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U2 'still rocking' with new album
Herve Amoric
A quarter of a century into their career, most rock bands are content to wheel out a greatest hits album every now and then. Not Ireland's U2, who, according to their manager, are still getting better.
"The album we are releasing on November 22 is their best work," Paul McGuinness said from the band's global headquarters next to the River Liffey in their home city of Dublin.
Ten studio albums into their career, U2 are a strong contender for the title of the world's favourite band, shifting million of records around the globe and selling out concerts wherever they head.
Coupled with this, singer Bono — born Paul Hewson — has carved out a parallel career as one of the best-known activists for debt relief for developing nations.
Regularly hobnobbing with presidents and prime ministers, the globe-trotting rock star won a standing ovation in September at the annual conference of British Prime Minister Tony Blair's ruling Labour Party with a rousing speech about Africa.
Things were not always this way, said McGuinness, who has looked after Bono, guitarist The Edge — once known as Dave Evans — bass player Adam Clayton and drummer Larry Mullen since two years before their debut album was released in 1980.
A wobbly start
"They started out very hesitantly, tentatively," he said.
"I started managing them in 1978, they were not very good then, but they were convinced they were going to be a great band.
"The spirit of the band was greater than its expertise, they formed the band first and learnt to play instruments later," McGuinness said.
The new album, 'How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb', has been eagerly awaited — so much so that a rough cut of the album was stolen in the south of France in July.
"U2 have always tried to make of the last album their best record," said Niall Stokes, editor of Hotpress magazine, Ireland's leading music publication, which has long championed the band.
"They have a collective commitment to do great work which distinguishes them from a lot of rock 'n' roll bands who have been around for a long time, and who are happy to take their foot off the gas and rehearse what they have done in the past, their creative ambition diminished over the years," he said.
Better than the Stones?
McGuinness is keen to measure his charges against the standards of the rock greats.
"If you compare them to the Rolling Stones, they have been making records for 40 years, U2 for 25 years," he said.
"A typical (new) Rolling Stones album nowadays sells about 2 million, the last U2 album sold 13 million.
"If you go to a Rolling Stones concert they will play a lot of their old songs and may (play) one or two from the new album. If you go to a U2 show you will hear all of the last album and some of the older material as well. But that's what keeps them fresh, an ambition to be better."
U2's band members all turned 40 several years back, but they have somehow managed to keep their guitar-led music relevant to music-buyers of all ages, irrespective of the passing fashions of the time.
"For a band of their vintage to still be able to realign and reinvent themselves every couple of years is incredible," said Stuart Bailey, a BBC radio DJ and a writer for British rock bible the New Musical Express.
"There's no competition. Plus, Bono has a humanitarian side, and it gives him a validity for being famous," he said.
In the generally fickle world of popular music, Bono's commitment to political causes makes him an easy target for mockery, as well as charges that he is pompous and self-important.
But for McGuinness, it is as much a part of the singer's life as the music.
"For Bono, his political work is the result of his deep convictions and it has become his second job," he said.
"He talks about U2 as his day job, but he spends half his time on his organisation, DATA, which stands for Debt Aids Trade Africa, he lobbies governments all over the world on the question of the responsibility of the rich world to assist the poor world."
--AFP
http://entertainment.iafrica.com/news/390311.htm
Herve Amoric
A quarter of a century into their career, most rock bands are content to wheel out a greatest hits album every now and then. Not Ireland's U2, who, according to their manager, are still getting better.
"The album we are releasing on November 22 is their best work," Paul McGuinness said from the band's global headquarters next to the River Liffey in their home city of Dublin.
Ten studio albums into their career, U2 are a strong contender for the title of the world's favourite band, shifting million of records around the globe and selling out concerts wherever they head.
Coupled with this, singer Bono — born Paul Hewson — has carved out a parallel career as one of the best-known activists for debt relief for developing nations.
Regularly hobnobbing with presidents and prime ministers, the globe-trotting rock star won a standing ovation in September at the annual conference of British Prime Minister Tony Blair's ruling Labour Party with a rousing speech about Africa.
Things were not always this way, said McGuinness, who has looked after Bono, guitarist The Edge — once known as Dave Evans — bass player Adam Clayton and drummer Larry Mullen since two years before their debut album was released in 1980.
A wobbly start
"They started out very hesitantly, tentatively," he said.
"I started managing them in 1978, they were not very good then, but they were convinced they were going to be a great band.
"The spirit of the band was greater than its expertise, they formed the band first and learnt to play instruments later," McGuinness said.
The new album, 'How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb', has been eagerly awaited — so much so that a rough cut of the album was stolen in the south of France in July.
"U2 have always tried to make of the last album their best record," said Niall Stokes, editor of Hotpress magazine, Ireland's leading music publication, which has long championed the band.
"They have a collective commitment to do great work which distinguishes them from a lot of rock 'n' roll bands who have been around for a long time, and who are happy to take their foot off the gas and rehearse what they have done in the past, their creative ambition diminished over the years," he said.
Better than the Stones?
McGuinness is keen to measure his charges against the standards of the rock greats.
"If you compare them to the Rolling Stones, they have been making records for 40 years, U2 for 25 years," he said.
"A typical (new) Rolling Stones album nowadays sells about 2 million, the last U2 album sold 13 million.
"If you go to a Rolling Stones concert they will play a lot of their old songs and may (play) one or two from the new album. If you go to a U2 show you will hear all of the last album and some of the older material as well. But that's what keeps them fresh, an ambition to be better."
U2's band members all turned 40 several years back, but they have somehow managed to keep their guitar-led music relevant to music-buyers of all ages, irrespective of the passing fashions of the time.
"For a band of their vintage to still be able to realign and reinvent themselves every couple of years is incredible," said Stuart Bailey, a BBC radio DJ and a writer for British rock bible the New Musical Express.
"There's no competition. Plus, Bono has a humanitarian side, and it gives him a validity for being famous," he said.
In the generally fickle world of popular music, Bono's commitment to political causes makes him an easy target for mockery, as well as charges that he is pompous and self-important.
But for McGuinness, it is as much a part of the singer's life as the music.
"For Bono, his political work is the result of his deep convictions and it has become his second job," he said.
"He talks about U2 as his day job, but he spends half his time on his organisation, DATA, which stands for Debt Aids Trade Africa, he lobbies governments all over the world on the question of the responsibility of the rich world to assist the poor world."
--AFP
http://entertainment.iafrica.com/news/390311.htm
