More New Music Rumors and Such...

[lazarus]

At least in the case of Winter, there's a lyrical connection to White As Snow, Being Born, and Cedars of Lebanon with the war angle. Perhaps it's not the great song Eno seemed to think it is, but it's certainly not embarrassing or sonically sticking out like a sore thumb as with Crazy Tonight or Stand Up Comedy.

I'm not convinced Soon was completed before the album was released, so who knows if that was even a possibility. It probably wouldn't have worked in the middle of the album, and you already have a short instrumental-type track with Fez.

As for EBW, we just don't know enough about what the earlier recorded versions sound like. One journalist's description is way too subjective.

 

[Aygo]

At least in the case of Winter, there's a lyrical connection to White As Snow, Being Born, and Cedars of Lebanon with the war angle. Perhaps it's not the great song Eno seemed to think it is, but it's certainly not embarrassing or sonically sticking out like a sore thumb as with Crazy Tonight or Stand Up Comedy.

I'm not convinced Soon was completed before the album was released, so who knows if that was even a possibility. It probably wouldn't have worked in the middle of the album, and you already have a short instrumental-type track with Fez.

As for EBW, we just don't know enough about what the earlier recorded versions sound like. One journalist's description is way too subjective.

 

[Swan269]

I'm not convinced Soon was completed before the album was released, so who knows if that was even a possibility. It probably wouldn't have worked in the middle of the album, and you already have a short instrumental-type track with Fez.

well it certainly was a contender because it was under the name 'kingdom' on a photo with the other songs with the album. (photo with edge, names of songs on a very large white piece of paper.) but i agree that the song is probably not finished.

 

[lazarus]

No reason to think it isn't finished. It's just short. If it was part of the larger pool of songs based on the pic you mentioned then it was probably held for part of the Songs of Ascent project.

I guess one could have it opening No Line, but that doesn't really affect the problem with the middle of the album.

Unless SOA actually comes out and we get info on when the songs were originated, we can't really know if there WAS a viable solution.

 

[bonocomet]

Maybe they'll be nice enough to include a song origination time-line like they did with HTDAAB!

 

[mikal]

At least in the case of Winter, there's a lyrical connection to White As Snow, Being Born, and Cedars of Lebanon with the war angle. Perhaps it's not the great song Eno seemed to think it is, but it's certainly not embarrassing or sonically sticking out like a sore thumb as with Crazy Tonight or Stand Up Comedy.

I'm not convinced Soon was completed before the album was released, so who knows if that was even a possibility. It probably wouldn't have worked in the middle of the album, and you already have a short instrumental-type track with Fez.

As for EBW, we just don't know enough about what the earlier recorded versions sound like. One journalist's description is way too subjective.

agreed. we all can dream about what EBW would have sounded like on NLOTH, but i'm willing to move forward and look forward to it on another project.

 

[God Part III]

I guess I'm alone in this but I consider the verses of Mercy to be some of U2's worst lyrics, ever. The music is great, however and the chorus is pretty good so I guess I end up liking the song towards the end.

You're not alone.

 

[The John Tree]

I think Soon was completed after the album but before the tour. Something about "Soon..." repeated over and over again, while U2 is about to walk on stage AND while Bono has been speaking about SoA in the press, doesn't seem coincidental to me...

 

[dan_smee]

Anyone else pick up the parallel between EBW and Soon...

“Sing yourself away from victory and from defeat...
Sing yourself to overcome the thought that someone’s lost, and some else has won...”

“Every gambler knows that to lose is what you’re really there for (obviously not literal, but gambler with decisions o0n everyday life etc)
We know the fear of winning, so we end before we begin...”

Pretty depressing theme combined with titles like Pilgrim’s Lack of Progress etc..

I think the overarching theme of pilgrimage could be the overall destination of the record, but the songs themselves detail the journey from despair (Soon, EBW), and ultimately to hope (North Star, Mercy)

 

[ndmaxfield]

The "ripping the stitches" part is a great bridge, and the Nero line is one of Bono's best in ages.

How can people who write such great stuff be this poor judges of their own material?

Sigh.

It's their material so they can do what they want with it, but I agree. I DO like the end of the chorus, though, with the new drum part. If they just added that to the original version (and left the rest intact) it would be epic.

 

[dan_smee]

Just listened to the Vienna bootleg, Bono says at the end of EBW that "they have a few more of those they'll be playing over the next few years"

 

[gweeps]

Yeah, no album in 2010. In fact, I bet we don't see a new album until 2012 at the earliest.

 

[Catman]

If we do not get anything from U2 before, or during, their U.S. leg next year, I'll say we won't hear from the band until 2014 - at the earliest! Let's face it, the band's getting old and this tour is taking a lot of out of them. I can't see them hitting the road again with new material until they've taken a substantial break...

 

[An Cat Gav]

If we do not get anything from U2 before, or during, their U.S. leg next year, I'll say we won't hear from the band until 2014 - at the earliest! Let's face it, the band's getting old and this tour is taking a lot of out of them. I can't see them hitting the road again with new material until they've taken a substantial break...

