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Utoo: Exactly. Salome outtakes is all Berlin material and look how much of that sounds finished. Thematically, I think the album owes a lot to Edge's divorce.

Mercy to me sounds like U2 hell-bent on sounding like it's AB self: the broken relationship in the lyric, the metaphores, the sound, right down to (credit to Bono) the vocals.

402 sounds similar to 90's U2 as well. Fast cars has the dead on Bono-circa-90's lyric. Listen to the guitar predecessor of this song Xanax and Wine, sounds like something 90's U2 would come up with.

Some of ATYCLB and more often on Bomb, there is a lot of chimey guitar. Songs like Walk on, Kite, MD, COBL, Crumbs, Yahweh owe everything to the "classic U2" sound.
Consider the infamous BD fight between Bono and Edge, too.
 
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Utoo said:


Finished writing and recorded in Dublin, but so much of the inspiration was from the time in Berlin. A few riffs are present on the Salome Outtakes, and much more thematically has been acknowledged by the band to have originated there, as well. Zoo Station----besides the name, the sentiment is Germany post-Wall. One--before Bono had the "homosexual young man and hsi father" story, we had the mythical story of the riff & song uniting the band. Love Is Blindness---tell me that the bleakness of this song isn't a mix of Edge's marriage turmoil and the stark grey-brown feel of 1990 East Germany.
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Really, the only song that I think is really completely inspired by being in Berlin is Zoo Station. Theme, feel, etc.. obviously Berlin. The rest of the album simply came out of riffs and ideas they had prior to even going to Berlin. Edge came up with the Until The End Of The World riff in his hotel in Australia on the Lovetown tour as an example. What you hear on the Hansa Session outtakes are ideas they actually came up with prior to even going to Berlin. They are just working on them/tweaking them there. What came out of Berlin and had the Berlin feel was Zoo Station and some of the album photography (which created a sort of theming for some of the album/tour). Most of the creative process didnt result from being there though.

Another internet rumor regarding recording. Could be true, but wait, didnt we get the report that they had already started recording the album? Which is true?? :hmm:

Does anyone know if/when Hanover Quay is going to be taken down? That could influence where they record also. So I can see them going to a different location for this album. But will it effect the creative process? Not much, a song or two at best.
 
LemonMelon said:


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:hmm:
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Awesome, yet fucked up at the same time. :up:
 
The good thing about them taking it on the road is that it forces them to knuckle down for a period of time. 6 months in Dublin with Bono jetting in and out I don't think would work as well as a focused month "No one leaves!" policy in a different city for a far shorter period of time. I think the songs on HTDAAB sound so bloated and disjointed because of that lengthy broken period of time that they were working, reworking, reworking again, and finally overworking those songs. Lock them in a room for a shorter period of time, run with the spark when it arrives, but only for a finite period of time. Don't then take it back to Dublin for a year of on and off re-working. 'One' was nailed in Berlin in a matter of hours. 'Original of the Species' took 4 years of reworking. One will forever be regarded as one of their singular 3 or 4 defining songs, while Original of the Species will never be anything other than an insignificant listing in their overall discography. The thing is though, that you know they really, really wanted Original to be the big, huge universal song that One was/is. But they overtried and overworked on trying to get there with this album. I'm a huge fan of U2 working in confined spaces and periods of time. Give them 4 years and a loose schedule and Bono free reign to traverse the world in between, and you'll get something bloated and soft. Give them a shorter time frame and force them to stick with it as their singular focus for a couple of months, and they tend to produce far better results IMO.
 
Earnie Shavers said:
The good thing about them taking it on the road is that it forces them to knuckle down for a period of time. 6 months in Dublin with Bono jetting in and out I don't think would work as well as a focused month "No one leaves!" policy in a different city for a far shorter period of time. I think the songs on HTDAAB sound so bloated and disjointed because of that lengthy broken period of time that they were working, reworking, reworking again, and finally overworking those songs. Lock them in a room for a shorter period of time, run with the spark when it arrives, but only for a finite period of time. Don't then take it back to Dublin for a year of on and off re-working. 'One' was nailed in Berlin in a matter of hours. 'Original of the Species' took 4 years of reworking. One will forever be regarded as one of their singular 3 or 4 defining songs, while Original of the Species will never be anything other than an insignificant listing in their overall discography. The thing is though, that you know they really, really wanted Original to be the big, huge universal song that One was/is. But they overtried and overworked on trying to get there with this album. I'm a huge fan of U2 working in confined spaces and periods of time. Give them 4 years and a loose schedule and Bono free reign to traverse the world in between, and you'll get something bloated and soft. Give them a shorter time frame and force them to stick with it as their singular focus for a couple of months, and they tend to produce far better results IMO.
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The only problem with that theory is that it doesn't account for Streets. WTSHNN took them ages of reworking and reworking until they got it then they had to learn to play it. Both Streets and One among their greatest songs if not the greatest so both methods have produced greatness. I think Bomb suffered most not because of time spent but on them getting bored in the middle of the process. They obviously hung on too long with Chris Thomas trying to make it work. Probably didn't want to admit that it wasn't working. They may have been better off if they had scrapped everything and started from scratch but I for one am glad they didn't. I love Bomb and while it maybe doesn't come together as well as a album as it could the songs themselves are very strong and the majority worked beautifully live. They said themselves that what they had with Thomas was good, but it just wasn't great. Any other artist would have probably released it and gone on to the next project but U2 need to feel the magic in the songs themselves before they are satisfied to release them.
As for Mercy, I think it's been around too long and if they feel they have to shoehorn it on to the next album it may not work. I'd rather have them leave it as a B side then have it stifle a new direction of creativity. I don't think Mercy indicates any kind of change of direction in either sound or theme so trying to hang on to it into the next project could actually work against them.

