I only listened to my leak once, so I have more digesting to do. I'll say, nothing really jumped out and grabbed my by the balls like Vertigo did or Beautiful Day way back when. A lot of it grabbed me by the head, though. Lots of interesting things going on in some of these songs, although I think it trails way off at the end. Those last few tracks just seem to slog along. Great lyrics as usual, but some are just downright odd.

I still am lukewarm about Get On Your Boots. I agree with James that the title track is a poor opener. I really dig Crazy. Bono does some fun vocal things in that one. I also love some of the Edge's mellow playing on Moment of Surrender and Magnificent. In fact some of it is downright badass, blues-esque playing. Reminds me of ... wait for it ... not Slash, but Population Override-era Buckethead. Fans of a certain guitarist should listen to Edge's playing. You can retain your style, your sound without playing the same thing over and over again, album after album. I'm really quite impressed with the guitars for the most part. I wish he would really go after it a little more though.

I only heard it once, so on further listens I can say more, but Magnificent, Moment of Surrender and Crazy stand out to me. Fez-Being Born, honestly, I don't know what the hell it's doing on here, but, hey, they're experimenting a bit, obviously.

madagas wrote:

anybody that disregards 80's U2 is insane.....that IS U2. After Achtung, all the albums are hit and miss. Great songs, not great albums....any rock and roll critic or historian will tell you that. If a Gnr fan wants to start with U2, I say start with Unforgettable Fire. That is their break out album with multiple epic anthemic tracks. You can even go back to WAR. The new album is sonically great but seems to be lacking the big catchy chorus U2 is known for....granted I have only gone though a couple of times. Lanois and Eno definitely earn their stripes, but Bono's melodies aren't grabbing me right now. I have it on the ipod now and will give it a good workout tomorrow.

I like the 90's U2 better. Achtung Baby is without question the best U2 album in my mind and I like POP better than October, War, UF and Rattle and Hum.  I'd rank POP the 4th best U2 album.

1. Achtung Baby
2. Boy
3. War
4. Pop
5. ??????