Make your own U2 concept album

[Zoots]

Pink Floyd, The Who and now even Green Day have all made concept albums that tell a complete story from start to finish. What would it be like to have a U2 concept album? This is how mine would look like. Now keep in mind that I have concentrated more on the lyrical content than whether it flows musically or not.

DISC ONE
1. Zoo Station
Our lead character is standing in the station waiting for the morning train. He’s ready for his workday, ready for the gridlock. He has to make it on time.
2. Desire
At the end of a busy day, our hero is ready to party. He’s gonna go where the bright lights and the big city meet. He’s having fun in Vegas and the fever is only getting higher.
3. Gloria
Then he sees her. He stumbles, tries to stand up but can’t find his feet. It’s love at first sight.
4. City Of Blinding Lights
He takes her out on Valentine’s Day to a fancy restaurant in New York City… a city lit by fireflies, a city of blinding lights.
5. All Because Of You
They come back from dinner and he professes his innermost feelings, his deepest love for her. They both reminisce on how they met; how he saw her beautiful face for the first time in the shadow of the moon.
6. Sunday Bloody Sunday
And then the unthinkable happens. He can’t believe the news in the papers everywhere. A battle’s just begun. A quiet happy town has been torn apart.
7. Like A Song
It’s a revolution once again. Frustrated with people dividing against each other and fighting amongst themselves, a new heart is what he needs.
8. Rejoice
It’s still chaos out there as buildings are tumbling down and bombs are going off. But he sees a child on the street and prays for hope.
9. Electrical Storm
As the world around him spins into turmoil, his relationship enters stormy waters as well. It feels hot as hell and the tension is unbearable. They desperately need the rain now to wash away their bad luck.
10. Stranger In A Strange Land
He feels like he’s a stranger in his own town. He spends many sleepless nights wishing she was there with him at this uncertain time.
11.Seconds
It only takes a second to destroy everything you got. And he knows that this is goodbye.

DISC TWO
1. With Or Without You
Our lead character is really yearning for her now. Through the storm, he wants to reach the shore again. He waits and waits and it tears him up inside.
2. Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses
He thinks about what could have gone wrong. Was she too fast for him? Was it her crazy lifestyle that he couldn’t keep up with?
3. So Cruel
This is the sound of betrayal. He knows now that she crossed the line and pushed him over. He gave her everything she ever wanted but it wasn’t what she wanted.
4. Gone
He held on to every little thing so tightly that there was nothing left for him anyway. And the cynic in him wakes up. Closer to her everyday but didn’t want it that much anyway.
5. If God Will Send His Angels
Nobody made her do it, no one put words in her mouth but love has taken a train heading south. If God will send his angels, would everything be alright?
6. Please
He is sick and tired of it all. The streets are still capsizing but he also feels his own pain. Talk is getting nowhere as he makes his pleas.
7. Wake Up Dead Man
Feeling alone in a fucked up world, he asks Jesus if he’s working on something new to establish some order in all of this disorder. This is the ultimate moment of helplessness, a lot like Don’t Leave Me Now from The Wall.
8. Peace On Earth
It’s already gone too far. He’s sick of the pain and the sorrow and hearing again and again that there is gonna be peace on earth. Something has to be done.
9. Love And Peace Or Else
Okay, enough’s enough. It’s time to lay down the guns. There’s no time for a jealous lovers either. He doesn’t know if he can take it anymore and needs some release, some love and peace.
10. Beautiful Day
Negotiations are made and everything works out fine. Peace has been established finally. It’s a beautiful day once again in this town.
11. Yahweh
The sun is coming up on the ocean. There is a new hope for the future as his fractured relationship heals and he makes up with his love.
12. All I Want Is You
Our lead character knows now that material possessions like diamonds and gold are not what make love go around. All that matters is the person you’re with.

 

[Dalton]

What would it be like to have a U2 concept album?


Actung Baby

 

[beau2ifulday]

Zooropa sums up the idea of a U2 concept album for me pretty well.

