Next Album Rumours Thread II - Songs of Ass Scent

[Catman]

If you had to choose one or the other, would it be a new album or a compilation of unreleased material (i.e. unheard--not just, like, their live performance of North Star or whatever)?
Kinda leaning towards the latter (and I say this as an unapologetic fan of their last 2 records).

EDIT: shit, now I'm vacillating... Not sure if any of U2's unreleased stuff would match something like Little Things, so if they can still produce material of that quality, I might opt for the new album...

 

[Gzusfrk]

If you had to choose one or the other, would it be a new album or a compilation of unreleased material (i.e. unheard--not just, like, their live performance of North Star or whatever)?
Kinda leaning towards the latter (and I say this as an unapologetic fan of their last 2 records).

EDIT: shit, now I'm vacillating... Not sure if any of U2's unreleased stuff would match something like Little Things, so if they can still produce material of that quality, I might opt for the new album...

Am I the only one who thinks that Little Things tries SO HARD to be great, that it ends up just good?

 

[womanfish]

Am I the only one who thinks that Little Things tries SO HARD to be great, that it ends up just good?

You are not. I get that feeling every time i listen to it. There are better places this song could and should have gone. And I can't help but feel like they had several ideas and the song ends up feeling like its two of those thoughts pasted together, and never ends up soaring.

I would have even felt better if they would have just made it a very sad, dark song from start to finish (more in the vein of the first half of the song) rather than hint at a soaring transcendent build up but never deliver it.

But in the end, still a really good song. just not great.

 

[Gzusfrk]

You are not. I get that feeling every time i listen to it. There are better places this song could and should have gone. And I can't help but feel like they had several ideas and the song ends up feeling like its two of those thoughts pasted together, and never ends up soaring.

I would have even felt better if they would have just made it a very sad, dark song from start to finish (more in the vein of the first half of the song) rather than hint at a soaring transcendent build up but never deliver it.

But in the end, still a really good song. just not great.

This! The structure does seem a bit predictable. A darker, more muted vibe throughout would have made it better IMHO

 

[BEAL]

A 3rd chorus would do wonders for the song. Keep the darkness going before building back up.

I wish U2, and Bono would go full on dark. I think it would be the most interesting album they’ve ever done. Little glimmers of light...maybe

Just think their darker songs have the better melodies

 

[wolbersu2]

yeah this. i think this band would do well to release a 4-6 song EP rather than being so hyper-focused on making everything they release an album that has 11 tracks. even better if they put it out in 2020 rather than taking an extra year or two to finish off another half-dozen songs. a four or five year layoff for the sake of completing 5 more non-singles at this point in their careers is like the exact opposite of what they need to do if they still really want that relevance they seem to so desperately crave.

Well said!

 

[Catman]

Huh. Maybe my interpretation of Little Things is just drastically different than everyone else's, because I find the tune wonderfully depressing throughout. I mean, sure, the song lifts off halfway in, but not really to a comforting place (imo)

 

[womanfish]

A 3rd chorus would do wonders for the song. Keep the darkness going before building back up.

I wish U2, and Bono would go full on dark. I think it would be the most interesting album they’ve ever done. Little glimmers of light...maybe

Just think their darker songs have the better melodies

This has always been my preference. That's why Achtung Baby and Pop and Zooropa remain my most listened to albums. I would gladly trade in Beautiful Day or Walk On for Sleep Like a Baby Tonight, or The Troubles.
Why 13 destroys SFS. It's why Love is All, Lights of Home, Landlady, LIttle Things and 13 are my favorites from SOE.
Songs like Heartland, God Part II, Hawkmoon, Exit, Bullet, Drowning Man, Wire, Bad, No line on the Horizon, etc...

I really wish they would go there again. it's why I listen to ATYCLB so little. Other than Kite and When I Look at the world... it all just seems to shiny and working to be uplifting.
Fuck uplifting. Give me the Fly and Until The End of the World and Dirty Day, Please, Mofo and Wake up Dead Man.

 

[Gzusfrk]

This has always been my preference. That's why Achtung Baby and Pop and Zooropa remain my most listened to albums. I would gladly trade in Beautiful Day or Walk On for Sleep Like a Baby Tonight, or The Troubles.
Why 13 destroys SFS. It's why Love is All, Lights of Home, Landlady, LIttle Things and 13 are my favorites from SOE.
Songs like Heartland, God Part II, Hawkmoon, Exit, Bullet, Drowning Man, Wire, Bad, No line on the Horizon, etc...

