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Incoming : BOOm - CHaaaa !!!! BOOM - Chaaaa !!!! So, while everyone on here is talking about TJT at 30....I am going to talk about " THAT other ALBUM " !!! You know..... I'm loving and caressing it as I usually do with the shell of a sea-snail, stirred up by the sea....breaking on her back like a beach..... Got *POP* in the playlist, of course, listening to it while typing this..... It's been 20 years since its' release and, even-though it may sound cheesy and repetitive, I'm going to say it again.....: Like the other U2 albums of the 90's....POP is timeless....If anything....I can sense it GROWS and GROWS as the time passes.....Just like Achtung Baby, Zooropa and Passengers. As all of you may NOT know.....I'm from Romania....And U2 is practically physically and spiritually some sort of Alien band here...Like.this : " You like U2? Eeeew", " What iS a U2? Is it somekind of weapon or trap for bears or moles??" " Oh, that old band, I hate them and I hate you for loving U2" .“ Hey, folks, he’s talking about U2 again, I have no problem with him, just that I hate U2 and him !!!”, " Hey...so..You know...I like U2 ! U2? Is that a real rock band ? No....They're just a band !!! So, what, is it somekind of fake band, then? NO, they're a REAL band it's just that they're constantly changing style so you can't pin them down to one genre....! Yeah right !!! F*** off, you have terrible taste, you loser !!!! "... " I know who U2 are and I can't stand your U2 obsession...It's driving me crazy..!!!!! F**** off.....Never call me again !..PS : I HATE U2..... But Why? Because it's U2 !!!!!" are some of the lovely responses to my U2-love-affair-confessions... ...I only know ONE person from my country who likes U2 and he's on here in the Zootopia...Won't give out names, don't worry... I may be drunk while writing this...Or not....I can't figure it out.....Might as well be the HEIGHTS that *POP* takes me to....... So yeah.....I first became a U2 fan in the late summer of 2003.....After listening to a local U2 compilation cassette my aunt borrowed me to pass the time that summer..... THIS one: As time passed and highschol began in the autumn of 2003, loving U2 more and more....I bought my own cassettes, it also intensified and bled into 2004 : " The BEst of 1980-1990", " Achtung BABY", " The Joshua Tree (after listening to my Aunt's TJT cassette)", " ATYCLB", " Best of 90-00"........ Surprisingly , the record-store in my town had truckloads (but then again, by that time I had never seen a BIG record store) of U2 cassettes, cds and vinyls, I think I only bought 2 or 3 cassettes from there, tho...Bc I realized I needed even MORE U2..............It didn't last long and the record store had been erased off the face of this Good Green Earth. Doesn't matter 'cause I always bought my U2-stuff from another store in Bucharest which is up and running and has a more diverse palette of albums plus a higher number of copies in stock, which was a big problem at my local store.... ........Now....I ' m using Amazon for most of the stuff, especially the rarities...........thankfully God, He sent His Angels to solve that problem (see what I did there? or does anybody in here even know the song.....). I played the cassettes until they melted (well not technically...but they wore out) ...I had no internet....except for when I went to internet cafes ...And I wasn't that good with PCs but I loved reading magazines.....And in one magazine...there was an article , where a local artist (meaning from my country) was referring to *POP* as one of his most favourite records of all time....He didn't give much detail about WHAT the album might sound like, no tracklist, nothing palpable...The only thing more appealing above the headline was the beautifully coloured cover of the album......It was so small ... I had to invent a new magnifying lens just to make out if those four faces were U2 on that cover or not.....I was saying to myself " Wait , Is that Bono...? Neah....He can't be... Was That a mexican moustache on him, straight outta some secret Frida Kahlo story or painting...?. It can't be....The Magazine may have gotten the picture wrong....As they often do here...hhhhmmm.".. I was obsessed !!! Here's this U2 album from 1997 that I never heard of and an artist is TALKING about it.....It was the only album that stood out out of those billion boring album reviews in that music-magazine !!! I gotta HAVE it !!!! Meanwhile.....The son of one of my Mum's best girlfriends played me : Lemon and Last Night on Earth ( I never heard of ' Zooropa' before either )....I was so shocked , I couldn't believe that was U2....We didn't