Songs of Ascent - Part IV

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I think it's just a Bono and Edge session as a two-week preparation for the band sessions.

They are also the two most workaholic members of U2 (particularly the edge), so it's not surprising.
 
no mention of where adam and larry are could just be because they on;y interviews B and E. L and A may well be recording/re-recording existing ideas while B and E search for that hit single.

This is all excellent news.
 
Remember how proud The Edge is of that crappy "Get On Your Boots" riff in "It Might Get Loud"; the sorry guy really thinks he has a hit on his hands that he plays it 4 times; those two alone is a dangerous, cowardly combo. I'd rather Eno join in with them from the start.

"cowardly" is more than a little harsh.

use your head. Bono and Edge are the most ambitious members of this band
 
those two alone is a dangerous, cowardly combo. I'd rather Eno join in with them from the start.

:doh:

Those two alone have written the beginnings of some of U2's greatest songs. This whole "cowardly" BS doesn't even make sense. In fact some would say relying on an outside source to help you write would be the "cowardly" route, but even that ignorance doesn't get posted too much anymore...
 
You do know that this is how U2 writes every single album.

It's how U2 came up with the beginnings of AB, Bono and Edge went off to discover new sounds/songs, then they meet up with Larry and Adam to discuss what they have.

Bono and Edge are as far out there as possible. It's Larry and Adam that would prefer to keep things simple.
 
Exciting to see some more potential songs in the issue of Mojo in thread III, I think they have lots of candidates. Winter I'm guessing would not be on there bc wouldn't it be on the Brothers soundtrack??
 
i feel like they go to the south of France a lot after every tour with the hopes of doing an album and then it's like 4 years later.

Yeah, go figure that they would get distracted from the boring minutia of making a new album in the south of France...

They did the whole "bleak" thing with East Germany/Berlin for the Achtung sessions and while it produced an awesome album, the process was pretty terrible and almost split up the band if the legends are true...

Perhaps they need something in between - not quite a paradise but not a gulag either.... :hmm:
 
Good news. :hyper:

I really hope that if they don't finish it in time they'll bring out an EP like some others have said.
 
didn't Mudfeld say earlier this year that he thought NLOTH was a really weak album, and then later admitted that he never actually listened to the whole thing? :lol:
 
Anything's possible.

When Zooropa was recorded quickly i think that U2 were just feeling the vibes. When you're totally inspired and in the zone, things happen quickly. So, if U2 are in the zone artistically, then there's no reason why 6 months isn't enough time to put out an album. Hell, in the past artists put out outstanding pieces of work two times in a year. If U2 are going to mull over what they have and overthink and overthink and compromise and compromise like they've been proven to do for the past 2 albums, then i can't really say i'm confident, in fact shooting for next November would seem overly optimistic in that scenario.

I'm hoping they find (or are in) the zone and run with their ideas. But if their objective is to produce even more radio accesible tunes to make up for the latest ones they're unhappy with, then God help us.

These are my feelings exactly. If they go with the SOA idea, which I pray that they will, then we will have an album by June for sure. A whole new album not connected with NLOTH, that could take years....
I'm still hopeful for a spring release of SOA. I think it's time Edge and Bono just took their own counsel, fuck what the rhythm section thinks.
 
:hyper: Different 360 shows.

:drool: Songwriting in France

:ohmy: Booking a studio in Vancouver

:up: Enlisting Eno

SOA is coming in 2010, I think.
 
I'm not usually in this position, so I hope it gives me some added protection from flaming, but I'm not really seeing this as great news. Mixed at best.

First, implicit in that blurb is that U2 is chickening out of releasing SOA, perhaps in ANY form. Considering what we've heard described (and in the Kingdom clip), this is significant blow. Some or all of the band members are unsure about it, and I think that--at best--we'll get the less experimental/different/adventurous stuff from this (i.e. Every Breaking Wave).

Second, if they're starting from scratch, I have SERIOUS doubts about their ability to get an album written, recorded, and released in one year, let alone 6 months.

I truly hate to be a naysayer, but even with U2 excited about writing and recording, this is not looking good for getting a new album soon. I wish they had the confidence to release SOA more or less as it is (or with some moderate level of finishing work), radio be damned.
 
fuck you bram! :wink:

no, in a way, i agree with you. i would have felt a lot better if the article had said that the band was in the studio right now putting the final touches on SOA.

i still think that they're going to use about 75% of the NLOTH sessions and add about 25% new stuff. i think some of the new stuff might even be mixed into some of the songs that already exist.....so i wouldn't be surprised if some of the songwriting Bono and Edge are doing right now is actually adding new parts to exixting songs.
 
Unfortunately, I feel the same way Bram does.
What I'm afraid is if that these new 25% of new songs are the usual thing that U2 has been doing on the last albums...

I mean... on HTDAAB, those songs could not be the best ever and not enough, but it was pretty cohesive. Then, U2 brought "A Man And A Woman" (that oesn't have anything to do with the rest of the songs) or "Miracle Drug" (we know it was one of the last songs to be written then) that is not a very interesting song and both scream for radio hits.
On NLOTH we have similar issue. Fez brought landscapes and tunes like "Unknown Caller", "Moment Of Surrender", the title track and middle-eastern sounds as we all could see/ear in the early videos/clips. By the end of the sessions, U2 turned it down and decided to bring Lillywhite again, make some of the songs more "friendly/accessible" and broke cohesion again with stuff like "Stand Up Comedy" (why wasn't it kept as an eastern/alternative sound?).

I believe that what was leftover from NLOTH (due to "Kingdom", "Winter" the descriptions of EBW and the entire SOA) might be less acessible, less radio-friendly and even more atmospheric than NLOTH already was. Due to NLOTH's radio fiasco, I'm afraid that U2's gonna hide SOA (or most of it) in the pocket and bring something that not even the general public is not interested anymore.
 
