Daniel Lanois quote in EW

[Clawgrabber]

New issue of EW arrived in the mail today (Harry Potter on the cover)
Page 76, in the music section, is a small "My Resume" sidebar (looks like a recurring profile piece on a various musician or producer. This week it's Daniel Lanois. He talks about a few people, Neil Young, Brandon Flowers, etc...

regarding U2:
"We certainly have enough leftovers [from 2009's No Line on the Horizon] to make another very beautiful record. I remember doing this pedal-steel number in Morocco - it was very, very touching, but it wasn't a hit single"

cool quote.
Are they beginning to remind you of that guy you knew in college who had "written a bunch of screenplays" that no one will ever see. What's with the hoarding of recordings. I know for years Prince recorded and recorded and just vaulted everything for himself. Feels like U2 is in a strange place at the moment.

It's interesting that they continue to publicly discuss all the music we'll never hear / hear if we're lucky. Not sure how i feel about the idea of not releasing something that is "very, very touching" simply because it's not a hit single. Isn't that what albums are for? Collections of songs that might not be hit singles, peppered with a couple tracks to sell the album?

I dunno. Figured it was a good quote to add to the discussion, but it looks like there is no open "quasi baselss speculation" thread anymroe, so apologies in advance for starting a new thread without a home. Mods, file this where you like.

 

[nirniva]

Since this is new info that doesn't really fit into any existing thread, I'd say creating a new thread for this is fine.

Also, regarding that "touching pedal-steel number" - perhaps he's talking about Thank You For The Day?
YouTube - Daniel Lanois - Thank You

 

[gvox]

"I remember doing this pedal-steel number in Morocco - it was very, very touching, but it wasn't a hit single"

Ground control to Danny: if ya didn't get it on NLOTH, forget about it ever seeing the light of day, bro. I doubt they're going to want any touching Moroccan influenced steel pedal non-hits this time around.

Just my gut feeling

 

[nirniva]

Ground control to Danny: if ya didn't get it on NLOTH, forget about it ever seeing the light of day, bro. I doubt they're going to want any touching Moroccan influenced steel pedal non-hits this time around.

Just my gut feeling

You know, NLOTH doesn't strictly need a remaster, but I think I would be okay with it solely because of the bonus disc.

 

[Ronnie269]

Thank You for the day is a shocking song, if its the song Lanois is talking about may it never see the light of day!

As for U2 been so carefull about what songs they include on their album I agree with Lanois, Aiming at chart success and trying to be popular to young audiences who listen to very different music is the downfall of the band!

Bono "we see ourselves as equals to The Killers and Kings of Leon"

 

[powerhour24]

I doubt he's talking about TYFTD, Lanois himself uses pedal steel all the time, and this is a song that has been out there for awhile.

 

[guill]

I wish they pimped NLOTH with 4-5 songs last winter and released EBW to promote the album a 2nd time, it's a good album that deserved more recognition and it was more realistic that eventually making SOA.

 

[powerhour24]

Exactly, a 2 disc rerelease of NLOTH with SoA as a bonus CD and release some new singles from it would have been a good idea.

 

[Registered Dude]

I'm sure he's talking about the piece that made it's way into the bridge of Winter

 

[nirniva]

I doubt he's talking about TYFTD, Lanois himself uses pedal steel all the time, and this is a song that has been out there for awhile.

Yeah...also, he mentioned it having a "Moroccan influence," which I'm not really hearing on TYFTD.
Whatever it is, I hope it sees the light of day eventually...sounds like it could be pretty cool.

 

[The_Edge89]

I doubt he's talking about TYFTD, Lanois himself uses pedal steel all the time, and this is a song that has been out there for awhile.

Well, it was being worked on in Fez, judging by this image from the No Line On The Horizon Book edition:

Also, the chord sequence for the chorus from the 2006 beach clip was part of I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight on the album. It's the part that goes "Baby, Baby, Baby, I know I'm not alone" and it was also included in the "Crazy Tonight" version of the song recorded as a beach clip in 2008.

