Songs of Ascent V - The Final Bell

[Popmart Shopper]

So, no new album until at least after the 3rd leg?

Yah it appears this way now.I was one of the people that actually thought U2 was going to release an album in the fall of 2009,or at least by March 2010.I think with U2 you have to add at least a year on top of their first time table predictions when it comes to new albums.Anyway Oct,Nov 2010 sounds about right now with a first single dropping in September.

 

[Irvine511]

i still think it woudl be interesting to have them play new songs, have those new songs make their way through the interwebs and drum up interest, and then release finished versions of those songs once the tour is over -- you hype both the tour and the upcoming album at the same time.

 

[bonocomet]

Ah I see that once again the album has no name... (the forum name) Time to sit back and just wait now I guess.

 

[Niceman]

People here are so impatient to know the answer that they just assume it's "no" to get it over with!

We don't know. Let's not pretend we do. They might release an album in the first half of 2010, or they might not.

 

[dabiggestu2fan]

People here are so impatient to know the answer that they just assume it's "no" to get it over with!

We don't know. Let's not pretend we do. They might release an album in the first half of 2010, or they might not.

Amen!!! Thats what I've been trying to say!! people here are making so many conclusions about such little information! RELAX people! The matter of the fact is we JUST don't know! Even the band doesn't know! It could go either way.

 

[nielsgov]

Ah I see that once again the album has no name... (the forum name) Time to sit back and just wait now I guess.

If we like it or not.

 

[nirniva]

Hey...I'm probably late to the party, but has this been posted yet?
The Edge says new U2 album will be 'really special' | Metro.co.uk

 

[MikeyJB]

Special only in that it keeps us glued to places like this for the tiniest snippet of news for months on end.

 

[Registered Dude]

well, if we can take anything positive from all this, it's that they'll have plenty of finished songs to take with them when they work with Rick Rubin again

 

[mikal]

huge news i found in this Youtube vid. make sure you watch till the very end for the news!

YouTube - The Ultimate Warrior Meets Arsenio Hall

 

[subnet]

huge news i found in this Youtube vid. make sure you watch till the very end for the news!

YouTube - The Ultimate Warrior Meets Arsenio Hall

that's absolutely ludicrous!!!!

 

[U2387]

Hey...I'm probably late to the party, but has this been posted yet?
The Edge says new U2 album will be 'really special' | Metro.co.uk

It's very little granted, but the talk of some "very happy" songs and some "folk" songs with some electronic and new sounds mixed in sounds like a mash up of the original SOA idea and some Rick Rubin big hit single searching. This would indicate to me that they may want more time to get the new "happy" songs to fit alongside what they already have for SOA.

I would like to nominate electronic/electronica for the word most used and least defined by U2! We always hear about it, how it manifests itself is never quite clear.

I don't know, Niceman is right, none of us do, but its looking more and more like a fall release now.

 

[Popmart Shopper]

Amen!!! Thats what I've been trying to say!! people here are making so many conclusions about such little information! RELAX people! The matter of the fact is we JUST don't know! Even the band doesn't know! It could go either way.

I'm with you and Niceman on this but i'm just saying that there track record proves that they really dont release a new album right when they first say they are.Lets hope it comes out sometime in 2010.

 

[Rachel D.]

I have to say that I'm not too optimistic about a new album in 2010. Once the tour is over, they'll probably sit down and listen to the new material and decide that they need more time. March 2011.

 

[mikal]

I have to say that I'm not too optimistic about a new album in 2010. Once the tour is over, they'll probably sit down and listen to the new material and decide that they need more time. March 2011.

that's kind of what i'm leaning towards at the moment. even though i'm disappointed that we probably won't get an album in the next few months, all the signs point to us getting an album within the next year...year and a half, which would still be a very quick turnaround for U2.

 

[Niceman]

that's kind of what i'm leaning towards at the moment. even though i'm disappointed that we probably won't get an album in the next few months, all the signs point to us getting an album within the next year...year and a half, which would still be a very quick turnaround for U2.

No it wouldn't. Except for the last 2 albums they have been averaging an album every other year.

 

[mikal]

No it wouldn't. Except for the last 2 albums they have been averaging an album every other year.

yeah, it would.

