SOE 22 - 2018 it is... (it isn't)

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Agree on both counts.

SOI felt much more natural to me in the songwriting and delivery than he's been since POP. Even in a song like Volcano that might have some questionable lines, everything flows well, the music is killer and Bono's voice sounds early 80's esque top notch. The album as a whole is still not at the 90's level songwriting, but a definite improvement.



I think if there is anything that everyone can agree on is that Edge needs to stretch and give us much more than he has for these past 4 albums. He has had a moment here or there, but it used to be a majority of the songs that he would give us quality stuff.



Yep. Both yours and the quoted post are spot on, imo.
 
Agree on both counts.
SOI felt much more natural to me in the songwriting and delivery than he's been since POP. Even in a song like Volcano that might have some questionable lines, everything flows well, the music is killer and Bono's voice sounds early 80's esque top notch. The album as a whole is still not at the 90's level songwriting, but a definite improvement.

I think if there is anything that everyone can agree on is that Edge needs to stretch and give us much more than he has for these past 4 albums. He has had a moment here or there, but it used to be a majority of the songs that he would give us quality stuff.
Agreed.
 
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I think if there is anything that everyone can agree on is that Edge needs to stretch and give us much more than he has for these past 4 albums. He has had a moment here or there, but it used to be a majority of the songs that he would give us quality stuff.

But then people go crazy over Iris when it comes out, so...
 
Agree on both counts.
SOI felt much more natural to me in the songwriting and delivery than he's been since POP. Even in a song like Volcano that might have some questionable lines, everything flows well, the music is killer and Bono's voice sounds early 80's esque top notch. The album as a whole is still not at the 90's level songwriting, but a definite improvement.

I think if there is anything that everyone can agree on is that Edge needs to stretch and give us much more than he has for these past 4 albums. He has had a moment here or there, but it used to be a majority of the songs that he would give us quality stuff.
Not disagreeing re edge there, but can you or others here provide an example of what it sounds like when edge turns it on? I know, achtung... and I also get what you mean to the extent that there is an Edge playbook and he may have been reaching into it too much for (dis)comfort recently.
Still, I thought he was pretty good on SOI in songs like Volcano, TIWYCRMN, SLABT, RBW was just fantastic, and among the bonuses TCB was good.

Is it commonly perceived that Edge has more than four or five 'special' songs per album pre-2000s? More than that, what does a great Edge take sound like? Besides AB, which to me was one of the best performances by a lead guitarist, have we often gotten 'Edge on Fire' records?

To me the only time he seemed to be phoning it in was on HTDAAB, when the band seemed to have arrived at a collective decision to recreate their best moments from the past and Edge just adapted some pieces (BTBS= LAPOE, WTSHNN= COBL, Walk On= CFYT, etc.).
 
Not disagreeing re edge there, but can you or others here provide an example of what it sounds like when edge turns it on? I know, achtung... and I also get what you mean to the extent that there is an Edge playbook and he may have been reaching into it too much for (dis)comfort recently.
Still, I thought he was pretty good on SOI in songs like Volcano, TIWYCRMN, SLABT, RBW was just fantastic, and among the bonuses TCB was good.

Is it commonly perceived that Edge has more than four or five 'special' songs per album pre-2000s? More than that, what does a great Edge take sound like? Besides AB, which to me was one of the best performances by a lead guitarist, have we often gotten 'Edge on Fire' records?

To me the only time he seemed to be phoning it in was on HTDAAB, when the band seemed to have arrived at a collective decision to recreate their best moments from the past and Edge just adapted some pieces (BTBS= LAPOE, WTSHNN= COBL, Walk On= CFYT, etc.).

I don't know if is that he had this crazy amount of blockbuster moments on pre-2000's albums, but just that since then he seems to be more part of the background than a centerpiece.
POP for example he was insane on Disco, Mofo, gone, Please... and even on the ones that weren't full on guitar blast, he had unique sounds and textures that drew attention, like SATS, Miami, PBM, etc...

Now he seems more consistently a background player, with moments of stepping forward.
 
