The Club Album - Will.I.Am

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Yes, two producers were confirmed, as well as two types of sessions.

My guess is that the club 'album' is a purely speculative thing, for/from all 'involved.'

I remember reading a similar story about will.i.am going back to Bono's house after they'd gotten plastered at a bar or something, Bono played him new stuff, he made some suggestions, they mucked around, and his involvement with the No Line material casually came from a few days around that. Just ran a quick search trying to find that story again, and lo and behold, the Clooney/Crawford/Will.I.Am night seems to be from the summer of 2008. Which makes perfect sense in line with his involvement on No Line. But the fucking around could have been with anything, come from anything, spawned anything - large or small.

So anyway, I would again make the point that they work far more loosely and casually than some people seem to think. That ideas/material/'projects' blur and run over each other. No need to be so black and white about different projects, because I definitely don't think U2 are. Bono says U2 have a bunch of club sounding material that they'd like to work on with Guetta, Will.i.am and RedOne. David Guetta suggests he's not working with U2, only that they've talked about it. Will.i.am says he is working on U2's 'new album', talks about playing some of their collaborative material two years ago to some people and they liked it. Meanwhile, they're wrapping up an album right now that is most likely a Danger Mouse produced effort that got nailed down only over the past six months.

I still don't get why everything has to be so definitive and formal. They are clearly casual/loose until the last few stages of any process. Pretty clear to me that they have some material that sounds a certain way, it might be relatively new or it might be stuff they've messed around with for some time, that they've casually had some involvement with it from some others and have probably talked it up quite a bit with them (it's Bono, and it's will.i.am - can you even imagine the circle of mutual hype between those two?) but I think it's still a massive leap to make such definitive assumptions about 'albums' and formal, signed onto the job 'producers' or anything.

Seriously. In the end, it could turn out that Will.i.am has had some kind of involvement with the 'new'/mainly DM produced album. Similar to No Line, he's been a sort of creative consultant/input adder on some tracks stemming from some periods of fucking around with them or something. Or it could turn out that they have managed to flesh out some of this 'club' stuff with him over time - two years, at least, from initial exposure/input is plenty of time to go backwards and forwards on some stuff, or had more decent time together - and he and perhaps at least Bono are jumped up over it, hyping it up between them. Or it could turn out that there's been some casual involvement, and there's a casual understanding that they'd like to turn it into something at some point in the not too distant future.

But I certainly wouldn't just assume, for no reason, that U2 have suddenly started working in a very formal, orderly fashion. Or that they've suddenly gained some kind of foresight clarity or something. Bet it's all way, way more casual than that.
 
He gets co-credits for Crazy tonight, but how much work did Will.I.Am really do on that song ? It doesn't sound that much different from what Lillywhite could do with the song. :hmm:
I remember Bono saying one of the rap/hip hop guys (but not specifically Will.I.Am) said that line "I'll go crazy if I don't go crazy tonight" should be the hook for the song, but otherwise it was never really clarified what he brought to the song.

It's entirely possible that Danger Mouse is producing and Will.I.Am is doing the mixing...thought it would clash with the previous news which was that he is a part of the club album. Would he gel with the, according to Rolling Stone, rock album that Danger Mouse is producing ?

The club album is a bit blurry (Will.I.Am, Guetta, Red one) but I think it's a step up from the previous talk "we have 4 things going on, we haven't yet chosen" when they start dropping producer names. Likewise when they record on a nightly basis mid-tour, or saying they're finishing to be ready for a May release.
 
He gets co-credits for Crazy tonight, but how much work did Will.I.Am really do on that song ? It doesn't sound that much different from what Lillywhite could do with the song. :hmm:

I remember Bono saying one of the rap/hip hop guys (but not specifically Will.I.Am) said that line "I'll go crazy if I don't go crazy tonight" should be the hook for the song, but otherwise it was never really clarified what he brought to the song.

So basically you're saying that because it doesn't blatantly sound "like" something you'd expect from a collaboration with Will.I.Am, he must not have had much to do with it over maybe commenting on the hook?

Riiiiiight! :up:
 
He gets co-credits for Crazy tonight, but how much work did Will.I.Am really do on that song ? It doesn't sound that much different from what Lillywhite could do with the song.

