(08-23-2004) TIME's Sneak Peak of New U2 Album - TIME*

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HelloAngel

HelloAngel

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TIME's Sneak Peak of New U2 Album


DOING WHAT THEY KNOW HOW TO DO BEST


They are now men of a certain age, and it no longer becomes them to aspire to be things they are not. So there's no crunk-style rapping on the new U2 album, no gospel choirs or techno experiments, nothing that could possibly be misinterpreted as a sign of midlife crisis. Instead, this as-yet-untitled album is just full of confident, expansive guitar rock from the masters of the form. All the old tricks ? the Edge's echoing guitar notes, Larry Mullen Jr.'s martial snare ? still work, although Bono has lost a touch of the high clarity he had in his mullet-sporting days. He still has enormous assuredness, and the occasional cracks in his voice make the bad-relationship songs (and, as always, there are quite a few) darker and more dramatic. Custom would seem to demand that U2 start embarrassing itself one of these days. But not today. --By Josh Tyrangiel

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1101040830-686038-3,00.html

Thanks to Bono's American Wife!
 
^^ Bono and enormous assuredness don't even belong in the same article. :wink:

No rapping? :sad: There went all my hopes for the new album.
 
HelloAngel said:
TIME's Sneak Peak of New U2 Album


DOING WHAT THEY KNOW HOW TO DO BEST


They are now men of a certain age, and it no longer becomes them to aspire to be things they are not. So there's no crunk-style rapping on the new U2 album, no gospel choirs or techno experiments, nothing that could possibly be misinterpreted as a sign of midlife crisis. Instead, this as-yet-untitled album is just full of confident, expansive guitar rock from the masters of the form. All the old tricks ? the Edge's echoing guitar notes, Larry Mullen Jr.'s martial snare ? still work, although Bono has lost a touch of the high clarity he had in his mullet-sporting days. He still has enormous assuredness, and the occasional cracks in his voice make the bad-relationship songs (and, as always, there are quite a few) darker and more dramatic. Custom would seem to demand that U2 start embarrassing itself one of these days. But not today. --By Josh Tyrangiel

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1101040830-686038-3,00.html

Thanks to Bono's American Wife!
Click to expand...

Hm.... don't know what to think.... "Confident, expansive guitar rock", "enormous assuredness" sounds great but I'm really not fond of the "old tricks", "the occasional cracks"...... :huh: ...... :(
 
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Re: Re: (08-23-2004) TIME's Sneak Peak of New U2 Album - TIME*

elevation said:


Hm.... don't know what to think.... "Confident, expansive guitar rock", "enormous assuredness" sounds great but I'm really not fond of the "old tricks", "the occasional cracks"...... :huh: ...... :(
Click to expand...

I personally like the idea of hearing "the occassional cracks" in Bono's voice, makes me think of people like Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan and Keith Richards who are so great to listen to, there's so much life and character in a voice like that. Bono's a man, he's seen and done so many things and his voice should reflect that. A tortured love song coming from a slightly-broken, lived-in voice is just so much more appealing to me than coming from one that's completely smooth.
 
:hyper: This is GREAT news!! I was slightly worried that U2 was going to try to cater towards the younger crowd by doing things that would just be silly coming from a band in their 3rd decade...you know, trying to cling to past successes.

Anyway, I'm just happy that TIME magazine wrote what I wanted to hear - a band doing what they do best :wink:
 
I think all this teasing is worse than the blue balls I used to get as a teenager. Bring it on!!! I wanna leak now!!!! (not THAT leak silly!)
 
I personally like the idea of hearing "the occassional cracks" in Bono's voice, makes me think of people like Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan and Keith Richards who are so great to listen to, there's so much life and character in a voice like that. Bono's a man, he's seen and done so many things and his voice should reflect that. A tortured love song coming from a slightly-broken, lived-in voice is just so much more appealing to me than coming from one that's completely smooth
Click to expand...

I second all of that Dev! That kind of baritone Johnny Cash voice and the crack in Bono's voice both have the same effect on me.
 
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Hey!!!

I'm sick of listening more and more about U2's new album. I think it will be great album, for me there's too much talk about it.
Oh God, but it's only my opinion...

I can't wait to hear it :scream: :kiss:
 
This is making me very happy. I can wait till November to hear the new stuff because it means that the guys are in form and ready to ROCK!! Get ready for the 2005 tour.:yes:
 
Re: Re: Re: (08-23-2004) TIME's Sneak Peak of New U2 Album - TIME*

dsmith2904 said:


I personally like the idea of hearing "the occassional cracks" in Bono's voice, makes me think of people like Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan and Keith Richards who are so great to listen to, there's so much life and character in a voice like that. Bono's a man, he's seen and done so many things and his voice should reflect that. A tortured love song coming from a slightly-broken, lived-in voice is just so much more appealing to me than coming from one that's completely smooth.
Click to expand...

