SOE 35 - it’s finally here, let the debate on how good/bad it is begin!

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I missed the leak and now its gone :(

Are there any more uploads of it?

CD leak + bonus tracks

Edit - Found it in the request thread.

Thanks
 
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The Little Things That Give You Away is the best ballad U2 have written in years since Kite in my opinion.

Sadly, this is one song that’s not doing anything for me. And I really really wanted to like this one because I really liked the live version. And than I heard it in the poor quality leak and thought maybe it’s just the quality, but now hearing it in full quality, still nothing. I hope my feelings change with more listens. Similar thing happened to me with every breaking wave (actually I originally liked this one) but then did nothing for me. I am certainly the minority on both the things and ebw.
 
I hope all U2 fans will go out on Friday and buy this album, physically, or digitally....they deserve a #1 album with this one - I am so looking forward to seeing these songs live.
 
I hope all U2 fans will go out on Friday and buy this album, physically, or digitally....they deserve a #1 album with this one - I am so looking forward to seeing these songs live.

I'm totally buying it on friday
 
Sadly, this is one song that’s not doing anything for me. And I really really wanted to like this one because I really liked the live version. And than I heard it in the poor quality leak and thought maybe it’s just the quality, but now hearing it in full quality, still nothing. I hope my feelings change with more listens. Similar thing happened to me with every breaking wave (actually I originally liked this one) but then did nothing for me. I am certainly the minority on both the things and ebw.

I thought Every Breaking Wave was a great song and one of the top 3 on SOI but for some reason it didn't quite get up there with songs like One, Kite, Walk On, With Or Without You...but I like the atmosphere and lyrics on The Little Things....I am glad that Bono moved away for the most part from rhyming for the sake of it on this album and put words where they belong.
 
You see, I think this is a silly comment. All of the songs you mention are the worst on their albums (subjectively - except Daddy’s Gonna Pay, as you already mentioned Some Days). But they all have a purpose and link to the album as a whole.

Masterpieces don’t come along easily, and something has to be the worst on an album. With the songs you’ve mentioned, they may not be up to the incredibly high standards of the rest of those albums, but they at least seem to stem from the tone of the album.

Contrast this to, say, SUC, and there is a real disparity. Simplistic music, inane lyrics, and totally unsuitable for the rest of the album. I think it is fairer to criticise the band for latter-day ‘laziness’ of a song like that, than creative missteps like Red Light, Elvis Presley & America, Trip Through Your Wires and Some Days Are Better Than Others.

U2 aren’t perfect - but I’m not going to hold how close they have come to perfection on a regular basis over a 40 year career against them, certainly not in the case of a handful of not-great songs.

I’d take them over complacency any day.
Very well said. The thing that keeps me coming back to this band is that they have never gotten complacent. And of all the bands still out there, they are the ones who can be excused if they did get complacent
 
I thought Every Breaking Wave was a great song and one of the top 3 on SOI but for some reason it didn't quite get up there with songs like One, Kite, Walk On, With Or Without You...
EBW is a great song, but the recording feels so stiff and lifeless. I wish it had the same easy energy of the tracks on SOE.
 
I’m justified for being disgusted with American Soul, Joey Ramone, etc, when they pull out songs like this (that was poorly put considering the aforementioned song is on this album). This is probably their best album since Pop.

Its about fucking time
With you on this. The quality of this album doesn't excuse some of their appalling attempts at relevance. But nor is it fair their clunkers blinker us fans to what they do well.
This is a very good album.
 
For a band that is so good and who generally know how to tell the difference between good songs from the bad ones, I don't know why they do this. They have done it right throughout their career as well. See Red Light, Elvis Presley, Trip Through Your Wires, Some Days, Daddy's Gonna Pay etc. Achtung Baby and Boy are probably the only two albums of theirs that does not have any clunkers on them. It's as though they deliberately go out to sabotage their own work for whatever unknown reason.
I get your point. But if we break down your list of songs, the bulk of them are attempts at something different, at breaking out of their mold. I tend to not mind that.
What really nuts me is when they promote lame cliche dog shit as if it's some piece of inspired rock and roll god-jizz. I'm think Stand Up, Boots, American Soul.
I'd much rather have partially incomplete pieces like Boomerang or Elvis Presley or Soon than that shit.

But like someone else said, every album has to have its worst track.

How are you feeling about this album so far akaan?
 
