More from Lanois on the new album

[biff]

Lanois Dabbles in Film, Writes With U2/Eno

Billboard, August 24, 2007

Johnathan Cohen


Daniel Lanois has helped the biggest of the big translate their music to the masses (Bob Dylan, U2, Willie Nelson), but now he's turning the spotlight on himself. After years of being asked by friends, fans and media outlets to reveal his studio methods, the Canadian producer/artist did exactly that with the self-financed film Here Is What Is.

The movie, which Lanois co-directed with Adam Samuels and Adam Vollick, premieres Sept. 9 at the Toronto International Film Festival.

"At first, I thought we could at least make an educational film that would be useful to somebody interested in this line of work -- just to see how the interactions happen between people in the studio," Lanois tells Billboard, noting the film is not structured like a standard documentary. "But Vollick captured some actual performances on camera, and it's even interesting to me as he walks around and shows the cables, the wires and the equipment."

Here Is What Is also features reflections from fellow U2 collaborator Brian Eno and a glimpse at studio sessions for Lanois' next album, which will feature the Band's Garth Hudson on four songs. The goal, Lanois says, is for the film to be picked up by a distributor and hit theaters early next year, in tandem with live performances in select cities and the release of the aforementioned album.

Lanois is a "free agent," having most recently recorded for Anti-. But he's open to working with that label again for the new project. "I may ask [Anti- head] Andy [Kaulkin] if he's interested in putting out one more record," he says. "But I'll finish the record first. Whoever is excited about being onboard, it will be an interesting journey."

In the midst of finishing Here Is What Is, Lanois has been writing songs for the next U2 album with Eno and the band in France and Morocco, a process documented in the film. Although the two producers have worked separately with U2 for years, this is the first time both men are collaborating with the band simultaneously.

"It feels like the Achtung Baby period, when everybody was really hungry to do something fresh," Lanois says of the material so far. "They have everything, and they've done everything. But the thing they should never assume they still own is the ability to be original and invent something that's never been heard before.

"I'm not coming in with new flavors of the month or waving a magic wand," he continues. "I don't have an abbreviated name. But my eyes are burning a hole through their hearts, and I'm inviting them to come to where I come from."



Those last few sentences are just plain weird. WTF is he talking about with the "eyes burning holes in their hearts" bit? Has he got Xray eyes or something? No wonder poor Edge is on fire, LOL. But seriously: "Im inviting them to some to where I come from" sounds totally full of it (or full of himself). Strange.

 

[FitzChivalry]

^ I don't know. It makes sense to me. Sounds like he's saying that he's not trying to be "hip" or "hot" (like Will.I.Am or Timbaland) but rather forcing them to be honest about their intentions and trying to get them to approach the music from a different purview. Makes sense to me. And it sounds great.

New album. Breaking conventions.

 

[Mrs. Garrison]

interesting paragraph there. Hopefully whatever the new music is it will be more like the 90s stuff than the more current stuff.

 

[artdirector]

Any mention of Achtung Baby in new material gives me goosebumps. Man I cant wait.

 

[dabiggestu2fan]

yes I think if they mention AB and has AB influences but in yet another direction this is going to be an amazing album BUT will diffenetly throw off some of the new fans that came in during ATYCLB and HTDAAB. Either way it will be awesome to hear a new direction from U2, afterall, one of the reasons why I love U2 so much is the fact that they are able to always re-invent themselves to stay relevant!

 

[dabiggestu2fan]

PS I wonder if they will still include the song "I believe" in there. Out of all the beach clips this one had the best potential of moving the group in a new direction and diff had the 90's feel and sounded a lot like hold me, kiss me.......... I cant wait!

 

[ludvic]

PS I wonder if they will still include the song "I believe" in there. Out of all the beach clips this one had the best potential of moving the group in a new direction and diff had the 90's feel and sounded a lot like hold me, kiss me.......... I cant wait!

That's why I didn't like "I believe"... it wasn't very original.

 

[schnumi]

If he says it's like Achtung Baby period then it's ok.

He could also have said that it was like the ATYCLB period then we would have gotten the same stuff again.

 

[Aygo]

I hope that people won't go thinking that it'll come another Achtung Baby.
What Lanois has been saying is that the atmosphere of wanting to do something different is the same, back to 1990 and that the change in terms of sonority can be proporcionally huge from HTDAAB to new-album comparing to JT/LT era to AB.

 

[ludvic]

I hope that people won't go thinking that it'll come another Achtung Baby.
What Lanois has been saying is that the atmosphere of wanting to do something different is the same, back to 1990 and that the change in terms of sonority can be proporcionally huge from HTDAAB to new-album comparing to JT/LT era to AB.

Achtung Baby isn't exactly experimental anyway. It's got loads of mainstream pop songs designed to appeal.

