that over. boring. dud, of course they were dud. the 80s were grey and horrible, and they were grey and horrible for the simple reason that u2 were in them, dud dud dud.

the irony/postmodern thingy in the 90s, they didn't mean it anymore, they're only playing! "oh, we were pompous in the 80s, how silly we were' lets be as over the top as poss and subvert. irony, yeah!! no no no, dud again. is this phase more or less dud than the initial phase? can't decide.

now. they really mean it again. they're going to change the world with their big tuneful rock thats a bit pop too. and the pope likes them. and noel g too! dud, but not as dud as the other 2 phases. no wait, more dud.

aaargh, u2! the biggest dud of them all. but funny i guess.

so, dud then

Musically, I think they go from Dud to Classic and back a lot, but mainly I have a big U2 trauma, because they were by 10 miles the favorite band of all obnoxious rich kids at school - "Sunday Bloody Sunday" is their fucking "Stairway To Heaven" and it's ruined that song for me.

I seem to prefer Under A Blood Red Sky, Rattle & Hum and Zooropa over The Joshua Tree (too much bombast, "Where The Streets Have No Name" has no discernible tune) Achtung Baby (half of it is undistinctive atmospheric in-one-ear-out-the-other stuff) and the latest one (hits-plus-filler), but that might be just a personal thing.

I have no opinion about Bono's personality, but I remember once kids from my secondary school making some sort of amateur video, lipsynching to some song or other - this would be in the mid-80's - and halfway through it one of them starts brandishing a big white flag around, not as a statement or anything, but 'cause that's what rock bands do, right ? Bono does it !

They were a very pernicious influence at one point. They were one of the bands that made it almost impossible at one point for mainstream rock fans to enjoy music that isn't stadium-size. Plus almost every goddamn new Canadian rock band around 1987-89 sounded like U2 and Simple Minds.

ANYHOW, I apparently have to wave the flag nearly by myself but U2 are goddamned classics. Sure, Bono apparently has had sunglasses surgically attached to his face, and sure he's annoying, and sure Zooropa and Pop were piss, but no band who could put out something the level of Achtung Baby! should ever, ever, EVER be referred to as a dud. EVER. Their greatest hits album is just beautiful. I mean, yes, Bono is a twathead at times. I WILL GIVE ALL OF YOU THIS FACT. Mainly because it is a fact - I mean, he's like my dad's age and running around in those ridiculous colored sunglasses and sparkly shirts looking all the world like a glam-rock The Fly (thank god that phase is over), but come on - Bad, With or Without You, One - these are all fantastic songs.

You can't convince me you don't sing along with them in the pub. Not a one of you.

Anyhow, how is Achtung Baby the stupidest album title? It's just there and bland, it's not like, say, Enter the Dragon. I still haven't figured out what that means.

The music itself is a bunch of hammy guitar effects pedal tricks, overlaid with a straining, toilet seat voice trying hard to be epic and enigmatic but just ending up thoroughly, soddenly middlebrow.

However their first LP - although still ultimately crap - was a leaner, artier thing, when they were grooving to northern soul and joy division. Worth checking out, if only to confrim to yourself it's a blind alley.

BTW where the fuck is the kudos attached to "meaning it"? Hitler meant it!

I read a funny story about John Lydon sacking his manager circa 1989 because he told him he should "try to be more like Bono". I wish I'd been a fly on the wall when that conversation took place..

i don't care how much joy division they listen to (i mean, so does mogwai from all accounts). the overcooked grandiose "epic" vocals and cornball lyrics ("we eat and drink while tomorrow they die" *slap*) and totally nondescript rhythm section ruin very promising guitar parts and eno's production. i'd at least listen to an instrumental album by the edge.

search: "new year's day"

if one doesn't like bono's voice or even bono himself, then there's not much you can do. though if you can dislike the band just because of bono, you probably don't much like the music in the first place. for example, i hate thom yorke. truly and thoroughly. but when the music's fine, i can put that aside. (stunning revelation: i quite like "pyramid song.")

i'm arguably the most classic rock person on this board, so it should be no surprise that i'm a sucker for their grandiose arena rock. here's a question: how many of you that rate the rolling stones a classic, rate u2 a dud?

Michael, I don't understand your argument. Is it of '50 000 000 Elvis Fans Can't Be Wrong!' variety? The majority is always right, huh? Not that it even is a majority.

