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auctioneer69

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Everything posted by auctioneer69

  1. I have had the chance to listen to ´Songs of Experience’ a few times now. IMHO - another middling effort from U2. I like the opening salvo of the first four songs. After that I am less impressed. Overall I’d compare it to ´Accelerate’ or ‘Collapse Into Now’ by R.E.M.. It’s a respectable but not brilliant addition to their overall body of work. It’s obvious a lot of work has gone into making these songs sound catchy for both the radio and an arena. I think Bono’s voice hasn’t sounded this good in ages. His lyrics? A few gems but a lot of platitudes too. The creative process for the last 2 al
  2. Wow! Anyone else strugglng to believe that it's 25 years since this came out? I was 2 years out of college and in a transitional period of my life. A friend of mine taped me a copy. Initially, I wasn't that interested in the album as I hadn't liked "Out of Time" and thought they had strayed too far from their early period. But I loved "ATOP" on first listen and still love it today. Doesn't look like this edition includes one of their best covers: "Arms of Love" by Robyn Hitchcock which was an album b-side and which to my ears felt very complimentary to "Everybody Hurts" at the time. https:/
  3. Exactly! It highlights the worst of what the band has become at times now: trite, cliched lyrics married to a clumsy and dull melody. I also read the interview with them in the New York Times this morning. Yet more grandiose and pretentious claims about their music which only seems to get worse the harder they try and battle their irrelevance. https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/09/06/arts/music/u2-songs-of-experience-interview.html?referer=https://www.google.com/ I liked the 'Blackout' but really wish they had packed it in a long time ago. You could just about compile a decent album from t
  4. Re: the new song 'It's The Little Things That Give You Away', I thought it pretty unremarkable. Not unlike a lot of ´Songs of Innocence'. I took about twenty minute tonight to try and play some of 'The Joshua Tree' on acoustic guitar. Wow - surprised how basic many of the chord structures are. Which made me realize how important the Edge is to the sound of U2 and the production talents of Eno and Lanois. Which brings me back to their newer stuff. So many of the songs don't sound that fleshed out and are missing the amazing arrangements of the earlier stuff. That for all the time they spend
  5. So I saw U2 for the Joshua Tree Tour for the first-time in 34 years in Seattle at the CenturyLink Stadium (having seen the opening night of the "War" tour in 1983). Overall, I thought it was a fantastic show. I love the Joshua Tree album and it was a genuine treat to hear songs like "One Tree Hill", "Mothers of the Disappeared" and "Exit''. Ironically, I didn't see them in 1987 because I didn't want to see them play in a stadium at the time. The band opened with "Sunday Bloody Sunday", "New Year's Day", "A Sort of Homecoming", "Bad" and "Pride" on a smaller stage in front of the stage befor
  6. Maybe, the coldest indoor show I have ever been to. The Moore Theatre’s 100 year old heating system/structure was no match for the frigid cold. Most people around us still had jackets and hats still on. Jeff's first words to the audience last night were "Thanks, you are the warmest cold crowd". Fantastic show. Great variety in the songs he played. I think only 6 or 7 repeats from the show he played in the same venue 7 years. I love his attention to detail on this. And "God" (with Scott McCaughey and Tad Hutchison of Young Fresh Fellows) was the icing on the cake. It looked like the lights
  7. First time I have posted in a long time. As the days go by the sadder I am about the news. For me, simply the most influential songwriter in popular music. There might be better songwriters (Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Paul Simon) but nobody comes close to his influence for me. He invented alternative music and several sub-genres thereafter. So many of the bands and artists I adore and who set a massive template for many others might never have coming into being or developed the way they did without him. Just a short list: Bowie, Iggy Pop, The New York Dolls, Joy Division, Talking Heads, Nick C
  8. Saw him in Glasgow in 1990 and 1992. The former one of my top 10 shows of all time. Incredibly powerful maybe even more so since I'd been dragged along by a friend. I'd recommend "Your Funeral,My Trial" as a place to start.
  9. Wow - great performance except Florence Welch. She confuses screaming with singing here Way,way over the top. Seen her live in a small venue and thought she could recite the yellow ages and still make it sounds good. She proves me wrong here. Mick looks like a speed freak whose taken up long-distance cycling to shed that difficult last 2 % of body fat. Just shows you that a lifetime of shagging anything that moves and mincing it up royally on stage is incredible for the physique
  10. I like it. Far better than you'd expect at their ripe old age. I hear a bit of the riff from Deep Purple's "My Woman From Tokyo". And there's another familiar riff/melody in there which is on the tip of the tongue and driving me nuts because I can't think of it. Someone help me out here.. Got it - the refrain just before the chorus reminds me of the refrain just before the chorus in "The Ace of Spades" by Motorhead. Drums at the start of the song have the same feel as prime ZZ Top too. God I am getting old. Everybody I meet looks like someone I know and every song I hear has familiar par
  11. 9th Wilco show and the 2nd time I have seen them at the Greek. Thought it was a fantastic set-list. Yet again, Wilco showed they can do practically the whole gamut of musical styles. "You Are My Face" and "On and On and On" were wonderful surprises. Loved the run of "Passenger Side", "Forget The Flowers" and "Christ For President". I requested "Kicking Television" with little expectation I'd actually hear it. For any fans out there who haven't seen a show at the Greek at Berkeley it has to one of the best places anywhere to see a show. Sight-lines are great and the sound incredible for suc
  12. Wolves, Lower Perfect Circle Sitting Still Binky The Doormat You're In The Air Near Wild Heaven These Days Fall on Me Camera 11th Untitled Song Find The River Arms of Love (Robin Hitchcock cover) Begin The Begin Good Advices Auctioneer Try Not To Breathe Wake-Up Bomb
  13. Here's hoping they release a live download of this. Very, very cool!
  14. I am not a Springsteen fan but appreciate the sentiments of this record. It's reminds me of the situation of Neil Young's "Living With War" about Iraq/Afghanistan a few years ago. Great that these records have been made but where are the younger bands/artists who give a shit or have something to say?
  15. Don't think there are many Gorlllaz fans here so know where you are coming from . Loved "Plastic Beach" and was lucky enough to see one of the amazing shows that accompanied it.
  16. First new material he's released personally and yes, I love the stuff he did with the Gorillaz.
  17. What a voice! From XL records. Similar idea to what they did with Gil-Scott Heron. First new material since 1994. Album to follow in June. http://pitchfork.com/news/45687-bobby-womack-announces-new-album-co-produced-by-damon-albarn-and-featuring-lana-del-rey/
  18. Kinda agree. Unfair maybe on first listen. Pretty samey.
  19. Streaming all day today (Tuesday, March 13) at I-Tunes. Sounds great so far.
  20. Definitely the '80's. The CD was the worst thing to ever happen to music. Up to about 86/87 bands still had to concentrate of making catchy singles. 45's are the single best musical art-form ever! LOL, yes I know massive blow-hard statement. But growing up in the late seventies/early eighties in Britain and hearing the likes of Blondie,The Jam, Elvis Costello, The Police, The Undertones, The Specials, The Beat, Madness and others releasing fantastic songs every 3 or 4 months kinda spoils you. Even though I wasn't a fan of synth-pop at the time I can't resist a little "First-Wave" now on Sir
  21. 1999 seems like so long ago now (remember the pre-millenium worries and internet stocks doubling in value every week). Look - no camera-phones, Jeff lighting up during a song and worst of all he was so poor he only gets to play 2 guitars on stage.
  22. Very sad. 48 is very young even for someone suffering from the disease of drug addiction. RIP.
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