Things you DO and DON'T wanna hear on this album

[clipper699]

Do: Something that Coldplay can never mimic.

Don't: Play Bullet on tour.

Do: Be the best band in the world.

Don't: Worry about being the "Biggest Band In The World"

 

[BEAL]

Do: Music that will challenge the listener. Edge has said he wants an album you can come back to. If it's an album of singles and throwaway "pop" songs, less likely to do that.

Don't: Use direct lyrics or chimey Edge Guitar all over the place. Want to hear lyrics that I'm not going to be able to finish what Bono will say before he says it. Edge playing the guitar and doing what he does best....which is finding new sounds.

Don't: Worry about Will.ia.m or however you spell his name. He wasn't brought in to add Rappers, or to produce a My Humps. It sounds like Eno didn't like Crazy Tonight, and with it being a pop song, U2 brought in one of "Pops" best producers. If it turns out the guy knows what he's doing to get a great sound out of the band, then what's wrong with that?

Do: Mix up the setlist, even if BTBS is played, change it around. One of the great things about U2 is their ability to change a song around for each tour. Elevation and Vertigo BTBS didn't change much at all, aside from a bluesy solo. If they can't find a new way of presenting the song, drop it. This goes with WTSHNN too. Song has never really excited me.
Don't: Use a oval/heart/egg, or anything like it.

 

[hey you]

do: be simply U2. not: /

 

[jasonlee]

Want good music. Don't want bad music. Simple as that.

 

[Acrobat08]

Do want: good songs
Don't want: crap like HTDAAB

 

[jacobus]

i'd like to hear distorted guitar solos and great grooving drum sounds like THE FLY, UTEOTW, ACROBAT and DYFL. i hope boner can deliver great lyrics as he did last on POP

i don't like to hear bono whining... and i don't wanna hear the word 'kneel'.

 

[bram]

Well, there will be a slide guitar solo and a different long solo, but both are pretty clear and crisp (not distorted). There might be a distorted one on NLOTH or Get Your Boots On, or Stand Up.

 

[BVS]

Well, there will be a slide guitar solo and a different long solo, but both are pretty clear and crisp (not distorted).

What is this based on?

 

[Dalton]

DO: Try To Throw Your Arms Around the World
DONT: Stay (Far Away, So Close)

DONT: Guitars
DO: Succubus

 

[bram]

What is this based on?

Long solo in Unknown Caller as heard on beach clip 1 and confirmed by Dallas in Q.

Short/medium slide solo is in clip 4 (Magnificent) after the long Heartland-ish bridge.

The other songs I mentioned just sound like they could plausibly or have been confirmed to have distorted guitars, and therefore could have distorted guitar solos.

 

[BVS]

Long solo in Unknown Caller as heard on beach clip 1 and confirmed by Dallas in Q.

Short/medium slide solo is in clip 4 (Magnificent) after the long Heartland-ish bridge.

The other songs I mentioned just sound like they could plausibly or have been confirmed to have distorted guitars, and therefore could have distorted guitar solos.

Well, I'm not sure we have any confirmation that the beach clips haven't changed, do we?

 

[U2Fanatic4ever]

DO: Play "Grandma got run over by a reindeer"


DONT: Play any u2 songs period.

 

[bram]

Well, I'm not sure we have any confirmation that the beach clips haven't changed, do we?

I think the Edge mentioned that Unknown Caller has emerged intact, similar to MoS. And Dallas confirmed the solo in the Q article.

I think it's a pretty safe bet with Magnificent--I can't imagine why they'd drop that part.

 

[Screwtape2]

DO: A well, thought out track order. ...and Mercy.

DON'T: Leave off another quality song like Mercy unless you plan to release it as a b-side or for a future EP.

 

[AndrewCowley]

DO: Harmonica.

Love this instrument. U2 haven't used it for ages.

 

[INSTCUWSUMVC]

Do: play all of October and HTDAAB on ukuleles
Don't: go on stage without bedazzled leather pants and of course the ukuleles

 

[flybabe]

- Just 11 songs.

Well someone's gonna be disappointed
...

Do: Songs that get stuck in your head,rocky 90`s type songs,explosive guitar solos.

Don`t: Country sounding songs,to many back up vocals,piano.

 

[digitize]

Specifically for Bono:

Do: A lot of soaring notes (high-Cs and the like), abstract lyrics, although not necessarily 90s-style (I think Bono's best lyrics were in the 90s, but it would be cool to see him explore elsewhere), falsetto, opera, and generally show off the fact that you have the world's best voice again.

Don't: Try to sing like you did on JT, sing in Spanish (Latin is fine, and French could be cool), double-track your vocals, sound like Pop, Attyclub, or Bomb.