I don't think they will be touring for a very long time once this tour ends, they're trying to get to as many as places as they can, perhaps because they may not be going to these places again for a very long time
, if ever.. I do think they will release another album before the next tour, playing all these new songs is proof enough for me. They may even release more than one. If they don't release now I don't think they will for a very long time because as you say, they wont be mounting another tour to support an album for a long time.

I am hoping/expecting for more tour dates to be announced and hopefully a new album by the end of the year or spring 2011, but once the tour ends I fear they could be gone for quite a while.

 

[PookaMacP]

On the question of whether the material was written recently or longer ago and what effect that would have on the album's cohesion, I think there are two examples that say that it doesn't really matter.

1. City of Blinding Lights - which began life in 1997 but sounds (however little I actually like the track) very much of 2004 because of when it was finished. A song will always take on the atmosphere that it was recorded in, since it is likely to be re-recorded very close to release. (See also how Disappearing Act and Wave of Sorrow sound fundamentally different to the era they originated from.)

2. The Radiohead example. On Kid A, Motion Picture Soundtrack had been around - and played live - for around three years beforehand, but morphed into a very different beast and a perfect closer for, and in tone with that record. On In Rainbows, the same was true of Nude, and those songs which they'd been touring for a couple of years.

The crux of the issue is more that it is a matter of capturing a unifying feeling that brings it all together. That can be achieved either lyrically - which would be very difficult to do across a whole record of 11-12 tracks - or through the record's 'vibe'. The latter is where the multiple producers of the last three records have caused the greatest difficulty.

As for the issue of artistic ambition, credit where credit is due, I think, to U2. Even at the height of their creative powers with Zoo TV, they played none of the Zooropa tracks before they were released on record. Now, even if they were still halfway through writing the songs in that case, that raises two issues that make me more hopeful about getting a new U2 record before too long:

1. Not all of the songs will be playable live. E.g. I love Cedars of Lebanon but I don't think it would work in any way, shape or form. Even a classic pop tune like Sweetest Thing proved very difficult to 'do' live. So there are bound to be a number of songs that we wouldn't get to hear live in any case because of the difficulty in doing the arrangements. They could have been finished over the summer while they were recording in France for all we know.

2. Playing and reworking them while on tour will give them an energy and a cohesion to be finished quickly - with minimal tweaks - in the two month period in between the European and NZ/AUS legs of the tour and in between European gigs when they fly back to Nice. They can't just be doing nothing all week between gigs!

 

[The_acrobat]

Yes, this European leg almost seems like it was scheduled to record an album around it. They fly back to France after each gig, and we know they have a studio there. They usually have 3,4,5 days between gigs on this leg, so I imagine they might be putting some finishing touches on an album?

This tour is not taking a lot out of them physically and emotionally. It's actually probably the easiest tour schedule I've ever seen. The Vertigo arena schedule probably would've done most young bands in, which is probably why they have done things this way. It may take 3 different years, but they're gonna have a world tour, dammit!

 

[the scuv]

By pure accident I stumbled upon this u2 backing tracks website today (I was looking around for 'boy falls from the sky audio). // U2, The Who, The Killers, Stereophonics, Muse & Red Hot Chili Pepers Guitar Backing Tracks //
take it as you find it - return of the stingray guitar!!!!!!!

 

[topplehatU2]

By pure accident I stumbled upon this u2 backing tracks website today (I was looking around for 'boy falls from the sky audio). // U2, The Who, The Killers, Stereophonics, Muse & Red Hot Chili Pepers Guitar Backing Tracks //
take it as you find it - return of the stingray guitar!!!!!!!

Hah, nice find. Pretty neat.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

1. City of Blinding Lights - which began life in 1997 but sounds (however little I actually like the track) very much of 2004 because of when it was finished. A song will always take on the atmosphere that it was recorded in, since it is likely to be re-recorded very close to release. (See also how Disappearing Act and Wave of Sorrow sound fundamentally different to the era they originated from.)

yea well wake up dead man was "written" during the achtung baby sessions and not released until pop... but it sounds NOTHING like what was actually released.

i think that's the point of some of the complaints about rehashing things already done... u2 has always taken ideas that they've shelved in the past and reworked them into new songs, and that's the point. NEW songs... Mercy sounds almost exactly the same.

 

[nirniva]

Yes, this European leg almost seems like it was scheduled to record an album around it. They fly back to France after each gig, and we know they have a studio there. They usually have 3,4,5 days between gigs on this leg, so I imagine they might be putting some finishing touches on an album?

This tour is not taking a lot out of them physically and emotionally. It's actually probably the easiest tour schedule I've ever seen. The Vertigo arena schedule probably would've done most young bands in, which is probably why they have done things this way. It may take 3 different years, but they're gonna have a world tour, dammit!

Must...not...get hopes up...must...resist...
Screw it.

 

[BVS]

yea well wake up dead man was "written" during the achtung baby sessions and not released until pop... but it sounds NOTHING like what was actually released.

i think that's the point of some of the complaints about rehashing things already done... u2 has always taken ideas that they've shelved in the past and reworked them into new songs, and that's the point. NEW songs... Mercy sounds almost exactly the same.

