you're trying to measure the record based on something that it isn't. you might be less interested in what it is, and that's down to taste, but if you're going to analyze or grade it then you really have to try and engage with it as what it is. the record isn't about hooks or melody, it's about catharsis. the hooks are there, but they're far less important than the dissonance. it's a head cave; if you're going to be thinking of it as pop with a bit of noise, you're going to miss the point - you need to think of it more like early mogwai, or sonic youth, with just a tad of weezer. that makes it a headphone disc...
i liked attack on memory, but it was really heavily centered on "wasted days". beyond that first track, most of the songs haven't held up well. there's nothing to them beyond the hook - they get boring quickly. here, the guitars may only be coming from one person, but they're far thicker - they're built up through multitracking a lot of dissonant harmonies. it creates a bigger, more aggressive and more...cathartic...sound.
i'd call this one a "classic" (roughly a 9) and the last one "hit and miss" which works out to about a six.
as others have stated, this is a demonstration of patriarchy rather than a refutation of it.
the response driving a male to "protect" an abused female is itself a controlling response. men will step in under the hopes that they can take control of a submissive female. there's no such drive to protect a male (that is competition) from a dominant female.
the error underlying the experiment is the assumption that people are stepping in to "help" out of altruism, rather than to further their own aims.
the guy they picked was a little scrawny - small enough that he could be easily beat down and "his" girl could be "stolen" from him with little effort. do it again with a bigger, more alpha dude and you'll see a different response.
yeah, this is actually the version people are more familiar with - punchier dynamics. different master, or something.
it does sound better than the album version.
AllGuts NoGlory
This version is deep and also very dark and Jack White's version is shallow and has no soul. Jack White just copied what someone else created and screamed about it.
Jose Ortiz
I love both versions. U2's is for the person sitting at a bar pondering a failing relationship, where as Jack White's version is raw and could be the background music for a major breakup fight. The kind where pots and pans are flying and smashing against the wall. Either way, it's a well written song.
AllGuts NoGlory
I think this is intense and raw, but it is more like my lover left me and I am all alone and on the edge of despair and there is nothing left to live for and even the lyrics fit into this. I agree whomever wrote this and the other songs is really fucking good. But for me it is like cheapening Picasso's blue period into something commercial, but maybe you're right.. U2's version is very raw, edgy, almost terrifyingly haunting and the organ at the beginning is perfect.
LUCKY WE LIVE SARDINIA
why every time somebody does a cover, there is someone who NEED to say that the original version is better? It is so boring.
Anthony .Derwich
because the original versions are allways better than covers !! ;) (here a great exemple)
LUCKY WE LIVE SARDINIA
I prefer the cover.
Anthony .Derwich
after all we all have our own taste and opinion ;) (but try the u2 live version (Sydney 1993) of this song, it's just one of the best live performance ever IMO, the guitar solo is mindblowing)
Sorusch Afkhami
I like them both. Jack White's version is rougher and gives more a feeling of painful sorrow, while the original has a a feeling of nostalgic craving.
deathtokoalas
i found his version a little thin, but i'm not sure this song really gives him the opportunity to explore his strengths. it's an odd pairing. how many dark, mournful jack white songs are there? i mean, you have to assume the jack white you know is an alterego. there's nothing particularly revealing in this assertion - it's obvious. under the stage act, maybe there's a sad dude that listens to bauhaus and cocteau twins. but, if that's true, it just didn't come off so well.
AllGuts NoGlory
Not everything comes in autotune bitch!
deathtokoalas
i don't understand your response.
Sorusch Afkhami
I'd rather call it simplified, than thin and that's pretty much White's thing. Stripping songs down to their basics and add his personal touch. Mainly his guitar playing style in combination with the Whammy. But also some other effects he often uses that make his music sound gloomy.
deathtokoalas
not the most famous u2 track.
if somebody asked me to pick one, though, it'd be this - although it's hard to separate it from love is blindness, which follows. ideally, it's the two of them together.
Paul Madley
I've always felt those two tracks + Ultraviolet = a trilogy that's meant to be played as one. But that's just me.
