SydBarrett96

I have it too on vinyl, bought used in a little shop in Prague for a few euros: the early U2 don't blow me away, but this is a really powerful and direct live album, light-years away from the monumental scaffolding of the '90s.

I completely agree, this is my favorite album.

I own the first six vinyl albums of the Irish band in a stylish box set. Until the Tree of Joshua, I consider their music essential for my musical growth; concert in May 1987 in Modena with Pretenders, Big Audio Dynamite, and Lone Justice, as well as U2 themselves, a milestone in my extensive live activity..... After Achtung Baby, they could have ended their career without sinking into a bottomless oblivion. And I have wept bitter tears over all of this.

For me, U2 ends with "Rattle and Hum," although the two that followed are still excellent.

It may be that I'm less attached to the early U2, but for me they remain interesting up to and including Pop. (and I'll also include the Passengers project) They may not be to everyone's taste, but for albums like Zooropa and Pop, we must at least acknowledge a certain degree of courage from U2, a quality that has been completely lacking since 2000...

There is no doubt about the courage they showed in experimenting and seeking something different in their music after the dark Berlin masterpiece Acthung Baby; what I have never accepted is Bono's ridiculous metamorphosis, a champion of every crusade against the evils of the world... unfortunately, all to the detriment of their music, which has become increasingly dull with each album, with very rare sound glimpses worthy of their glorious past.

Not even under torture.

I’ll be honest with you, as much as I consider this a good album without a doubt, I prefer quite a bit, besides The Unforgettable, also Boy and War :)

If I had to make a ranking, I would do it like this: 1) The Joshua Tree 2) The Unforgettable Fire 3) War 4) Boy.

1) Guerra 2) Indimenticabile 3) Ragazzo :)

Anyway, I think I adore Closing Time. I've worn it out from listening so much... Hj, is there another Tom Waits album that comes close to this one? :)

No, sorry :) The next one is already more jazzy. Anyway, try listening to it and also Nighthawks at the Diner, they are basically the closest :) Oh, I'm glad you like it so much, and if you also liked Small Change, that's perfectly fine with me :) Have you listened to Blue Valentine?

No, unfortunately I didn't have the time. :)

I might be a voice out of the choir, but my favorite is Achtung Baby: Until The End of the World, The Fly, Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses... and don't underestimate October!

Indeed, October is beautiful too, unfortunately as you said, it is very underrated. Achtung Baby is a nice album as well, but I prefer the 80s Ucciù more ;)

October is nice but it doesn't convince me much compared to the others. Achtung is the last good one from the Ucciù for me.

"No, unfortunately I didn't have the time. :)" Right, albums like that need to be listened to properly when you have the time :)

Anyway Hj, if I were you, I would give Zooropa at least another chance, which is still a really good four-star album. At least for "Stay" (which I find better than One, equally beautiful but a bit overrated), it deserves it, come on. ;)

Zooropa is a 3-star album (6/6.5) for me, not more. I've already chewed and digested U2 for quite some time; I know them all too well ;)

Actually, re-listening to Zooropa could be detrimental. It’s better to hold on to the overall pleasant memory I have of it now.

At least you granted him a passing grade. So why did you say that Achtung is the last good one for you? :)

Because it’s like this :) Achtung is still a good album, Zooropa no, it’s just adequate/mediocre ;)

I thought instead that you had panned Zooropa XD.

But no, come on :) I don't like pop, though. The ones that I really tear apart (and badly) are the albums from the '00s, with the last one in particular, if I say it's horrible I'm being generous.

I don't like Pop either, just like the albums from the 00s. Instead, I've always found the project The Passengers with Brian Eno interesting :)

I don't know him. However, Braianino's collaboration with the Ucciù is the thing I appreciate least about him (only because he has done so many other extraordinary, seminal things, etc. And I don't really consider his collaborations with Coldplay, you know ;)

I don't even consider those with Coldplay. :D As for The Passengers, you really don't know anything? Not even Miss Sarajevo with maestro Luciano Pavarotti?