 

[Catman]

Specifically for Bono:

Do: ...show off the fact that you have the world's best voice again.

Don't: Try to sing like you did on JT...

lol wut

 

[yenlard]

do...give me the feeling that i got when i put on achtung baby and zoo station blasted out of the speakers.


dont.........bono's sometimes awkward and cliched lyrics.......

 

[BoyOnTheHorizon]

Do: A good last song of the album

Don't: Mercy

 

[AndrewCowley]

Don't: Bono don't when on stage and in interviews prefix a lot of your statements with "it is an extraordinary thing when ...". This is becoming tired.

 

[Muldfeld]

For me:

DO:

- 2 words GUITAR SOLOS - lets see what you can do Edge


DON'T:

-the words "heart" "soul" and "kneel" not ONCE.
-Bono singing, moaning, wailing, etc over said guitar solos
-another song with the same chord structure on the last 2 albums (walk on, crumbs from your table)

Well said! I also don't wanna hear "love" or "big ideas", but the latter seems to be on the album. I wish Bono would shift away from the buzzwords. Using different words isn't pretentious just because CNN soundbytes and Britney fans won't like them, Bono!

I also want Bono to talk about his social anxiety and really probe himself without trying to be pretend-humorous ("celebrity....some people got way to much confidence, baby" yuck!) I'm so sick of the phony self-deprecating crap like some Conan O'Brien bit.

I want more metaphor and less overt, over-the-top lyrics like "Walk On".

Also, I'd like more texture, layering and loud and soft. I'd also like some synth; it's what makes the album versions of "One", "Love Is Blindness" and so many other songs superior to stripped down live versions. Go for it, Eno!

Also, more political specifics and criticism of American and Israel and something beyond referring to Islamic terrorists as "monsters" while the Western, white colonizers and wagers of supposedly "civilized war" do as they will. Bono did it for Latin American and South Africa and can speak the truth again!

I just want a gutsy album that's beautiful and original and smart. Not easy by any stretch (I don't care for Zooropa and Pop, despite their originality, so a really strong melody is not guaranteed by experimentation), but U2 can do it.

Oh, I also want a reworked version of "Mercy" on there. I don't mind the length as much as the lyrics, which are better than nearly everything, save the brilliantly subtle ones on "Fast Cars", but still need work; also the songs needs more texture. Hard to say, really, but I want it on the album. I can't find any of these threads that complainers in the one "Mercy" thread I found are talking about.

Oh, I also don't mind if Bono raps because he was awesome in the only part I love about "Last Night on Earth" (the first 20 seconds or so) and The Fly!

Oh, and Don't: Self-consciously happy songs or overly simple guitar lines; no mimicking of Oasis or Coldplay; "Wonderwall" (which Edge said he wished he wrote) is a piece of garbage compared to any song on Achtung Baby. If you're gonna look to any band for inspiration, look to Pulp or The Cure or Radiohead.

 

[Muldfeld]

Ordinarily, I would not take such a comment seriously but I have to agree here that Achtung Baby is so impressive on so many other fronts that any cheesy lyrics it may have gets drowned out/forgotten in the flood of sheer amazing music! At least in my opinion.

It's not just that. Bono emphasizes these buzzwords now in a way he didn't back then. He really drives home these words in a way that feels forced and like they're supposed to be moving. I hate it when he says, "The goal is soul!" During Zoo TV, it was a joke, but, this decade, Bono has actually become The Fly and I stopped rationalizing this stuff in 2005. It's silly and condescending! "A singing bird in an open cage who will only fly for freedom". Now that you put it that way, I really get it; thanks for not being all uppity, Bono! You're cool, man!

 

[bono_212]

I do want a lot more atmospheric stuff (obviously I'm thinking TUF, cause...well...it's me)

I don't really want a lot of rockish stuff, like the Fly, I've just never enjoyed that side of U2.

 

[zooperson]

No, but I don't think it will be the punching bag that it is today... I think it will probably be more like October is looked at now.

You mean like an unwanted accident of child that no one ever talks about and would rather forget ever happened... who, because of the shame, they lock in a dungeon like in that Gary Oldman movie The Backwoods.



I digress...

 

[LemonMelon]

I do want a lot more atmospheric stuff (obviously I'm thinking TUF, cause...well...it's me)

I don't really want a lot of rockish stuff, like the Fly, I've just never enjoyed that side of U2.

Wuss.

 

[bono_212]

Wuss.

Love you

 

[Muldfeld]

Oh, man, I just realized that Mercy thread was shut down because it was a year old. Not used to it being 2009 yet. Darn. Too bad. I wanted to hear it. Who knows? Maybe it will be on there. I also hope U2 releases the alternate version of "No Line on the Horizon" as a b-side.

 

[LemonMelon]

Love you

z