I really wish they would go there again. it's why I listen to ATYCLB so little. Other than Kite and When I Look at the world... it all just seems to shiny and working to be uplifting.
Fuck uplifting. Give me the Fly and Until The End of the World and Dirty Day, Please, Mofo and Wake up Dead Man.

Part of the reason why it's so frustrating that when SOI was "done" with Danger Mouse, Bono said "there weren't enough BIG U2 choruses", enter Ryan Tedder. No balls just to say "this is the record we made and we like it."

They have like zero self awareness of following their own instincts anymore it seems.

 

[Hollow Island]

Huh. Maybe my interpretation of Little Things is just drastically different than everyone else's, because I find the tune wonderfully depressing throughout. I mean, sure, the song lifts off halfway in, but not really to a comforting place (imo)

Same. I find it very raw and uncomfortable; it's Bono Plastic Ono Band.

 

[The_acrobat]

I love the buildup at the end of Little Things. However, I feel like it fizzles out too soon. I feel like they need to make that soar a little higher. Crashing cymbals, swelling keyboards in the background, and Bono's voice goes so big that he just barely keeps from cracking (but holds it together marvelously). It just feels like that part needs to get bigger for another 30 seconds or so before it gets to the "Sometimes the end is not coming...".

I listened to SOE today at work for the first time in awhile. I still really like it. I just don't get how people can hate SOI and SOE.

 

[AndrewCowley]

I get it that people think Little Things could be better, but sheesh it’s miles ahead of anything else on SOI and SOE. At this stage of their career, you have to acknowledge it is epic.

 

[lazarus]

I love the buildup at the end of Little Things. However, I feel like it fizzles out too soon. I feel like they need to make that soar a little higher. Crashing cymbals, swelling keyboards in the background, and Bono's voice goes so big that he just barely keeps from cracking (but holds it together marvelously). It just feels like that part needs to get bigger for another 30 seconds or so before it gets to the "Sometimes the end is not coming...".

Count me in this group. I have a hard time putting my finger on it but something isn’t fused together right. And the actual ending kind of sucks the air out of it, which I guess is the point thematically, but he already says those “the end is not coming” lines earlier. I’m not sure it benefits by having them appear again as the accompaniment falls away. It went over like a lead balloon when they did it live.

It’s no Mercy as far as late-career epics go.

 

[Catman]

It’s no Mercy as far as late-career epics go.

I'm gonna disagree either way, but I hope you're referring to the first version of that song...

 

[Gzusfrk]

Same. I find it very raw and uncomfortable; it's Bono Plastic Ono Band.

Bono’s performance and the lyrics , yes I agree with you. But the arrangement is not POB like, it would work better if it was IMO. The arrangement sounds forced to me

 

[DaveC]

"bono plastic ono band" is a silly tag to give to little things, but i wouldn't at all object to hearing a legit "bono plastic ono band" song if they could make one.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Huh. Maybe my interpretation of Little Things is just drastically different than everyone else's, because I find the tune wonderfully depressing throughout. I mean, sure, the song lifts off halfway in, but not really to a comforting place (imo)

Seriously.

The lyrics reek of a man suffering through depression from start to finish.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

If you had to choose one or the other, would it be a new album or a compilation of unreleased material (i.e. unheard--not just, like, their live performance of North Star or whatever)?
Kinda leaning towards the latter (and I say this as an unapologetic fan of their last 2 records).

EDIT: shit, now I'm vacillating... Not sure if any of U2's unreleased stuff would match something like Little Things, so if they can still produce material of that quality, I might opt for the new album...

At this point I would prefer a Springsteen Tracks or Pearl Jam Lost Dogs type release - maybe with a couple of reworked songs to release as singles vs another 4 years of waiting for a new album that will inevitably be overcooked.

 

[AndrewCowley]

I'd be very very surprised if they have anywhere near enough material left in the vaults to support a Tracks or Lost Dogs type release.

The box sets for the album remasters likely used up the remaining unreleased material.

They could arguably do something with remixes and alternate versions of existing songs but it'd be commercially unviable. Would work as a fan club release though.

 

[superchuk5]

I'd be very very surprised if they have anywhere near enough material left in the vaults to support a Tracks or Lost Dogs type release.