It doesn't blatantly sound "like" something you'd expect from a collaboration with Will.I.Am, he must not have had much to do with it over maybe commenting on the hook

No, not really. I'm curious what he brought to the song that Lillywhite didn't.
 
He gets co-credits for Crazy tonight, but how much work did Will.I.Am really do on that song ? It doesn't sound that much different from what Lillywhite could do with the song. :hmm:
I remember Bono saying one of the rap/hip hop guys (but not specifically Will.I.Am) said that line "I'll go crazy if I don't go crazy tonight" should be the hook for the song, but otherwise it was never really clarified what he brought to the song.

His credits for Crazy Tonight are 'Keyboard' and 'Additional Producer'. 'Additional Producer' is a nice way of saying he had more than a passing input into the sound/structure of the song, so I'd say that hook idea was probably his. Maybe more than that. He's also got a 'Keyboard' credit on Magnificent (which, IMO, are the best part of the song and add to it's dancey feel significantly - make it feel faster than it is somehow too.)

The way the story went, I think it was that he and Bono bumped into each other at a bar or party or something in France - both having had a few cheeky lemonades. Bono brought him back to his, they drank more, Bono played him some stuff, Will.I.Am told him what he thought, Bono liked it, and he came back over the following days and they messed around with those ideas. So we know that in part the result of that was those two efforts on No Line, but lord knows what else he may have heard, messed around with, had an effect on, either literally or directionally. Point being - there may (likely) stuff with his fingerprints on it that we haven't heard. Maybe even the beginnings of what they call their club material came from as long ago as the No Line sessions (or earlier) and that was where Will.I.Am first engaged with it, and why he refers to that time when talking about the material he and U2 are 'working on'.

It's entirely possible that Danger Mouse is producing and Will.I.Am is doing the mixing...thought it would clash with the previous news which was that he is a part of the club album. Would he gel with the, according to Rolling Stone, rock album that Danger Mouse is producing ?

Or he could just similarly have been 'around' for some sort of session/s in a similar way, and some influence or direct involvement remains. They wouldn't have two producers, and I doubt they'd use someone like him just to mix. He could have been a part of the process in some way, at some time though.

The club album is a bit blurry (Will.I.Am, Guetta, Red one) but I think it's a step up from the previous talk "we have 4 things going on, we haven't yet chosen" when they start dropping producer names. Likewise when they record on a nightly basis mid-tour, or saying they're finishing to be ready for a May release.

They've dropped names, but it does sound more like something they'd like to do (or Bono would like to do), more than something they are or have been actively doing. Guetta says they haven't done anything, he just said a casual "would like to do something" comment from Bono is the extent of that relationship. Will.i.am's only anecdote about working with U2 is from that 2008 drop in, but yes, he seems pretty confident that there is a thing, and it will be done. Perhaps - perhaps - they have actually lined him up, 'booked' him in for a period of time to zero in on this stuff during one of the coming tour breaks or something and that's why he's talking that way. I just think, comments/evidence so far (limited) suggests its material they (U2) have, possibly already with some Will.I.Am casual involvement, and that they (or Bono) would like to nail it down with one or more of these guys, but it's likely still more of an idea than a reality.
 
I think crazy tonight is U2's finest pop moment since The Sweetest Thing, i'll never understand the hate it gets, not everything is gonna be as dense as Exit

There's nothing wrong with making a pop song - and U2 has made a lot of good ones - but "Crazy Tonight" has that middling, uninspired feel of a band trying to appeal to adult contemporary stations. It's a song made to be played in supermarkets and waiting rooms everywhere.

It lacks that special spark that makes a U2 song a U2 song. In the past, the band has been able to co-opt other sounds and remind the listener of what they've heard before, while presenting them with something entirely new. Simultaneously familiar and a few steps above everything else they've been exposed to. "Crazy Tonight" is really just the band putting something out that's very much on the level of every not-great pop song that's been piped into the background of a frozen foods section.

Honestly, it makes them sound creatively bankrupt and tired.