Ah, is that the one where Pavarotti was too? Then let’s leave it there because I don’t want to be the j&r of the situation, but I prefer Pavarotti in other, shall we say, more classical realms. These collaborations of his have always made me feel a bit... how can I put it... I can’t find the word... :D

Come on, at least that's a nice song! ;)

MMMMMMMmaahhhhh........ XD

I don't have a good memory of it, Syd. Let's say that when it comes to Pavarottolo, Brianino, and the Iucciù, I prefer (a lot of) other stuff :)

Especially about the second (about the first I am still too ignorant, in the sense that I ignore, and foolish, in the sense that I am weak because I haven't decided to delve deeper).

Hahahahah the quote from Aldo, Giovanni e Giacomo always makes a great impression!

I grew up with it; certain things leave a mark on you for life :D

The same goes for me. :)

Well, look at them, as far as their TV shows and theater performances go, I find them exceptional :) At the cinema, they were done after the first three films (though those were incredibly pleasant comedies, very well made from a technical standpoint and really well done, with them personally directing alongside Venier) and I pretend that the Wind commercials don't exist. But every time I rewatch any of their theater performances, I spend an hour and a half to two just laughing non-stop. I care about them :)

They were especially big back in the days of Mai Dire Gol: do you remember the Sardi, little Gigi, Rolando, the Svizzeri? Just thinking about it makes me laugh out loud, damn. :3

Oh yes, they're hilarious XD The Swiss, damn, legendary :D As I already said, they were amazing on television. But have you ever seen "I Corti" and "te chi el telun" (or however it's spelled)? With those two shows, their comedy reached the ultimate nirvana :D But you didn't have to remind me of the Swiss :-DDDDDDDDD

"Rolando" :D I care about him.

Gervasoni and Rezzonico! Hahahaha! Anyway, I think I've seen both theatrical performances, but it's been a while ;)

I believe there are entire ones on YouTube. I saw them there not long ago :) Now I'm off to buy the latest Neil Young & Crazy Horse album that I can't wait to hear, so we'll catch up when you tell me about Valentina Blue (and make sure to definitely listen to it with the lyrics in hand). Bye.

Hi, there's just one problem... I can't find a site where all the translated lyrics of Tommaso are available. D:

Anyway, see you later, reply to me when you get back ;)

It seems there isn't one, in fact. I've just gotten used to English by now. I believe the title track is translated. In the meantime, take the lyrics in English to get a sense of it. If I find any other translated lyrics from that album, I'll send them to you in a private message ;)

I hadn't gone out yet XD Hi ;)

Sure, thank you ;)

Syd, if you search for "Tom Waits-Kentucky Avenue-translation" on Google, and click on the first result, you'll reach the translation of the lyrics, and from there you should be able to access (by clicking on Blue Valentine where it says menu on the yellow band) three more translated songs from the album (better than nothing, they are: title-track/Romeo is Bleeding and Wrong Side of the Road). Go ahead and listen :)

Thank you Hj, I'm currently listening to Blue Valentine and I've just reached "Kentucky Avenue." It seems I like it more than both Small Change and Closing Time, and I didn't find it difficult at all. Very nice, beautiful (at least for now, I'll let you know at the end) ;)

The premises are excellent. We await the end of the listening for definitive conclusions :)

To stay on topic in your very relevant discussion about the definition of "The Joshua Tree," I’m thinking, as I mentioned earlier in a comment by JDV, of taking this one by Tommaso (or perhaps the albums individually in the future, who knows, I’ll see), it might also interest you, dear dictators HJ and Syd

I already have almost all of them (and the original ones that I'm missing I'll have soon anyway), so thanks anyway but I'm already aaaaaaaaall good :) However, I think the proposal is interesting, I think you should take advantage of it ;)

"To stay on the topic in your very relevant discussion about the definition of 'The Joshua Tree' :D You can see how a bit further up we ended up talking about Aldo, Giovanni e Giacomo XD"

And I always tell you to stay on topic / inherently that I really appreciate "Greendale" by Nello as well.

I, on the other hand, appreciate that one little. But I'm still buzzing after listening to the latest, double: Psychedelic Pill, his best since 1996, maybe even before. A 27-minute track that just goes on and on, two rides over 16 minutes each, other rather inspired pieces, super pumped distortions, earth-shaking tunes, ultra-autobiographical/ultra-nostal gic lyrics. Beautiful, get it get it get it.