Dana
 
Oh, I'm sure there are plenty of examples of long worked on songs that are awesome, and short conception songs that suck arse, I just of course mean 'in general' I think the band do better - or would do better - if the focus for a period was the album. Give it 100% in 50% of the Bomb length of recording time, rather than 50% over 100% of the Bomb length of recording time. Does that make sense?

And I agree, I don't (a) see Mercy as any kind of shift from the Bomb at all, or (b) why it's tagged as being an Achtung retread.
 
Yeah, I'm just saying that I think them getting bored is more of a problem then any specific length of time spent. Especially for Bono since he tends to jump so fast from one thing to the next, having him get bored with something is really bad. Something can take a lot of time but as long as everyone is still creatively engaged it can still be great. I just don't think there is any one formula that is necessarily better than another when it comes to U2 other than that it has to be able to sustain their interest. I think that's why Native Son and Xanax and Wine and such got such major rewrites, because the band was off on a new tangent and trying to finish those songs off the way they were just didn't hold their interest. Steve Lillywhite's comment about when he stuck the band in a room to play what they already had and Bono got 30 seconds in to Native Son and just stopped and said he couldn't sing that for the next two years shows to me shows that they were already on a totally different page from the original stuff and I think if anything Bomb may suffer from trying too hard to hang on to some of the earlier material. That's why I hope they don't try too hard to hang on to Mercy because it might hold them back from whatever new direction they are heading. For all their talk about wanting to go back and finish Pop if they did that now it wouldn't be the same as it would have been if they'd finished it then because they are not the same. Their work is too heavily influenced by their lives to be able to go back in time to finish earlier songs.

Dana
 
I thought the compressed working is what they're doing now, Bono in particular. You know, a few weeks locked in the studio, meeting politicians for a while and vice versa.

I look at Sometimes as the more direct, personal father-to-son song and a companion to the more universal, yingoistic One (still a father-to-son song ultimately). OOTS did what the reworked S. Thing, B. Day, Stuck in a moment, In a little while, Wild honey, A man and a woman and Window in the skies all tried - it's the perfect pop song a la U2. (I'm still surprised it didn't do better in the charts)

Both JT and AB took longer to make than previous U2 albums up to date. :shrug: Taking longer doesn't have to mean weaker results by default, although the last three albums were maybe more of a struggle to make than before and I don't think anyone would mind speeding up the process a bit.

We can theorise but since we haven't heard the Thomas 2003 Bomb, no one can really say what was worse or better (and even then it's still a matter of opinion). Lillywhite said the band was not on the same page with Bono when it comes to politicking in the studio, which may be another reason why Native Son got changed.
 
htdaab rocked but with the way bono keeps leaving i think this is great for them
 
They need to lock themselfs up again.

Bono needs to stay away from all his campaigns and politicians for a while and just concentrate on writing and making music.
 
U2girl said:
OOTS - (I'm still surprised it didn't do better in the charts)
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I guess it depends. To crossover beyond the U2 fanbase into being a big single with the general public - I thought it stood a chance. People lap up those schmaltzy Robbie Williams ballads, and to me that's it's demographic as a song, ie the perfect demographic for mega-sales if it's sold right. Same place Sometimes landed, but Original being a far, far better track for radio. Maybe it wasn't pitched that way. It wasn't even a single here in Australia, was it in the UK? The flipside of course is perhaps a lot of people don't really want to hear U2 do Robbie, and it's a bit off putting? Your mother might love it, your teenage cousin might love it, but that 20's & 30's age group that grew up on 80s and 90s U2, even if not as a hardcore fan, might think it's a stretch way too far. It is sickeningly sweet and loaded with oh-so-much sincerity. I think there are plenty of people who would just not buy into that when it comes from U2. I know you probably disagree with that assessment or my opinion on the song, but many in here (and I bet the band) initially thought that it was a locked in BIG single, and in the end it sunk without a trace, and I'm just giving you my take on possibly why.
 