 

[isabelle_guns]

I like your thread and think that is awesome but I'm not good with the idea of concept albums or storylines but I really like yours. I like the Zoo station one and can totally see that one happening.

 

[Zoots]

I like your thread and think that is awesome but I'm not good with the idea of concept albums or storylines but I really like yours. I like the Zoo station one and can totally see that one happening.

Hey, thanks! I'm sure Floyd fans will relate to this even more.

 

[Dalton]

Really Actung Baby tells a story like The Wall, Tommy and American Idiot.

 

[Zoots]

Really Actung Baby tells a story like The Wall, Tommy and American Idiot.

Well... it does tell a story in parts like how So Cruel follows Who's Gonna Ride perfectly, for instance. But I'm not sure if the album has a continuous story like sequence.

 

[Dalton]

Well... it does tell a story in parts like how So Cruel follows Who's Gonna Ride perfectly, for instance. But I'm not sure if the album has a continuous story like sequence.

Read up. There are many articles written about it.

 

[myusernamehere]

Well... it does tell a story in parts like how So Cruel follows Who's Gonna Ride perfectly, for instance. But I'm not sure if the album has a continuous story like sequence.

That's proabably because the story is not overtly obvious, like the "Rock Operas" you listed above.

 

[gareth brown]

I'm sorry...this isn't meant to be rude, but a topic like this makes me glad I don't think TOO much into the 'stories' behind U2's music. I'm more of a musician than a lyricist...scratch that, I'm NOT A lyricist at all!

 

[korczykp]

hahaha, that's cool.. neat idea...

but like stated before, you can't really make a rock-opera that's overtly obvious with U2..

I'm sure if you look hard enough, you could argue Vanilla Ice's albums are rock operas

 

[david]

I am making my own Rattle and Hum studio song only album (no live tracks) and I am having trouble with the flow of the album.

I included Van Diemen's Land because I cut out the live crowd noise at the start and cut off the talking at the end. Despite that, the song doesn't sit well with everything else.

I also included A Room At The Heartbreak Hotel because it sums up the whole Rattle and Hum era as well.

I don't know if this could qualify as a concept album though.

 

[Pero]

I think that u2 made it, well, not quite, Unforgettable Fire is complete from the start to the end

 

[Axver]

I think that u2 made it, well, not quite, Unforgettable Fire is complete from the start to the end

One of my friends said that musically, it's a concept album, but lyrically, it's not. I'm inclined to agree.

 

[Layton]

Concept albums are for amateurs. Album making 101 in other words. JT and UF are the closest U2 has dived into this idea. Both of those strive for a continuous mood evolution that crystalizes something conceptual. AB is not a concept album. It has a storyline running through it, but never succumbs to sacrificing song quality in order to enhance mood. It's harder to make albums where every song is high quality and distincitive in its' own way yet somehow tied together in a subtle way that's not so obvious. Concept albums make things too obvious in general.

 

[TheFlyOnTheWall]

What is Tommy about? (not much of a Who fan...)

 

[Zoots]

hahaha, that's cool.. neat idea...

but like stated before, you can't really make a rock-opera that's overtly obvious with U2..

I'm sure if you look hard enough, you could argue Vanilla Ice's albums are rock operas

Thanks. I guess you're referring to songs like WOWY that aren't very obvious with the meaning (love of a woman or God?). That is why I've muddled the idea in my story as well. The tension is not only around the lead character in his town but also in his relationship with this girl. Cmon, is nobody interested in trying this concept?

 

[namkcuR]

I guess I'll be the first person to give what was asked for...

DISC ONE

1.Sweetest Thing
The story starts out in the winter, we'll say around Thanksgiving, and a 30-ish couple who has been married for a number of years is having problems. The main character, the guy, laments 'baby's got blue skies up ahead, but in this I'm a raincloud, you know we got a stormy kind of love'. He knows he is not good enough for her. He feels her slipping away - 'I'm losing you, I'm losing you'. Finally, she does leave him, and goes to a hotel.

