New Album Discussion 1 - Songs of..... - Unreasonable guitar album

[BEAL]

Are they really that attached to their songs? I feel like in the 84 years between albums now, they could release little EPs of unreleased songs from any era. Maybe clean up the sound / mix a little bit and let us have it.

Even live albums would be killer.

Instead we wait and wait only to get Song for Someone x3

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

The actual title for Song for Someone x3 is 26, thank you.

 

[wolbersu2]

Not excited anymore about a new album. They disappointed too much the last years with their releases and their US residency's. (Sphere and Bono stories).

I'd wish the band would do a sort of 5x5 Simple Minds tour. BOY - The Unforgettable fire with deep cuts and deliver a nice live album.

 

[MattD]

Not excited anymore about a new album. They disappointed too much the last years with their releases and their US residency's. (Sphere and Bono stories).

I'd wish the band would do a sort of 5x5 Simple Minds tour. BOY - The Unforgettable fire with deep cuts and deliver a nice live album.

Not particularly excited if Atomic City is an indication of the way forward. It's an unbelievably beige piece of 'rawk' music in the vein of Miracle, American Soul..... something that thinks its heavier hitting than it really is. Sounds unbelievably sterile in recording too.

Something rougher and spikier, much more in the vein of post-punk than rock, would be better if they are intent of 'rocking out'.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Ehrmagawd ets dad rawk!

 

[dan_smee]

Atomic City is a big step up on pretty much all of the rockers since 2005.

 

[ascender_RS]

Its their best "single" since Vertigo.

The mix of what comes next won't be as rough as people seem to want, but there's elements in the guitar and bass parts which makes me optimistic about the next album.

 

[MattD]

Atomic City is a big step up on pretty much all of the rockers since 2005.

That's a shockingly low bar.

U2's 'rock' of recent years is BBC Radio 2 listeners idea of hard rock.

 

[PookaMacP]

Atomic City is a big step up on pretty much all of the rockers since 2005.

Damning with faint praise?

 

[lazarus]

I prefer The Blackout by a considerable margin, and even if that has some goofy lyrics, so does Atomic City. Great chorus that doesn't require having to sample Blondie.

Not to say that I dislike Atomic City; I'll certainly take it over Get Out and The Miracle.

 

[dan_smee]

Blackout definitely up there. And on the damning with faint praise comment - I get that Bono often talks about punk rock from Venus, but when have they ever been a really “spiky” or “rough” or “dirty” rock band? Even Boy has a sheen to it that separated it from punk.

I think the U2 fans that expect something with more bite or hardness to it than the standard fare they serve up is kidding themselves.

 

[dan_smee]

And before people say Acrobat. It’s not hard or heavy. It’s edge (ha!) comes from the lyrical content.

 

[pacemaker]

Blackout definitely up there. And on the damning with faint praise comment - I get that Bono often talks about punk rock from Venus, but when have they ever been a really “spiky” or “rough” or “dirty” rock band? Even Boy has a sheen to it that separated it from punk.

I think the U2 fans that expect something with more bite or hardness to it than the standard fare they serve up is kidding themselves.

Yea the pre-album hyperbole definitely needs to be taken with a grain of salt. The amount of sessions they typically have for each record these days inevitably leads to different sounds that Bono might latch onto and excitedly talk or brag about… before they get Lillywhite’d or whatever.

I’d say the spike-iest U2 have ever been is Raised By Wolves.

 

[Achtung Ya'll]

Blackout definitely up there. And on the damning with faint praise comment - I get that Bono often talks about punk rock from Venus, but when have they ever been a really “spiky” or “rough” or “dirty” rock band? Even Boy has a sheen to it that separated it from punk.

I think the U2 fans that expect something with more bite or hardness to it than the standard fare they serve up is kidding themselves.

Blackout is wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy better than Atomic City. What a great single/video

 

[trevgreg]

Spot on! And if I’m not mistaken - aren’t they in the very same key??