Zooropa - Pop = 4 years
Pop - ATYCLB = 3.5 years
ATYCLB - HTDAAB = 4 years
HTDAAB - NLOTH = 4.5 years

 

[powerhour24]

No it wouldn't. Except for the last 2 albums they have been averaging an album every other year.

Yeah, that ended in 1993.

 

[Niceman]

yeah, it would.

Zooropa - Pop = 4 years
Pop - ATYCLB = 3.5 years
ATYCLB - HTDAAB = 4 years
HTDAAB - NLOTH = 4.5 years

Sigh.

Achtung 1991
Zooropa 1993
Passengers 1995
Pop 1997
ATYCLB 2000

 

[An Cat Gav]

Sigh.

Achtung 1991
Zooropa 1993
Passengers 1995
Pop 1997
ATYCLB 2000

Delighted to see that you've counted Passengers, I do as well, not sure many others do though.

 

[paulrg]

They have a finished album - Songs of Ascent. Bono was told to keep quiet about it earlier last year during the interviews about NLOTH - probably because they were uncertain if they would release it in that form.

Songs of Ascent is a 'contemplative' piece. The band were disappointed at the relatively weak sales of NLOTH. The mass public seem to prefer U2 belting out more classic rock pieces rather than 'contemplative' pieces. Unfortunately I fear this means us missing out on Songs of Ascent as they change direction for the next album release.

One option would be to release Songs of Ascent as the second half of NLOTH for those that like that (myself very much included) in a relatively low key way in the first half of this year please. Or distribute it through u2.com or something - do not let it go to waste. Then launch something new in the autumn or next year with the usual bombast and a catchy single.

 

[phommel]

They have a finished album - Songs of Ascent. Bono was told to keep quiet about it earlier last year during the interviews about NLOTH - probably because they were uncertain if they would release it in that form.

Songs of Ascent is a 'contemplative' piece. The band were disappointed at the relatively weak sales of NLOTH. The mass public seem to prefer U2 belting out more classic rock pieces rather than 'contemplative' pieces. Unfortunately I fear this means us missing out on Songs of Ascent as they change direction for the next album release.

One option would be to release Songs of Ascent as the second half of NLOTH for those that like that (myself very much included) in a relatively low key way in the first half of this year please. Or distribute it through u2.com or something - do not let it go to waste. Then launch something new in the autumn or next year with the usual bombast and a catchy single.

I fear exactly the same! They care too much about the mass, strong sales. They want that everybody likes them / their music. They should just make music for the sake of it (see Radiohead). Like they did with NLOTH.

 

[Earnie Shavers]

Unfortunately, I think if NLOTH had been perceived as a massive success on both fronts (critical AND commercial) then they would have been far more likely to slip out something that would be from the outset expected and understood to be less of a commercial prospect. While No Line was mostly critically loved, and while not selling as well as the last two albums it was certainly no dud, I think the perception is there that the album was soft on both fronts for U2. No idea what U2 think, but there is definitely that perception out there. Really, Boots has a LOT to answer for.

Given that, U2 might not want to see two perceived 'lesser' albums in a row put out. We all applaud them for what they did with Zooropa on the back of Achtung, but if Achtung had not been such a resounding success on all fronts, there's no way they would have done that.

I just think that the initial excitement about SoA from Bono back when No Line was launching would have been due to a high confidence in No Line. Early critical adoration, plus a belief in the songs - that the hits and sales would follow. It didn't quite work out that way. None of the singles caught fire, and there is a bit of a soft perception out there. They would be reading into that too, and I think unfortunately that makes a pressure-free, less commercial, more interesting release less likely. The album will shift closer to being the next Big U2 Album, and further away from being what originally was likely thought of as a more meditative, smaller book end to what was expected to be a BIG/great album on all fronts.

 

[VintagePunk]

Unfortunately, I think if NLOTH had been perceived as a massive success on both fronts (critical AND commercial) then they would have been far more likely to slip out something that would be from the outset expected and understood to be less of a commercial prospect. While No Line was mostly critically loved, and while not selling as well as the last two albums it was certainly no dud, I think the perception is there that the album was soft on both fronts for U2. No idea what U2 think, but there is definitely that perception out there. Really, Boots has a LOT to answer for.

