So knowing what came before and placing it in context is all important then I suppose with this album?
SOE 35 - it’s finally here, let the debate on how good/bad it is begin!
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So knowing what came before and placing it in context is all important then I suppose with this album?
womanfish
Rock n' Roll Doggie ALL ACCESS
I'm getting close.
I could use some feedback from you guys.
My problem - Blackout just doesn't fit where it is. And the Showman is just all wrong leading into Little Things. I get the fact that the album seems to be set up more thematically, and not for how it actually sounds transitioning from one song to the next...
So for now, I'm doing this.
1. Love is All
2. Lights (womanfish string hybrid mix)
3. The Best Thing
4. Get Out
5. American Soul
6. Summer of Love
7. The Showman
8. Red Flag
9. The Blackout
10. Landlady
11. Little Things
12. Love is Bigger
13. 13
See what you think...
Last edited:
Psychobabble
The Fly
- Joined
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- Messages
- 188
I would heartily recommend it (along with War, Joshua Tree, and AB). Those four albums could stand as a good range of what this band can do (can I add in UF and ATYCLB?)
Gonna Run 2 U
New Yorker
I would also recommend some live stuff as well as that is what initially made me fall in love with the band. Have them watch Live At Red Rocks, Rattle and Hum, and Zoo TV Live From Sydney for starters.
I hardly ever introduce people to 2000’s U2 as a starter. SOE isn’t an exception either.
The wording was a bit messy. I think they were just previewing a snippet of the song and meant the album is out on the 1st.
That's a good shout with their live stuff. I was a big fan of theirs by time I had bought Zoo TV Live but viewing that trebled my appreciation of them and made me really recognise their greatness. It also smashed a glass that made me adore their 90s material of which I could give or take more or less beforehand. I was never that big a fan of Achtung Baby but after seeing Zoo TV Live it became my favourite album of theirs.
Peterrrrr
New Yorker
About Red Flag, I have always been a electronic music person, listen alot to artists like The Shamen, The Orb, Orbital, Future Sound Of London...
Som parts of Red Flag got this almost fast drum n bass with synth sound in it, which I like
To me Summer Of Love has a bit of to much American mainstream sound it, could have been in a blockbuster movie.
...and while talking about american sound, the intro of Lights Of Home reminds me of the intro of Jon Bon Jovi's Blaze Of Glory.
Those two are probably my two favourite 'personal' songs from that album. Really worked well live as well.
corianderstem
Blue Crack Distributor
There what is? Stop being such a debbie downer.
It's one thing to not like the album, but you said off the bat you weren't expecting to like it, then said you don't like it, now you post stuff like this like it proves some kind of point.
Excellent decision
aMansAman
War Child
If I would take your descriptions of Lights of Home and Summer of Love for real, I would instantly sell my vinyl copy on Friday.
womanfish
Rock n' Roll Doggie ALL ACCESS
Yeah, i was in college at University of Wisconsin, where the Onion began, when the AV club savaged POP in 1997. It's nothing new. Sometimes its just the writer they choose at the publication. I know COS has a few that HATE U2 and one that is a really well-informed pro U2 guy.
womanfish
Rock n' Roll Doggie ALL ACCESS
LOL. Don't worry. While Summer of Love is catchy, the subject matter is not light, fun material. And The only thing I hear from the other one is sorta that metallic buzzing of the guitar, but that's where it ends. Lights of Home is perfectly safe from Bon Jovi comparisons.
corianderstem
Blue Crack Distributor
I went to college in Waukesha, and picking up a paper copy of The Onion each week was the best. Last time I was in Milwaukee about 4-5 years ago, it was right before they stopped the print version, and that made me sad. But at least I got to pick up one last copy. I actually sent my resume to The Onion when I graduated and they wanted me to interview, but for whatever lame reason I had at the time, I didn't follow through. (I think I just had a massive bout of wishy-washiness at graduation, flailing because I had no idea what I wanted to do.)
I do like AV Club a lot, although I really, really miss the old site. This Disqus business is awful and it's so hard to find anything.
There's usually a lot of good conversation in the comments when U2 comes up there, though. At least in the old format. I think the commenting has really dropped off with the new format.
Martinuk100
The Fly
- Joined
- Jan 15, 2004
- Messages
- 155
An outstanding album, their best set of songs since All That You Can't Leave Behind. At 57 to be striving to make music this good is quite unique.
This is by far a better record than Songs of Innocence which hasn't aged well in my view.
Standout songs for me are Lights of Home, The Showman, Little Things and Landlady.