believe it.....We couldn't find out off of which albums did those ' Lemons' fell down......Sorry if I may be incoherent and full of typos...I'm very emotional about this....this IS part of MY LIFE..... In high-school, everybody was making fun of ME bc I dared to exist and because I loved U2, SAw that one coming didn't you? I was bullied on a daily basis 4 years head on.... " if you're going through hell, keep going " U2 did NOT make it easier because I was having monstrous fights wth my father who hates U2 and was extremely annoyed I played U2 in the car.....So I couldn't even get immersed properly into U2....It was like living life half-awake but feeling all the pain from the previous-dream as if it was more real than real-life....... Some-f****-how Another high-school mate of mine, who bullied me on occasion, showed me a rare version of ' Staring at the Sun", I never encountered that version since...It was on a cassette....I played it until it wore out....... " Looking for Baby Jesus under the trash" - I got that right.....But " God had his phone fallen off the hook....baby..."..... Wait 5 more minutes ....you'll discover that " Jesus never lets you down....He's used to showing you the score..".... Discotheque played on heavy rotation on the LATE M-TV and VH-1 channels ...when they were broadcasting great music....I watched loads of special U2-weekends ...Some POP-Sessions and POPMART scenes flickered the screen in-between Achtungesque and Zooropian abrasive riffs....My mind exploded....Not until after the FAT LADY sang (get it?).....AND Pavarotti !!!! Did I mention Miss Sarajevo was the very first song from U2 that I ever listened to??? It was the opening track on that compilation cassette. " Cartoon-Network turns into the news" I use to think when I was sad and I was sad almost all the time.....THEN .... The song came on and I couldnt believe BONO sung that line.........This opened the way to me anticipating Bono's lyrics on future albums.....I don't care if you guys don't believe me...I don't even think you read that far into my story.......if you did, thanks ! It was the hot summer of 2005, I think.....I finally managed to convince my parents to buy a PC which had a cd-player and two small speakers....I first bought the " HTDAAB" - cd....I copied it into my pc and listened to it all the time......The CD was put aside so as not to be destroyed by the breeze or a particle of dust....I took care of it daily , like a lover loves the other lover....Or something....YOU find a better stylistic twist. THE WORLD was against me buying *POP*....bc my aunt just gave me a cd with the u2 dicography on it.....But the songs were in mp3 and I WANTEd to HAVE the u2 discography.....Plus....the POP album on that cd WAS NOT complete on there...3 songs were missing !!!! !!!! Even if the collection would've been in FLAC//WAV and super-complete, there was no stopping me in my *POP* and later on, discography and BOX SET quest !!!! PLEASE played on tv.....I couldn't speak...I was crazy !!! EDGE came up with that solo !!!!!! and Bono's voice was incredible !!!! Sorry....No fancy words....JUST rushing , gorging blood-flow all through me. Three months later , I heard a mysterious voice in the telephone....It was the record store in Bucharest that phoned me to announce: " YOUR U2 CD, called *POP*, just arrived, we will be sending it to you via special-mail" One week in after the phone-call.......I had finally put my hands on it.....I listened to it then I copied it into my PC....I sniffed the freshly printed booklet like a drug-addict....Felt its texture on my fingers.....read the lyrics 10 000 times...stared at the CD itself doing nothing else....Re-reading the tracklist on the back....loving the colours, the font....the-ththhtht !!!!! 1. Discotheque - my first thought, based on the tv-air-play, was that this song is out of this world !!!! On a more thorough listen on my pc, I was very impressed with how much creative ideas they could cram into one single song......For a LONG time I didn't know WHAT Edge was playing......I always thought it's SOME instrument HE invented, not the guitar with effects...... After moving on to headphones.....I immersed further and further into the lyrics, the guitar-sequences and the heavy beats Larry knocks-out of those drums...There's a signature heaviness in his playing.....I can't explain. Love the funny sounds Bono makes...His voice is full of passion, hungry....He can reach it but he can't grab it.....It's visceral but well - thought out....It's spontaneous but rehearsed....How can I describe it better? I thought, after listening to all the other U2 albums in the meantime (minus Zooropa, I think, that's another