The only thought I had about it that might mitigate the ridiculousness of it is thy maybe they just decided - “let’s be blatant about it. These two songs came from the same original draft - so let’s sit side by side and just own it.”

I believe so, yes!

And good point regarding the blatant aspect. If that was the thinking behind that, I can sort of see where they felt it was best to just lean in and embrace it. I know when I’ve dabbled with writing songs, I usually tried to avoid using those four chords or the very same progression for a standalone project, just to preserve some originality. Funny thing is I don’t really mind either song in the end either, and might even prefer GOOYOW despite its somewhat more obvious derivative nature (the Beautiful Day references and so on).

 

[U2387]

Yea the pre-album hyperbole definitely needs to be taken with a grain of salt. The amount of sessions they typically have for each record these days inevitably leads to different sounds that Bono might latch onto and excitedly talk or brag about… before they get Lillywhite’d or whatever.

I’d say the spike-iest U2 have ever been is Raised By Wolves.

Yeah! Raised by Wolves is so underrated here! I always point to that when people say Edge is missing from Songs of... era.

SOE, I go back and forth. Tend to have the same evaluation as others here- high highs, low lows.

I was thoroughly satisfied by SOI and almost 10 years later, still rate the album itself and era with the 2015 tour to be their best since AB. I

Just suffered from a massive unforced error at the kick off (Apple) and less so from not having a big hit.

Despite all that, I&E saw some truly inspired U2 shows and I don't think it's mentioned enough how they rallied after the Apple backlash and Bono's bike accident. I remember the tour getting rave professional reviews- and even some that mentioned talking to casual fans or people who had gone with friends, etc who were ready to hate it and had their minds blown.

 

[allaras]

Not particularly excited if Atomic City is an indication of the way forward. It's an unbelievably beige piece of 'rawk' music in the vein of Miracle, American Soul..... something that thinks its heavier hitting than it really is. Sounds unbelievably sterile in recording too.

Something rougher and spikier, much more in the vein of post-punk than rock, would be better if they are intent of 'rocking out'.

Atomic City received more play on the Alt Nation channel on SiriusXM than any song since Magnificent.

 

[BEAL]

I've kinda gone back and forth with Atomic City. When it first came out I was dismissive of it, as I found the beginning of the song you could mix The Miracle over it and have it line up pretty well (Yes they are different songs, to me it's just the generic guitar and thump of the two songs). I do like some of the Clash sounding guitar during the pre chorus, and Edge and Bono playing off each other. Then the chorus is pretty typical for later stage U2....despite the Blondie influence

I'm more bummed with the Bono lyrics and his insistence on trying to come up with clever one liners "If your dreams don't scare you, they're not big enough". It has always seemed like he's trying to channel John Lennon

I am hoping for a little more subtleness to Bono's lyrics, but I am not banking on it. Both he and Edge seem to be attached to creating the perfect little 3 min pop tune....vs their 4-6 min weirdness they used to produce

 

[trevgreg]

Hate to break it, but they always wrote “pop” songs. Streets and WOWY are just versions of D-G-B minor-A, which are half the songs you’ll hear on the radio anyway.

Big hooks have always been a part of the equation, as much as some would prefer Cedars Part 2 and the like (and which is a rather small part of the output anyway).

 

[JWR1992]

Atomic City received more play on the Alt Nation channel on SiriusXM than any song since Magnificent.

Yeah but how much of that was organic tho and not just part of their deal with Sirius? I had my car set to notify me when Sirius XM played U2 and there was quite a few times where 3-5 different stations were playing a U2 song at the same time.

 

[ascender_RS]

I've heard Atomic City played regularly since release on a variety of radio stations in the UK. It still pops up here which is something I can't say has happened for anything off the last few albums.

 

[BEAL]

Hate to break it, but they always wrote “pop” songs. Streets and WOWY are just versions of D-G-B minor-A, which are half the songs you’ll hear on the radio anyway.

Big hooks have always been a part of the equation, as much as some would prefer Cedars Part 2 and the like (and which is a rather small part of the output anyway).

Agree. Their biggest songs are pop songs.

