U2's Next Album?/Songs of Ascent?

[TheGeekyU2Fan]

Hi guys sorry for asking a dumb question, but what do you guys think will be the next album? I remember when SOI was released they mentioned SOE and I'm not sure what will be the next album

 

[purpleblackeye]

Another album is probably like 4 to 5 years away - if indeed another one is coming. I really hope so. I love both SOI and SOE and SOA to cap a trilogy would be a dream.

We’ve been hearing about SOA since 2014 so who knows if some songs from SOE were intended for SOA or whether SOA is even a thing right now.

Great title though - SOI is the birth, SOE is the life, and SOA is the farewell.

 

[TheGeekyU2Fan]

I really like that tune from the early 2016 Fender The Edge video. I wonder if those songs are for SOA.

 

[BEAL]

I don't think anyone has a clue. I haven't seen every interview or article, but the past few album releases Bono has talked about the next one right away.

Nothing has been mentioned by the band. I think we all assume SOA would be the next album, but wouldn't really count on it.

I would love U2 to focus on releasing more music versus the super tours going forward.

 

[TinKnight]

I don't think there will be an actual Songs of Ascent.

I think we will see a much more subdued album in terms of U2 realizing they're not going to have another hit again.

 

[BEAL]

I really like that tune from the early 2016 Fender The Edge video. I wonder if those songs are for SOA.

I think it would be best if we just remove Songs of Ascent from our minds. It hasn't been mentioned since NLOTH days.

And as far as that guitar part goes, I have to imagine U2 has hundreds of songs just sitting in a vault, and probably thousands of guitar parts that Edge has come up with.

I would be surprised if we ever hear that riff in a song.

 

[KUEFC09U2]

I don't think there will be an actual Songs of Ascent.

I think we will see a much more subdued album in terms of U2 realizing they're not going to have another hit again.

Getting to number one equates to a hit album, they have a good chance of doing that both in the uk and us,

 

[TinKnight]

I think it would be best if we just remove Songs of Ascent from our minds. It hasn't been mentioned since NLOTH days.

And as far as that guitar part goes, I have to imagine U2 has hundreds of songs just sitting in a vault, and probably thousands of guitar parts that Edge has come up with.

I would be surprised if we ever hear that riff in a song.

Putting that riff in the vault but hearing Volcano packaged four different ways, smh

 

[TinKnight]

Getting to number one equates to a hit album, they have a good chance of doing that both in the uk and us,

I don't know, there's a hearty drop off from the debut. Already 42 on iTunes.

 

[TheGeekyU2Fan]

We have actually had more tours than we had of U2 studio albums.

 

[mikal]

I’d bet on it yes. Guessing it will be a bit more joyful. And it would be their last album.

 

[KUEFC09U2]

I don't know, there's a hearty drop off from the debut. Already 42 on iTunes.

What is 42 on iTunes? It's currently at number 2 in the Us and 8 in the UK with mainly compilations above it?

 

[Moser]

I think U2 is hanging it up. And I'm perfectly fine with it. Songs of Experience is a great album to close their career.

Pat on the back for the boys.

 

[TheGeekyU2Fan]

I’d bet on it yes. Guessing it will be a bit more joyful. And it would be their last album.

Well, I'm not sure if it's their last, but who knows?

 

[TinKnight]

What is 42 on iTunes? It's currently at number 2 in the Us and 8 in the UK with mainly compilations above it?

Interesting. My iTunes is showing it as 42 on the top albums list.

Weird, number 2 on my iPhone's iTunes.

 

[Moser]

Interesting. My iTunes is showing it as 42 on the top albums list.

#1 in the world as of yesterday.

 

[KUEFC09U2]

I think U2 is hanging it up. And I'm perfectly fine with it. Songs of Experience is a great album to close their career.

Pat on the back for the boys.

The band themselves have said there will be more

 

[Moser]

The band themselves have said there will be more

Would love a source to read up on that. I've been out of the loop.

 

[Mac_Fly]

I think U2 is hanging it up.

Van Morrison is coming out with album #695 (ok, a bit exacggerated), so why should U2 stop now?