But I won't use the argument that U2 has millions of followers around the world, because so do NSYNC and Britney Spears, and we all know how talented (gag) they are. Instead, think about their 20+ year career history, and the number of hits they've produced. Whether someone likes U2's music or not should not be criteria in considering a group to be a classic. I'm not a Rolling Stones fan, but I have to admit, they are a classic, whether I like their music or not. U2 is in the same category- despite personal musical preference, they supercede personal taste because, in essence, THEY ARE A CLASSIC! You do not need to be a fan of U2's music to realize that they are a classic. Besides, how many are involved with Greenpeace, Amnesty International, etc etc and donate countless hours and money to causes, such as relieving 3rd world debt? Too many other rock groups are too high on coke and are too self-involved to partake.

Many of the previous arguments I've read are hardly convincing and seem petty, "U2 = dud, their music sucks and it's for old people and like, Bono's a twat and egomaniac...blah blah blah" So what if Bono's a drama queen? It's all part of the Rock act and makes it more interesting to the fans and followers (of which, you all know, they have millions). The group isn't just about Bono, come on, it's the entire package. U2 is without a doubt, a classic, and an undeniably great group.

Oh, that's a completely rubbish argument. Why is wrong for people to consider things on their own terms, and not accept pronouncements from Rolling Stone, Q et al at face value? I rather like the idea of people actually thinking for themselves instead of blindly accepting what they are told.

I can't hardly stand early U2 (whiny, monotonous, overblown), but everything from Joshua Tree on I find to be real groovy. Even Rattle & Hum. Achtung Baby is a great classic. The first side of Joshua Tree is flawless. Am I crazy?

Early U2 is quite clearly the bomb. The first three albums are glorious in their entirety. After that, they tend to be a mixed affair (the sole exception being _Achtung, Baby_ which is pretty much brilliant except for one song which is so dull that I can no longer recall its name or tune).

Are you sure you mean this? Though I entirely agree.

Look guys, U2 is a powerful band. They inspire extreme hatred in some people, but they inspire extreme love in far more. Regardless of how much Bono offends you (I'm still unclear as to how that can happen... he's quite harmless) the facts still stand: U2 is one of most artistically and commercially successful bands of all time.

Many of you mantain that they were good in the 80's but sold out in the 90's. I suggest looking up the word "irony" in the dictionary. During their ZooTV and PopMart stadium tours they flat out refused corporate sponsorship (unlike the Rolling $tones) and lost money as a result. Just as you wouldn't assume that a battered old book is of poor literary quality based on its cover, you shouldn't attribute shallowness to a band just because they have video screens and flashy lights.

And if U2 were a dud band, why would they go out of their way time after time after time to change their musical style, often against what is currently popular. 'War' was a big success, so why go do 'The Unforgettable'? If 'The Joshua Tree' made them the most popular thing to come out of Ireland since the potato, why do something like 'Rattle and Hum'? And if their earnest, save-the-whales style of the 80's worked so well, why in God's name would you go off with something like 'Achtung Baby' and ZooTV? And why then change into 'Pop'? Why?

Because they've got balls. U2 just keeps changing and growing, usually with success (UF, JT, Achtung) but sometimes getting burned (Rattle and Hum, Pop). Instead of choosing the quick and easy path by just repeating a familiar sound over and over, U2 never let the critics, the media, or any of you punks drag them down.

Because like the Beatles and the other established classic bands, U2's twenty-year career has been a continuous growth process. U2 just keeps evolving, so they ALWAYS HAVE SOMETHING NEW AND INTERESTING TO SAY.

And THAT is the critical component in seperating the wheat from the chaff. THAT is what makes U2 a classic, and THAT is what makes the Rolling $tones a dud.

Amen.

classic in the sense that they came out with a few good pop songs and records

dud in the fact that they are absolute crap now, are absoulute hypocrites and sellouts (the abc documentry sponsored by McDonalds, ticket prices only the rich can afford, bono dissing the "violence" by anti-capitolist protestors in Genoa whilst he was on a luxury yacht with tony blair without one mention of that protestor who was shot twice in the head, etc), were influenced by punk and yet at the same time sneered at the genre, along with the fact that bono's ego is larger than the size of the american continent and believes that the world revolves around him

i also think they ripped off depeche mode-badly-when they came out with achtung baby, only a few good songs on that record, and pop was much, much worse

i no longer buy u2 albums anymore, not even used

Well they had to basically reck strict it from memory after Bono’s notes were stolen

Recreate

Worth bumping for the coincidence. Just yesterday, barely a nice word was given to Pop by Marcello. 24 hours later, it receives an uncharacteristically high 8.0 from Pitchfork and Calum Marsh.

