bowie&barrett

Can I share my thoughts, Grasshopper? (By the way, you have excellent taste). I believe that Collins and the others have always made great music (except for Invisible Touch, but the crisis was widespread), a commercial pop but executed beautifully, enjoyable, intelligent, and entertaining. Their mistake, rather, was not changing the "brand" when they decided to shift genres. The comparison between the early progressive albums and what came after '75 is not so disrespectful towards the latter work, but rather unfeasible, because the musicians create completely different music (aside from internal reshuffling, Hackett's departure more than Gabriel's). If they had changed their name, if they had programmatically signaled a break from the past, critics and especially fans of the early period would have judged them differently, feeling less betrayed. No one indeed condemns Gabriel's stylistic shift; no one compares So and Foxtrot. Retaining the name for evidently commercial reasons, to avoid losing the audience, to not put themselves back in the game, was a crime. However, the sonic shift itself, which has produced often overwhelming results, was not a crime (it’s always the structural difference in compositions that leaves one puzzled, not their quality). That said, I prefer, indeed deeply love, the progressive period of the band, but that falls into the realm of personal taste. Bye.

Thank you. You know what I find curious? It seems that a quick comment from me or from innuendo84 can warm your heart more than the entire discography of U2 :-) degustibus...

Hi inviperitus. Surely, the good folks at debaser will berate you with insults in less than a minute (and maybe you deserve it: that remark about jazz musicians, well...). So I better move on, but first I wanted to say a couple of things. 1 - Our opinions are playful, debatable, and free, even in the sense that no one pays us, so they are also liberated. 2 - I assure you that, personally, nothing stirs me against the U2, except disgust and hate, and the pretense of technical skills. I'll prove it to you: go check out the review of "The Joshua Tree" on this very site, scroll down through the comments, and read mine: and think about it...

"She was long gone, long, long gone /
she was gone, gone, the bigger they come /
the larger her hand 'till no one understands /
why for so long she'd been gone. /
And I stood very still by the window sill /
and I wondered for those I love still /
I cried in my mind where I stand behind /
the beauty of love's in her eyes..."

"...And all your two-bit friends /
Have gone and ripped you off /
They’re talking behind your back saying, man /
You’re never going to be no human being /
And you start thinking again /
’bout all those things that you’ve done /
And who it was and what it was /
And all the different things you made every different scene /
Ah, but remember that the city is a funny place /
Something like a circus or a sewer /
And just remember different people have peculiar tastes /
And the glory of love / The glory of love /
The glory of love, might see you through..." - from "Coney Island Baby"

So messed up I want you here /
In my room I want you here /
Now we’re gonna be face-to-face /
And I’ll lay right down in my favorite place /
And now I wanna be your dog (...) well c'mon..."

"...Look in the eye of the savage girl /
Fall deep in love in the underworld /
Raw power is sure to come a runnin to you /
If you're alone and you got the fear /
So am I baby let's move on out of here /
Raw Power..."

"I tried to be true /
to the way that you thought I ought to be /
but in spite of all my efforts I failed /
I tried to make you see /
but your eyes are blind /
to all but the bad in me." - from "Out of my Book".

...but above all it takes courage /
to drag our soles /
from a land that hates us /
to another that doesn't want us...

oh finally!