SOE- 27: And SOE it Begins

[Rachel D.]

I'm definitely an apologist. There's maybe 3-4 U2 songs I don't like.

I'm the same, there are a handful of songs that I just can't stand, but I can find something to like in most of the rest.

The thing with U2 albums is that they're growers. You can't just listen to them one time and make a judgement call based on one listen, in my opinion. They aren't a band for impatient people (as we know all too well) and I think some songs need a chance to "click" before being dismissed as garbage. I didn't like SOI on first listen, but now I keep going back to it three years later; some people would have listened one time, said "that's crap!" and never given it another chance.

 

[hasin73]

SOI has become one of my favorite albums, right up there with their best (Achtung Baby will always be #1) and that actually surprised me. I had lost some faith after No Line even though I do like quite a few songs on it but SOI went a long way toward restoring the magic of U2 for me. Iris is one of the most touching and beautiful songs they've ever written and the Troubles is an incredible, moving and graceful closer. I even like the Miracle quite a lot! And the first few songs from SOE are very promising, especially the Little Things. So it's a great time to be a U2 fan for me.

My exact feelings

 

[hasin73]

I tried to "get" Radiohead but I just don't, sorry. Too pretentious or something.

 

[TinKnight]

I'm the same, there are a handful of songs that I just can't stand, but I can find something to like in most of the rest.

The thing with U2 albums is that they're growers. You can't just listen to them one time and make a judgement call based on one listen, in my opinion. They aren't a band for impatient people (as we know all too well) and I think some songs need a chance to "click" before being dismissed as garbage. I didn't like SOI on first listen, but now I keep going back to it three years later; some people would have listened one time, said "that's crap!" and never given it another chance.

Yep yep yep.

I'm still discovering NLOTH and the Unforgettable Fire. Every time I listen, I get more and more.

 

[lovewontletmego]

That Kygo remix tho

Against all better judgement, now that I've heard a full, clean version of the Kygo remix, I lurves it. Lurves.

 

[pacemaker]

I think that U2's output from War through Pop is one of the greatest runs in music history. Boy is an incredible debut album, and October is great, if a bit uneven.

Pop is the album that made me U2 fan, so the lead up to ATYCLB was incredibly exciting for me (first album release as a fan!), and that period was super cool... but it didn't take long for ATYCLB's charms to start to fade for me. Ditto HTDAAB - exciting at first, but ultimately didn't really stick with me. NLOTH had so much potential, it seemed, and it didn't quiiiiite deliver although I do find myself drawn to most of the songs on that album way more than the prior two 2000s albums (but I will always be firm in saying that SUC is the worst song they've ever written).

I'm excited for SOE because I didn't think U2 had an album as well written, sequenced and paced as SOI and like many others in this thread, was really pleasantly surprised by it. SOI might even be 5th in my top 5 albums of theirs.

I love U2, but I am no U2-apologist. On the flip side of that, it also really surprises me how some posters on here have such misplaced vitriol for everything the band does these days.

 

[superchuk5]

I think if you pay to see them live, you are a fan. You can be a fan if you can't see them live, but it would be difficult to justify not being a fan if you shell out for their concerts.

 

[The_acrobat]

Yep yep yep.

I'm still discovering NLOTH and the Unforgettable Fire. Every time I listen, I get more and more.

Definitely THIS! NLOTH took awhile for me to come around to. I have friends who are also U2 fans that never came around to it, they just look at it as one big, boring blob.

I bought UF when I was a teenager in about 1995 or 96. I really didn't "GET" that album until many years later, 2009, when I bought the reissue. Listening to it all as one unit, with the 10 album tracks, all the b-sides, the discarded stuff like "Yoshino Blossom" and "Disappearing Act", with Edge's comments in the liner notes, really brought me around to that album in a fantastic way. Both are growers, and both are much more than they first appear to be.

I supposer that for me, the opposite occurred with HTDAAB. The songs just are what they are, they're immediate, they hit you upside the head with their accessibility, and then they quickly fade away. It was an album that was designed to be a hit album with hit songs, and that's all it is.

