i personally think U2 has one more great--- not good--- but great album left in them. their past few albums have been... 'nice' to listen to (excluding horizon, of course, which was utter dreck), but if i'm being honest many of the songs on those albums have been utterly forgettable.

look at what springsteen did with wrecking ball back in 2012 for example. i would personally put that album in the upper-third of his cannon... lots of great tunes on there and he didn't reinvent the wheel to make it happen. he just wrote HONEST songs, from the heart, and put them on the record. and at the same time it gained fairly decent acclaim from both music 'experts' and fans alike. i think i am being realistic in assuming that at this stage of the game, U2 could achieve the same type of success.

is it that they are trying too hard? or are they not trying hard enough. i'm not sure.

Trying too hard to be loved by everyone. Not trying hard enough in being good.

They've probably got shed loads of unreleased material with more promise than the stuff they release.. Even Brian Eno said so for No Line On The Horizon, pretty much blaming them for trying to be loved with utter crap like the entire middle section of that album. That way of thinking has dictated their way of working ever since.

So unbelievably terrified of pushing the boat out these days. Bono's lyrics of late seem pretty insipid, but The Edge has definitely lost his 'edge' too - when was the last truly memorable composition he came up with? Beautiful Day was finely crafted, but you'd have to go back to Pop when delving into a good many songs that were multilayered instrumentally.

A bit ironic, that new song reminds me a bit of Staring At The Sun! It's probably on that level, a good song. But I agree - it's a shame that the poor sales of that pretty much destroyed them of their creative freedom. U2 were always a self conscious band, they always knew they weren't 'cool' and that is what kept them moving by shapeshifting into different sounds. But they've become so overburdened by that self consciousness that it has crippled them.

I'm actually think The Little Things is pretty good now. It helps to have a clearer version of the song. The synths at the end are killer and the chorus and verses are great...

It could be great if produced properly. Still sound slightly unfinished to me. The very end Edge part with the synths is great though. A bit of a grower of a song.

Bono's lyrics have turned to mince in the last decade, I honestly can't remember anything he sings these days. But that lyric in The Little Things that goes "Oh I'm not a ghost now, can you see me? You need to see me" is quietly devastating and the type of self-doubt and insecurity you'd have heard from the younger Bono.

For the absolute c*ntish megalomaniac reputation he has (relatively speaking, it's something I don't quite agree with because I don't know many frontmen who aren't up their own arses), it's surprising how earnest and insecure his lyrics are (or were).

It's important to note that he lost his mother at the age of 13 and had a difficult relationship with his father, and if folk would actually pay attention, then you can blatantly hear the primal angst and spontaneous burst of adolescent emotions from the 20 year old Bono on the first three rough and hewn U2 albums. From The Unforgettable Fire onwards, it's a much more sombre Bono with less anger but a guy who is evidently growing up and is more yearning and reflective (especially when you listen to songs like Lemon and Mofo). And I personally get a great sense of emotional depth to U2 songs for that reason.

You can't defend the indefensible they say, and Bono is indefensible if people want to jump on the popular bandwagon and resort to cliches about how much of a c*nt he is. But I honestly think there's a much much more complex frontman there than public opinion dictates. I don't think the guy is a c*nt - my perceptions of him are largely formed by what I hear him sing rather than the admittedly preening sanctimony he may preach at gigs or forums. As usual with most things, these simple labels of 'c*nt' or 'twat' just don't display the entire picture.

What about this list? Top 50 greatest U2 songs, by RS.

www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/the-50-greatest-u2-songs-w489157

It is so easy to rip on U2 for their clown like antics over the last decade plus and Bono's self righteousness but lets also not forget that this band was elite for almost 20 years. Tunes on tunes on tunes on tunes on tunes. Tremendous body of work and I've never been to a bad show by them live.

Volcano and Breathe above Hold Me Thrill Me? Beyond the joke - I suppose Rolling Stone have to go some way to trying to justify their wild 5 star reviews of No Line and Songs of Innocence but that is pathetic. And Love Is Blindness only at 40? Terrible, it should be in the top five. Vertigo as high as 26? Every Breaking Wave is not their 13th greatest song. And I might sound like an iconoclast, but Pride really bores me - it's probably their most generic anthem along with Vertigo. And it sticks out like a sore thumb on The Unforgettable Fire - totally at odds with the feel of the album and shouldn't be on it at all.

For me, the top ten at the moment goes:

1. A Sort Of Homecoming
2. The Unforgettable Fire
3. New Years Day
4. Lemon
5. Love Is Blindness
6. The Fly
7. Stay (Faraway So Close)
8. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
9. Mofo
10. Running To Stand Still

Honourable mentions: All I Want Is You, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Tomorrow, October, The Electric Co, Until The End Of The World, Even Better Than The Real Thing, Walk On

....and no less than 3 songs from 'no line on the horizon', one of which made the top 10. 'me a break.

Why this song isn't on the list?