Songs of Innocence - Album Discussion Pt.3

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Diane L said:
For several years my favorite album of this Millennium was Recovery by Eminem. Yes, that surprised me too. I can listen to the entire album without skipping any tracks, and I find it very entertaining. It fits the same place in my life as Achtung Baby has done...a record that I can listen to over and over and never, ever get tired of it. My favorite U2 LP during this time frame was HTDAAB...I find AYCLB to be a dreary downer in spots and while I liked NLOTH very much when it first came out, I have barely listened to it since.

Step aside, Marshall. SOI is now my favorite album since 2000. I listen to it constantly. It is an album for grownups, not kids who want to listen to the junk that passes as pop these days. I agree that tracks 2-5 are just about perfection, and I am currently obsessed with The Crystal Ballroom. It's up there with Achtung Baby and The Joshua Tree, in my estimation, and I know I will be loving it for years to come.
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Very cool to hear! Mikal would be proud ;)


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The Miracle. It's held up pretty solid so far. I think it's a very good song, both live and in studio. But that new intro they have for it is incredible, can't wait to hear a high quality MP3 of it.
EBW. I'm still a big fan of the album version, but it has not been great live. They need to try it full band.
California will hold up better in stadiums than in arenas imo. I think we'll see it regularly next year.
SFS. Not much to say here. It's a good song and pretty decent live, but nothing special. It's not bad, though.
Iris. Pretty solid live, same as on album. I don't think it will see stadiums next year, but it will make it to every show this year.
Volcano. Same position as California. Will be a regular in stadiums.
Wolves. Monster live. This is the Please of Popmart (but not quite as good). We'll see it every show this tour.
Cedarwood. Same as Wolves.
Sleep Like A Baby. Doubt we'll see this one live. Kind of forgettable, but an interesting and good song.
Reach. I think we'll see this one in stadiums next year. Fantastic on the album, hope they realize that.
Troubles. I don't really know what they're going to do with this song in the future. I think it will remain in a rotational spot for the rest of the tour, though.
Invisible. My favorite U2 song of the millennium. However, it hasn't quite been nailed live yet. I think it will work better in stadiums.
Lucifer's Hands. Decent song, pretty good live. We'll see it on occasion, just as it is now.
Crystal Ballroom. This could become a regular live. It would fit better early in the set.


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It still fights with 5 a lot, but almost always settles at 6. But being "6" on my list is an incredible achievement. Oh, at last night (Chi4) pretty much solidified what I always knew about SOI. This is very much a double album and not a deluxe thingy.
 
This is what they call "distancing"

itunes-bono-gone.png
 
Roland of Gilead said:
It still fights with 5 a lot, but almost always settles at 6. But being "6" on my list is an incredible achievement. Oh, at last night (Chi4) pretty much solidified what I always knew about SOI. This is very much a double album and not a deluxe thingy.
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How in God's name did a concert give you the erroneous impression that SOI is a double album? It's not. In any way. A double album. Double albums contain two discs of songs with no repetitions. SOI has a second disc and, aside from three songs, it replicates the first disc in a different form. And it's called a "deluxe edition."

To furhter dispel this notion that SOI is a double album: the download was 11 songs. The standard CD is 11 songs. The vinyl is 11 songs + a remix that's called a "bonus track." It's not a double album. Blonde on Blonde is a double album. Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness is a double album. If they had a second disc that was almost the exact same as the first disc and had three outtakes they would not be double albums. I understand the desire for U2 to release a double album but this is not it, goddamnit. It's a regular ol' album with a second disc designed to entice hardcore fans into buying the more expensive product (though it was still dang cheap).

SOI: Not A Double Album. This is even worse than the "Actung Baby is remastered even though it actually isn't and truthfully I don't know what that word means but I know it's supposed to be good and U2 are good therefore they'd do that" debate of 2011.
 
Invisible is becoming my favorite song on the album and one of my favorite U2 songs of the last 15 years. I find it very moving. And I love Edge's guitar sound.
 
The album comes across just like it did nine months ago.

Fresh. Youthful.

The only real criticism I can find is the Ryan Tedder production for Miracle. After hearing it live, the studio version feels a bit empty.

The album feels like it is a natural evolution of Boy and War, except I find it more listenable than War, mainly because of its maturity, and not as raw and innocent like Boy.

It deserved more radio play. It doesn't have huge hits, though a few songs are deserving of it (Every Breaking Wave, The Troubles), but neither did songs on Boy and those songs are every bit as important to me.

I would really like a live album (preferably of the Chicago shows), as the SOI songs were knocked out of the park and received well.
 
Touche.

My favorite song on the deluxe edition of the album. Or my favorite song of the era. But yes, it's definitely not on the album.
 