I think Axver's point was that, if you consider the band's comments (regarding their prior album when a new album cycle starts) since the release of HTDAAB, by their own logic they have passed that limit already.

The only critisim of HTDAAB was the sum isn't bigger than the parts, and pretty sure they didn't critisize NLOTH or SOI. Unless you count that Facebook "apology" for SOI release method Apple mistake. (which is still a pathetic reason not give the music a proper listen)
 
And maybe start making sleep a priority, find a less fake looking hairdo, and exercise more so he doesn't have to wheeze his way through Vertigo half the time.

I always laugh when he jokes about his mullet days...when you consider that it was of the time and looked better than half his do's since the 2000's.

His Vertigo tour do was WAY worse than Live Aid. Lose the weave...close cropped NLOTH / 360 is still the best bet at his age.

BAGEL TIME.

Mullet was of the time...it's still the worst haircut (not that Vertigo's far behind, to be fair). Top 3 rounded up with that one time during Popmart when he was completely (shave) bald. That reminds me...take off the hat already, Edge. Those circa 2003 pics sans the hoodie were fine.

I know...that short NLOTH/360/ E. Storm-BD video type of haircut works for him.
 
I don't know if is that he had this crazy amount of blockbuster moments on pre-2000's albums, but just that since then he seems to be more part of the background than a centerpiece.
POP for example he was insane on Disco, Mofo, gone, Please... and even on the ones that weren't full on guitar blast, he had unique sounds and textures that drew attention, like SATS, Miami, PBM, etc...

Now he seems more consistently a background player, with moments of stepping forward.
Yeah he used to be the driving force behind the songs. His stuff from Boy - AB was a sort of rhythm guitar / lead combo.

A lot of his 2000s playing seems to be subtler. Surely deliberate on his part
 
Yeah he used to be the driving force behind the songs. His stuff from Boy - AB was a sort of rhythm guitar / lead combo.

A lot of his 2000s playing seems to be subtler. Surely deliberate on his part

Yeah and he really got into that Zepplin sound. Might be a lazy comparison I guess. But it would be great to get some An Cat Dubh or Electric Co kind of songs out of him again.
 
I don't know if is that he had this crazy amount of blockbuster moments on pre-2000's albums, but just that since then he seems to be more part of the background than a centerpiece.

POP for example he was insane on Disco, Mofo, gone, Please... and even on the ones that weren't full on guitar blast, he had unique sounds and textures that drew attention, like SATS, Miami, PBM, etc...



Now he seems more consistently a background player, with moments of stepping forward.



Yep. One thing I always looked forward to, probably the most was what sound would Edge have on each track?

On the 80s records he seemed to find a unique sound and that stuck throughout the album. Even if he was playing his standard ring those bells style, it was layered so much it sounded unique.

The 90s he took it to a whole new level. AB and Pop each guitar track was so different, yet he wasn't skin anything technically challenging. The Fly, Disco, Please (especially the latter half) were all out there.

ATYCLB still felt to me like he was exploring the guitar but without the crazy effects.

After that album he's just been a generic chords guy with the except of a few songs, and those songs he was basically recapturing a sound from the past.

Still love him and take his boring style over most, but he's such a interesting dude and love to see that come out in his sound again
 
To me the only time he seemed to be phoning it in was on HTDAAB, when the band seemed to have arrived at a collective decision to recreate their best moments from the past and Edge just adapted some pieces (BTBS= LAPOE, WTSHNN= COBL, Walk On= CFYT, etc.).

Crumbs From Your Table's chorus shares a similar chord progression to Walk On's outro. That's about it though. Not really uncommon for bands to do that, since there's only so many places you can go.

Miracle Drug also uses the D-A-Bm-G progression made famous in With or Without You.
 
Yep. One thing I always looked forward to, probably the most was what sound would Edge have on each track?

On the 80s records he seemed to find a unique sound and that stuck throughout the album. Even if he was playing his standard ring those bells style, it was layered so much it sounded unique.

The 90s he took it to a whole new level. AB and Pop each guitar track was so different, yet he wasn't skin anything technically challenging. The Fly, Disco, Please (especially the latter half) were all out there.