long story) , U2 changed their style once again....MASSIVE ! Being in hospital for surgery in 2006, had been feeling very sick after it and could not sleep for a week......My wish was to watch Discotheque on TV to feel release.... I kid you not...The First thing that POPPED out when I turned on the tv after I got home from hospital was DISCOTHEQUE....I cranked it up to Eleven......Then I passed out, 2. Do You Feel Loved - when I first heard it I was stunned.....A summer rain feeling....a summer breeze...WHAT came to mind were summer-colours...The smell of the ground after the rain.... Right now when I'm listening to it , I feel all of that stuff plus U2's mastery....Adam's BASS is thick and smooth, the guitar-progression....moves from one painting to the other scenery.....the drums are what it;s all about as usual and Bono's interpretation of the absolutely genius lyrics...is ..... !!!!! 3 MOFO - * Electro-Magnetic Wave of Sound * secretly introduces the song. When I first heard it I couldn't cope with it. After the third listen I was Insane. For some time , my relationship with it was as weird as my gf-situation....non-existent or getting rejected by the song///her....I WASn't COOL enough for the song to like me nor did I have the life-Experience to be received into the song's " PlayBoy Mansion".....after a couple of years , I was more experienced....plus I bought headphones.......I don't know HOW to continue from here..... There are TOO many sentiments colliding ..... One thing I can say is that Edge's guitar makes my heart race....I'm losing my breath to the point I need to pause the song to catch my breath...The Edge's backdrop effect on the " Mother am I still your son" bridge is something that plays in my head for years...It helps me get over stuff in my life...... Bono's singing is ACE..The lyrics are perfect, he sings them with incredible passion......He never sounded so desperate, yearning, LOUD, human, wounded, defeated ...And YET he's on top of it......Incredible If I'll tell you, the feverish weeks I was waiting for the album (I never heard of that Yeats poet before).. I was thinking... " Wish I knew my face before the world was made"... AND THEN, there it is....Bono said it.............You won't believe me...I have no physical proof....... ........This is one of my most favourite U2 songs ever .....I'm not content at all with what I wrote about it but this is all I could do. It definitely has to do with being yourself no matter how embarrassing it gets, that's what I've learned, hence the self-irony above......Someone WILL like you for who you are..Same goes for the essence of this song and album ! 4. if God will send his Angels - I can hear Edge's fingers, nervously changing the chord-progression ... ...And what a roman fleuve do the nursery rhymes that burst out , later turn into ...... There aren't many times in my life where I can feel happy or so enriched by a song....This is one of the times that I DO. I can feel the taste in my mouth like after you ate a fruit rich in nutrients that also had a full-flavour and a texture that left a great touch all through-out your mouth.........I strongly feel I co-wrote the lyrics to this song with Bono. in a parallel universe......call me crazy...But I think all of YOU did..... ..My very FIRST impression was that EDGE is really an alien for coming up with that riff...Back in 2005, after having listened to as much of their music as I could, including Achtung Baby and some rarities from the 90's, It was the most definite, yet again, style-change of U2's music..Even for the 90's, when they were changing all the time.....I have the same feelings to this day, except now I can see the changes embedded in the meaty spirit of the album....Patiently hurrying to sew the songs up all together in a perfect harmony....The sweeping backdrop effects.....Larry's outstanding drumming!!!!!....The BASS that controls the song, you don’t even know how you find yourself humming the bassline on the street and everywhere you go, it's in the back of your mind while you go about your day.. Until it POPs out up front !!!!..........Bono's laid-back way of singing these extremely powerful lyrics, his breathing and sighing into the microphone........I don't feel darkness in this song....or in anything that comes from 90's U2....This song makes me very happy....it takes the darkness outta me and defeats it.......Everytime the Cartoon-Network lyrics comes on, I get goosebumps....The ending of the song is sublime....at the very ending , Bono starts singing again, it's poetic, it's dramatic, it's artistic....it;s creative...it's what I want from U2.....just listen to it with Eleven on Volume !!! 