(12-04-2007) Bono: New U2 album will be extraordinary*

[RavenBlue]

The thought of U2 taking on metal seriously intrigues me

 

[capetown172]

I think we all agree that Bono has made similar comments prior to the release of their last two albums. Both were good, and brilliant when some of these songs were played live.

Still, neither album "broke new ground" they way they did with the transition from War to Unforgettable Fire to Joshua Tree to Achtung Baby. The last two albums have utilized very familiar U2 sounds and musical arrangements.

This time, however, I believe 100% what Bono says. Reason is because of listening to my other favorite band (Led Zeppelin) when they made their trips to Morroco. For Zep fans here, you'll understand what I'm getting at. You can witness and hear the "trance-like" musical influences of Morocco on the Plant/Page DVD from 1994. This music is from a very different world and it's exciting to think what kind of influence it has had on the next generation of U2 music. Stay tuned, I don't think we'll hear songs with standard U2/Edge sounds.....

 

[lady luck]

I agree with you, capetown172

 

[bigloader]

Poo poo

 

[U1]

Come on, people, I know all the desillusions you've been through with the past albums but what an exciting time!
Great teasing from Bono, trance/metal sounds, best album ever, I'll only live for those times! Every time, it feels like I'm a teenager again!
If I had only one thing to ask of the band, it would be 'take some risks'. What could they lose?

Hold us, thrill us, kiss us, kill us!

They are THE band and I still have the illusion they will thrill me.

Let's give them the benefit of the doubt.

Again.

They deserve it.

 

[thankyou]

can't wait, can't wait, can't wait...........!! the more different, the more exciting it sounds.

Quote from Capetown: "Stay tuned, I don't think we'll hear songs with standard U2/Edge sounds....." I hope you're right!

i love what they did with achtung baby and pop. the last two albums i feel did go back more to their JT sound at times. of course i liked them both, but i think the thought of something different just sounds really awesome!!

now could we just get a release date?!

 

[Thehandsoflove]

I think we all agree that Bono has made similar comments prior to the release of their last two albums. Both were good, and brilliant when some of these songs were played live.

Still, neither album "broke new ground" they way they did with the transition from War to Unforgettable Fire to Joshua Tree to Achtung Baby. The last two albums have utilized very familiar U2 sounds and musical arrangements.

This time, however, I believe 100% what Bono says. Reason is because of listening to my other favorite band (Led Zeppelin) when they made their trips to Morroco. For Zep fans here, you'll understand what I'm getting at. You can witness and hear the "trance-like" musical influences of Morocco on the Plant/Page DVD from 1994. This music is from a very different world and it's exciting to think what kind of influence it has had on the next generation of U2 music. Stay tuned, I don't think we'll hear songs with standard U2/Edge sounds.....

me too, I think it.

 

[jumpmanst]

I think we all agree that Bono has made similar comments prior to the release of their last two albums.

Exactomundo.

Remember how he said that HTDAAB would be a 'dragon' of a u2 album?

 

[jet_jaguar72]

Hmm.
I have high hopes. I always do, and I am seldom let down.
This band has helped soundtrack my life since War came out and has been a motivating factor thru some awful times. I think I can muster up the benefit of the doubt!

 

[mobonofo]

I'd feel more secure if one of the other band members were speaking up. Bono exaggerates things too much. The worst thing U2 could do was to self-consciously aim for the mainstream again or compromise their work in any way from being artistically true. Leave the pop kids behind if you need to, guys. Competing with Britney Spears is a terrible idea, given the fact that the kinds of people who love that care more about experiencing a party when they go to one of her concerts; those people aren't about music at all.

I am pulling for a return to aristic prioritization and lyrical subtlety, though. I really think U2 can get back to what made them great and depart from the wrong-headed path of Beatles mimicry and obsession with grandeur and superficial "relevance" over originality.

Very well said - I completely agree with you...

Whatever happened to the "We may lose the pop kids, but we don't need them" attitude???

 

[mystery girl]

Hmmm, interesting. I'm not going to expect to much this time, though! I wish Bono would stop talking about how he and U2 are so punk rock. In my opinion, U2's music has held no resemblance to punk rock for a while now. It is funny to me that Bono only started talking constantly about how punk rock he was when U2's music became almost the antithesis of punk rock (ATYCLB, HDAB). I'm not sure what this means...

 

[mobonofo]

Hmmm, interesting. I'm not going to expect to much this time, though! I wish Bono would stop talking about how he and U2 are so punk rock. In my opinion, U2's music has held no resemblance to punk rock for a while now. It is funny to me that Bono only started talking constantly about how punk rock he was when U2's music became almost the antithesis of punk rock (ATYCLB, HDAB). I'm not sure what this means...

Wow, I agree with you as well. I was talking with a friend about the "punk rock" thing. U2 were post-punk/new wave in their early days. They were never punk. He recently said Spiderman was going to have a punk rock score. I don't get it...I guess he thinks it sounds cool.

I love U2, but the recent stuff has been weak enough to make my 20 year obsession with the band wobble...

PS: Get Lanois' new CD!!! Awesome...

 

[dj_tranquility]

Here's to less sap and more rock.

 

[LPU2]

The thought of U2 taking on metal seriously intrigues me

C'mon now. I doubt Bono's talking about "metal" as it refers to a brand of music. He speaks in abstract. It's just the way he talks. He's used chimes and bells and crystal and china and paint and color and Venus to describe Edge's sound in the past.

So in this instance, when he says "molten metal", I imagine it to more like actual molten metal: thick, flowing, chunky, searing, and sizzling. And nothing at all like, say, Anthrax.

 

[verte76]

I can't wait until the new album comes out!

 

[verte76]

Bono's made similar statements about new albums in the past. Metal? A double album would be great.

 

[ssviland]

We'll see...

I'm a U2 fan, so I'll like it no matter what. But what will it be? It sounds like it could be a "Physical Graffiti" kind of thing. Some people have compared them to Led Zeppelin since around 1985 - not for their style, but in regard to their role in contemporary music, and changing sound from one album to the next while remaining distinctly U2.

HTDAAB was supposed to be a punk record. Bono said during the time that when they were 20 years-old they wanted to do something more like the Clash, but didn't know how. So this would be an album more like what they would have done if they could. Of course, that isn't really what HTDAAB was, although I liked it very much. It was too dynamic to be punk, and that will always be the case with U2.

While they may have been heavily influenced by simple rock bands like the Clash, Rolling Stones and Joy Division, their songwriting is more like Led Zeppelin, late Beatles and David Bowie. They are prog-rock writers with punk rock hearts. Maybe it's punkressive rock.

This will only be the third studio album in 9 years, first in four, so I think we're all ready for it.