I have to agree completely. Bono is a far better singer now than he was then.

Yes, it was cool to have Bono hit those high notes in full voice. And he still can - it's just that we won't hear this night after night in concert or on every song on an album (like JT). And I'm glad. One "fault" I find on JT is that Bono sounded more like an opera star than a rock star.

Additionally, Bono's more scratchy voice is often far more powerful. Songs like "One" and "In a Little While" never would have worked as well if Bono sang it in his UF-era voice. Those songs succeed because Bono downplayed his voice, as opposed to belting out the song.

Furthermore, the glorious voice we hear on a song like "Pride" is not quite as perfect as we think. Those of you who have the CD single for "Pride" - take another listen. There's an extra verse of the chorus in the song - but this time it's not nearly as remixed. As a result, Bono's voice sounds a lot more scratchy. It's pure and raw - and there's an appeal to it - but it's not as smooth sounding as the rest of the song. This suggests to me a bit of studio magic in making Bono sound so crisp on "Pride" and other high-note songs. It's little wonder U2 tone down a step in concert. It's not only to save Bono's voice, but to provide him notes he can hit clearly night after night.

Regardless, if Bono's voice is as good as it was on ATYCLB, then I'm thrilled. That was the best I heard Bono sing since R&H.

As for the rest of the article, it's of little shock to see a comment about Edge's echo effect. He's been using this since "Boy". ;) So no need to worry there. In fact, I don't think it would be a U2 album if I didn't hear some great Edge-produced echo effects!
 
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This article is great news!!!!

The only problem I have with the article is the "all the old tricks" crack, which imo is belittling what U2 does...all of the "tricks" aren't really the point or the power of their music, anyway...it's the underlying passion and meaning with which they shape and deliver it.
 
Now THIS article really got me excited...

...I might even be able to forgive them if they title the album that ridiculous "...atomic bomb" title that's been going through the rumor mill...
 
They're slowly turning the screws on us ain't they! almost every other day there's another article talking about the new record or single. It's getting very exciting, I just want August out the way so I can focus on the count down to the single!

I really hope people don't start focusing on the 'crack' in his voice. He's had that for a number of years now and we're all aware of it and that'll never change, it's there and we have to accpet that. It hasn't spoiled my listening pleasure over the years and I'm sure it won't this time round. As it's been said before, it adds a character to his voice, he's one of the few vocalists that has character in todays 'perfect pop' society, also Steve Lillywhite has already commented that Bono is sing the best he has for a number of years.

Roll on September!
 
remember, a lot of critics will not be insane fans like some of us, they listen to loads of music, u2 to them is another band, they will point out what they hear, not what we hear, if that makes sense? we will analyse all the sounds of the new album and u2 is our taste so will be totally excited when we hear the album. it's going to be a great album, i can feel it in my bones. i'm not sure a critic from Time magazine is going to be a great music critic anyway, it's not a specialist music magazine. i await for the more specialist, contemporary music critics to voice their opinion. and more specifically i await for a European critic as apposed to an American to give a different slant on things...i await patiently therefore
 
Nice submission BAW! :up:

This succinct and powerful lil' article just made me very :hyper:! Now that this pre-review/editorial has hit a publication like Time it only makes it more real... we will have NEW U2 MUSIC SOON!!!

I like how he wrapped up the article... "But not today" - damn right not today! U2 will kick-ass till the end of time yo! :cute:

mishka
inTO the :heart: 2004
Nov 4-7
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
www.intotheheart.com
 
:wink: I can't wait!!!

But to be honest, of all the information that has come out in the last few days this particular piece in Time strikes me as being somewhat dishonest ... it seems to imply that the author has listened to the album... and that can't be true, can it? To me it looks as though the author has formed an opinion based on all the information and buzz that's been coming out over the past few weeks.

I put a lot more stock in the information coming from McCormick and the band itself, love the fact that its an "Edge" album, and based on the Ibiza MP3's I believe the "beginners energy with veterans craft" quote, that quote has me more fired up than anything else... ATYCLB has beautiful moments but at times sounds a little too mature to me (despite being a wonderful album)... I would love to see a couple songs with a real rock swagger on the new disk, like UTEOTW or HMTMKMKM

THIS WAIT IS KILLING ME!:huh:
 
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