5 - Staring at the sun - A feeling of childhood summer at first......Thinking about different girls I was in-loved with.....Summer Dresses pass indeed....And I made an artistic work out of it.... I reiterate the mind-whooping fact of how different and creative can U2 be in the SAME song all throughout the 90's and on this song too...I can hear Edge playing the main riff and there are at least three other different subtle background effect insinuating themselves , cross-threading... Inter-twinging with it........ U2 just going with it, the flow of the creative moment !!! 6. Last Night on Earth - Raw, visceral, Earthy, but esoteric , Spiritual, Pumped into your veins.....Bono sings Additional lyrics that don't appear on the sleeve, and there are quite a handful of lyrics on the album sleeve, Bono does NOT sing during the song....... I LOVE this !!!! The first time I heard it at that guys' apartment, I though the song was weird in the bad way.....I wasn't prepared for it. The song is stellar....Sorry....Don't have the words right.........Maybe I'll re-edit this later. Later Edit : That distorted ghostly sound.... It's Adam'a Bass..... Very few people realize that Adam Clayton is essential to U2....Just like the other three. 7. - GONE This album has a Monumental Production....It is crystal-perfect as it is...it does not need to get remastered. We only need the DEMOS !!!! Just when you though U2 took your breath away with the first half of the album.....this song comes on...... At first.....I compared it to the " New Mix " because I had already listened to the 90-00 cassette and I was in love with Gone-NewMix..... I didn't know what to think.....I thought....I don't know what U2 did here.....it's great but I can't contain it..... It took many more listens to really get in to it...I don't mean liking it...I liked it the first time..... It just took time .... After I bought the headphones, I could really hear all the sounds....You can hear someone, maybe Bono....tuning his guitar while Edge's Riff stretches over you like an ocean of sound....The perfectly placed piano-traces.....Edge's backing vocals......the in=between effects......Adam's Bass is something , I just can't find my words right now....It's uplifting and positive and makes you want to live more.....live to at least listen to the song more...It abstractly changes my life...Well, I'm more abstract ..........To go ahead Just draw another drawing..... Edge's Back-up solo-riff After the awesome bridge....When Bono goes "Goodnight, I'll be up with the sun. Are you still holding on? I'm not coming down I'm not coming down I'm not coming down....." they ruined it on the " new mix ". 8. MIAMI Lately, I've been thinking this is a chill sequence of three songs, culminating with Velvet Dress. You know an album is great when you formulate a great review about it at night when you go to bed...then you come here and try to write about it and nothing comes to mind....Nothing but....That album is the definition of COOL...Words, if used in relation to it, wound it..... What can I say....MAN can't use words properly...Only GOD knows how it's done ( and Trees, because they don't use words)....Bono is very close to God with his use of words on this album..... I think people who use words properly are ACE !!! Don't block me mods....I'm trying my hardest to do justice to it....... I must admit I can't find a better place than at my aunties.... Except for this song, maybe. Love Bono\s original chill-out-attitude on this one.... Like " Huuughhh !!!" and " Sing it now..Alright now..Hieaaah" or something...Reminds me of some of his scat-singing on " Daddy's Gonna Pay for Your Crashed Car".....That trademark “ Huuughhh !!!!” ! ...The guitar is hypnotic, abrasive but tender, laid-back, owning it.......Psychedelic in the U2 way ( the other being the doors way) , they re-invented psychedelia.....tHe way Larry breaks it down in heavy drum beats that stick to your brain like the sweetest obsession..... And then there's the bass...... The images Bono draws in your mind by way of lyric are the closest thing you can get to real sensual pleasure...." He's a father, he can turn on the flame" , yuus !!! Of course I've got someone on my mind when it goes: " Her eyes all swimming pool blue "... "I said you looked like a madonna. You said maybe. You said I wanna have your baby, baby." And when he says Madonna, he doesn't mean that Madonna...Bono refers to the Muse...That secret place or person which drives you to make your art....To transform either your pain or joy into something you at least think you got a grip on...... 9 Playboy Mansion For a long time I thought it was a filler...the worst song on the album (but still a good song)....Listening to the album through the years I reached the conclusion it's as great as the other 11.........Then the way it ends, blending into Velvet Dress... On the Japanese Version of the album, it doesn't blend as cool as on the European Version but it's incredible nonetheless..... 