HelloAngel
ONE love, blood, life
By Carrie Alison
Chief Editor
I?m back!
Hard to believe it?s been a year since I started this column, and a year since Daniel Lanois let us know that Chris Thomas was producing the next U2 record. Since then, the ongoing album sessions [at press time] have welcomed a veritable who?s who of highly regarded rock producers, and old U2 studio chums such as Flood (?Achtung Baby?), the one-two punch of Lanois and Steve Lillywhite (?The Joshua Tree?), Irish remix artist Garrett ?Jacknife? Lee, and most recently, Interscope Records president and ?Rattle and Hum? producer, Jimmy Iovine.
And yet here we all are, still with baited breath and open ears, just shaking with anticipation and saving five dollars from each paycheck to prepare for the sound and fury of U2?s press appearances and subsequent world tour in early 2005. Not much has changed in a year if you can believe it. We still have not heard one chord or vocal off of the album, and we still don?t even know the fair one?s name. Should I put my money behind a title that nods to Dublin life (?Hanover Quay?), or go by what Los Angeles DJ Uncle Joe Benson said, and bet on ?Winter? as the eagerly awaited album?s name?
Recently, our favorite band has been rumored to be finishing the album in the South of France, and have even been spotted with Iovine there. So then, is it possible that the album could be called ?Cannes? (pronounced ?can?); as in, ?can they do it??
And what of the sound of this new potential masterpiece?
U2 have name-dropped a bevy of hip new bands that could send the new record in many directions. Bono at one point mentioned how he loved England?s Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, a band whose trademark sound is of darkly churning garage rock with some Oasis thrown in (see: ?Stop?). A rumor surfaced in 2003 suggesting the new record was to sound like ?War? mixed with the darkness of ?Achtung Baby.? It was quoted recently online that U2?s favorite new band is Snow Patrol ? a Coldplay-type band from Northen Ireland with soaring melodies and a passionate lead singer. Additional rumors suggest U2 are heavily influenced by the popular garage rock stylings of The Strokes and the White Stripes. Could fans expect to hear a barnstorming tune like ?Ball and Biscuit? from the White Stripes? Grammy Award-winning ?Elephant? with its bluesy swagger, or perhaps a more hard-hitting and danceable guitar tune such as the Strokes? ?Reptilia? from ?Room on Fire.? Or, to add BRMC into the mix and produce a more Franz Ferdinand-ish record.
?The record is so good that it won't even matter that people are sick of U2," Bono told Rolling Stone recently. "It's driven by a guitar player who's sick of the sight of me shaking hands with dodgy politicians." Bono has also been quoting by the BBC as describing new song ?Full Metal Jacket as ?the roughest, it's the mother of all rock and roll tunes.?
So now then? a world tour in 2005.
If you take a look back on the last time a new U2 record and tour produced a dramatic buildup with surprising results, it was 1992 ? the Berlin Wall had [in recent years] collapsed, and the United States was at war in Iraq with a President George Bush at the forefront. Bono was quoted at the time remarking how the whiplash messages of ZooTV were in direct response to ?channel surfing through the Gulf War.? He marveled at the ease of which one could just change the station, and tune the world out - maybe to watch some [television] commercials. How will Bono?s quest to procure sizeable AIDS funding for Africa affect the tone of a tour launching itself onto a world stage with parallel politics that U2 once took an outspoken opinion on (if the war has not ended by early 2005)? Will they feature a stuttering Bush in the concert intro video again? Will ?Running to Stand Still? be a show highpoint again? Or will Bono ignore ?those fighter planes? in favor of keeping his (and consequently, U2?s) focus on DATA?
So many questions shrouded in a five-year-long reticence. So many theories, fervent beliefs and frothing analyses. We?re waiting, fellas. We see you, too.
Carrie Alison can be reached at carrie@interference.com. She looks forward to receiving many Letters to the Editor about anything U2 fans want to talk about, know about or shout out.