I saw it in the store, I'll definitely get it (maybe when it's on sale or before), happy to know that those little tracks are there.

I would let Syd listen to "Mule Variations" by Tommaso, but I see it's going in order.

Yes, it’s a Neil Young fully charged (I repeat, at the age of 67, and he’s pushing hard on that electric guitar and cranking up those distorters, and with him those Crazy Horse truly in splendid shape). Of the old singer-songwriters, he’s the one who surprised me the most. From Cohen, we had a good (very good product) but I certainly wasn’t expecting a masterpiece, from Waits we got for the first time really “the usual stuff” where Real Gone was still aiming to renew itself, Bad as Me is just a simple repetition of Waitsian clichés. Great record, but it didn’t surprise me, indeed, it’s still a step back. Young, on the other hand, surprised me because yes, for him it’s also the usual nostalgic soup (indeed, more nostalgic than usual) but this time it’s cooked divinely and comes after a series of albums that were not very exciting for me (the opposite of Waits, since the albums before Bad as were excellent : ). So this time Nello has outsmarted everyone.

Yeah, yeah, wait, let him finish the '70s. Jumping to 1999 (okay, the return to the more typically Blues roots, though…) seems too much to me ;)

And for the record, "Bad as me" is beautiful and exhilarating, it's just that it doesn't add anything new; Waits takes a step back and settles into his tried-and-true clichés. And I give Waits less than 5 only when he does absolutely nothing new at all.

Syyyyyyyyyyyd, it's finally over Blue Valentine! Did you put it on loop?

So I can say that I really liked it, I probably prefer it to Small Change for sure, while things get tougher with Closing Time. Anyway, really beautiful, but I think I need to digest it better (of course I've only listened to it once :D). As for future music purchases, I believe I'll complete the Beatles discography at the newsstand and get the first two albums + Live 1975\85 by Brucio Primaveradolescenza. ;)

"Anyway, really beautiful, but I think I need to assimilate it better (obviously I've only listened to it once :D)" Yes, yes, a couple more listens and you'll get it down ;) Anyway, I'm glad you liked it a lot. If it happens to surpass Closing Time in the rankings, I would be happy to have been wrong in my prediction, since Blue Valentine is my favorite by Waits from the '70s :)

Alright, good! But if I may say one thing, I’m dying to listen to Rain Dogs and Swordfishtrombones again. I think after I’ve fully absorbed Blue Valentine and listened to The Heart of the Saturday Night, I’ll dive back into them. :D

Okay, after listening to "The Heart of Saturday Night" (I think you'll like it), you can smoothly move on to those (you should also listen to Nighthawks at the Diner, but if you really can’t resist, you can catch up on it later, maybe with Foreign Affairs). But you know, you have to prepare for something completely new and different. A transformed and revolutionary artist, a mature, brilliant, and innovative composer, torn between tradition and avant-garde :) Just know, it was a revolution :)

I believe I've also listened to some more experimental stuff; maybe it turns out I really like it. :)

Well, if you like them for show, it doesn't count XD Jokes aside, there's nothing particularly tough (especially in Rain Dogs, where there are a couple of purely pop tracks) about those albums. They are experimental and avant-garde in how they revolutionize and distort the so-called song form and various forms of popular music, blending them with gritty Blues and Rock 'n' Roll and noise elements, but there's nothing so complex, so yes, you've definitely listened to more complex stuff too ;)

Here, if you ignored it, there are all the texts of Tom Waits.

Great analysis, syd.. Very underrated album for me..

@[Pink84] Thank you Pink. And I’ll tell you, I also like "Pop".

I also like pop... And also that you can't leave behind... And for me, the U2 stop there...

Transition album, for me neither meat nor fish. Let's say that after masterpieces like The Unforgettable Fire, The Joshua Tree, and Achtung Baby, listening to it leaves a bit of a bitter taste, even though in the future they will do much worse.

*disconi

The swan song

A great album, I agree, but the fact remains that U2 were better throughout the 80s.

I agree 100%. And you have no idea what a bummer it is when - having seen them live twice - they didn't play a single track from this album.