MORE COMMENTS, I have translated them (I am native French speaker so you can trust it
I've been reading the whole thread over at U2achtung, and what happened is that 3 people were on the Eze beach last night and they were posting impressions as it went from their cell phones, but no one had any recording devices. Actually a few people from the forum seem to have heard songs on the Eze beach in the past week or so, I really don't think this is bullshit. Their impressions seemed to be really good. After the first guy posted in response to someone's question about 'innovation', saying that it was not necessarily revolutionary, another poster started complaining that all the stuff about the album being innovative was bullshit etc, then the main guy who heard the songs ('fredo') came back and said he was quite impressed with the songs and there is no reason to worry, especially before having heard anything.
Then another poster who also heard the songs said the following:
'
Really too good what we had the luck of hearing tonight, the album is looking really good! Hard to describe because I am on my mobile. But really (to the person who was complaining) wait until you hear it before reacting like that because tonight 4 fans had an amazing time! Personally I was hooked by every song I heard!'
Then 'fredo' came back and said this:
'
More details on the evening:
Since we had only heard a few recording sessions and seeing that The Edge's birthday party was being organised at Bono's house (decorated Mexican Hacienda style), we thought this was a good time to have a chance to hear something more 'complete'. So we decided to do a little pic-nic on the beach
Around 10:30pm, there was only 4 of us on the beach, and all of a sudden the music started blasting out and we recognised right away the 'U2 touch', a mix of familiar sounds ('Pop' for the bass, 'Vertigo' for Bono's signing/pronounciation, Lady with the Spinning Head for the guitar, etc.) We could hear perfectly well, the sea was calm, the crickets were not singning and the sound was very clear.
At the end of the song there was a firework from a small boat on the water. The Edge came on the patio (wearing a sombrero) with Morleigh. At the end of the firework, we couldn't help but to sing him Happy Birthday, and he thanked us.
Then nothing for a little while.
Then the music started blasting again, the same song. We noted that 'Sexy Boots' comes back a lot in the lyrics. We heard it 5 times during the evening. I can't really describe it precisely. All I can say is that it's a mix of traditional rock with quite a modern sound.
We heard Moment of Surrender (I am guessing it is that one because the word surrender comes back a few times). We heard it twice. Like I said it starts a little bit like Stuck but less cheasy/poppy. But the end of this song is truly magnificent with long, beautiful guitar parts.
We also heard 5 other songs, one time each. Hard to remember all of it, the only thing I can recall is that there were keyboard and synth sounds that I have never heard from U2, and one song starts with a slightly african sounding rythm. Actually I remember from time to time Larry's playing was quite at the forefront.
So of course, it seems like U2's new album might not create a revolution in rock history. But they seem to have moved away from what they had been doing since 2000.
Another thing is there was lots of guitars in what we heard, and that without being radically different (you have to keep the U2 style) there is a freshness in the songwriting.
The sound of the songs is quite stripped down and it is not overproduced like HTDAAB. The sound is more 'rough'.
But us, out little priviledged group, only heard 7 songs and 2 short bits of other songs. Only U2 knows what the album will really be like...'
Someone asked if what they heard sounded like the Beach Clips 2006, and the answer was:
'
It had nothing to do with what we heard from the Beach Clips'
Also, he couldn't record anything because his cell phone battery was dying. But it seems like a few people from the U2achtung forum are planning to hang out at the beach so we might get something soon...