If anyone is on Twitter, perhaps you could tweet Danny and ask?
Daniel Lanois (danlanois) on Twitter

 

[jay canseco]

I hope that the band is working on deeper songs as well as potential hits. They need those 'interesting' songs as a foundation for the album.

 

[Canadiens1131]

Are they beginning to remind you of that guy you knew in college who had "written a bunch of screenplays" that no one will ever see. What's with the hoarding of recordings. I know for years Prince recorded and recorded and just vaulted everything for himself. Feels like U2 is in a strange place at the moment.

It's interesting that they continue to publicly discuss all the music we'll never hear / hear if we're lucky.

I'm sorry, are we to expect that the band should shit out music against their own best judgment just because they've discussed unreleased tracks in interviews?

At the end of the day they're artists, they have a standard they want to adhere to (I can hear the HTDAAB / ATYCLB dislikers snickering now).

That guy in college never showed anyone those screenplays because it is likely they were not that good.

I really hate the whole "fan campaign" thing that almost pits a bands' fans against the band just to hear a rare song released or a certain type of song recorded, etc. It's selfish to take fandom to levels where you as a fan feel owed something or deceived. They're not forcing their fans to fly to eight consecutive concerts on a tour and in turn do not owe them anything after already providing decades of great music and live performances.

 

[Mountain Dew Ma]

I'm sorry, are we to expect that the band should shit out music against their own best judgment just because they've discussed unreleased tracks in interviews?

At the end of the day they're artists, they have a standard they want to adhere to (I can hear the HTDAAB / ATYCLB dislikers snickering now).

That guy in college never showed anyone those screenplays because it is likely they were not that good.

I really hate the whole "fan campaign" thing that almost pits a bands' fans against the band just to hear a rare song released or a certain type of song recorded, etc. It's selfish to take fandom to levels where you as a fan feel owed something or deceived. They're not forcing their fans to fly to eight consecutive concerts on a tour and in turn do not owe them anything after already providing decades of great music and live performances.

Logic on interference? what the...

 

[scottyT]

I trust U2 inherently for the most part. However they do have some gems. They are wise men at this point but they need to realize they know their craft. They are not the 20 year olds fighting for a deal. They have a huge fanbase that wants to hear their work. They should record and release more than every four years. They are not the stones who have one good song out of 25 new ones. They have 10/12 or so. U2 is fantastic at all times. (10/12 is what most people would think... hey i like this this this and this, and that is ok. we may vary on the ok but we still love the ok compared to the crap that is out on the radio now). So boys let's get serious and throw us some music! We love you. and ever most of what we don't love, we still kind of love too.

 

[Rachel D.]

Does this mean that SOA still exists? I hope they haven't give up on that idea, even if they save it for later and release something else first.

I think U2 overthink things too much. If they have so much stuff set aside, what would it hurt to just take a chance on something and release it without tweaking it too much? If it fails horribly, they'd still have more stuff to fall back on. This is kind of what they did with Passengers and I'd like to see them do it again.

 

[purpleoscar]

It's hard to judge when we haven't listened for ourselves. I think they know that many fans would find a lot of their extra material simply filler and don't want to disappoint fans with high expectations. As they've said in the past they are competing against themselves. It's truely a strange position because album sales across the board are down. Their last album was exceptional (after all that hard work) but didn't catch fire like they wanted it to. Now they are worried that a SOA album may sell only 2 - 3 million albums with no high charting singles. It'll be fun to see what they did with Danger Mouse in response.

 

[Canadiens1131]

Passengers was a side project with Brian Eno, hence the release under a different group name.

The band U2 is much too image-conscious in the 2000s to ever release a record of stuff for the heck of it, unsure of whether the public will like it or not.

Just look at Bono's reaction to Horizon not doing as well as expected. The band didn't seem to see it as a record that veered away from their ATYCLB and HTDAAB material as much as it did.

