Next Album Rumours Thread II - Songs of Ass Scent

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that follows U2.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
This is reflected in their music videos mostly. Love Is Bigger was supposedly about Bono’s kids and the music video is about LGBT pride, which is fine, but to me it’s them always tying themselves into the hot topic of conversation for relevancy.


Not so sure about the content always being about *relevancy*. The sound... the features... yes. 100%. But the content seems to always be the most conscious part of U2. Bonzo wasn’t afraid to write shit like Boots —when nobody cared about that shit—. I’d say hit or miss, Bono tends to write from the heart with his own message.

Bottom line is popularity isn’t driven by lyrical content. Popularity of sound/catchiness makes your lyrics/content influential, though.
 
I agree: Bono tends to write from the heart. With the song "Boots" I find it catchy and love the video. It is definitely an original song. Some like it, others don't. But, personally speaking, it is a good pop song: even though U2 are a rock band.

I'd say it is down to personal preference.
 
I personally think u2 shouldn’t call it quits but they really need to stop caring so much about what people think and should stop being afraid and second guessing every song they write. U2 will never be what u2 was in the 80’s and 90’s. It’s simply not possible this late in their career but I get the feeling sometimes that U2 still wants to be what they were during their peak. And this has an effect on their current music. They shouldn’t be trying so hard and just write and release music that comes from their hearts. Who cares if it will not be a radio hit? They will never be number one again so they should just take that pressure off of themselves and just write music.

I agree that they need to stop trying so hard. They can do whatever they want at this point in their career and they can't let go of trying to be cool with the kids. It happened organically with ATYCLB, they tried to fabricate it with HTDAAB (and succeeded to a degree), and NLOTH was a halfway attempt at being experimental, but not quite. SOI pissed off the kids and made them ignore SOE out of spite. And here we are, with nothing to do but make poop jokes.
 
They must have a veritable $hit tonne of ideas stockpiled up - its been nearly 2 years since SOE was released - between stuff they rejected and things they've been doing since. I'd love to see them doing a series of EPs over the next while - even if its a few new tracks and 1/2 remixes per release, just something different without it being the whole pressure of being a new U2 album.
 
Will be nice when and if we start to hear any rumblings about new stuff happening.

I loved SOI and SOE, only a couple songs i skip on each.

But would love if the next (possibly last) album had an overall atmosphere in the vein of Love Comes Tumbling or something like that.
Would be nice to have more of the open, dreamy type sound. Love is All and Landlady sort of have a hint of that.

Either way, I'm excited to see how it plays out.
 
They must have a veritable $hit tonne of ideas stockpiled up - its been nearly 2 years since SOE was released - between stuff they rejected and things they've been doing since. I'd love to see them doing a series of EPs over the next while - even if its a few new tracks and 1/2 remixes per release, just something different without it being the whole pressure of being a new U2 album.

“Things they’ve been doing since”? You mean like overeating and going to art galleries?

I doubt they’ve done much of anything creatively in the last 2 years.
 
I think we're not spoilt with releases..... Last general release is SOE, almost two years ago indeed.... Don't count the RSD-releases for the vinyl-fetished... No proper cd/dvd/br release since then. Stones, Springsteen and even Noel Gallagher are releasing regularly. Bowie and Prince aren't among us anymore but are releasing a lot more than 'our' band. U2 could've sold a lot more, there are so much collectors under the fans. I see bands releasing cd-singles/ep's again, that could be cool the band would do that again. OK, they 'll tour Asia next, but for U2-fans it's a very dull time at this point. Not even an announcement for a dvd/br-release yet. The fanclub gift will arrive at some point in the far future.. No it could be far more attractive to be a U2-fan at the moment. The band seems on holiday for months, and their website too. Maybe we get some releases if they'll call it a day.
 
When the 2019 tour begins, we'll get an influx of articles and interviews and such. My prediction is that we get a few vague comments about "being in the early stages" and that an album is a long way off. I think that U2 has probably ceased to exist ever since they walked offstage in Berlin, and they've been on break ever since. I imagine sometime in September they'll start rehearsals, and that will have been the first time all 4 of them have played music together since last November. Bottom line, we're at least 2 years away from a new album.
 
Will be nice when and if we start to hear any rumblings about new stuff happening.



I loved SOI and SOE, only a couple songs i skip on each.



But would love if the next (possibly last) album had an overall atmosphere in the vein of Love Comes Tumbling or something like that.

Would be nice to have more of the open, dreamy type sound. Love is All and Landlady sort of have a hint of that.



Either way, I'm excited to see how it plays out.
The only rumblings we'll be hearing anytime soon are coming from Bono's tummy
 
When the 2019 tour begins, we'll get an influx of articles and interviews and such. My prediction is that we get a few vague comments about "being in the early stages" and that an album is a long way off. I think that U2 has probably ceased to exist ever since they walked offstage in Berlin, and they've been on break ever since. I imagine sometime in September they'll start rehearsals, and that will have been the first time all 4 of them have played music together since last November. Bottom line, we're at least 2 years away from a new album.



