Bono interview with Irish Times

[BVS]

M$H features U2 playing/writing as a band on TWO tracks: TGBHF and Stateless. The cover of Anarchy in the UK only features Adam and Larry. The rest of the songs only have Bono and a bunch of sessions musicians, including Lanois, who is NOT in U2.

So it's not the same as Passengers. At all.

And Passengers was a mostly Eno project where U2 got to be his backing band, so it can't really qualify as a u2 album.

 

[U2girl]

And Passengers was a mostly Eno project where U2 got to be his backing band, so it can't really qualify as a u2 album.

Exactly.

 

[U2girl]

Very well-said, but where No Line went wrong isn't the fault of Eno & Lanois. The previous collaborations with those producers did not result in compromised releases. TUF, JT, and AB were self-enclosed artistic endeavors. And as you said, whatever one may think of ATYCLB, it achieved what it set out to do, because the band stuck to the plan of crafting solid pop songs.

By writing and recording in Morocco, with both producers, the band was doing something fresh, if not wholly new. If they hadn't gotten cold feet before the end, and putting things like Crazy Tonight, Stand-Up Comedy on there, failing to complete Winter, and toning down some of the more exotic elements on something like Magnificent, we might have wound up with an album that, marketed correctly (and with better reviews, I'm sure) could have crossed cultural lines and shown a U2 to the public that wasn't retreading over the same ground.

Boots, however inventive, sounded too familiar to most people, and didn't come off as fresh. Magnificent, in its album form, would likely have resulted in a similar effect. Moment Of Surrender may not have burned up the charts, but it certainly doesn't sound like typical U2, and to many fans it was a powerful work. You shoot a video that takes place in Morocco and showcases the inspiration on the album, not in an abstract Mysterious Ways-style, either.

And maybe something magical happens.

We'll never know for sure. But Lanois and Eno aren't the problem, it's the band second-guessing themselves.

I think a big part of the familiar sound of Bomb, NLOTH and even bits on ATYCLB is because they went with Lillywhite, Eno and Lanois on those albums. There are only so many ways Eno can help out with his synth.

I don't see anything magical about those Morocco videos, and that biggest cliche U2 riff of all time in Winter - along with a Coldplay-esque intro - is not that interesting. It really is the sound of getting lost in the music. The impression I get is they thought "right, get Eno and Lanois in a different setting and let's hope the magic happens again". While, yes, the U2 portion includes the middle three (of which Boots is the singlehanded doom of the album, and Crazy doesn't belong on a record like NLOTH) it also includes one of the best songs on the album, and one of their best rocking songs in a long while, Breathe.

I personally blame the guitar player, who really hasn't got anything new going for the past two albums (it's either old school U2 riffs or cliche "let's rock!" riffs). A great U2 album has great Edge guitar playing, as well as inspired Bono. Miss out on one or both, and the magic won't happen.

Also, I don't feel Eno and Lanois brought the magic this time - MOS synth from Eno and WAS melody from Lanois excluded. Mixing up various elements from the past (UF U2 meets Zooropa U2 in Fez, 90's synth meets 80's Edge riff meets 80's lyrics on Magnificent etc) doesn't really count as new. I'm hoping their next collaboration delivers. NLOTH might be the best 00's U2 album, but it's not a reinvention they were talking about.

Thirdly, perhaps most tellingly, U2 themselves helped tank the album. First the worst U2 lead single ever, then dropping a 4th single, to dropping 3 songs from the setlist.

I think they had two choices for lead single : go for the obvious and use Magnificent, or go with something a little closer to today's rock radio and use NLOTH. (and, dare I say it, try out SUC somewhere down the line on the US radio and maybe try MOS for ROW)

 

[Scorpionac]

There are only so many ways Eno can help out with his synth.

I think that's not giving him enough credit.

I don't see anything magical about those Morocco videos, and that biggest cliche U2 riff of all time in Winter - along with a Coldplay-esque intro - is not that interesting.

Larry and Edge's parts on Winter are extremely paint-by-numbers. I love the chorus, though, and the deep vocals at the end. I think it could've been reworked and tightened to fit into the album easily.

Mixing up various elements from the past (UF U2 meets Zooropa U2 in Fez, 90's synth meets 80's Edge riff meets 80's lyrics on Magnificent etc) doesn't really count as new.

Some songs on NLOTH definitely do feel like their old songs reincarnated. NLOTH similar to The Fly, ending vocals on MOS similar to end vocals on Stay, Unknown Caller's opening riff reminds of Walk On, GOYB's alternating between electric guitar w/ identical bass riffs + scratching guitar on verses reminds of Vertigo, Crazy Tonight reminds of that song they did for those BlackBerry ads...