SOE 19: Back To The Studio Part II

[JamietheEdgefan]

WHAT? Do tell. Where was this From?

Oh god, this was like 6 years ago so I'll never find the source! I just remember reading it somewhere - not directly from the band, but maybe an article about the SNL performance? It was something along the lines of they toyed with the idea but very quickly dismissed it (it was a year or two since the release of NLOTH, they had probably accepted it had flopped a bit).

 

[lazarus]

?? SNL would not devote 50 minutes of its 90 minute telecast (including commercials) to have U2 perform a whole album.

 

[womanfish]

I do wonder if the band would come back and do the week long run on Fallon for SOE. I kind of lean toward yes, but I guess it would depend on the timing of the JT tour and when things are getting released...
missing that was a huge kick in the nuts for SOI.

 

[JamietheEdgefan]

?? SNL would not devote 50 minutes of its 90 minute telecast (including commercials) to have U2 perform a whole album.

Yeah, that occurred to me too. From what I remember, this was just an idea they brainstormed, so maybe it only got as far as someone mentioning it would be unfeasible given time limitations. But (if i recall correctly) the idea of playing the album in full did exist, if only briefly.

 

[zoopop]

^^^^ I think the idea was to show U2 play NLOTH in its entirely on youtube or u2.com. That was from Adam.


I would say the money line would be -115 that U2 plays a new song this summer.

Again, there saying this is a not really a nostalgia show/tour (it is) & they'll be able to prove this and have the press write about in their reviews about 'the new song' being played at the shows.

 

[david]

Letterman had bands perform full concerts for the web. That seems like something they could have done back then.

 

[lazarus]

I doubt they would bother if it was only going to reach the people who go out of their way to find it online.

Again, there saying this is a not really a nostalgia show/tour (it is) & they'll be able to prove this and have the press write about in their reviews about 'the new song' being played at the shows.

This is a good point. Much of the press is going to be about U2 embracing their "greatest achievement" (subjective) and how great the classics still sound, how fresh the lesser-heard songs went, etc.

But full reviews of the show might be able to include how the final 30-40 minutes were about the band's last 15 years and that the new material is good enough to stand alongside the rest of it.

 

[Y2K]

Kinda, sorta related to U2.

Ryan Tedder from OneRepublic just posted a note on Facebook about how he put a halt to all of his band's activities after nearly having a nervous breakdown. Now instead of going through long album recording/promotional/touring cycles, they plan to release new songs on a semi-weekly/monthly basis. So essentially, the band that started out as a MySpace act posting new music all the time has come full circle.

Ryan Tedder of OneRepublic Says Near-Breakdown Caused Band's Recent Hiatus | Billboard

I've always thought U2 should do this instead of trying to spend 5 years overthinking albums. Maybe Tedder's idea will rub off on the band? (probably not, but one can dream)

 

[JamietheEdgefan]

Yeah, they've been very insistent whilst promoting this tour that it's not about nostalgia. They say it has relevance to the world today, they mention SoE alongside it on at least 2 different official u2.com videos etc...
It's possible they might be motivated to debut something new to reenforce that mindset.

... of course, if they feel it's not done, and they're not confident in the new material, there's no way in hell they'd hold it up to be compared to their biggest, most defining album. It would get torn apart.

So it could go either way!

 

[JamietheEdgefan]

Kinda, sorta related to U2.

Ryan Tedder from OneRepublic just posted a note on Facebook about how he put a halt to all of his band's activities after nearly having a nervous breakdown. Now instead of going through long album recording/promotional/touring cycles, they plan to release new songs on a semi-weekly/monthly basis. So essentially, the band that started out as a MySpace act posting new music all the time has come full circle.

Ryan Tedder of OneRepublic Says Near-Breakdown Caused Band's Recent Hiatus | Billboard

I've always thought U2 should do this instead of trying to spend 5 years overthinking albums. Maybe Tedder's idea will rub off on the band? (probably not, but one can dream)

That sounds pretty intense, I feel bad for the guy. Going through that level of stress and anxiety must be awful. It gives me a new appreciation for how determined U2 (and most other musicians) must be to commit to gigantic stadium world tours - the pressure must be immense.

I like what he said here:

"I had the idea even before our last album of releasing "songs"... when we want, as often as we want, however we want. Not albums, songs. It's always frustrated me that by the time u get to a 3rd, 4th or 5th single off an album that song may have been produced 2-3 years ago....and sounds dated. What if 3 months into an album you write a song that feels relevant NOW?? Albums aren't built to be flexible or get out of their own way. So here's what we're gonna do."

That's a really interesting comment. I doubt u2 would do things this way, but it's a good point that there must be a loss of 'freshness' when creating and then promoting an album. There can be so much more urgency in the age of the internet.

(Also funny that 'Get out of your own way' is/was a working title for a SoE track. Ha.)