 

[Rachel D.]

Passengers was a side project with Brian Eno, hence the release under a different group name.

Well, yeah.

The band U2 is much too image-conscious in the 2000s to ever release a record of stuff for the heck of it, unsure of whether the public will like it or not.

Just look at Bono's reaction to Horizon not doing as well as expected. The band didn't seem to see it as a record that veered away from their ATYCLB and HTDAAB material as much as it did.

I know, I'm just saying that it would be nice if they did that again sometime. U2 are like students that think they have to get an A on every test and if they get a B then it's the end of the world, so it would probably be hard for them to let go and do another Passengers thing at this point.

 

[ndmaxfield]

Well, yeah.



I know, I'm just saying that it would be nice if they did that again sometime. U2 are like students that think they have to get an A on every test and if they get a B then it's the end of the world, so it would probably be hard for them to let go and do another Passengers thing at this point.

More still, I think that what some consider their "B" material is sometimes better than their "A" material. I haven't been able to listen to Fez-BB in its entirety since NLOTH was released (that high guitar sound is just too annoying). But I can listen to throw-aways like Disappearing Act or Walk To The Water over and over again.

 

[Canadiens1131]

I think the difference was that in the 80s, U2's held back songs came out to the fans as great B-sides.

In the 90s they had a lot less spare material for B-sides, hence more dance remixes.

In the 00s it seems like they've had a lot of decent B-sides but they don't want to release them because the band is so image-conscious.

 

[U2girl]

The 00s had weaker B-sides, and less of them compared to 80's and 90's.

SOA still exists, yes - it was never officially canceled unlike the Chris Thomas or Rick Rubin sessions.

 

[shart1780]

Ugh I get so tired of talk of record sales. It's so depressing to know that U2 cares so much about them. U2 seemed super psyched about NLOTH and when it doesn't sell well (by U2 standards... it still sold a butt load) they have to turn around and rag on it basically for being too creative and not easy enough for lame brains with no patience to digest. God forbid the music actually has some depth to it... someone might find it boring or confusing the first time they hear it! I mean, Bono even said the album was too progressive and that was a dangerous road. WTF. Yeah man creativity is real dangerous. Better stay away from creativity because someone might feel weird about listening to it. That one creative album must have scared the crap out of you so bad that you have to rush back to the arms of the masses with another easily digestable radio hit like you tried to do with the immensely boring Atomic poop.

Ok I'm done ranting.

 

[mikal]

Ugh I get so tired of talk of record sales. It's so depressing to know that U2 cares so much about them. U2 seemed super psyched about NLOTH and when it doesn't sell well (by U2 standards... it still sold a butt load) they have to turn around and rag on it. It's 10x more interesting than Atomic Poop... at least there was some imagination behind it.

what's even more tiresome is that a lot of fans here care about U2's sales figures.

 

[U2girl]

Ugh I get so tired of talk of record sales. It's so depressing to know that U2 cares so much about them. U2 seemed super psyched about NLOTH and when it doesn't sell well (by U2 standards... it still sold a butt load) they have to turn around and rag on it basically for being too creative and not easy enough for lame brains with no patience to digest. God forbid the music actually has some depth to it... someone might find it boring or confusing the first time they hear it! I mean, Bono even said the album was too progressive and that was a dangerous road. WTF. Yeah man creativity is real dangerous. Better stay away from creativity because someone might feel weird about listening to it. That one creative album must have scared the crap out of you so bad that you have to rush back to the arms of the masses with another easily digestable radio hit like you tried to do with the immensely boring Atomic poop.

Ok I'm done ranting.

It may be a better record than ATYCLB/Bomb but the overall non-u2 fanatic audience just didn't respond to NLOTH with the same enthusiasm.

They lacked a single.