There literally isn't a duff song on the album. The only track I'm skipping is The Blackout which for me doesn't fit well where it's placed on the album, and hasn't been well produced as it lacks the rawness of the live version.
I sense they've had help with the writing on some of the songs, I wonder how much Ryan Tedder will be credited as a writer if at all? Clearly Ryan Tedder co-wrote the studio version of Every Breaking Wave and I suspect he's been quite hands in some of these songs. Thats the role of a producer though to coach the band to get the best results.
Overall I've not been this enthusiastic about a U2 album since 2000, this is an oustanding achievement by the band and these will convert well to live versions on tour.
This is by far a better record than Songs of Innocence which hasn't aged well in my view.
Standout songs for me are Lights of Home, The Showman, Little Things and Landlady.
There literally isn't a duff song on the album. The only track I'm skipping is The Blackout which for me doesn't fit well where it's placed on the album, and hasn't been well produced as it lacks the rawness of the live version.
I sense they've had help with the writing on some of the songs, I wonder how much Ryan Tedder will be credited as a writer if at all? Clearly Ryan Tedder co-wrote the studio version of Every Breaking Wave and I suspect he's been quite hands in some of these songs. Thats the role of a producer though to coach the band to get the best results.
Overall I've not been this enthusiastic about a U2 album since 2000, this is an oustanding achievement by the band and these will convert well to live versions on tour.
Yahweh_OMG
New Yorker
About Red Flag, I have always been a electronic music person, listen alot to artists like The Shamen, The Orb, Orbital, Future Sound Of London...
Som parts of Red Flag got this almost fast drum n bass with synth sound in it, which I like
To me Summer Of Love has a bit of to much American mainstream sound it, could have been in a blockbuster movie.
...and while talking about american sound, the intro of Lights Of Home reminds me of the intro of Jon Bon Jovi's Blaze Of Glory.
Lights of home reminds me of Beck s Looser.... mostly the guitar.
womanfish
Rock n' Roll Doggie ALL ACCESS
I went to college in Waukesha, and picking up a paper copy of The Onion each week was the best. Last time I was in Milwaukee about 4-5 years ago, it was right before they stopped the print version, and that made me sad. But at least I got to pick up one last copy. I actually sent my resume to The Onion when I graduated and they wanted me to interview, but for whatever lame reason I had at the time, I didn't follow through. (I think I just had a massive bout of wishy-washiness at graduation, flailing because I had no idea what I wanted to do.)
I do like AV Club a lot, although I really, really miss the old site. This Disqus business is awful and it's so hard to find anything.
There's usually a lot of good conversation in the comments when U2 comes up there, though. At least in the old format. I think the commenting has really dropped off with the new format.
Whoa! I lived in Waukesha for 5 years. Went to high school there.
After that, and many moves and life changes, I ended up in Seattle for about 4 years as well. Isn't that where you're at? Weird wild stuff!!!
corianderstem
Blue Crack Distributor
Ha! No way, really? When were you in Waukesha? I can only assume I'm way ahead of you age-wise. I graduated from Carroll in '95 and then lived in Waukesha until 2000, when I moved to Seattle.
Peterrrrr
New Yorker
Yes, absoluty!
Haha, a bit easier to listen to it now. Instead of thinking of Jon Bon Jovi I can now think of Beck while listning to the song
david
ONE love, blood, life
I still love SOI. I gave it a listen in full today in prep for Friday. SOI and the time period it came out coupled with what I was going through at the time probably help its replayability for me I guess.
Peterrrrr
New Yorker
womanfish
Rock n' Roll Doggie ALL ACCESS
Ha! No way, really? When were you in Waukesha? I can only assume I'm way ahead of you age-wise. I graduated from Carroll in '95 and then lived in Waukesha until 2000, when I moved to Seattle.
I graduated Waukesha South in 93, graduated UW in 97
went to Seattle around 2005
Great minds!
womanfish
Rock n' Roll Doggie ALL ACCESS
Can someone do me a favor and send me the 192kbps mp3 of Summer of Love??? Mind got screwed up. Please. Please.
nianf@spectrio.com
Thank you!
nianf@spectrio.com
Thank you!
corianderstem
Blue Crack Distributor
Martinuk100
The Fly
- Joined
- Jan 15, 2004
- Messages
- 155
Listen to the outro of Landlady and the hook in Champagne Supernova by Oasis where Liam sings "someday you will find me..."
Just saying...
Just saying...
Ok
Coming back to the topic of U2 being too compressed. Now, this is being really, really picky as I do love the album at this moment in time.
Irvine had brought this up too, on many occasions and I feel I've echo'd it a bit too.