Personally I love Pop - several reasons as to why I assume are in this thread somewhere - and consider it and '97 U2 pretty much custom-engineered to provide a bottomless pit of intrigue to me so I'm err in the latter camp.

i'm sympathetic to pop but 8.0 is still pretty generous

like the songs are generally decent (with a few great ones in "discotheque" and "mofo") but it's definitely too long, the track times are generally too long for their own good, "miami" just doesn't work, the mix is pretty muddy, bono's voice is in terrible shape, it quickly abandons the dance rock of the first three tracks for more plodding rhythms and never quite recovers, some of the performances are a bit lifeless compared to how the songs sounded live, and so on

Counterpoint: most of the songs are non-entities. I still like "Do You Feel Loved" and "Mofo" but dat's dat.

Yeah, this album is fine on paper, and hit or miss on listen. Sort of like "No Line," where you can hear where they might have been going but come away disappointed that they never get there.

The best U2 album from this period would be the chatter around Bono's pool at his Loire Valley chateau as guests passed in and out.

A lot of the 'flaws', acknowledged as such by the band or otherwise, help make it for me. It may be unfinished/murky with croaky close-mic'd Bono but the only re-recording out of the five or six that were later done which I think possibly improves on the original is "Gone" (with "Please" an equal), making me rather glad they didn't get to 'finish' it. There's a spikiness to the strange production that keeps me ensnared.

I'll assume they had absolutely no qualms about "Velvet Dress", one of the best-produced songs they ever did.

I am pretty sure I have not listened to a complete U2 album since Zooropa. (Not even the one they snuck onto my iPhone.) It’ll take more than Pitchfork to change that.

Disgusted with "Discotheque" at the time, I still can't bring myself to listen to Pop (All That You Can't Leave Behind remains the only post-Zooropa U2 album I've listened to voluntarily).

Marsh makes a decent case, I guess, but even the corresponding score feels inflated in contrast to the level of enthusiasm he displays for the album in his writing.

This was the first one I didn’t listen to. It was on in the background in college but still haven’t gotten around to it

it definitely falls off after the first three tracks but the live versions of "please" are really good (there's an intensity the studio version lacks), "if you wear that velvet dress" is lovely, and "last night on earth" and "gone" are pretty solid - the only actual duds are "miami" and "wake up dead man". the problems with the album are more the bloat & not quite doing the songs justice. it's nowhere near as bad as its reputation as a disaster would suggest but it isn't some hidden gem either, it's just decent but flawed album that was the start of u2's long decline

Sort of like "No Line," where you can hear where they might have been going but come away disappointed that they never get there.

they did get there on pop though, the first three tracks are great and it's just a shame the rest of the album isn't there. nloth is just a total mess where they never got there because they gave up on their ambition halfway through making it and most of their original ideas weren't that good to begin with. even if they hadn't compromised their vision i don't think an album with "unknown caller" on it would have been that good to begin with

I am pretty sure I have not listened to a complete U2 album since Zooropa. (Not even the one they snuck onto my iPhone.) It’ll take more than Pitchfork to change that.

― paper plans (tipsy mothra), Sunday, January 12, 2025

Passengers completes their end-of-career trifecta. After that afaik they never made another record and disappeared completely, like REM.

Pop is pretty great imo, and generally speaking I think they did pretty well after that as well. ATYCLB is pretty safe but good, HTDAAB is more interesting and probably a bit better, I really dig No Line though the middle section drags it down a bit, SOI would have been better received if they just dropped it on the store racks unannounced and not in everyone's pocket, i think it's very good and actually manages to have a better back half than front half which is maybe a U2 first. Songs of Experience/Surrender are respectively mediocre and tepid and neither sound like U2, even if I think the former kinda hits the sweet spot on a song or two (but only a song or two.)

the only actual duds are "miami" and "wake up dead man"

"Staring at the Sun" is like the band trying to do Oasis. In other words: dud.