2.With Or Without You
Alone at home, the pain of her rejection of him his hard. Their apartment was not big. His soul was broken. He has nothing to win and nothing left to lose.

3.Numb
He starts drinking and before long, the emotional impact of the day mixed with the alcohol has him feeling numb. Too much alcohol is not enough. The voices in his head tell him to stop questioning any of it.

4.Dirty Day
The following morning, the numbness turns to bitterness(with a hangover), as he gets angry towards his walkout wife, for having made him the bad guy. She complained that he wasn't enough to her, but was she ever enough for him? The hell with her.

5.Desire
He is all showered up now, casually dressed, and is ready to go hit the town, see what's going on, what's hot, and just have a good time.

6.Discotheque
He walks into a Club. Everybody is dancing, drinks are all over the place, the usual. He tries to fit in with the crowd, dances to the music, and begins to relax.

7.Vertigo
He does this for longer than he thinks, and he can hardly stand up anymore when the umpteenth song ends, and he turns around sees her, the girl with Jesus around her neck, who has just sat down at the bar. He walks over, orders her a drink or two, and they start flirting.

8.Party Girl
The flirting continues. It's obvious they want the same thing, in the moment at least, even though she is obviously somewhat younger than him, in her mid 20s maybe. She won't tell him her name, and she has no problem with the fact that other guys are checking her out as she flirts with him.

9.Even Better Than The Real Thing
The flirting has run its course, and the two push their way into a bathroom stall and they are all over each other. At this point, he decides to make the night even more, and he takes her out of the Discotheque, and finds a hotel to check into(as he doesn't want her in his own place yet).

10.Do You Feel Loved
In the hotel room, they consumate their one-night-stand, and it is filthy and dirty, into the wee hours of the morning.

11.Please
By three or four in the morning, she has fallen asleep, but he cannot. He never got fully comfortable, and he is slowly but surely realizing why. He wants nothing to do with her or anyone else. He only wants his wife. He is older than her and knows better, knows that 'love is big, and love is tough, but love is not what you're thinking of', and 'love is big, bigger than us, but love is not what you're thinking of'. He found the whole night and consumation hard to recieve, because he could never believe or trust her about anything.

12.Gone
When she opens her eyes at 7AM, he is already gone. He's felt that way along. No emotional goodnights. He was up with sun, he's not coming down.


DISC 2

1.Mofo
The lead character is now looking deep into himself, and thinking about everything that's happened. He is trying to save his soul, for having slept with another woman, having cheated on the woman who walked out on him. He is looking at the parts of himself he hates the most, 'the places where no flowers grow'. He talks to his deceased mother, 'mother, am I still your son? You know I've waited for so long To hear you say so. Mother, you left and made me someone. Now I'm still a child, but no one tells me no.'

2.Electrical Storm
Doing his best to accept himself and what he's done, and having conversed with his deceased mother, he now knows he wants her back, and he is determined to do it, because 'if the sky can crack there must be some way back, to love and only love'. He knows that it won't be easy though...'you're on my mind, all the time, I know it's not enough'. He just hates the idea of making her cry when she finds out what he did....'baby don't cry'.

3.Fast Cars
Bad news. She is no longer at the hotel she was at. Did she somehow know? Where did she go? He tries to block out all the questions and try to live his life as best he can while trying to find her. He wants to see her so bad. He can't even find any pictures of her. All he wants is a picture of her, to get right next to her, her face in a socket, her picture in his pocket. All the material possessions in the world won't do him no good. But he knows the thing he should worry the most about is the point at which he stops wanting her back.

4.Tryin' To Throw Your Arms Around The World
Another lonley night, he spends just laying around, trying to reason why his life is the way it is, why things have happened the way they have. He's trying to throw his arms around the world.

5.Lemon
He is now searching everywhere and anywhere in town he can think of where she might have gone. All of his money is being spent on it. He's turning his money into light to look for her. As more and more days pass, however, he begins to despair. He feels the hope he is trying to hold on to, slipping away. He feels like he's holding on to nothing.

6.I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
He has spent weeks trying to find her, trying to find peace in himself, and all that, but he still hasn't found what he's looking for.