 

[ozeeko]

I think ATYCLB is way better than both BOMB and WHOREIZON. There's nothing wrong with writing singles. It just helps when the songs are...what's the word?....good? All the singles from ATYCLB (even Walk On and Elevation) sound very natural, as opposed to the later albums' singles, which to me come across sounding forced and a tad desperate. Don't get me wrong tho, No Line On My Verizon is def an improvement over BOMB (I'm talking the album tracks, not the singles). Magnificent should have been a great single, I don't think they nailed it tho. CT and Boots, don't get me started.

 

[U2girl]

ATYCLB sounds very polished; too clean for Eno/Lanois' usual work.

Song-for-song, NLOTH is better than the other two (in that regard, it is their no. 3 behind JT and AB). It doesn't drop off in the middle, and it's more consistently above-average U2, the three sections work well together.

The problems are: it doesn't have the inspiration - or a good single in all the 11 songs. I think Magnificent and Crazy Tonight would have been great in 2000/2004; not now. And the fact that U2 is now 50 and old guys don't tend to make hits...

 

[ozeeko]

Polished perhaps, but its very organic and authentic sounding, even with the synths and all. It's got this breezy summer sounding quality throughout and it's a very enjoyable listen. Crazy Tonight has a similar vibe, and i don't think it's the worst song ever (on BOMB it would be one of the highlights), but at the time it was released I was hoping U2 would be past that phase, more into their MOS's and F-BB's and what not, leaving the sunniness of ATYCLB...behind (hah) and never again reminding us of the creative lowpoint that was BOMB (which sadly Boots and a few others do).

Magnificent is a great song, but I stand by my belief that it could've soared higher with a different arrangement. I think it's a little too subdued (which is ironic considering i usually love subdued U2).

I think NLOTH is prob one of their least consistent sounding albums. Very disjointed and i think the middle section highjacks the magic they were riding. But to each their own.

 

[mikal]

Polished perhaps, but its very organic and authentic sounding, even with the synths and all. It's got this breezy summer sounding quality throughout and it's a very enjoyable listen. Crazy Tonight has a similar vibe, and i don't think it's the worst song ever (on BOMB it would be one of the highlights), but at the time it was released I was hoping U2 would be past that phase, more into their MOS's and F-BB's and what not, leaving the sunniness of ATYCLB...behind (hah) and never again reminding us of the creative lowpoint that was BOMB (which sadly Boots and a few others do).

Magnificent is a great song, but I stand by my belief that it could've soared higher with a different arrangement. I think it's a little too subdued (which is ironic considering i usually love subdued U2).

I think NLOTH is prob one of their least consistent sounding albums. Very disjointed and i think the middle section highjacks the magic they were riding. But to each their own.

agreed with all points.

 

[U2girl]

Polished perhaps, but its very organic and authentic sounding, even with the synths and all. It's got this breezy summer sounding quality throughout and it's a very enjoyable listen. Crazy Tonight has a similar vibe, and i don't think it's the worst song ever (on BOMB it would be one of the highlights), but at the time it was released I was hoping U2 would be past that phase, more into their MOS's and F-BB's and what not, leaving the sunniness of ATYCLB...behind (hah) and never again reminding us of the creative lowpoint that was BOMB (which sadly Boots and a few others do).

Magnificent is a great song, but I stand by my belief that it could've soared higher with a different arrangement. I think it's a little too subdued (which is ironic considering i usually love subdued U2).

I think NLOTH is prob one of their least consistent sounding albums. Very disjointed and i think the middle section highjacks the magic they were riding. But to each their own.

It is a pleasant listen; but compare the album version of Elevation with the Tomb Raider mix or compare album version of Walk on with the Godrich single remix. Much, much better and it suits the songs in question far more. And the summer breezy quality is out the window after Wild honey.

I like Crazy tonight; it's just out of place on a record like NLOTH. But for all the critisism of the "middle trio" the record still works from start to end, and it doesn't tank along the way sooner or later, one way or another, unlike three albums immediately preceding NLOTH.