February 18, 2026 – on this Ash Wednesday (the day after carnival) - Interscope Records today announces the release of U2 - Days Of Ash, a brand new standalone 6-track EP from U2. Out now, listen HERE. Watch lyric videos HERE.

In advance of a new album in late 2026, the U2 - Days Of Ash EP is a self-contained collection of five new songs and a poem - "American Obituary," "The Tears Of Things," "Song Of The Future," "Wildpeace," "One Life At A Time," and "Yours Eternally" (ft. Ed Sheeran & Taras Topolia) - an immediate response to current events and inspired by the many extraordinary and courageous people fighting on the frontlines of freedom. Four of the five tracks are about individuals – a mother, a father, a teenage girl – whose lives were brutally cut short. A soldier who’d rather be singing but is ready to die for the freedom of his country.

“It’s been a thrill having the four of us back together in the studio over the last year… the songs on Days of Ash are very different in mood and theme to the ones we’re going to put on our album later in the year. These EP tracks couldn't wait; these songs were impatient to be out in the world. They are songs of defiance and dismay, of lamentation. Songs of celebration will follow, we’re working on those now… because for all the awfulness we see normalized daily on our small screens, there’s nothing normal about these mad and maddening times and we need to stand up to them before we can go back to having faith in the future. And each other.

“If you have a chance to hope it’s a duty…” is a line we borrowed from Lea Ypi.

A laugh would be nice too. Thank you.”

Bono

“Who needs to hear a new record from us? It just depends on whether we’re making music we feel deserves to be heard. I believe these new songs stand up to our best work. We talk a lot about when to release new tracks. You don’t always know… the way the world is now feels like the right moment. Going way back to our earliest days, working with Amnesty or Greenpeace, we’ve never shied away from taking a position and sometimes that can get a bit messy, there’s always some sort of blowback, but it’s a big side of who we are and why we still exist.” Larry Mullen Jr.

“I’m excited about these new songs, it feels like they’re arriving at the right time.”

Adam Clayton

“We believe in a world where borders are not erased by force.

Where culture, language, and memory are not silenced by fear.

Where the dignity of a people is not negotiable.

This belief isn’t temporary.

It isn’t political fashion.

It’s the ground we stand on.

And we stand there together.”

The Edge

"American Obituary" speaks to the shocking event the world witnessed in Minneapolis, Minnesota on January 7th, 2026 where Renée Nicole Macklin Good, an idealistic mother of three, was shot at almost point-blank range while exercising her right to peacefully protest, a right that is protected under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. This unarmed mother was then described as a “domestic terrorist” by a government who will not withdraw the description even though they know it’s not true. Or mount a proper enquiry into what happened for the sake of everyone involved.

"The Tears Of Things" borrows its title from a book by Franciscan friar Richard Rohr, which examines, through the writings of the Jewish prophets, how one can live compassionately in a time of violence and despair. The song imagines a conversation between Michelangelo’s David and his creator… where the young man with the sling and five smooth stones refuses the idea that he has to become Goliath to defeat him... he’s also revealed as having heart shaped pupils half a millennia before the heart shaped emoji, which puzzles visitors at the Galleria dell’Accademia in Florence, Italy, to this day.

The star of the lyric, Sarina, in "Song of the Future" honors the life of 16-year-old Sarina Esmailzadeh, one of thousands of Iranian schoolgirls who took to the streets as part of the Woman, Life, Freedom movement in 2022. These protests were sparked by the death of Jina Mahsa Amini, a young Kurdish-Iranian woman who died in Tehran on September 16th that year from injuries sustained following her arrest by the so-called "morality police" for not wearing a hijab in accordance with government standards. Seven days later, Sarina was beaten by the Iranian security forces and died from her injuries, the regime claiming she killed herself. The song aims to capture Sarina’s free spirit, the promise and hope of her short life.

The Days of Ash EP includes a reading of "Wildpeace" - a poem by Israeli author and poet Yehuda Amichai - by Nigerian artist Adeola of Les Amazones d'Afrique, with music by U2 and Jacknife Lee.

"One Life At A Time" is written for Awdah Hathaleen, a Palestinian father of three. A nonviolent activist and English teacher, Awdah was killed in his village in the West Bank by Israeli settler Yinon Levi on July 28th, 2025. Awdah was a consultant on the Oscar-winning documentary “No Other Land,” made by Palestinians and Israelis. At his funeral, one of the directors, Basel Adra, spoke of the slaughter of his friend and the experience of Palestinians being erased “one life at a time.” U2 took that line and turned it around to suggest that a peaceful resolution will be wrought “one life at a time.”