Unfortunately, I feel the same way Bram does.
What I'm afraid is if that these new 25% of new songs are the usual thing that U2 has been doing on the last albums...

I mean... on HTDAAB, those songs could not be the best ever and not enough, but it was pretty cohesive. Then, U2 brought "A Man And A Woman" (that oesn't have anything to do with the rest of the songs) or "Miracle Drug" (we know it was one of the last songs to be written then) that is not a very interesting song and both scream for radio hits.
On NLOTH we have similar issue. Fez brought landscapes and tunes like "Unknown Caller", "Moment Of Surrender", the title track and middle-eastern sounds as we all could see/ear in the early videos/clips. By the end of the sessions, U2 turned it down and decided to bring Lillywhite again, make some of the songs more "friendly/accessible" and broke cohesion again with stuff like "Stand Up Comedy" (why wasn't it kept as an eastern/alternative sound?).

I believe that what was leftover from NLOTH (due to "Kingdom", "Winter" the descriptions of EBW and the entire SOA) might be less acessible, less radio-friendly and even more atmospheric than NLOTH already was. Due to NLOTH's radio fiasco, I'm afraid that U2's gonna hide SOA (or most of it) in the pocket and bring something that not even the general public is not interested anymore.

unfortunately, none of us really know what's going through their heads. i do still believe that the band intends to get an album out for the beginning of the 2010 tour. if they didn't, they would be spending time with their families, sipping on martini's. :wink:
 
Unfortunately, I feel the same way Bram does.
What I'm afraid is if that these new 25% of new songs are the usual thing that U2 has been doing on the last albums...

I mean... on HTDAAB, those songs could not be the best ever and not enough, but it was pretty cohesive. Then, U2 brought "A Man And A Woman" (that oesn't have anything to do with the rest of the songs) or "Miracle Drug" (we know it was one of the last songs to be written then) that is not a very interesting song and both scream for radio hits.
On NLOTH we have similar issue. Fez brought landscapes and tunes like "Unknown Caller", "Moment Of Surrender", the title track and middle-eastern sounds as we all could see/ear in the early videos/clips. By the end of the sessions, U2 turned it down and decided to bring Lillywhite again, make some of the songs more "friendly/accessible" and broke cohesion again with stuff like "Stand Up Comedy" (why wasn't it kept as an eastern/alternative sound?).

I believe that what was leftover from NLOTH (due to "Kingdom", "Winter" the descriptions of EBW and the entire SOA) might be less acessible, less radio-friendly and even more atmospheric than NLOTH already was. Due to NLOTH's radio fiasco, I'm afraid that U2's gonna hide SOA (or most of it) in the pocket and bring something that not even the general public is not interested anymore.


Which is a F*CKING SHAME.
 
i think bono and co. are on the beaches of Nice slamming back champagne. they will realize this is a much better life than being on the road or in a stuffy studio.
 
I'm not usually in this position, so I hope it gives me some added protection from flaming, but I'm not really seeing this as great news. Mixed at best.

First, implicit in that blurb is that U2 is chickening out of releasing SOA, perhaps in ANY form. Considering what we've heard described (and in the Kingdom clip), this is significant blow. Some or all of the band members are unsure about it, and I think that--at best--we'll get the less experimental/different/adventurous stuff from this (i.e. Every Breaking Wave).

Second, if they're starting from scratch, I have SERIOUS doubts about their ability to get an album written, recorded, and released in one year, let alone 6 months.

I truly hate to be a naysayer, but even with U2 excited about writing and recording, this is not looking good for getting a new album soon. I wish they had the confidence to release SOA more or less as it is (or with some moderate level of finishing work), radio be damned.

overall, i agree with you. I don't know that I see anything to suggest that they're starting from scratch, though.
 
I think past history (especially the last 2 albums) have us a little jaded when they start righting again bc in the past that gave us a year or multi-year delays, but why in the world would Larry let Bono say what the title of the next album would be and single earlier this year! They have to be just tweaking SOA to get a few more tunes in there or rework a couple, we'll see. but that would be a very disappointing early 2010 if that were the case. They're not going to tour for awhile again after 2010 and next tour should involve the Rubin sessions and a new era for the boys!
 
fuck you bram! :wink:

no, in a way, i agree with you. i would have felt a lot better if the article had said that the band was in the studio right now putting the final touches on SOA.

i still think that they're going to use about 75% of the NLOTH sessions and add about 25% new stuff. i think some of the new stuff might even be mixed into some of the songs that already exist.....so i wouldn't be surprised if some of the songwriting Bono and Edge are doing right now is actually adding new parts to exixting songs.

Yeah, that would definitely be a great thing. Maybe I woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning :wink:. And I think there's more than one way to read it--the 'negative' way would be to read it as saying that there's SOA (which is one project), and then there's new material being written that's completely separate. Like you said, I hope they're just combining them.
 
I hate to be less than positive too, but I agree with Bram. I was the eternal optimist, but their "process" has burned me one too many times.

If they're even remotely unsure about their material, they won't release it. And if they think they can write, tweak and record new material that they're confident in and release it within 6 months, I believe they are sadly mistaken based on track record.

They're the ultimate second-guessers.

Having said that, the pressure of having shows in June and knowing they need a "new" show may just weigh heavily enough that we get something.

On a sidenote, for my money, it'll be an absolute shame if Winter isn't on an official audio release.
 
Having said that, the pressure of having shows in June and knowing they need a "new" show may just weigh heavily enough that we get something.

and this, imo, is the difference maker....the "X" factor this time around.

even though many of us "diehard" love the new songs, the band feels that the majority of the crowd didn't feel a connection to them. i really think they want to tour with new songs next year.
 
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