My example would be this:
If U2 were to write 'With or Without You' today, I feel confident that the song would end after Bono's "woooooooooooooo hooooo hooooo hooooo". We'd get a few chords from the Edge and a cymbal crash from Larry.
Obviously this is now how the song ends. Instead, we get the band playing. It's nothing even complex, just Edge strumming those simple chords before breaking into the Chorus guitar again before fading out.
That is something I feel is missing from U2 these days, that sense of adventure seeking in a song. Now, it doesn't have to be every single song, but I feel the following would have been lovely with a little instrumental
Summer of Love -- Have the Groove play the song out, maybe even a little variances from Edge's riff. Just let him play the guitar over that wonderful rhythm section....let it bleed out.
Landlady -- Again, this song feels like it could have something more. Fantastic melody and atmosphere from the band. Maybe another verse, or again let the song breathe in the beginning before Bono jumps right into the lyrics. Or again, allow the band to play itself out
Love is all -- Great song, but at 2:40 it feels kinda like it's missing something? Even just dead air going on for 30 seconds may have made it feel a little more complete.
U2 have just gotten so good (or the producers they have chosen) at writing complete songs now. They are probably less likely to improvise as a means to creating a song, as they are to have the structure pretty well figured out. That's not to say they don't jam to create their music, as it's clear they do since it still takes them three years to figure it out.
There's just some space missing since ATYCLB, and it's probably more on me wishing for it to come back versus accepting U2 has always evolved.
Again, I love SOE. I can't wait to see how these songs translate live. Let's hope that the band continues down this path of confidence in their writing, and maybe we get an even darker album in the future
Coming back to the topic of U2 being too compressed. Now, this is being really, really picky as I do love the album at this moment in time.
Irvine had brought this up too, on many occasions and I feel I've echo'd it a bit too.
My example would be this:
If U2 were to write 'With or Without You' today, I feel confident that the song would end after Bono's "woooooooooooooo hooooo hooooo hooooo". We'd get a few chords from the Edge and a cymbal crash from Larry.
Obviously this is now how the song ends. Instead, we get the band playing. It's nothing even complex, just Edge strumming those simple chords before breaking into the Chorus guitar again before fading out.
That is something I feel is missing from U2 these days, that sense of adventure seeking in a song. Now, it doesn't have to be every single song, but I feel the following would have been lovely with a little instrumental
Summer of Love -- Have the Groove play the song out, maybe even a little variances from Edge's riff. Just let him play the guitar over that wonderful rhythm section....let it bleed out.
Landlady -- Again, this song feels like it could have something more. Fantastic melody and atmosphere from the band. Maybe another verse, or again let the song breathe in the beginning before Bono jumps right into the lyrics. Or again, allow the band to play itself out
Love is all -- Great song, but at 2:40 it feels kinda like it's missing something? Even just dead air going on for 30 seconds may have made it feel a little more complete.
U2 have just gotten so good (or the producers they have chosen) at writing complete songs now. They are probably less likely to improvise as a means to creating a song, as they are to have the structure pretty well figured out. That's not to say they don't jam to create their music, as it's clear they do since it still takes them three years to figure it out.
There's just some space missing since ATYCLB, and it's probably more on me wishing for it to come back versus accepting U2 has always evolved.
Again, I love SOE. I can't wait to see how these songs translate live. Let's hope that the band continues down this path of confidence in their writing, and maybe we get an even darker album in the future
Tim Wallach
The Fly
- Joined
- Feb 15, 2008
- Messages
- 267
It seems like musical references are dripping all over this one.
I definitely noticed the Beck guitar in Lights of Home, which has also drawn Zeppelin and Pink Floyd comparisons. Red Flag Day has the Clash and Bo Diddley comparisons. Summer of Love likened to Ed Sheeran. Some Beatles on all three of those middle tracks. And to my ears, Love is Bigger has Journey written all over it.
It's a real trainspotting album.
I definitely noticed the Beck guitar in Lights of Home, which has also drawn Zeppelin and Pink Floyd comparisons. Red Flag Day has the Clash and Bo Diddley comparisons. Summer of Love likened to Ed Sheeran. Some Beatles on all three of those middle tracks. And to my ears, Love is Bigger has Journey written all over it.
It's a real trainspotting album.
kiwilad
Refugee
Up to 10-20 plays now - depending on the song. Here's where I'm at.
My big takeaway at this point is this is an album for us. It's for fans. Which makes the single choices a bit more understandable - they're more mainstream. They're not so much for us.
The rest of the album? So much of what this record is is going to be lost/undervalued/misunderstood if you don't know the U2 backstory and catalogue.