"Yours Eternally" sees Bono and The Edge joined on vocals by Ukrainian musician-turned-soldier Taras Topolia, as well as Ed Sheeran. In the spring of 2022, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Bono and The Edge traveled to Kyiv to busk in a metro station at the invitation of President Zelensky. A couple of days prior to that, Ed connected Taras Topolia, and by extension his band Antytila, with Bono. Bono, Taras and The Edge met for the first time on that subway platform. They’ve been friends ever since. Taras is the inspiration for "Yours Eternally," a song written in the form of a letter from a soldier on active duty with a bold, mischievous spirit to match Ukraine’s.

"Yours Eternally" will also be proudly accompanied by a short 4½ minute documentary film directed by Ukrainian cinematographer and filmmaker Ilya Mikhaylus, that will be released on Tuesday, February 24th - the 4th anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Shot in December 2025 while Mikhaylus and his crew were embedded alongside the 40,000-strong Khartiya Corps, the film captures the extraordinary daily lives of Alina and her fellow soldiers fighting on the frontlines of the war.

U2 Days of Ash EP is accompanied by the return of Propaganda as a one-off digital zine, with a limited-edition print run. Forty years ago, in February 1986, the first issue of Propaganda dropped through the letterboxes of U2 fans around the world. Aspiring to match other fan magazines at that time, Propaganda was born out of the punk-era D.I.Y. zine culture that embraced attitude, ideas and dialogue. In the spirit of those early issues, this standalone EP will be accompanied by a one-off limited edition print run plus digital e-zine drop of Propaganda titled "U2 - Days Of Ash: Six Postcards From The Present… Wish We Weren’t Here." This 52-page special publication accompanies the release of the Days Of Ash EP and includes exclusive interviews with "Yours Eternally" film director Ilya Mikhaylus and film producer Pyotr Verzilov, as well as musician and soldier Taras Topolia. It also includes song lyrics; notes from the four band members; plus a Q&A interview with Bono.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3ziTSYyook

I think it actually sounds better than their last couple, although I haven’t gotten to the song with Ed Sheeran yet

It’s not the highest bar to clear obviously

I agree it's a bit better than the last album. I don't really expect much from U2 anymore but this could be much worse.

Probably it is inevitable that all I'm really hearing on first listen is parts of older stuff. "The Tears of Things" is a bit side two of Leave Behind, "Song of the Future" has a 90s-ish guitar sound idk what pedal that is, "One Life at a Time" has one part where the chimes rip open against the shuffley breaks and yeah it's quite nice, and the backing of "Wildpeace", a mere interlude, is the closest I can imagine U2 ever coming to open-ended music again (as modern Bono considers not writing direct anthemic melodic songs to amount to prog rock oh no). The bookending songs are naff.

the production is a lot cleaner here, it just sounds quite a bit better than whatever they were doing on Songs of Experience. Better tunes too. Songs of Surrender i don't even really count as an album, it was a tie-in for the Bono memoir. as a big U2 fan, i only briefly considered buying it and then chose to pass. there's enough here to make me a bit more optimistic that their upcoming album can be of a similar quality to their albums in the oughts. attaining the heights they reached in the '90s seems like an extreme long shot.

Track 2 “Tears of Things” is pretty good imo, about the only thing that comes close to them just being themselves without ~much~ adornment, tho there is plenty anyway

idk

but I kind of hate Track 1 “American Obituary” - pretty much everything I hate about late-period U2, the talk-rap and the over production bleh no

the rest is fine i guess

i feel like if you’re so motivated by events to release something it should hit a little harder than this does

i just realized bono is going to die some day

Their best songs since NLOTH, which I admit is a low bar. I might come back to "The Tears of Things", the others are solid but doubt I'll listen more. It's nice to see an improvement though

Another new EP surprise dropped just now

https://www.u2.com/news/title/u2-easter-lily-new-ep-out-now/

3 songs in and... it's pretty good?!? Better than the last EP so far...

Yeah this is definitely better than the last.