7.New Year's Day
It is New Year's Eve now, a full five weeks since she walked out on him and all of this started. As he 'celebrates' the New Year alone, with a drink, he vows that he will be with her again, and he will start over with her, he will begin again. But nothing changes in the morning, on New Year's Day.

8.If God Will Send His Angels
He is now reaching the end of his rope. Hope is almost all gone, and a week has passed in the new year and still no sign of her anywhere. He feels like he's going crazy, like fuses are blowing and the cartoon network is turning into the news. He wonders if everything would be alright if God will send his angels, if God will send a sign. He sure could use them here right now. Where does he go?

9.Stay(Faraway, So Close)
The sign he is looking for arrives when he stops at a gas stop for a pack of cigarettes, and there, he sees her. She is just paying her cash and leaving, but she sees him as well. She walks out and gets in her car. He runs after her without paying, but her car is already moving. He gets in his car and follows her to wherever she is going.

10.I Will Follow
She has walked away, walked away. He will follow. He is a boy trying hard to be a man.

11.A Room At The Heartbreak Hotel
They arrive at another hotel, a broken down place in a bad part of town. He follows her to room and manages to stick his foot in the doorway before the door closes. There they talk. She tells him that she needs more time, because she doesn't think he 'gets' it yet. He explains all that he's been through in the past few months, and what he did, but how it made everything so clear to him about what he wanted and about why she left.

12.Where The Streets Have No Name
He makes grand gestures, saying he wants to tear down the walls that were between them, and that if she'll let him, he'll be the guy she wants, show her a place high on a desert plain.

13.Ultraviolet(Light My Way)
Seeing that she isn't yet convinced with his big gestures, he breaks down and bears his soul to her. He tells her he feels like trash but she makes him feel clean. He tells her that he remembers they could sleep on stones and that was all they needed. He tells her that when he was messed up these past few months, and there were all of those voices in his head(opera in his head), her love was a lightbulb over his bed. He needs her to light his way.

14.All I Want Is You
He then proceeds to tell her that material possessions mean nothing, and that they should put all the promises they ever made or broke to each other in the past behind them, and start over. He tells her that all he wants is her. Finally, after all this soul-baring, she is visibly touched enough to hug him, and she agrees to go home with him.

15.A Man And A Woman
As he lies with her in their own bed in their own home that night, he holds her tight, thinking how can he hurt when he's holding her. He vows to himself that he will never risk losing their love to find romance ever again. He doesn't know if he understands the mysterious distance between a man and a woman yet, but he knows he's closer now than he was before, and that for this love, he will keep trying.

16.Beautiful Day
The next morning is a beautiful one as they wake up next to each other. They're not close to being on smooth waters yet, but at least now they're both fully commited to getting to that point, and that makes him feel like he has everything in the world. Whatever he doesn't have, he doesn't need it now as long as he has her. Whatever he doesn't know he can feel it somehow when he is with her.

17.One Step Closer
The finale. Both he and his wife are one step closer to understanding what this life is about.

 

[Zoots]

Awesome!!! I like yours even better than mine. I was trying hard to fit I Still Haven't Found somewhere in my story but couldn't. This excercise requires some thinking but it's sooo satisfying after you're done. Now you're ready to release your rock opera.

 

[80sU2isBest]

Concept albums are for amateurs. Album making 101 in other words. JT and UF are the closest U2 has dived into this idea. Both of those strive for a continuous mood evolution that crystalizes something conceptual. AB is not a concept album. It has a storyline running through it, but never succumbs to sacrificing song quality in order to enhance mood. It's harder to make albums where every song is high quality and distincitive in its' own way yet somehow tied together in a subtle way that's not so obvious. Concept albums make things too obvious in general.

Maybe you've never heard any good concept albums. Do the names Savatage and Trans-siberian Orchestra ring any bells?

 

[Zoots]

I'm really surprised that this thread is not as popular as I thought it would be. Oh well, namkcuR gets it.