ATYCLB still felt to me like he was exploring the guitar but without the crazy effects.

After that album he's just been a generic chords guy with the except of a few songs, and those songs he was basically recapturing a sound from the past.

Still love him and take his boring style over most, but he's such a interesting dude and love to see that come out in his sound again



Make Edge Eat Mushrooms Again
 
The only critisim of HTDAAB was the sum isn't bigger than the parts, and pretty sure they didn't critisize NLOTH or SOI. Unless you count that Facebook "apology" for SOI release method Apple mistake. (which is still a pathetic reason not give the music a proper listen)

The hell are you talking about? They've spent time this decade criticising NLOTH as an incomplete album where they compromised their vision.

Or take away his Led Zeppelin cds.

Please. I don't listen to Edge for Led Zep.
 
Yep. One thing I always looked forward to, probably the most was what sound would Edge have on each track?

On the 80s records he seemed to find a unique sound and that stuck throughout the album. Even if he was playing his standard ring those bells style, it was layered so much it sounded unique.

The 90s he took it to a whole new level. AB and Pop each guitar track was so different, yet he wasn't skin anything technically challenging. The Fly, Disco, Please (especially the latter half) were all out there.

ATYCLB still felt to me like he was exploring the guitar but without the crazy effects.

After that album he's just been a generic chords guy with the except of a few songs, and those songs he was basically recapturing a sound from the past.

Still love him and take his boring style over most, but he's such a interesting dude and love to see that come out in his sound again

Seems like what he did was decide not to repeat himself aside from the classic clean delay ("chimes" to the non-guitarists). So he would go back to his old well but only for the trademark sound.

So largely what we've ended up with is 1) overuse of the trademark sound, 2) too straightforward and bland otherwise, as that was actually some uncharted territory for him, but was stale to listeners that either loved Edge because of what made him great, effects laden tones and not clean tones or...didn't ignore Zeppelin until they were 40 years old.. 3) reticence to use inventive, beloved tones like Zooropa, etc. Mostly for desire to write classically in the RNR or pop context, to have proper chords in their proper songs.

Largely derived from beginning most everything on acoustic or piano. Rather than stumbling into a tricked up riff borne out of the effects pedal.
 
The hell are you talking about? They've spent time this decade criticising NLOTH as an incomplete album where they compromised their vision.

They've been vocal about it being a 3 part record from the start if that's what you mean.
 
Plus they started criticizing SOI's "glossy" production in 2015

Production but not the material...which is funny since it sounds by far the best (out of their output in the last 20 years).

eta : given their - read: Edge's - wishes, they'd remix/rerecord every album anyway...
 
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They've been vocal about it being a 3 part record from the start if that's what you mean.

Try harder. They have straight up discussed that they didn't fully commit to the original vision, and that backing off from what they were doing in Fez compromised the final product.

But keep writing your own weird U2 narrative that you've been posting on this forum for the better part of two decades.

Production but not the material...which is funny since it sounds by far the best (out of their output in the last 20 years).

You do realise you're not actually arguing against my original point here? With the exception of ATYCLB, they have talked down the preceding album when promoting a new release. That can mean criticising the individual songs, the production, whether it met their original vision, etc. A basic promotional technique now seems to be highlighting a flaw or shortcoming of the past album in order to boost the new release.

Except that come 2026 and the release of Songs of Walking Frames, they'll be suggesting Songs of Experience had too many guitars or too few guitars or just the right amount of guitars mixed badly, or not enough onions on the cover...
 
You do realise you're not actually arguing against my original point here? With the exception of ATYCLB, they have talked down the preceding album when promoting a new release. That can mean criticising the individual songs, the production, whether it met their original vision, etc. A basic promotional technique now seems to be highlighting a flaw or shortcoming of the past album in order to boost the new release.

Except that come 2026 and the release of Songs of Walking Frames, they'll be suggesting Songs of Experience had too many guitars or too few guitars or just the right amount of guitars mixed badly, or not enough onions on the cover...