But...you said that SOI "is very much a double album and not a deluxe thingy" and I used 80,000 words to say the opposite! I wrote a book, for free goddamnit! FOR FREE!!!!
 
I just got the extra part of Songs on iTunes and I love Crystal Ballroom and Lucifer Hands... and the alt versions of many of the songs sound better to me and I dig the songs to begin with... I don't know why it took me so long to purchase it.
 
clerks said:
I just got the extra part of Songs on iTunes and I love Crystal Ballroom and Lucifer Hands... and the alt versions of many of the songs sound better to me and I dig the songs to begin with... I don't know why it took me so long to purchase it.
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It's really becoming a great era. Between those songs, Invisible, Ordinary Love, the Single version of EBW, and their cover of This Is, that really bumps it up to a lot of great material over the last year. Plus if SOE comes out in the next year or so? Good time to be a fan.


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mikal said:
It's really becoming a great era. Between those songs, Invisible, Ordinary Love, the Single version of EBW, and their cover of This Is, that really bumps it up to a lot of great material over the last year. Plus if SOE comes out in the next year or so? Good time to be a fan.


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:up:
 
I missed THIS IS. I know nothing.


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Initially I was hooked on the first 4 songs, and those only. Repeated over and over.

Lately, I am listening more to the back half of the album. Those songs have really grown on me and I find them to be the best of the bunch today.

Overall, the album is still in heavy rotation on my player. And that was not the case with NLOTH this late in the game.

It's probably still too early to objectively do this, but at this point I would probably rate SOI number 7 on my all-time list:

1. AB
2. Zooropa
3. JT
4. UF
5. Pop
6. War
7. SOI
8. ATYCLB
9. Boy
10. R&H
11. HTDAAB
12. NLOTH
13. October
 
Thanks -- I did find it on youtube, but I still don't know anything about it. Now googling it, it's a cover of an Ireland band I never heard of. Any reason they did this? I'm sure there must be.
 
clerks said:
Thanks -- I did find it on youtube, but I still don't know anything about it. Now googling it, it's a cover of an Ireland band I never heard of. Any reason they did this? I'm sure there must be.
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I'm pretty sure the lead singer of the band had cancer and a lot of bands did "A Night for Christy" to raise money for him.


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mikal said:
It's really becoming a great era. Between those songs, Invisible, Ordinary Love, the Single version of EBW, and their cover of This Is, that really bumps it up to a lot of great material over the last year. Plus if SOE comes out in the next year or so? Good time to be a fan.


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Totally agreed. Glad to be more plugged in to the community this time around.
 
Assuming that SOE comes out by fall 2016, this is the best time to be a U2 fan since the mid 90s when they were productive AND great.
 
mikal said:
It's really becoming a great era. Between those songs, Invisible, Ordinary Love, the Single version of EBW, and their cover of This Is, that really bumps it up to a lot of great material over the last year. Plus if SOE comes out in the next year or so? Good time to be a fan.


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Click to expand...

Strongly agree here. I tend to think of U2 in terms of eras that include B-sides or other material around a normal album release. I thought ATYCLB, despite its weak 2nd half, was a great era as opposed to great album. The Ground Beneath Her Feet, Electric Storm, The Hands that Built America, Always, and Summer Rain were released right around that time. Then when the deluxe iTunes thing dropped, I was also a fan of Levitate. I think the current era has been pretty great when you could have easily tossed Invisible, Ordinary Love, Lucifer's Hands, The Crystal Ballroom, and some alternative versions of songs on the album.

I was generally disappointed between 2005 and 2013 with U2 when all we got was NLOTH and Window in the Skies essentially. Was not sure they were ever going to live up to previous eras.
 
SOI turns 7 today. The day U2 unwittingly mindfucked everyone. :wink: Fuck 'em if they can't take a joke. Reach Around is still my favorite, but, yes, I like all the songs. Even Song For Someone. :wink:
 
MrPryck2U said:
SOI turns 7 today. The day U2 unwittingly mindfucked everyone. :wink: Fuck 'em if they can't take a joke. Reach Around is still my favorite, but, yes, I like all the songs. Even Song For Someone. :wink:
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Damn good album. Just talking about the music, this is my favorite post 90’s U2 album front to back.
 
mikal said:
Damn good album. Just talking about the music, this is my favorite post 90’s U2 album front to back.
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By far. I was and still am pretty stunned that they had an album like this in them. Despite the fractured recording process, (most of) the record feels really effortless and easy in a way that the 00s albums never quite reached. It somehow very much has that rough, shabby quality of the 90s records (especially the notoriously shabby Pop).

If we ever start getting vault-type releases, SOI sessions are right up there with Pop for my most hoped for.
 
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