 

[80sU2isBest]

I'm really surprised that this thread is not as popular as I thought it would be. Oh well, namkcuR gets it.

Or maybe you 2 are the only ones creative enough to put one together in such a short time.

I've tried before to put a U2 concept album together, and I jsut can't make a good one. That's very strange, because I've written musicals before.

 

[Zoots]

Or maybe you 2 are the only ones creative enough to put one together in such a short time.

I've tried before to put a U2 concept album together, and I jsut can't make a good one. That's very strange, because I've written musicals before.

You've written musicals? with complete storyline and songs and all? That's great. Did you do anything with them?

 

[The_One1932]

Disc 1- Achtung Baby- The wandered begins his quest (in dreams begin responsibilities)
Disc 2- HTDAAB- the hangover and regret (how to kneel)
Disc 3- Zooropa- the questions left unanswered (what do u want?)
Disc 4- PoP-finally disillusioned, tired and unsure of himself and they hype that follows... just like everyone else (jesus, jesus help me, i'm alone in this world and a fucked up world it is too).

 

[Zoots]

Disc 1- Achtung Baby- The wandered begins his quest (in dreams begin responsibilities)
Disc 2- HTDAAB- the hangover and regret (how to kneel)
Disc 3- Zooropa- the questions left unanswered (what do u want?)
Disc 4- PoP-finally disillusioned, tired and unsure of himself and they hype that follows... just like everyone else (jesus, jesus help me, i'm alone in this world and a fucked up world it is too).

Hmm... there are too many upbeat songs on HTDAAB to say that it's about regret, in my opinion. Otherwise yeah... Achtung is adventurous, Zooropa is puzzling and Pop is depressing..... (but Pop also rocks, that's why I love it)

 

[vivacolombia]

Pop

 

[Layton]

Maybe you've never heard any good concept albums. Do the names Savatage and Trans-siberian Orchestra ring any bells?

You're right, those names don't ring a bell. What genre of music do those names belong to? Until proven otherwise, I stand by what I said. Concept albums are for amateurs. Particularly when rock/pop artists attempt them.

 

[The_One1932]

Hmm... there are too many upbeat songs on HTDAAB to say that it's about regret, in my opinion. Otherwise yeah... Achtung is adventurous, Zooropa is puzzling and Pop is depressing..... (but Pop also rocks, that's why I love it)

htdaab is upbeat, but i think much of the lyrics are shrouded in dadaism. vertigo is dark (temptation of jesus in teh garden of getsemeny sp?) sometimes is not upbeat, love and peace is not upbeat, man is just awful (sorry, it really is the worst song u2 have ever done and doesn't work with the album), crumbs from your table is upbeat but with an underlying anger maybe (with a mouth full of teeth you ate all your friends, and your broke every heart thinking every heart mends... totaly about bush in my opinion), one step closer to knowing is pretty somber and yahweh is hopeful but again full of regret and our hero is kneeling once again "all this pain before the child."

I totally understand what you are saying though, not disagreeing with you, but just stating my opinion.

 

[80sU2isBest]

You're right, those names don't ring a bell. What genre of music do those names belong to? Until proven otherwise, I stand by what I said. Concept albums are for amateurs. Particularly when rock/pop artists attempt them.

Savatage is a prog metal band that has been around for years. Almost every album they've ever done has been a concept albu.

TSO is comprised of Savatage members and others. They are metal/classical and have done 2 highly successful concept Christmas albums and a Beethoven concept album. They do a highly successful Christmas tour every year. Their stories/lyrics and music are always very good. Listen to them on I-tunes. Great stuff.

 

[80sU2isBest]

You've written musicals? with complete storyline and songs and all? That's great. Did you do anything with them?

I've written 3 musicals, one based on my own story and 2 based on famous books. None have been performed. I wrote the last one in 1997, I think. In retrospect, I am not as pleased with 2 of them as I was when I originally wrote them - the lyrics and "script" are okay, but the music is really lacking. But the 3rd one, based on the book "A Little Princess", still pleases me, and I think has potential to be performed somewhere.