Chief Editor
I?m back!
Hard to believe it?s been a year since I started this column, and a year since Daniel Lanois let us know that Chris Thomas was producing the next U2 record. Since then, the ongoing album sessions [at press time] have welcomed a veritable who?s who of highly regarded rock producers, and old U2 studio chums such as Flood (?Achtung Baby?), the one-two punch of Lanois and Steve Lillywhite (?The Joshua Tree?), Irish remix artist Garrett ?Jacknife? Lee, and most recently, Interscope Records president and ?Rattle and Hum? producer, Jimmy Iovine.
And yet here we all are, still with baited breath and open ears, just shaking with anticipation and saving five dollars from each paycheck to prepare for the sound and fury of U2?s press appearances and subsequent world tour in early 2005. Not much has changed in a year if you can believe it. We still have not heard one chord or vocal off of the album, and we still don?t even know the fair one?s name. Should I put my money behind a title that nods to Dublin life (?Hanover Quay?), or go by what Los Angeles DJ Uncle Joe Benson said, and bet on ?Winter? as the eagerly awaited album?s name?
Recently, our favorite band has been rumored to be finishing the album in the South of France, and have even been spotted with Iovine there. So then, is it possible that the album could be called ?Cannes? (pronounced ?can?); as in, ?can they do it??
And what of the sound of this new potential masterpiece?
U2 have name-dropped a bevy of hip new bands that could send the new record in many directions. Bono at one point mentioned how he loved England?s Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, a band whose trademark sound is of darkly churning garage rock with some Oasis thrown in (see: ?Stop?). A rumor surfaced in 2003 suggesting the new record was to sound like ?War? mixed with the darkness of ?Achtung Baby.? It was quoted recently online that U2?s favorite new band is Snow Patrol ? a Coldplay-type band from Northen Ireland with soaring melodies and a passionate lead singer. Additional rumors suggest U2 are heavily influenced by the popular garage rock stylings of The Strokes and the White Stripes. Could fans expect to hear a barnstorming tune like ?Ball and Biscuit? from the White Stripes? Grammy Award-winning ?Elephant? with its bluesy swagger, or perhaps a more hard-hitting and danceable guitar tune such as the Strokes? ?Reptilia? from ?Room on Fire.? Or, to add BRMC into the mix and produce a more Franz Ferdinand-ish record.
?The record is so good that it won't even matter that people are sick of U2," Bono told Rolling Stone recently. "It's driven by a guitar player who's sick of the sight of me shaking hands with dodgy politicians." Bono has also been quoting by the BBC as describing new song ?Full Metal Jacket as ?the roughest, it's the mother of all rock and roll tunes.?
So now then? a world tour in 2005.
If you take a look back on the last time a new U2 record and tour produced a dramatic buildup with surprising results, it was 1992 ? the Berlin Wall had [in recent years] collapsed, and the United States was at war in Iraq with a President George Bush at the forefront. Bono was quoted at the time remarking how the whiplash messages of ZooTV were in direct response to ?channel surfing through the Gulf War.? He marveled at the ease of which one could just change the station, and tune the world out - maybe to watch some [television] commercials. How will Bono?s quest to procure sizeable AIDS funding for Africa affect the tone of a tour launching itself onto a world stage with parallel politics that U2 once took an outspoken opinion on (if the war has not ended by early 2005)? Will they feature a stuttering Bush in the concert intro video again? Will ?Running to Stand Still? be a show highpoint again? Or will Bono ignore ?those fighter planes? in favor of keeping his (and consequently, U2?s) focus on DATA?
So many questions shrouded in a five-year-long reticence. So many theories, fervent beliefs and frothing analyses. We?re waiting, fellas. We see you, too.
Carrie Alison can be reached at carrie@interference.com. She looks forward to receiving many Letters to the Editor about anything U2 fans want to talk about, know about or shout out.
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