This isn't a classic U2 record. The Unforgettable Fire, The Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby were. Those records were defining. Game changing.
This is a record from a band that spent years being defining, and is now happy to simply defy. Defy age, defy criticism, defy cynicism.
There are a few 'god given rights' in our society. The right for kids to think their parents are unfair and their teachers are mean. The right to think your local council is wasting your money. The right to hate the media. We all do them.
For a section of music fans, those who have come through their youth and are now exploring, creating, forging new musical paths, there is a right to hate a band like U2. They are yesterday, but without the good grace to stay in yesterday. And they have the weight to suck oxygen away from the new acts the defining acts. They are loathed for it.
And that's fine. Finally, it seems, U2 have accepted they'll not win those people over while still making the music they want to make. And that is music that fills arenas and stadiums. Music that soars and leaves a crowd walking away feeling mightier, more elated, more hopeful than they were three hours earlier. Music that tells U2's own story.
It's no surprise this record isn't gaining universal appeal - even on this fan-board. It's nostalgic, emotional, melodramatic. Clumsy and cheesy at times. It's romantic. And that will never have universal appeal.
What seems clear though is that there is a good proportion of U2 fans who love the band because of the very music, themes, ambitions and hopefulness this album taps into. Perhaps that's what attracted them to U2. Perhaps its what moved them during a concert when they felt lifted somewhere higher than they ever expected to feel. Perhaps a lyric that seemed melodramatic or pompous to many cut through and spoke with clarity to them.
For me, it's not a classic. It's not Achtung Baby or The Joshua Tree or The Unforgettable Fire. It's not even Boy or Zooropa. And nor could it have ever been. There's no precedent for a band as big as U2 - and there have only been a handful in history - creating a broad-appeal classic for their 14th album. I suspect it will never happen for the simple fact the audience who decides on what is classic is, at any given moment, considerably younger than U2 are now. Younger musicians and fans are constantly searching to create or find new sounds and styles to exult, not old ones to remember. That's how it should be.
But as a long-time fan of the enormity of the anthems and atmosphere U2 delivered over a 40 year career, Songs of Experience is better than the best thing I thought they could do in 2017.
My big takeaway at this point is this is an album for us. It's for fans. Which makes the single choices a bit more understandable - they're more mainstream. They're not so much for us.
The rest of the album? So much of what this record is is going to be lost/undervalued/misunderstood if you don't know the U2 backstory and catalogue.
This isn't a classic U2 record. The Unforgettable Fire, The Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby were. Those records were defining. Game changing.
This is a record from a band that spent years being defining, and is now happy to simply defy. Defy age, defy criticism, defy cynicism.
There are a few 'god given rights' in our society. The right for kids to think their parents are unfair and their teachers are mean. The right to think your local council is wasting your money. The right to hate the media. We all do them.
For a section of music fans, those who have come through their youth and are now exploring, creating, forging new musical paths, there is a right to hate a band like U2. They are yesterday, but without the good grace to stay in yesterday. And they have the weight to suck oxygen away from the new acts the defining acts. They are loathed for it.
And that's fine. Finally, it seems, U2 have accepted they'll not win those people over while still making the music they want to make. And that is music that fills arenas and stadiums. Music that soars and leaves a crowd walking away feeling mightier, more elated, more hopeful than they were three hours earlier. Music that tells U2's own story.
It's no surprise this record isn't gaining universal appeal - even on this fan-board. It's nostalgic, emotional, melodramatic. Clumsy and cheesy at times. It's romantic. And that will never have universal appeal.
What seems clear though is that there is a good proportion of U2 fans who love the band because of the very music, themes, ambitions and hopefulness this album taps into. Perhaps that's what attracted them to U2. Perhaps its what moved them during a concert when they felt lifted somewhere higher than they ever expected to feel. Perhaps a lyric that seemed melodramatic or pompous to many cut through and spoke with clarity to them.
For me, it's not a classic. It's not Achtung Baby or The Joshua Tree or The Unforgettable Fire. It's not even Boy or Zooropa. And nor could it have ever been. There's no precedent for a band as big as U2 - and there have only been a handful in history - creating a broad-appeal classic for their 14th album. I suspect it will never happen for the simple fact the audience who decides on what is classic is, at any given moment, considerably younger than U2 are now. Younger musicians and fans are constantly searching to create or find new sounds and styles to exult, not old ones to remember. That's how it should be.
But as a long-time fan of the enormity of the anthems and atmosphere U2 delivered over a 40 year career, Songs of Experience is better than the best thing I thought they could do in 2017.
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