 

[womanfish]

Another Billboard article:

U2 Joins Michael Jackson, Madonna & 'Weird Al' Yankovic With Top 40 Hot 100 Hits in '80s, '90s, '00s & '10s | Billboard

Interesting. U2 is the only band to achieve this. The others are single artists. Impressive.

 

[lazarus]

How is it impressive? They're a guest artist on someone else's song. It could have been anyone. Considering every song on the album charted, they certainly didn't help it.

This is about as big of an asterisked achievement as one could imagine.

 

[superchuk5]

A cool idea would be the new album is a double album. New songs on "disk" 1 and a live version of those songs on "disk" 2.

I would prefer that over a remix version but perhaps that is just me.




Sent from my iPhone using U2 Interference

If the band live tested the album at a solid number of shows before recording disc 2, I'd be all over this. I'd love to have "live" versions of existing albums. Just imagining "live" versions of Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby is making me really hyped right now.

 

[superchuk5]

How is it impressive? They're a guest artist on someone else's song. It could have been anyone. Considering every song on the album charted, they certainly didn't help it.

This is about as big of an asterisked achievement as one could imagine.

It's just the nature of the charts today; the singles market is focused on collaborations and now streaming launches deep cuts of popular albums to decent heights on the Hot 100. DNA and Loyalty hit #4 and #14, respectively, and they're not even a single (yet).

Sure, it's not them doing it all by themselves, but the achievement is in-line with today's charts.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

It's akin to Brett Favre taking a dive so that Michael Strahan can get the single​ season sack record.

Yea, it counts. Yea, the overall body of work is very impressive. But yea, it's pretty fucking lame to get it that way.

It also becomes much less impressive when one of the other three acts to do it is Weird Al.

 

[lazarus]

Honestly, if Boots could get on the charts, I don't see why whatever their next single is couldn't do the same, thereby giving them a more honorable claim.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Cause they're almost 10 years older?

 

[superchuk5]

The next single (they don't give away for free) will almost certainly chart; Top 40 is much more questionable. Ordinary Love didn't have an album's worth of promotion behind it, but it did have the Oscar performance as a big platform.

 

[miryclayu2]

Who cares bout charts.

 

[david]

I only care about old farts.

 

[miryclayu2]

The ones that linger?

 

[lazarus]

Cause they're almost 10 years older?

I was thinking more that they'd lead with a smarter choice than Boots, but of course there's no guarantee there.

I only care about old farts.

The ones that linger?

Great song by The Crapberries.

 

[trevgreg]

It's akin to Brett Favre taking a dive so that Michael Strahan can get the single​ season sack record.

Yea, it counts. Yea, the overall body of work is very impressive. But yea, it's pretty fucking lame to get it that way.

It also becomes much less impressive when one of the other three acts to do it is Weird Al.

Nice Favre/Strahan analogy. But I'd (honestly) give Weird Al credit where it's due... he found a niche that he was able to dominate and proved to be competent at doing it over and over for a lot of years. imo, that counts for something.

 

[miryclayu2]

Weird Al is a genius. Trapped in the Drive Thru is proof of this.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

If only they were able to promote songs from their last two albums, perhaps they would have been able to get as much press as a duderoo at the box office got.

But instead they had typical U2 low profile releases. This prevented as many people from liking the songs as much as they did Ordinary Love.

 

[digitize]

It's akin to Brett Favre taking a dive so that Michael Strahan can get the single​ season sack record.

Yea, it counts. Yea, the overall body of work is very impressive. But yea, it's pretty fucking lame to get it that way.

It also becomes much less impressive when one of the other three acts to do it is Weird Al.

Excuse me, I'd say that being in the company of Weird Al is one of the highest achievements any artist could have.

 

[womanfish]

How is it impressive? They're a guest artist on someone else's song. It could have been anyone. Considering every song on the album charted, they certainly didn't help it.

This is about as big of an asterisked achievement as one could imagine.

Point taken. BUT, I would argue that if the band had done a different release method last time, and they released EBW first, they probably would have cracked the top 40 for a week with initial downloads and streams.
Now, it's going to be harder for them to do it this time around, but who knows.
Also, it's just kind of nice to see U2 getting a pretty long string of positive press.
2 years ago, the headline would have been,
"Lame U2 sneaks into record books by piggybacking on a far cooler artists song, and they probably lobbied to have that one song forced onto everyone's iPhone for free, but were talked out of it by the much cooler artist (of which they piggybacked on)"

 

[wolbersu2]

A cool idea would be the new album is a double album. New songs on "disk" 1 and a live version of those songs on "disk" 2.

I would prefer that over a remix version but perhaps that is just me.




Sent from my iPhone using U2 Interference

Would be great but will never happen.... We'll just get (IF we get) one album with the maximum of 12 songs..[emoji19] ....

 

[Mack_Again]

I

 

[trevgreg]

Would be great but will never happen.... We'll just get (IF we get) one album with the maximum of 12 songs..[emoji19] ....

Well, the acoustic versions and b-sides disc we got last time came something close to that. Maybe not all 10 or 12, but stuff like that can't be ruled out in the future.