All That You Can’t Leave Behind

At this point, U2 was as sterile as a surgical field. All their songs sound like a meticulous wank fest with zero sense of camaraderie between the guys. I get it, you're pushing 40, you got a family, kids, you have little to no gas in the tank left to create something worthwhile, but you gotta put food on the table, so you churn out an album with some singles and say "Look! E l e v a t i o n", and what not. I get that, but don't make ME listen to some boomer, reminiscing-to-the-old-days, slog and say, this is one of the greatest musical achievements. I could find 1001 albums that sound better than this.

We'll add a stronger track, a ballad, some filler, another ballad. See ya in a few years, folks! Fuck off Bono, retire already...

The highs are high but there are some real duds on this album

-Horrible. Some of the most generic, bloodless pop-rock ever made. Perhaps Eno's greatest flaw as an artist is his affinity for tepid soft rock.

-Most songs sound like Bono + studio musicians. And Bono is actually a legitimately awful singer and horrible lyricist. I invite you to look up the lyrics to 'New York' and swirl them around in your mouth a bit.

-This album is exactly when I remember really hearing / knowing who U2 were for the first time in my life -- I would have been about 13 at the time. I remember not understanding why U2 were played in the "rock" category because their music is just so damn fluffy and edgeless.

Having been to the limit on Zooropa and Pop they come back and apply what they found to their earlier work.

The first four tracks here are absolute bangers. Mullen and Clayton are the rhythm section of your dreams and lay down the foundations for The Edge to, well, be The Edge.

But once the ballads hit the thing gets a lot more variable. They are some great moments, but some clunkers as well. (Can we say "Peace on Earth" kids?)

New York sounds a bit like its mostly introduction while the big moments disappear as soon as they start.

I'm going to suggest that Bono maybe wasn't putting all his effort into some of the lyrics.

But it's not a bad way to spend an hour

Oj bozie, bozie. No Beautiful Day rzeczywiście mi się trafiło na dosłuch tej płyty, bo wschód słońca tego dnia był po prostu niebywały! A reszta...no cóż. Bez szału.

This is not my favorite U2 era. But it's still a damn well made album.

I understand that when a artist rubs you the wrong way it's hard to appreciate their music. And I understand why some people have that feeling about U2. But let's be realistic about what their biggest crimes are . One of the four band members is notoriously self-righteous, and they tried giving music away for free. That's pretty much the whole list of offenses. Yet somehow that gets them lumped into the category of " artists we are all supposed to hate", which is a list that also includes child predators, criminals, and other actual horrible people who have done real harm in the world. Let's get some prospective people.

In my standard rating system this would get four stars. But it's getting five five to offset some of the childish, douchebaggery other reviewers on this project.

Knew the singles but not the rest. It was enjoyable but the back half drops off.

A lot more poppy than I expected, but I'm not mad at it. Really enjoyed it actually.

I’m not the biggest U2 fan by any means but they get more hate than they deserve. This is a decent album. They have other albums on the list that more deserving but I didn’t mind listening to this at all

Starts very strong then sags in the middle.

Soft rock sewage. Hard to believe this is the same band who wrote Sunday Bloody Sunday.

This might be the most offensively boring album I've ever heard, or it is at the very least right up there. Completely hollow, pathetic, vapid, weak shite without a single shred of charm, conviction, danger, individuality or anything otherwise remotely engaging about it. A bona-fide contractual obligation of an album. Genuinely don't think I could have been dealt anything worse for my soul after last night's England disappointment – in some perverse, sadistic way, it kind of accentuates that feeling of yet more hopes and dreams swirling down the plughole as entirely soul-destroying stuff. It's put me in a horrible mood.

Not a big fan of late U2

This is good rock and roll, uh, music

Meh, it was a U2 album. It was ok I guess.

All That You Can't Leave Behind is an album that was quite a bit better than i was expecting. I only ever knew this album for Beautiful Day and i did think that this was gonna be at a point where U2 has lost their luster but this album turned out to be shockingly really good. Of all the U2 albums i have heard, this one is probably the most melodic of them all, and i really did like this direction. This is another album that is feels very spearheaded by it's singles as those tracks are the most memorable tracks on the album to me. I still think that War is a little better but this one is still a pretty close second when it comes to albums by this band.
Best Song: Walk On
Worst Song: Peace On Earth
Side Note: Last U2 album, meaning:
1. War
2. All That You Can't Leave Behind
3. The Joshua Tree
4. Achtung Baby

Yes, Bono’s voice is slipping at this point. Yes, it shouldn’t be over 50 minutes long. Yes, they’re far past their prime. But it’s got its moments! “Beautiful Day,” despite Bono’s 40-year-old vocals (you can still have good vocals at 40! Look at Laraaji, his vocals are still good to this day! Bono’s vocals are just not) is still an awesome song. “Stuck in a moment…” is an improvement, and Bono’s vocals are even bit better! From there it takes a bit of a drop though. This album’s biggest problem frankly is that it doesn’t really leave an impression, other than “Wild Honey,” which is easily the best song here. The most memorable parts, frankly, are when Bono’s voice breaks and you can tell he’s out of it. Nothing else is of worth! It’s almost funny, except it isn’t.
6.0/10

I came in ready to dismiss this record, because U2 were very experimental in the 90s and this "return to rock" felt very bleah. While it's no How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb levels of dad rock, there are a few undeniably good songs front loaded in here like the inescapable "Beautiful Day", "Elevation", "Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of", and the now-questionable "Walk On" (written about then-longtime Burmese political prisoner turned Rohingya genocide denier Aung San Suu Kyi). It's not as seismic as The Joshua Tree, it's not a massive pivot like Achtung Baby, and it's not even half-finished like Pop, it's just U2 becoming decidedly MOR and playing it safe for the new millennium.

It’s the sound of a legacy band prioritizing commercial survival over artistic risk, crafting stadium pleasing background music that offends absolutely no one. It’s certainly not a terrible listen, and those initial hits still hold a lot of nostalgic weight, but the overall experience ultimately lacks the raw fire and passion that made U2 great in the first place.

3.5
Starts off with some hits but after that it's a bit safe and uninteresting for the most part, that one peace on earth song made me understand all the anti bono sentiment

I enjoyed most of this. If you like U2, you’ll probably like this but it isn’t anything groundbreaking. 3.5/5