 

[Irvine511]

what i love about U2 is that they're able to use everything that ever happens to them as motivation to record and give us their best. you might not like the end result -- it's obvious that ATYCLB and HTDAAB are reactions to the "they've lost their core values" response to Pop, and both albums are triumphant returns to the "core values" of galactic rock band; whether you like it or not, that's up for debate, but they are very "successful" albums for what they were designed to achieve.

and so here we are again at another crossroads. two universally adored tours. two universally well received albums. buckets of Grammies. a Hall of Fame induction. a growing consensus that this is not only the best post-1980 band, this is not just the post-1980 band that can be compared with the greats of the '60s, this is not just the only band that's been good and "relevant" for 25 years. it would be so easy for them to do the same thing again. and why not? it's obviously worked smashingly well.

but they want more. and they're not waiting to suffer a R&H or Pop backlash. they're trying to stay ahead of the curve and use their lonely place on top of the contemporary rock pantheon as motivation to be even better. what more is there to accomplish? nothing! at least nothing in conventional terms. so now, alone, in uncharted territory, they're changing courses.

as they've always said, they will not go quietly into the night.

so let's just be happy that we don't have a fat happy band.

 

[t8thgr8]

i dont think the last two sentences correlate to the u2 album.

 

[Blue Room]

Maybe its just me but I find it sort of odd that people keep saying they want them to go in a new direction. Then some of the same people say the want it to be like Achtung Baby. Well, that isnt going in a new direction. That rehashing something they already did. Which ironically is what some people here (I'm saying this site in general, not this particular thread) slammed them for with ATYCLB and Bomb, for rehashing some of their late 80's sounds. Whats the difference? You liked Achtung Baby better than Joshua Tree? Seems like the only difference to me.

I dont care what they do. I just hope its good and most of the time, overall, their albums are.

 

[Irvine511]

i dont think the last two sentences correlate to the u2 album.

then find another band?

i mean, honestly, what more do we expect from U2? all they've done throughout their career is defy expectations and raise the bar and consistently deliver. and when they don't, the regroup, and return to form.

and they've done that twice.

 

[U2opra]

anything said about the new album with a sentence mentioning 'achtung baby' grabs my attention!

FitzChivalry - fan of the x-files?

 

[ahittle]

yes I think if they mention AB and has AB influences but in yet another direction this is going to be an amazing album BUT will diffenetly throw off some of the new fans that came in during ATYCLB and HTDAAB.

I was surprised at some of Edge's remarks about where this thing is headed. If they all have their heads in the same place, then maybe they feel they have redeemed themselves commercially and are not allowed to experiment a bit. That's good news.

 

[Aygo]

Achtung Baby isn't exactly experimental anyway. It's got loads of mainstream pop songs designed to appeal.

Well, for U2's standards at the time, it's very experimental.
In 1991, there were not many mainstream (or less-underground) bands with such landscapes found in Achtung Baby.

 

[angelordevil]

Well, for U2's standards at the time, it's very experimental.

I agree. For the most part, it's full of textures and nuances that were very fresh at the time. I remember coming home from school when it first came out, and just falling in love with it. Every day, I'd do some serious lip-syncing and broom-playing in the kitchen, where our stereo was..LOVE IS BLINNDNESSSSS! Da da da da! I think I scared the cat a few times with that one. AB was definitely ahead of the mainstream back then...it was like nothing else my friends were listening to. Certainly, it ended up becoming somewhat mainstream, simply because of its massive success. But, I love how it didn't pander to the mainstream; instead, it took it for a ride to some place special and daring.

Personally, I love Lanois' comments, because they hint at a kind of hunger to create real art again, not just a synthesis of sound to please the masses.

 

[BVS]

Achtung Baby isn't exactly experimental anyway. It's got loads of mainstream pop songs designed to appeal.

Context is key...

 

[shart1780]

I've become an extreme pessimist.

Until I hear great, fresh music with my ears I'll assume it will be boring and uninteresting, like their other stuff has been over the past few years.

 

[Aygo]

AB was definitely ahead of the mainstream back then...it was like nothing else my friends were listening to. Certainly, it ended up becoming somewhat mainstream, simply because of its massive success. But, I love how it didn't pander to the mainstream; instead, it took it for a ride to some place special and daring.

That's it. It was a very different kind of rock from what the mainstream was airing at the time. AB only got real maintream because the singles suceeded and because of the album's later sucess. Remember, for instance, that "The Fly" was not a huge sucess in the States, only peaking #61.