Definitely 2021 at the earliest I’d say
 
Tummy's have to be empty to rumble...there'll be no rumblings.
giphy.gif
 
I think edge is always recording. Bono probably always writing.

Adam and Larry wont touch an instrument until tour rehearsals

They really aren’t a band anymore in the traditional sense. It’s really Bono and Edge recording, sending a file across the ocean, Larry and Adam lay down the drum part Edge wrote for them, and then splice it together

If they do one more album I’d love for them to be locked in a studio for a year. Bang about like they used to, and how that method drives everyone insane.

Have Brian and Danny produce, and no Tedder, no hot producer of the time.

Just be pure U2. Big guitar sounds, open landscapes, and Bono drops the literally writing. Become a poet again.
 
They were interviewed by Rolling Stone India whilst in Electric Lady studios recently. Probably just brushing up on Streets, etc. cause they've hardly ever played them. But you never know, a couple of jam sessions on some new tunes could also have taken place...…..for the 2021 album.
 
They were interviewed by Rolling Stone India whilst in Electric Lady studios recently. Probably just brushing up on Streets, etc. cause they've hardly ever played them. But you never know, a couple of jam sessions on some new tunes could also have taken place...…..for the 2021 album.
Interesting.

Probably just using it as a rehearsal space, as you said, so that Boner can go to the UN and Edge can go back to Malibu on the weekends.
 
At this point in your career where you have scaled every possible height and earned every possible accolade, what remain your biggest creative goals?

The Edge: Every time you make an album, when you write a song, you’re trying to maintain a standard of creative potency for the work, and that’s not an easy thing to maintain. So it’s an ever-present constant plumb line that we established for ourselves, first and foremost. It’s not an external criticism, it’s our internal criticism and I think music and culture are continually moving forward, so for us as a band it’s always been a focus of ours — trying to remain somehow connected with that conversation and the culture. So those two things: our own standards and somehow connecting with what’s happening — that’s a lot. We still have ambition to do other things but that I think is the core focus certainly for me, creatively.

Bono: It’s interesting for novelists or poets or filmmakers, being over 40 is never a problem. But for musicians, it seems more difficult. We listen to one of the greatest artists in the world, Prince for example. I’m trying to remember a lot of songs in the last 20 years of his life and can’t remember as many. You’re look at the biggest Prince fan that there is. But some artists have disproven this — artists like Miles Davis, Bob Dylan, you know…

The Edge: Leonard Cohen

Bono: Leonard Cohen, my goodness! And David Bowie came back around, he meandered there off for a moment, but we all do. I should know that (laughs). So I think the creative ambition, to answer your question, is to write the best song ever. With “Every Breaking Wave” on Songs Of Innocence, we hit our top five songs. And “Ordinary Love” – I am trying to think of from the last album — and “Love is Bigger Than Anything in Its Way” certainly have the reaction of “Pride (In The Name of Love)” years and years later.

They still don't get it, and if they don't get it by now, I fear they never will again.
 
Tedder confirms he is due to work with them on the new album in LA, just 4 guys in a room stuff, blah, blah.
 
Wonder when he gave that interview and when the LA work is planned? Would have to be right now or early 2020?
 
google-translated (with a little help from myself on a few words for clarity) version of the italian article.

https://www.rockol.it/news-707474/onerepublic-nuovo-album-u2-ryan-tedder-intervista

Working with a band like U2, which has (strong) internal dynamics, is quite difficult, admits Tedder who collaborated on the production of "Songs of innocence" and "Songs of experience". In these two cases, Ryan received (credits) as a producer, but does not appear as (a writer), although he tells us that he and Brent Kutzle, another member of OneRepublic, (wrote) a part of "Summer of love" in Italy, in Venice. "Bono and The Edge are like conductors. They listen to the (takes) and assemble the songs by taking the melody from a demo, the chords from another, the strings from a third (take). With them a song is never finished. You spend three months working on a piece, you leave and everyone seems happy with the result. Bono and the others leave to Èze, in France, they spend three weeks and they call you [imitates the voice of Bono]: 'Ryan Ryan, we are thinking of speeding up the song and maybe putting something punk on it, like a new bass line. Ah, yes, another thing: I completely rewrote the (lyrics)'. And this thing happens with all the pieces! U2 are the best group on the planet, but with them it is not uncommon to produce 70 versions of a single song ".

Ryan Tedder's collaboration with U2 continues with the Irishmens' upcoming album. "I spoke to them just last week. We will work together on some new pieces when I am in Los Angeles. I think it's their intention to make a record completely different from the last two. It will be easier. You know, it's like a pendulum. When you make a very produced album, with so many instruments in it, the next project you want it more sparse and you wonder: what if the disc had the sound of four musicians playing in a room? ".

oh boy isn't everyone so excited at this news.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top Bottom