codeguy
The Fly
Since the media gave SOI mediocre reviews without actually having listened to the album, I thought I'd get a head start on reviewing songs of experience:
Songs of experience is the sound of four middle aged men wishing they had never chopped down the Joshua tree. It bobs and weaves from one moment where U2 sounds too much like itself to another where they just don't remind us enough who they are. Or should I say 'were' because this album is clearly an admission of defeat as Bonos lyrics repeatedly impale themselves on the cross of his personal passion. The prose is tortured and the falsetto pretentious, while the themes are grand and unimportant. Larry no longer PLAYS the drums...on 'experience' he is no longer playing, which is a shame because his seriousness detracts from the irony of edges sonic contradictions time and time again. While Bono reminds us that he is no longer who he was, edge reminds us that he never was who we thought he was and Adam reminds us that we never knew who he was in the first place. Of course, the album is personal in a way that no other U2 album since Songs of Innocence has managed, yet it's an album about the world we live in, a big, open album that tries to welcome us all in, yet shuts the door too often.
There are too many U2 mistakes on this album to ignore. It leaves you wanting more. It's too long. There is too much guitar. Bono overshadows edge repeatedly. It's got too much nuance and not enough contradiction. It tries to hard to not sound like itself. It's smugness detracts from the delicious irony that permeates its sonic membrane and fills it's soul with love .
There is no standout song on experience, no 'one', no BAD, no moment of surrender. instead, the entire album reeks of surrender. If a pretender recorded this album, it would be ignored. Which is a shame, because despite their manifestations of Divinity, U2 has actually made a really great record, one that any other artist would love to have in their catalog. If only it was just a little better.
3/5
Sent from my iPad using U2 Interference
Songs of experience is the sound of four middle aged men wishing they had never chopped down the Joshua tree. It bobs and weaves from one moment where U2 sounds too much like itself to another where they just don't remind us enough who they are. Or should I say 'were' because this album is clearly an admission of defeat as Bonos lyrics repeatedly impale themselves on the cross of his personal passion. The prose is tortured and the falsetto pretentious, while the themes are grand and unimportant. Larry no longer PLAYS the drums...on 'experience' he is no longer playing, which is a shame because his seriousness detracts from the irony of edges sonic contradictions time and time again. While Bono reminds us that he is no longer who he was, edge reminds us that he never was who we thought he was and Adam reminds us that we never knew who he was in the first place. Of course, the album is personal in a way that no other U2 album since Songs of Innocence has managed, yet it's an album about the world we live in, a big, open album that tries to welcome us all in, yet shuts the door too often.
There are too many U2 mistakes on this album to ignore. It leaves you wanting more. It's too long. There is too much guitar. Bono overshadows edge repeatedly. It's got too much nuance and not enough contradiction. It tries to hard to not sound like itself. It's smugness detracts from the delicious irony that permeates its sonic membrane and fills it's soul with love .
There is no standout song on experience, no 'one', no BAD, no moment of surrender. instead, the entire album reeks of surrender. If a pretender recorded this album, it would be ignored. Which is a shame, because despite their manifestations of Divinity, U2 has actually made a really great record, one that any other artist would love to have in their catalog. If only it was just a little better.
3/5
Sent from my iPad using U2 Interference
sorry
