The lyrics struck me as less forced than the last couple albums. More conversational and a little impressionistic at times. I didn't hear any reference to "kneeling" or "soul" that jumped out at me, so that should relieve a lot of you!
The lyrics struck me as less forced than the last couple albums. More conversational and a little impressionistic at times. I didn't hear any reference to "kneeling" or "soul" that jumped out at me, so that should relieve a lot of you!
The lyrics struck me as less forced than the last couple albums. More conversational and a little impressionistic at times. I didn't hear any reference to "kneeling" or "soul" that jumped out at me, so that should relieve a lot of you!
Ah man, great review - clearly you know music AND you know U2 well enough to give us a proper impression of the track. I found Alan Cross's description just a bit too vague to get excited about...
The lyrics struck me as less forced than the last couple albums. More conversational and a little impressionistic at times. I didn't hear any reference to "kneeling" or "soul" that jumped out at me, so that should relieve a lot of you!
We will be known as Sexy Boots, and our radio station will be called GOYB 106.1.
I saw that his status on facebook said he heard the single, so I forced him at gunpoint to come here and post a review. I know how hungry everyone is.
excellent review, thanx for sharing ...I found myself in a situation very much like Alan Cross this morning, so I composed my thoughts for The Blue Crackheads after hearing the song twice.
God bless 'em, it opens with a drum fill, not unlike "Young Folks" by Peter, Bjorn & John, and then we're on our way. The signature riff is muscular and catchy in the "Vertigo" vein, with a rapid fire vocal pattern. I read a Alan Cross' blog this morning that compared the verses to "Pump It Up" by Elvis Costello, and I can't say I disagree with that. It's evocative but I wouldn't call it a rip-off. The chorus goes all middle eastern with Bono singing "You don't know how beautiful you are". There's a half-tempo breakdown/bridge with a processed drum loop that I cannot wait to hear in a stadium. It's like John Bonham playing on a Massive Attack song before the song lurches back into the main riff for another verse and chorus. And then before you know it, it's all over. It feels like a dense 7 minute epic crammed into about 3 and a half minutes.
The single most striking thing about this song for me are the drums. Or at least I think they're drums! I've never heard so many layers of rhythm on a U2 song. There are a lot of very processed drums (I thought of Kasabian at one point and N*E*R*D* at another) and loops going on, coming in and out of the mix and then at points it goes back to traditional sounding drums for emphasis. It's extremely tasteful, but complex enough to make my head spin. And I have no idea how I'm gonna manage to pull it off when my band learns it, so stay tuned for some comedy while I work that business out.
Anyway, this is NOT U2 by the numbers. This is not a "return to form" or "back to basics". This is, what the kids like to call, some OTHER shit. The 21st Century version of U2 is finally here. And they aren't looking back to their own catalog for inspiration anymore if this song is any indication.
If you had to place "GOYB" on any previous album where would it belong....
Just a question, say, hypothetically, one of us did get it, what would we do?
I don't have any scoops on the release date, but I'm sure it's imminent if they're doing all this press and taking the song around for first impressions. It is my SPECULATION that the 1/19 date should be accurate but that did not come from the label. Release dates can move up and back for various reasons. It's not unheard of, especially for high profile releases like this. They could pull a Joshua Tree on us and change the lead off single at the last minute for all we know. So I can't confirm any of the dates floating around the internet. I can just tell you my gut feeling that we're probably within a week, barring anything unforeseen.
leak...leak like an old toilet!!