 

[Irvine511]

I agree. For the most part, it's full of textures and nuances that were very fresh at the time. I remember coming home from school when it first came out, and just falling in love with it. Every day, I'd do some serious lip-syncing and broom-playing in the kitchen, where our stereo was..LOVE IS BLINNDNESSSSS! Da da da da! I think I scared the cat a few times with that one. AB was definitely ahead of the mainstream back then...it was like nothing else my friends were listening to. Certainly, it ended up becoming somewhat mainstream, simply because of its massive success. But, I love how it didn't pander to the mainstream; instead, it took it for a ride to some place special and daring.

two of the best albums of the 1990s -- The Bends and, yes, even OK Computer -- are the children of Achtung Baby and Zooropa.

 

[lazarus]

two of the best albums of the 1990s -- The Bends and, yes, even OK Computer -- are the children of Achtung Baby and Zooropa.

Unfortunately, this is something that Radiohead, their fans, and more indie-minded music fans fail to acknowledge, at least publicly.

You can throw Zooropa in there as well, because I think that's the real bridge between Achtung and OK Computer. And I don't know if Radiohead was listening to Passengers, but I don't see how that doesn't lay the groundwork for the band's left turn on Kid A and Amnesiac. The song titles "Exit Music (For a Film)" and "Motion Picture Soundrack" on OK & Kid A are telling.

Back to Achtung, I'll agree with the above posters about context and relativity being important when considering its breakthroughs, but more specifically, you have an album released right between the handover from cock-rock to grunge, which goes in a completely different direction than anything in the pop scene. While the industrial sound was already noticeable in American groups like Ministry and Nine Inch Nails, U2's contribution was to utilize hip hop beats on several tracks, and hang it on their otherwise mainstream song compositions, something not really done in American rock music at that time. This blend of the Euro arty electronic stuff with African rhythms goes back to David Byrne & Brian Eno's My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, and was somehow forgotten in the U.S. in the 10 years between its release and Achtung, where it was palatable enough to resonate with mainstream listeners.

I still can't believe AB did what, double the sales of ATYCLB in the U.S.? It's just testament to the genius of the band and their grip on the zeitgeist at that point in time.

 

[Aygo]

Unfortunately, this is something that Radiohead, their fans, and more indie-minded music fans fail to acknowledge, at least publicly.

You can throw Zooropa in there as well, because I think that's the real bridge between Achtung and OK Computer. And I don't know if Radiohead was listening to Passengers, but I don't see how that doesn't lay the groundwork for the band's left turn on Kid A and Amnesiac. The song titles "Exit Music (For a Film)" and "Motion Picture Soundrack" on OK & Kid A are telling.

Totally agreed! Many Radiohead fans simply don't want to recognize it. But the fact is that you can find tones of AB and Zooropa clues in The Bends and Ok Computer. Not as much in Amnesiac/Kid-A, these ones followed the Passengers (and Pop) paths but they took those clues in a totally different way.

 

[shart1780]

Clues maybe, but I don't see any reason to assume these albums were directly influenced by U2. There was a lot of industrial stuff going on way before U2 got into it.

 

[BVS]

Industrial?

 

[LMP]

There are more Aphex Twin, Brian Eno, older jazz influences in Kid A/Amnesiac than U2/Passengers. That era of U2 music had a bigger bearing on OK Computer more than anything, not so much The Bends, at least to me.

 

[dr. zooeuss]

"It feels like the Achtung Baby period, when everybody was really hungry to do something fresh," Lanois says of the material so far. "They have everything, and they've done everything. But the thing they should never assume they still own is the ability to be original and invent something that's never been heard before.

IMHO, this is the heart of the "news", and anyone who thinks it means they're looking to rehash their AB sound does not understand what he's saying.

I'm excited for what's to come.

I do think Fast Cars and Mercy may be a small hint of it, in the same way that you can hear snatches of AB in Desire and God Part II, but on the whole I think we will see a new direction on the next album.

;-)

 

[Utoo]

Maybe its just me but I find it sort of odd that people keep saying they want them to go in a new direction. Then some of the same people say the want it to be like Achtung Baby. Well, that isnt going in a new direction. That rehashing something they already did. Which ironically is what some people here (I'm saying this site in general, not this particular thread) slammed them for with ATYCLB and Bomb, for rehashing some of their late 80's sounds. Whats the difference? You liked Achtung Baby better than Joshua Tree? Seems like the only difference to me.

Agreed.

I dont care what they do. I just hope its good and most of the time, overall, their albums are.

 

[Aygo]

There are more Aphex Twin, Brian Eno, older jazz influences in Kid A/Amnesiac than U2/Passengers. That era of U2 music had a bigger bearing on OK Computer more than anything, not so much The Bends, at least to me.

Well, in my vision of the things, "Planet Telex", "High And Dry" (that is just "Stay (Faraway, So Close!" with different lyrics and some instrumental alterations) and "Fake Plastic Trees" can easily fit in the Zooropa overall, for instance. The same for "The Tourist", "No Surprises" and some little moments in other Ok Computer songs.