I've mentioned it before, but there are a lot of other bands that do the exact same thing. It's not just U2 or this band or that. Even then, it makes sense that someone will hype up a new release for the simple reason that they're excited about it. It's new-ish songs they've written and likely ones they feel strongly about because of it.

Then as time goes along, you listen back and think about how maybe this decision could have been different or how that one guitar doesn't sound right now, etc. One thing to keep in mind is that musicians are not going to hear songs the exact same way we do. Heck, when I write songs myself, I don't hear them from the point of view of a random listener. I think of it as something I'm molding and constantly make decisions as to whether the parts are all correct or not. There are probably artists out there who don't mind just creating something, complete work on it fairly quickly and then throwing it out there. But Edge or whoever gets blamed certainly isn't the only guy that takes their time with things, or says that this could've been better or not.

George Martin once had a quote that sort of summed this up nicely re: a conversation with John Lennon:

It’s a funny thing, John said this to me originally when we were spending an evening together and it shook me to the core when we were talking about old things and he said, ‘I’d love to do everything again.’ To me that was just a horror. And I said, “John, you can’t really mean it. Even Strawberry Fields? And he said, “Especially Strawberry Fields!” I thought, oh s**t, all the effort that went into that. We worked very hard on that trying to capture something that was nebulous.

So it's not being a bad person or wanting to sell a new album... from what it seems, it's just being an actual human being.
 
I think atyclb and achtung baby might be the only U2 albums that Bono likes.

I hate how he views Zooropa and Pop as an unfortunate diversion. Those 2 are both in my top 5 U2 albums.
 
I've mentioned it before, but there are a lot of other bands that do the exact same thing. It's not just U2 or this band or that. Even then, it makes sense that someone will hype up a new release for the simple reason that they're excited about it. It's new-ish songs they've written and likely ones they feel strongly about because of it.

Then as time goes along, you listen back and think about how maybe this decision could have been different or how that one guitar doesn't sound right now, etc. One thing to keep in mind is that musicians are not going to hear songs the exact same way we do. Heck, when I write songs myself, I don't hear them from the point of view of a random listener. I think of it as something I'm molding and constantly make decisions as to whether the parts are all correct or not. There are probably artists out there who don't mind just creating something, complete work on it fairly quickly and then throwing it out there. But Edge or whoever gets blamed certainly isn't the only guy that takes their time with things, or says that this could've been better or not.

George Martin once had a quote that sort of summed this up nicely re: a conversation with John Lennon:

It’s a funny thing, John said this to me originally when we were spending an evening together and it shook me to the core when we were talking about old things and he said, ‘I’d love to do everything again.’ To me that was just a horror. And I said, “John, you can’t really mean it. Even Strawberry Fields? And he said, “Especially Strawberry Fields!” I thought, oh s**t, all the effort that went into that. We worked very hard on that trying to capture something that was nebulous.

So it's not being a bad person or wanting to sell a new album... from what it seems, it's just being an actual human being.

I get where you're coming from, but I sense a difference in how U2 post-Pop have treated their immediately previous work compared to how they did in their first couple of decades. Of course October always got some flak, and Edge wants another go at everything. I know that feeling, I've published a bunch of stuff and don't like to read over it because all I can see is how to improve it. But now it feels like the old album has to be talked of as something necessarily lesser than the new one - not just that the band have stepped up, that they can now realise their vision better or have honed their craft further, but that there was something "wrong" with what they did last.

It's one thing to see how you might make something better, it's another to suggest there was some deeper, even intrinsic, failing. And, to be honest, I think one big reason U2 have identified these failings is because of their quest for sales as a measure of relevance. Pop, NLOTH, and SOI didn't set global charts on fire
(here comes somebody with a list of how many countries they went #1; you know what I mean, it didn't meet U2's lofty expectations, benchmarked by, most recently, ATYCLB)
and HTDAAB got remembered for one song rather than the album. But THIS ONE WILL! IT REALLY WILL! Because it rights the wrongs of the last album and cracks that mystical formula for relevance! Except until it's the old album and they have to sell another record. Only ATYCLB seems exempt from criticism and proposed revision by the band, and that's because of how damn Relevant™ it was.
 
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