First thoughts: They're way more in the zone here. Ghosts of older songs inevitably come and go (Twilight on Scars, Blinding Lights on Resurrection Show) but it actually gets more interesting as it goes on. Easter Parade is great, excellent build on that one. Synth-bassline first time since 97! The final track is Bono doing his thing over an Eno soundscape (sorta Apollo washes of sound) for seven minutes, which is exactly the sort of open-ended amorphousness he seems to be dead against these days. Probably really confident that his words pull it through (hence the a cappella bits).

this feels like a throwback to the better bits of 00s u2 which is nothing to get excited about but does stand out just because of how dire their output's been for ages now

production is quite odd though? feels overly bright and weirdly small

the final track is really not good though, the production doesn't really work, especially the vocal production. like the idea is fine but nothing fits together properly

I didn't like the production on the other one either but in 2026 I don't really expect anything different

Eno soundscape

I know you were mostly describing how it sounds, but who did produce the EPs? (Eno and Lanois haven't worked with the band for a while now.)

jacknife lee produced both eps but eno did provide ambience on "coexist"

Hmm, I wonder if it's something that has been sitting around?

Big acts seem to love Jacknife Lee, but the dude is such a hack.

He's had his day. Lillywhite initially bought him in on Atomic Bomb as an Eno-style guidance figure, strange as it might seem.

Pretty much not a single thing on this list I would play for pleasure.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacknife_Lee#Works_produced,_mixed,_or_written

they said all both these eps came out of the sessions for their upcoming album

lee is usually good at making things sound huge and shiny and arena-ready but at the expense of any other positive qualities. here it doesn't really sound arena-ready but at least it doesn't sound as overwrought as his work sometimes does

love lee’s work on final straw and neck of the woods. his work with bloc party is all blown out and weird-sounding to me but i pretty much like that too. did not enjoy any of his recordings with u2 but that’s somewhat down to u2

Oh I love his work with Bloc Party, probably my favourite stuff by them (I can't remember who does what on Intimacy though, between him and Epworth). Final Straw gets a nod for me too even if I don't like all the songs. He does really well to make Hands Open sound like a more full-blooded early Idlewild or something.

My favourite Jacknife Lee U2 things are his remixes of Vertigo for 10" and 12". Both (especially the 10") have those big shards of noise slitting holes into the track, sorta like fidget-house before time.

Hah I confused the two Snow Patrol albums for a moment. Final Straw has kinda odd production - whenever I hear Run and (especially) Spitting Games I can't get past how they sometimes sound edited together beat by beat. It's like filter-house but rock. Not a criticism just kinda odd.

oh yeah that’s why i love them. a similar “rock constructed like dance music” vibe on the bloc party records and the silversun pickups records (which i SWEAR are so good lol)

i think How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb sounded good in the more recent vinyl reissues, which i think might've been remastered since they sound a lot less compressed to me. but he wasn't the main guy on that one, that was Lillywhite, as mentioned before. he was however primarily responsible for Songs of Experience, which is their worst-sounding one.

this new EP sounds mostly good to me. i like the concept of Coexist more than the execution, but i'm glad they're putting in the effort.

they really, really need to pay whatever Brian and Daniel are asking for and get them in the studio.

I wonder if it's that simple. "No Line" was more or less the last thing they worked on together ... and the first where they received co-writing credit on every song, lol.

i like the idea of lee's work with bloc party more than the execution

yeah, but have you seen the studio that jacknife lee has !?
tis insanely gorgeous.
no wonder, irrespective of the results, that bands want to use it.
there used to be a website, but garret does little re promo these days, as he clearly has no need anymore.

Pretty much not a single thing on this list I would play for pleasure.

Pretty much a wasteland for me too, but not completely. I never liked How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb and he's credited on most of it. But I actually enjoy "City of Blinding Lights," which bears his credit, it's a nice single and wound up being a highlight on the 2009 tour thanks to a giant swirling light show from their behemoth stage prop.

Accelerate and Collapse Into Now are supposed to be R.E.M.'s comeback albums and I agree, they are much better than the two studio albums preceding them, but Accelerate is top loaded - it opens with five excellent cuts while the remainder do not sustain that level of quality, they're merely okay to forgettable. Similarly, Collapse Into Now has five excellent cuts: "Discoverer," "Alligator_etc.," "Überlin," "Oh My Heart" and "It Happened Today." The rest is again merely okay to forgettable.

Of the few new songs he produced for their farewell "best of," one is a gem and a beautiful goodbye: "We All Go Back To Where We Belong."

But that's pretty much it.