EBW is a great song, but the recording feels so stiff and lifeless. I wish it had the same easy energy of the tracks on SOE.

Agreed. Acoustic significantly better, but I wish we'd heard a better version of that original idea. Still not sure about Tedder's songwriting contributions either, myself.

Genuinely interested to see the song-by-song production credits for SOE. TBT's issues remind me a lot of EBW's (stiff lifelessness, as you've said), and Tedder was involved there too. But I suspect Tedder will have been involved in one of the many great SOE songs (as he was with SOI's "Iris," which I do like), and I'll have to decide what to make of that.
 
Although I said The Best Thing is weakest, I dont dislike the song. Love the Edge bridge (sounds like a Samsung product). I will eventually swap in the acoustic version at number three and that will make the album's flow immeasurably better
 
Not to go on and on about Love is Bigger, but damn that's one hell of a song. For those of us dads with daughters, it's hard not to listen to without getting emotional. And which U2 songs have choruses that reach higher heights than this one? It's an extremely short list.

These lyrics... :drool:

The door is open to go through
If I could I would come too
But the path is made by you
As you're walking start singing and stop talking

Oh, if I can hear myself when I say
Oh, love is bigger than anything in it's way

So young to be the words of your own song
I know the rage in you is strong
Write a world where we can belong
To each other and sing it like no other

Oh, if I can hear myself when I say
Oh, love is bigger than anything in it's way

If the moonlight caught you crying on Killiney Bay
Oh sing your song
Let your song be sung
If you listen you can hear the silence say
When you think you're done
You've just begun

Love is bigger than anything in it's way
Love is bigger than anything in it's way
Love is bigger than anything in it's way



Thought it was to his so sons?
 
Although I said The Best Thing is weakest, I dont dislike the song. Love the Edge bridge (sounds like a Samsung product). I will eventually swap in the acoustic version at number three and that will make the album's flow immeasurably better
Ha! Exact same thoughts here, including the acoustic swap. It's really a pretty bland song but the Edge bit is genuinely good.
I suspect I wouldn't feel as much apathy towards this song if it wasn't the lead single and was therefore produced with more cohesion. It just feels like they took a decent little pop song and tried to squeeze more out of it than it had to give.
 
I get your point. But if we break down your list of songs, the bulk of them are attempts at something different, at breaking out of their mold. I tend to not mind that.
What really nuts me is when they promote lame cliche dog shit as if it's some piece of inspired rock and roll god-jizz. I'm think Stand Up, Boots, American Soul.
I'd much rather have partially incomplete pieces like Boomerang or Elvis Presley or Soon than that shit.

But like someone else said, every album has to have its worst track.

How are you feeling about this album so far akaan?

rock and roll god-jizz... soon to be bottled by Alex Jones
 
Ha! Exact same thoughts here, including the acoustic swap. It's really a pretty bland song but the Edge bit is genuinely good.
I suspect I wouldn't feel as much apathy towards this song if it wasn't the lead single and was therefore produced with more cohesion. It just feels like they took a decent little pop song and tried to squeeze more out of it than it had to give.

I don't know what I am waiting for actually. Maybe it's a show of loyalty to the band that I am sticking with the tracklisting and versions they gave us for at least a week.

And I usually try not to let the fact that they released it as a single colour my view of the song (Boots told me that they are a little clueless in that regard). But you are spot on about it being produced differently because it was the first single, never thought about it that way, but it makes sense.

It is a decent pop song, but doesn't have that extra thing. I kinda thought that when we heard the Kygo thing more than a year ago, so expectations were low. For the record, the U2 v Kygo version is the worst one to me because it doesn't have that beautiful Edge part.
 
I get your point. But if we break down your list of songs, the bulk of them are attempts at something different, at breaking out of their mold. I tend to not mind that.
What really nuts me is when they promote lame cliche dog shit as if it's some piece of inspired rock and roll god-jizz. I'm think Stand Up, Boots, American Soul.

That's a fair point. They do attempt to be something different. This is particularly true of the two Zooropa songs mentioned.

Believe it or not mate, I haven't heard it yet. Woke up at 3.30 am, downloaded the HQ leak but decided not to listen to it as I had work in the morning and so I went back to sleep. Just got back from work and have decided to hold out till Friday. The pre album release anticipation and excitement is almost as much fun as listening to the album imo.
 
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