10. Velvet Dress _ No words. I'll only say I have done a LOT of drawings listening to this song....I listen to it almost every time I' start drawing something. OH....On the Japanese Version I can hear MORE EDGE tricks than on the European version !!! Bono's voice sounds deeper, Adam's bass is fleshier....Larry's drums are crazier. And definitely more of the goodies......Like sparkling dots of blue light and shining stars caress the moon...... 11. Please When I first listened to it...I was disappointed because I wanted the Single Version...I didn't know why the TV-version was different. Since on TV , the single version aired so rarely that I saw the Halley Comet three times in-between air-times..... So I concentrated on the album version that I could go through as often as I wanted ! For quite a long while.... I didn't know what to make of the song..... NOW...I can say this...I love how I can hear them talking to each other in various moments throughout the song., first Larry calling out the tempo and snapping sticks before the first verse.....and before the second...Larry whispers ( one, two, three, four... go) instead of snapping the sticks four times like he does on the single version..... Sigh, breathing....Perfectly thought-out synth....it sounds natural....It's as if YOU, the listener had this song and album in you since forever, you just didn't know HOW to express it and U2 did it for you so you can take a distance from the troubles of your life, grab them and defeat them...and after you did it, you got a great work of art telling the story about how you did it, while you're getting drunk....establishing the running order. I'm SURE I planned this better in my head last night but THIS is what came out. ^^^ 12. Wake Up Dead Man It instantly became one of my all time fav songs by any band right out after the first listen. As the entire album, in fact. Love the swearing. when he says " I'm alone in this world" I anticipated that lyric so much...I burst into tears when hearing it. Listen to the traffic and circulation. It's spontaneous and hard-worked at the same time...A juxtaposition of simple words, that appeal to everyone but that paint a very deep picture....It IS not dark...for me at least.....Not just because of the way the song is laid out but because U2 states here that IT IS what it is....Often-times we feel alone against the evil of the world....Not even Jesus answers for whatever reason * He's got his hands full: - "But maybe your hands aren't free......"Were you working on something new?" .....But for this moment, look...we made this song....That doesn't necessarily tell you things get better, it just EXPRESSES the pain...it takes it OUT....It's not healthy to hold it in...No matter who says what !!! And HEY...check out the awesome way the band plays......And there's the backing effects with that distorted spectre that moans, groans, sighs, whispers, whistles, breathes.....Talks....Voices. LIFE. " It's living life that's hard...For Anyone can die anytime." It might be Mammy Eve moaning throughout....It could be anyone you want.... The best thing about it is, probably the fact that U2 NAILED it and they don't know it......They really don't like the album........I can understand where they're coming from....I hate most of my drawings.....U2 are so deep into the forest, they can't see the beauty of it, somehow....Adam was also saying this back in the day.......WE can see the beauty of it...Or maybe just a few of us.........Like every great thing....Only some of us can sense it. BONUS --- 13. Holy Joe Bonus track to the Japanese Version, very creative, rich in patterns and tricks.....Lyrical wisdom abounds !!! The Edge's solo is incredible !!!!! Get in touch with it..... And don't forget the secret rhythm of The Rhythm Section !!! I don\t expect you to like this review. I don't expect you to like *POP*. I don't expect anything. I did this for me....I just wanted to do it...... !!! Happy 20th Birthday to *POP* !!!! Timeless and priceless !!!! ....And although Cartoon-Network turns into the news all the time....I flip back to Cartoon Network to watch Regular Show....I mean that this is a positive lyric..It's like the tree which has its roots in hell in order to provide sweet fruits and fresh air and beauty, shade and stuff....... The Cartoon Network part wins !!!! U2 is my life. *POP* is my life !