First proper album reviews - Irish Times, Irish Independent and Hot Press

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that follows U2.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
He wouldn't be subject to the embargo that other reviewers are subject to if he didn't go through the same channels that the other reviewers went through...


Not sure how you come to that conclusion. Do you honestly think that someone with access to their inner circle is not going to comply with their request to hold off on full reviews. By the way has Neil published anything more since his initial listening report? I'm not sure what point you are trying to make. First you say Neil has a copy of the album, which I'm not sure is true since his first(and only to my knowledge) write-up just said that he had heard the album. Then you make a leap to that meaning the other reviewers must also have it as well. Which I point out is not necessarily the case because if he does have a physical copy it is more likely one he got through his personal relationship to the band not through his position as reviewer. Now you seem to be saying that if he had an inside source he isn't bound by the embargo. That may be technically true but he would be bound even more by the nature of his friendship with the band. In any case the other reviewers still wouldn't have copies of the album.

Dana
 
Let me explain the concept of an embargo. The studio sends out the album to a bunch of reviewers a week or two before the album release. In exchange the reviewers have to sign an NDA so that the studio controls when information is revealed to suit their marketing needs. The studio will also give a select group of media publications exclusives in their regions and in exchange the media publications will hype the hell out of that exclusive.

Usually the NDA will dictate those who are under it that they cannot talk about some or all of the contents of the album. Once the embargo is lifted (which should be in 24 hours) then the media publications which didn't have an exclusive can publish their review.

You cannot be bound by an embargo if you didn't actually accept an advanced copy of an album. In other words, there wouldn't be an embargo lifted on Monday if no one actually received the album yet!

Why do I know this much about embargos and NDAs? Because I have a lot of knowledge of the game reviewing industry and pretty much the same stuff happens there.

Also, Neil stated:
Anyway, before fellow fans get too excited, I can't review the new U2 album yet (there's an embargo until next Monday). But I can tell you that I have been talking to other early recipients of the record on my travels, and the enthusiasm for it is mighty.

And now I better zip it up before Bono asks for his record back. We shall return to this on Monday.
 
The front page of atu2.com does a pretty good job of updating when these sorts of news stories come out, plus they have a general reviews database.


This thread is doing well with the reviews on it's on. I've seen and posted articles before I get the emails from @U2 which I subscribe too also. They come from the same place's in any case.
I'm subscribed to a number of newspapers for U2/Bono and I get emails from them as well as @u2.com, yahoo and google alerts.
 
I find it funny how some reviewers seem to have a hard time saying something positive about U2, I guess that gives the reviews more credibility. I was a little upset to find that some of them always have to hit out and say something stupid about the band before they can actually admit that their new album is good. Oh, those journalists.
 
Talking about the embargo stuff also reminded me that studios are more likely to give exclusive reviews to reviewers who they think will give the album a good rating. Therefore we probably won't get a good read on what the consensus is until tomorrow.
 
Talking about the embargo stuff also reminded me that studios are more likely to give exclusive reviews to reviewers who they think will give the album a good rating. Therefore we probably won't get a good read on what the consensus is until tomorrow.

thats true. most of the actual reviews are written by people who like U2. not all of them, but most. so we really need to wait until tomorrow to see what the other ones think.
 
Back
Top Bottom