“U2 are obviously revving things up to tour. I think that they are amazing live — they raise your spirit and take you on a journey,” Daniel Lanois said during an interview with The Vancouver Sun. “I didn’t work on (Songs of Innocence) and part of me wanted to call them up and say, ‘Don’t make a record.’ Just say to your fans, ‘We’re working on some new music and we’re going to play it live.’ That might have been the most rebel thing to do.
“It’s harder and harder making a record and being somebody that’s breaking ground. I know they have a huge appetite to do special things, and that’s why they spent as long as they did (recording the album).
“In regards to the campaign with Apple and the release: I don’t really care, to be honest with you. It’s irrelevant to me whether it shows up on people’s phones or not. The dust has settled on that. Whether it worked for them or against them, that’s up to them to decide.”
I´m so happy Lanois wasn´t on board for SOI. He is responsible for the most predictable and boring tunes on the last records he participated with the band.
What's most interesting about this, of course, is what he doesn't say...i.e. anything good about the new record. Though the fact that he thinks they should have skipped making the record altogether probably tells us all we need to know about what he thinks about it. I'd guess Eno feels much the same way.
He didn't say anything good about Dylan's album either, probably tells us all we need to know about what he thinks about it.
See, we can all try too hard to stir shit...
I´m so happy Lanois wasn´t on board for SOI. He is responsible for the most predictable and boring tunes on the last records he participated with the band. His primetime was Fire and Joshua and that was it.
I don't care what he thinks of Dylan's record.
But he has a very long, and important relationship with U2. If he liked the record, it would have been very easy to offer words of praise and support for what they did. But the guy is still and artist, and has some integrity, so it looks like he chose the high road and went with "If you can't say anything nice..."
He also doesn't say anything good about Neil Young's Pono.
So, bottom line, Daniel Lanois doesn't like other artists' projects.
Didn't he comment on 'SOI 1.0' back when he heard it in 2013?
I personally can´t imagine his part was major for this record.
And I think that U2 could have done much better than the rather bland record that they created under Danger Mouse, Ryan Tedder, et al. under Eno and Lanois, but I could be wrong.
No, you're not wrong. Every U2 + Eno + Lanois album is more creative and rewarding than SOI.
If you think SOI is a brazenly creative album and a record with NLOTH, MOS, Unknown Caller, Fez, White As Snow and Cedars is lacking moments where the band went out on a limb, I don't think we're going to agree.
I personally can´t imagine his part was major for this record. I remember Edge saying, that he came to the studio one day in Berlin and he heard Lanois playing a song that sounded like from JT, Edge was so disgusted he immediately left the studio...