The remix is great, but even live there's that huge dead period between the end of the first chorus and the string of awesome snippets at the conclusion, where it just plods along and doesn't do anything at all until Larry kicks in with the full drum kit and Bono either goes to either the Discotheque or Pleasuredome.
 
i'd almost forgotten about the sweetest thing.

and people think danger mouse and will.i.am have the potential to produce shit u2 music. jesus. crazy tonight is light years better, at least there's some sort of layering to crazy tonight, whereas the sweetest thing is the same syrupy shit from beginning to end.
 
Jesus, we need some actual news from U2, because we are putting WAY too much weight on the producers here. Like they're going to be writing and recording all the damned songs themselves, with no input from U2.

I mean, they're still going to be U2 songs.

:crack:
 
Jesus, we need some actual news from U2, because we are putting WAY too much weight on the producers here. Like they're going to be writing and recording all the damned songs themselves, with no input from U2.

I mean, they're still going to be U2 songs.

:crack:

I suggest we lock some of these threads until some genuine news appears.

Will save us having to search through piles and piles of neverending arguments that overlap each other.
 
i'd almost forgotten about the sweetest thing.

and people think danger mouse and will.i.am have the potential to produce shit u2 music. jesus. crazy tonight is light years better, at least there's some sort of layering to crazy tonight, whereas the sweetest thing is the same syrupy shit from beginning to end.

I actually, totally agree with that.

I'd rather have an album full of Will.I.Am "Crazy Tonight'-like music (a song I really don't care that much for -it's tolerable) than a single song like 'Sweetest Thing'. Along with Stuck in a Moment, U2's creative nadir, IMO.

yes, that song was written (and rightfully) shelved ten years before.
But the idea they would resurrect it and make it that incredibly SAPPY in 1998 and frankly, shitty, only served as a precursor to the poppy onslaught that would begin two years later.
 
I can't stand the Sweetest Thing, but it's easy to ignore. Like it's just a novelty single. Might as well be some dicky Christmas song or something they did once for a laugh and for charity.

I'd actually take the singular track Stuck in a Moment over Crazy Tonight and/or Sweetest Thing any day, but I wouldn't buy an album full of any of those three.
 
I can't stand the Sweetest Thing, but it's easy to ignore. Like it's just a novelty single. Might as well be some dicky Christmas song or something they did once for a laugh and for charity.

that's a good point. although at least nowdays it's easy to forget about any song automatically if you can be bothered, album track or not. to that end, i couldn't place love rescue me if it was being played for me.
 
I can't stand the Sweetest Thing, but it's easy to ignore. Like it's just a novelty single. Might as well be some dicky Christmas song or something they did once for a laugh and for charity.

I'd actually take the singular track Stuck in a Moment over Crazy Tonight and/or Sweetest Thing any day, but I wouldn't buy an album full of any of those three.

That's the funny thing about the U2 of the last 10-12 years. Crazy Tonight is an example of where they got the pop sound completely wrong to my ears, and I'm no fan whatsoever of ATYCLB, but give me an album with the sound of 'Sweetest Thing', 'Stuck in a Moment you can't get out of', and 'Window in the Skies' and I'd be happy out. Great pop moments, all three. But at the same time, I can completely see why people wouldn't want to hear any more of them - the syrupy sound, etc.
 
I have to wonder about folks that don't like Crazy Tonight...

I don't actively like it or dislike it. Nothing positive to say, nothing negative to say. For me it lands exactly at '0'. Non-event. Just boring, dull, uninspired, uninspiring, nothing of note musically/lyrically/emotionally (etc etc etc.) But then there's nothing about it I can point to and say, I think that's crap. It does nothing to muster even the tiniest spark of emotion either way.
 
Levitate:up::up:

Love how the bass kicks in when the song gets going, among other things.

Great tune.
 
Earnie Shavers said:
I don't actively like it or dislike it. Nothing positive to say, nothing negative to say. For me it lands exactly at '0'. Non-event. Just boring, dull, uninspired, uninspiring, nothing of note musically/lyrically/emotionally (etc etc etc.) But then there's nothing about it I can point to and say, I think that's crap. It does nothing to muster even the tiniest spark of emotion either way.

Pretty much how i feel about ICG. This song is a big questionmark to me. Still not sure if it should stay in my alternate tracklist. The singleversion sounds better though (soundquality speaking)
 
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