OOTS has more in common with Lennon/McCartney, not Robbie Williams.
I can see why people might have a problem with U2 doing pop though, considering how well received most of the songs I compared to OOTS earlier in my posts were. But, OOTS - for being a pop song - was quite well received in this forum, which has lots of people who grew up on U2 in the 80's or 90's. It was frequently called the best song of the album.
I think OOTS was ripped off by being such a late single, and might possibly have done better if released after Sometimes, or even after Vertigo.
 
A good chunk of Robbies catalogue has an attempted Lennon/McCartney vibe as well. Just a very simplistic, dumbed down one. When I namecheck Robbie I'm giving it a position or a demographic, kind of describing it's character rather than just it's structure or sound. I can say it has the same appeal and feel as a Robbie ballad without it meaning it actually sounds like a Robbie ballad, just like I could say that Vertigo might appeal to a fan of a Foo Fighter song, without actually saying that it sounds like a Foo Fighter song in any detailed way.

Personally I think Bono killed Original of the Species. Crap lyrics and just a really awful vocal delivery that makes the poor lyrics stand out by giving them the weight of a thousand greater lyrics. If that makes sense. Example: the 'give you everything you want/except the thing that you want' line that is so divisive around here. There's nothing wrong with the line itself, at all, there's plenty of examples of similar in Bono's catalogue, it's only the delivery that makes it seem like it's a ridiculous line. The whole song is like that. This massive sincerity and earnestness in his delivery, matched with these really cringeworthy lyrics that should really be coming from some schmaltzy ballad band, not from Bono and U2.

Just my little old opinion...

U2 doing pop? Can you see the difference between Window in the Skies/Sweetest Thing, and, say, With or Without You/Stay?
 
I'm just saying the U2 demographic in here didn't have a real big problem with OOTS either. I feel there's a whole lot more in common with Lennon/McCartney (who weren't exactly deep in the early years either) in OOTS than anything RW ever wrote.

I think it's actually the lyric's context that gives the depth to OOTS. Much like Kite, it seems the two songs dedicated to his kids connected with the audience. I liked the delivery, because it matches the soaring melody, but that's just me. As for that line "I gave you everything you ever wanted...wasn't what you wanted" anyone? Very similar sentiment. The whole "delivery killing the line" argument reminds me of "production killing a good song" debate. Almost as weak as the persistent "Bono never had bad lines until 2000" attitude that seems to be prevalent here.

By U2 doing pop I'm referring, again, to the songs mentioned above: S. thing 98 version, BD, Stuck, IALW, Wild honey, AMAAW, OOTS, WITS. Very few of those got the seal of approval here so yes, I think it's fair to say this forum has issues with U2 venturing in this area.
 
“Some of my activist friends will be, you know, jumping on one leg rather than jumping on two because it’s never enough, and etc., etc.,” Bono said in a telephone interview from Fez, Morocco, where he’s recording with his band, U2. “But I am sorry, I’m standing up and I’m applauding the president and Congress.”

http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2007/05/bono_sings_the_.html
 
Band is recording in Morocco

(Oh, plus other stuff about some guy named Bush....)



From USA Today:

Bono sings the praises of President Bush, new AIDS spending
USA TODAY's Susan Page just got off the telephone with Bono. She says President Bush can count the rock star as a fan today.

The Grammy winner was singing the praises of the American president for his announcement today that he would propose spending an additional $30 billion over five years to fight AIDS in Africa, doubling the U.S. commitment.

“Some of my activist friends will be, you know, jumping on one leg rather than jumping on two because it’s never enough, and etc., etc.,” Bono said in a telephone interview from Fez, Morocco, where he’s recording with his band, U2. “But I am sorry, I’m standing up and I’m applauding the president and Congress.”

Since 1999, the Irish-born singer has become increasingly active in raising awareness of AIDS in Africa and campaigning for debt relief in the developing world. He is co-founder of an advocacy group called DATA — an acroynym for Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa.

“I remember people literally laughing in our face as we walked around Capitol Hill, knocking on doors and drumming up support on this,” he said. He cited help from key members of Congress, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and said it was notable that “a conservative administration” was delivering on promises of aid.

The Bush announcement also will help press leaders meeting at next week’s G-8 summit in Germany to act, he said.

Bono already has met with seven of the 2008 presidential contenders — including Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama and Republicans Rudy Giuliani and John McCain — to discuss the issue with them.

He did note some disappointments with the U.S. program, including the fact that little of the money is used to finance multilateral AIDS programs. The United States also requires that some funds go to abstinence education. “Condoms are a part of the solution; they just are,” he said.

“At a time when there’s very little good news coming in from foreign climes, this is great news,” he added. “And I wish I could get the smile off the face and give you more of an activist’s scowl. But how can you?”
 
It's awesome those countries are getting the help they need. Bono makes us proud to be U2 fans.

:in before the progress is belittled through Bush-bashing:
 
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