I'm sorry but this complaint doesn't really stand.

U2 has ALWAYS done this.

It's just that normally we don't have a real insight as to how the first incarnations sound, this time we do.

Face it, this complaint really stems from the fact that you don't like this song, you've been very vocal about that, and nothing wrong with that... just don't pretend it's because they are revisiting it, because that's normal for U2 and most bands for that matter.

 

[Zooropa man]

By pure accident I stumbled upon this u2 backing tracks website today (I was looking around for 'boy falls from the sky audio). // U2, The Who, The Killers, Stereophonics, Muse & Red Hot Chili Pepers Guitar Backing Tracks //
take it as you find it - return of the stingray guitar!!!!!!!

These are not "THEE" backing tracks for the actual songs, right? It doesn't sound like it. Why would they have the bass? It doesn't make sense. Either way, it sounds cool but to me it sounds like someone just took stuff from different parts and put them together.

 

[BVS]

Of course they aren't real. They're fan made for people wanting to record and play covers.

 

[Zooropa man]

Just checking...

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

I'm sorry but this complaint doesn't really stand.

U2 has ALWAYS done this.

It's just that normally we don't have a real insight as to how the first incarnations sound, this time we do.

Face it, this complaint really stems from the fact that you don't like this song, you've been very vocal about that, and nothing wrong with that... just don't pretend it's because they are revisiting it, because that's normal for U2 and most bands for that matter.

fair enough... i have been very vocal in my dislike for mercy for quite a few years now, but i believe that's my point... someone who didn't like wakeup dead man couldn't really make the same arguments about what they heard on axtung bebi as they did on pop, because the song was radically different.

perhaps it's the age of the internet, but i can't ever remember a song comingn out that i heard years before in almost it's exact form, other than sweetest thing, which was done on purpose.

if i'm wrong, please tell me.

but yes... i a have, on these boards, said that if mercy was a physical object that i would wipe my ass with it. if that forever forbids me from ever commenting on the validity of u2 releasing the exact same god damned song years later because they're bored and lazy, well... then i suppose i have nothing left to say.


i expect greatness from this band. i don't expect them to pull a shitty song out of their ass and pretend it's new because it's easier.

 

[BoMac]

i expect greatness from this band. i don't expect them to pull a shitty song out of their ass and pretend it's new because it's easier.

Now maybe I'm just being silly, but maybe they're not pretending it's new, but rather they're doing this because they're aware Mercy has been a fan favourite for a long time, you know this being the age of the Internet and social media.

 

[corianderstem]

Like The Twitter?

 

[ozeeko]

I'm also not the biggest fan of Mercy, but the discarded version we heard round BOMB era did at least have some soul to it - a lot more soul than the lifeless garbage they chose to keep on that disgraceful album.

One thing irks me (and btw i'm not against revisiting older material) - it's that it doesn't sound terribly interesting, what they are doing with Mercy (from what we can hear at least). Maybe they will take it in a completely different fresh direction, but for now it just sounds like the same old song except edited for time, with the lovely pre-chorus part taken out. So my main beef with the song is not the revisiting of it, but that it just sounds like it's being neutored (then again i admit, we don't know anything, they could've just been scrambling to remember it during soundcheck, hence why the pre-chorus was missing and the chorus kinda just starts out of nowhere with no lead-in)

 

[ndmaxfield]

I'm also not the biggest fan of Mercy, but the discarded version we heard round BOMB era did at least have some soul to it - a lot more soul than the lifeless garbage they chose to keep on that disgraceful album.

One thing irks me (and btw i'm not against revisiting older material) - it's that it doesn't sound terribly interesting, what they are doing with Mercy (from what we can hear at least). Maybe they will take it in a completely different fresh direction, but for now it just sounds like the same old song except edited for time, with the lovely pre-chorus part taken out. So my main beef with the song is not the revisiting of it, but that it just sounds like it's being neutored (then again i admit, we don't know anything, they could've just been scrambling to remember it during soundcheck, hence why the pre-chorus was missing and the chorus kinda just starts out of nowhere with no lead-in)

This was my initial reaction too...but I'm getting excited about this edited live version. Hearing Mercy live, I think I've figured out what U2 has been missing from the last couple of albums: Songs that transcend. There's something too grounded about their recent releases. A song like Mercy is raw power - the band is delivering a song but it quickly becomes a full sensory and emotional experience (at least in this live version). Bring it on U2!

 

[Earnie Shavers]

I do understand why people like Mercy, but I really don't understand why people think it's the second coming. I will say this though: the structure of the song is it's only redeeming feature, for me. That it clocks in at that length, and those several great 'turn on a dime' shifts in the song are really all I find to be good/interesting about it. Take those away and it's just another seriously overblown, bombastic mid-00s U2 anthem where Edge is putting in the minimum, Bono is just shouting something about love, and we all feel like we've vaguely heard it before, only better. Cut the length, cut the twists and turns and you've done what little it had in.