The box sets for the album remasters likely used up the remaining unreleased material.

They could arguably do something with remixes and alternate versions of existing songs but it'd be commercially unviable. Would work as a fan club release though.

There should be songs from at least the Rick Rubin and RedOne albums along with the still unreleased 360 songs. I'd be down to hear those, along with some of the weirder Danger Mouse SOI songs that never saw the light of day

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

I'd be very very surprised if they have anywhere near enough material left in the vaults to support a Tracks or Lost Dogs type release.

The box sets for the album remasters likely used up the remaining unreleased material.

They could arguably do something with remixes and alternate versions of existing songs but it'd be commercially unviable. Would work as a fan club release though.

They absolutely have more than enough just on the abandoned and reworked tracks from the last three albums.

Toss in the stuff that was exclusive to the Complete U2 iTunes box set from the Bomb and All That You Can't Leave Behind sessions, we know Pop underwent a million takes, some stuff from the Salome sessions in an official fully mastered form, one of the scrapped versions of Streets, early demos, etc. etc.

The way this band records actually lends itself to a massive collection of unreleased material - be it songs no one has heard or alternate takes of released songs in their early stages.

 

[An Cat Gav]

Am I the only one who thinks that Little Things tries SO HARD to be great, that it ends up just good?

Totally agree.

 

[pacemaker]

we know Pop underwent a million takes

Pop sessions are probably my most coveted "vault" material.

I imagine U2 could do something along the lines of Neil Young's Archive site and milk our sweet sweet cash by offering old studio sessions and live shows in periodic drops. Heaven forbid they allow their fans a comprehensive peak into their process, though.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

“People our age don’t know who U2 are. They don’t care. I’m not dissing him or anything, but he’s had his moment,”

- Eli Hewson

 

[lazarus]

Pop sessions are probably my most coveted "vault" material.

I imagine U2 could do something along the lines of Neil Young's Archive site and milk our sweet sweet cash by offering old studio sessions and live shows in periodic drops. Heaven forbid they allow their fans a comprehensive peak into their process, though.

Yeah, seems like something they'd shy away from. Then again, we did get Unreleased and Rare which gave us early versions of Yahweh and Vertigo aka Native Son. So it's not impossible.

 

[YBORCITY]

I love the buildup at the end of Little Things. However, I feel like it fizzles out too soon. I feel like they need to make that soar a little higher. Crashing cymbals, swelling keyboards in the background, and Bono's voice goes so big that he just barely keeps from cracking (but holds it together marvelously). It just feels like that part needs to get bigger for another 30 seconds or so before it gets to the "Sometimes the end is not coming...".

I listened to SOE today at work for the first time in awhile. I still really like it. I just don't get how people can hate SOI and SOE.

Boy, are you spot on about the Little Things! I couldn't agree more. Don't get me wrong I think this is an awesome as it is BUT I felt it was missing.... something.

 

[YBORCITY]

“People our age don’t know who U2 are. They don’t care. I’m not dissing him or anything, but he’s had his moment,”

- Eli Hewson

Headache, saw UF over this past weekend. Cheers on the visuals! Great show as usual. I can't get over they played Twilight, I was pumped!

 

[Flying FuManchu]

I retrospect, these large gaps in time between albums have probably hurt them more than helped them, no?

 

[marik]

“People our age don’t know who U2 are. They don’t care. I’m not dissing him or anything, but he’s had his moment,”

- Eli Hewson

Is that a real quote? From where?

 

[ascender_RS]

I do wonder if the stuff in the "vault" is of such a poor state of finished-ness that the band would never release them? Or if they're hanging on to the better stuff to re-work for other albums - whether ideas make it or not, I'm sure some songs get stuck in a never-ending cycle of not being good enough to make an album, but good enough they don't just want to toss it away as a b-side or something.

Fans like us would clearly love to hear the alternate Pop demos and mixes, but maybe the band just won't want to release that sort of thing as they see it as being private? Or maybe they don't know there's a genuine interest in that stuff? Or maybe they don't know how to do it - they'll want to make some money from it but know they can't charge a lot?

Who knows. And I'm sure all of this is complicated by the usual band egos/personalities.

I keep going back to the fact that with today's technology and how people listen to music, there's never been an easier way for a band to just release stuff to the fans and charge what they want for it.