 

[redhill]

Definitely THIS! NLOTH took awhile for me to come around to. I have friends who are also U2 fans that never came around to it, they just look at it as one big, boring blob.

I bought UF when I was a teenager in about 1995 or 96. I really didn't "GET" that album until many years later, 2009, when I bought the reissue. Listening to it all as one unit, with the 10 album tracks, all the b-sides, the discarded stuff like "Yoshino Blossom" and "Disappearing Act", with Edge's comments in the liner notes, really brought me around to that album in a fantastic way. Both are growers, and both are much more than they first appear to be.

I supposer that for me, the opposite occurred with HTDAAB. The songs just are what they are, they're immediate, they hit you upside the head with their accessibility, and then they quickly fade away. It was an album that was designed to be a hit album with hit songs, and that's all it is.

Completely agree with your comparisons!

I still have to say that UF is a markedly superior album, though...

 

[mikal]

I think that U2's output from War through Pop is one of the greatest runs in music history. Boy is an incredible debut album, and October is great, if a bit uneven.

Pop is the album that made me U2 fan, so the lead up to ATYCLB was incredibly exciting for me (first album release as a fan!), and that period was super cool... but it didn't take long for ATYCLB's charms to start to fade for me. Ditto HTDAAB - exciting at first, but ultimately didn't really stick with me. NLOTH had so much potential, it seemed, and it didn't quiiiiite deliver although I do find myself drawn to most of the songs on that album way more than the prior two 2000s albums (but I will always be firm in saying that SUC is the worst song they've ever written).

I'm excited for SOE because I didn't think U2 had an album as well written, sequenced and paced as SOI and like many others in this thread, was really pleasantly surprised by it. SOI might even be 5th in my top 5 albums of theirs.

I love U2, but I am no U2-apologist. On the flip side of that, it also really surprises me how some posters on here have such misplaced vitriol for everything the band does these days.

Fantastic post. You and I would get along very well.

 

[corianderstem]

What pacemaker said. (Get out of my brain.)

 

[Registered Dude]

Pacemaker for Prez

 

[TinKnight]

What pacemaker said. (Get out of my brain.)

Is this confirmed for SOE?

 

[KUEFC09U2]

So......in all seriousness will this be out this year?

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

No. They decided to postpone so they could record more songs about Kim Jong Un.

 

[popacrobat]

So......in all seriousness will this be out this year?

i cannot figure out why you're panicking that it won't be out this year.

 

[KUEFC09U2]

i cannot figure out why you're panicking that it won't be out this year.

Because it's U2?

 

[mikal]

2018 it is.

 

[popacrobat]

Because it's U2?

 

[KUEFC09U2]

To be fair I am half joking

 

[CosmoKramer]

Confirmed rumor*- album delayed until 2018

*rumor started and confirmed by Cosmo based off of no information at all

 

[TinKnight]

delayed to have more songs about apple watches

 

[corianderstem]

Knock it off.

 

[prbiker15]

2017 it is....

...Right?

 

[BEAL]

If the band is silent after TJT tour, then maybe worry a little.

But I imagine once this tour is over they're going to hit the promo tour / work pretty hard.

Except for Larry.

 

[Hollow Island]

i hope nobody remembers the "We're delaying our album because of Trump" rationale U2 gave

 

[TinKnight]

breaking: U2 releasing new album "the future needs a big kiss"

 

[Reggie Thee Dog]

breaking: U2 releasing new album "the future needs a big kiss"

Better pucker up...

 

[BoyOnTheHorizon]

I was just watching The Blackout video....
We can't deny they sound revingorated since SOI. And this particular video brings me back to POP. After all that talk about POP sounding incredible, provisional title Expect Nothing But the Best, new sounds, etc... i think The Blackout sound exactly how i thought POP would sound at that time. Pulsating vibe, industrial rock and fresh and youngish at the same time. A break from AB, less romatinc but energetic and strong.
Oh yeah, i am an old fan...

 

[superchuk5]

delayed to have more songs about apple watches

U2 locks every iPhone X, and they can only be unlocked one of two ways:

1. Bono's face
2. Listen to Songs of Experience