 

[KUEFC09U2]

Would love a source to read up on that. I've been out of the loop.

Bono said it during an interview with a Dutch radio presenter, the guy doing the interview said he was scared/worried of the day the band said it was all over to which bono said he thinks this is the start of another chapter or something along those lines

 

[Montrose]

It's that, or revisiting the Rick Ruben sessions. Or both.

It struck me that Ruben's critique of the band - that they don't come in with written songs, and that the Edge uses effects to disguise the fact that they don't have songs - was felt very deeply by the band, and these last two albums was their attempt being better song-writers.

One of Bono's recent catch-phrases about this effort, where he seems to be particularly assured and satisfied with their current work, is about "..clear thoughts and big melodies.." or some combination of that. And the last two albums have been far more focused song-writing than in the past. Maybe not those brilliant 'sketches' of their peak efforts, but out of all the songs where U2 went in trying to craft songs rather than improvise them to completion, SOI and SOE are their best works.

So perhaps they feel emboldened to head back to Ruben and say, "Hey, here are our songs, now let's finish what we started."

Or maybe they do one final hurrah with Eno and Lanois, as that's where Ascent started.

 

[TinKnight]

#1 in the world as of yesterday.

 

[TheGeekyU2Fan]

Well, we would have to see in the next interviews about a new album

 

[Montrose]

Bono said it during an interview with a Dutch radio presenter, the guy doing the interview said he was scared/worried of the day the band said it was all over to which bono said he thinks this is the start of another chapter or something along those lines

You can hear it in the music as well, and possibly a change of heart that came when doing re-writes.

You get what may have come first:

"Then end is not coming/the end is here"

And then, in what may have been the original album closer:

"When you think you're done
You've just begun"

A change of heart, and then a change of closer with 13 added on,

"And there is a light
Don't let it go out
...
This is a song
A song for someone
Someone like me
Someone like me
"

Maybe I'm being fanciful, but a lot of the album's tone feels like a guy willing to give it one last go, sitting in a hospital bed, feeling less than invulnerable and less than immortal.

But you can feel the recovery in there as well.

And the JT tour certainly seems to have continued the added enthusiasm for playing and performing I heard in SOI and those live shows.

They'll at least finish this 'trilogy', and then we'll see. They certainly have enough ideas for projects in the vault.

 

[Mack_Again]

I'm thinking that next album will be completely different and I'm sure we have to wait for, like, good 3 or 4 years for that

 

[purpleoscar]

SOA is a possibility but we are probably not going to hear anything conclusive until they are into a tour and maybe even when they have finished the tour. Health has to be good in the band to continue on.

 

[Sickly Vulpine]

Anyone know exactly when the last time U2 mentioned SOA? I could have sworn it had come up once or twice not long after the release of SOI. Something along the lines of Bono telling RollingStone that SOA was not dead, or still a possibility? I can't recall. It's been more than two years since we've heard anything.

I think, barring any unforeseen twists, we will see U2 return. But not for a while. I suspect, after the tour, they will remain silent for quite some time, and then in (late)2020 we start to hear some rumblings about new music being recorded. Not even willing at this time to put an estimate on when the next album will appear.....on all our iTunes.

 

[The_acrobat]

There was an interview with Adam sometime in 2016, when he said that Songs of Ascent was "further down the pipeline" or something like that. I really don't believe this is their last album.

I predict there will be silence from the band for 2019 and 2020, and then in 2021 there will be an Achtung / Zoo TV 2 type of tour, followed by one more new album/tour in 2022-2023.

 

[Moser]

If I was U2, IDK if I'd even want to tour at 60 years of age.

Now I'm not saying they couldn't put on a good energetic show, but would their aging audience even be a great audience anymore? Would you want to play your heart out to a crowd where many are approaching 60 and not giving back that same energy?

I could be way off base here and I'm not trying to insult those thirty years older than me, but it's something I've thought about.

 

[DaveC]

god i hope not. they've taken this "songs of ________" thing far enough already.

if they do make another album and call it "songs of ascent" and put a black and white photo of adam's kid on the cover i'm not listening to the thing out of principle.