Given that, U2 might not want to see two perceived 'lesser' albums in a row put out. We all applaud them for what they did with Zooropa on the back of Achtung, but if Achtung had not been such a resounding success on all fronts, there's no way they would have done that.

I just think that the initial excitement about SoA from Bono back when No Line was launching would have been due to a high confidence in No Line. Early critical adoration, plus a belief in the songs - that the hits and sales would follow. It didn't quite work out that way. None of the singles caught fire, and there is a bit of a soft perception out there. They would be reading into that too, and I think unfortunately that makes a pressure-free, less commercial, more interesting release less likely. The album will shift closer to being the next Big U2 Album, and further away from being what originally was likely thought of as a more meditative, smaller book end to what was expected to be a BIG/great album on all fronts.

Exactly. That's been my fear all along. When people say "why do you care about the sales numbers for NLOTH, we know it's a great album, we don't need numbers to prove that," well, that's why better sales numbers would have been nice. It's all about public perception, and the band's confidence to release material that's maybe a little less commercially accessible.

 

[mikal]

Sigh.

Achtung 1991
Zooropa 1993
Passengers 1995
Pop 1997
ATYCLB 2000

watch out. i won the Midwest Regional Sighing contest in both 2008 and 2009. you don't want to go there with me.

 

[phommel]

Exactly. That's been my fear all along. When people say "why do you care about the sales numbers for NLOTH, we know it's a great album, we don't need numbers to prove that," well, that's why better sales numbers would have been nice. It's all about public perception, and the band's confidence to release material that's maybe a little less commercially accessible.

But that's the problem. They should go to a psychologist who can convince them that it is not about public perception. they should make music for the sake of it, not with the public perception in the back of their heads. Exactly what they did with NLOTH!

 

[paulrg]

Passengers is the music of the future. It'll come into its own in the 2050s.

 

[VintagePunk]

But that's the problem. They should go to a psychologist who can convince them that it is not about public perception. they should make music for the sake of it, not with the public perception in the back of their heads. Exactly what they did with NLOTH!

They've never hidden that their goal is to reach as many people as possible. Ever. It is about public perception to them, and it always makes me laugh when people think they're going to change this late in the game.

 

[Irvine511]

Really, Boots has a LOT to answer for.

yes, this it does.

while it didn't inspire the hatred that "Discotheque" did in many casual fans, it inspired much disinterest. in a microsecond culture, where the goal is to grab attention due to an insanely flooded marketplace, the first single is everything. no one has the luxury of releasing something weird because it's fun to do so like back in 1991.

they did this beautifully with both BD and Vertigo. why they didn't go for NLOTH, or Mag, or CT is just plain old bad decision making.

 

[Earnie Shavers]

Given time, I'm not sure now that NLOTH actually has that kind of single on it. I think they would have needed something strikingly different, in a U2 sense at least, to break through this time. Not 'weird', but something very new that can't be easily dismissed as more of the same. Boots - yes, it's wildly different, we know, but... - was too similar on the surface to Vertigo without being as compressed catchy. Magnificent wreaks of big U2 song/single, but that probably is also it's biggest flaw. Despite being a very different song, it could easily be placed in a box with Beautiful Day/COBL in many ways. Crazy Tonight is pop hook, umm, crazy, but too MOR, dull etc to break through, and leans too heavily on a U2 stereotype, sonically at least. I don't think there would have been any potential in No Line in a commercial sense.

A year later, I think if I were in charge, I would have allowed MoS to 'leak' or be a part of something (eg a film) just before the album came out. Not as a first single, or with the intention of radio play and big attention, but as the first thing heard. Create a "WOW" groundswell among the music blog and fan world, and then perhaps have opened up with Breathe as the first single. It's not my favourite song on the album by any stretch, but it does combine something a little different for U2 while still having an expected anthemic/big U2 song feel.

Not a bad one-two punch. Here's a really undeniably brilliant song, and here's a new twist on what you expect from a big U2 song. In the end, they rolled out three singles that really didn't change expectations or create interest - here are three decent versions of vaguely familiar things.

I think they need a Fly. Undeniably commercial, but strikingly different (at least for them) without falling into any traps (too overtly commercial, too overtly bandwagon jumping etc). Big, big ask, but they're U2, right?