Its more they just had a uniqueness about them that was instantly recognizable as U2

Their songs are more recognizable because Bono voice blasting vs the instruments.

For me it feels more like Edge has moved on to more traditional style of playing. Less on the effects / delay.

He’s always kept his style minimalistic. I prefer less generic chords strumming and at least go back to the chimes

 

[CedarwoodAWT]

I believe so, yes!

And good point regarding the blatant aspect. If that was the thinking behind that, I can sort of see where they felt it was best to just lean in and embrace it. I know when I’ve dabbled with writing songs, I usually tried to avoid using those four chords or the very same progression for a standalone project, just to preserve some originality. Funny thing is I don’t really mind either song in the end either, and might even prefer GOOYOW despite its somewhat more obvious derivative nature (the Beautiful Day references and so on).

Toooootally.

And I feel like they've been re-writing Beautiful Day for 24 years now. There’s the original, there’s Miracle Drug, there’s some in California, and then Get Out, of course.

I mean - it’s a great vibe, soft programmy drums, easy on the back beat, happy mood almost copy paste chord structure - a la WOWY, but faster - tight verse and then a BOOM chorus.

If it ain’t broke… I guess?

But it has been almost 25 years they’ve been recording albums in which BD would be at home as the lead single on any of them.

I remember the days of Wire and Bad and 11 O’Clock and Drowning Man and Deep in the Heart and think - man - what happened…that’s such a different spirit.

But I’m still a fan.

 

[dan_smee]

U2 need to take a leaf out of Oasis’s book.

20th and 30th anniversary sets have delivered genuine unicorns - the latest being the original scrapped version of their debut album released later this year.

Just open the vaults guys. It’s make the medicine go down easier for so many people with the new music.

 

[ascender_RS]

I guess the market for reissues of stuff with rarities is going to lessen after a certain point in time. i.e. unless you're The Beatles, appeal won't be as broad as time goes on for the latest uber deluxe box set which costs ££££.

With U2, I suppose Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby are always going to be up there for wider public interest, but I'd have thought they are round about the time where the window of opportunity to sell rarities, demos etc is going to close if they don't do it soon? Or certainly the amount of willing purchasers is going to start decreasing.

I know they've always been a band about looking forward to the next album, other than the rare things like JT and Sphere where they look back, but maybe they think opening up the vaults will make it look like they're out of ideas or distract from the new music? We all know they like to hold on to stuff for use on future records... and have a very high standard of what they are willing to be heard by the public.

 

[lazarus]

My guess is that they're waiting until they actually do decide to hang it up to start marketing rarities beyond fan club/record store day releases. They will get a considerable amount of media attention when that happens, and the career summations from music critics and the like will spark interest among casual/younger viewers. And then they can start marketing to a *theoretically* larger or more attentive fanbase than they currently have.

 

[CedarwoodAWT]

I love North Star! Better than Wild Honey for instance...

I just heard the Transformers 3 version of this song on YouTube. Someone must have pulled it off the movie cause I don’t think it was on the official soundtrack (which should tell you something).

No offense meant, really.

But I would never ever ever EVER have become a U2 fan if that drivel was what they were putting out in the 80s and 90s.

It’s so terrible to me I wanna barf.

Give me Wire, Bad, 11 O’Clock, Scarlet, New Years Day…Daddy’s Gonna Pay.

I really think North Star is the kind of stuff they would have mocked in their younger years. It’s way worse than Phil Collins. And they mocked him.

It literally sounds like a completely different band. A terrible one.

No offense.

To each his own.

 

[Achtung Ya'll]

I just heard the Transformers 3 version of this song on YouTube. Someone must have pulled it off the movie cause I don’t think it was on the official soundtrack (which should tell you something).

No offense meant, really.

But I would never ever ever EVER have become a U2 fan if that drivel was what they were putting out in the 80s and 90s.

It’s so terrible to me I wanna barf.

Give me Wire, Bad, 11 O’Clock, Scarlet, New Years Day…Daddy’s Gonna Pay.

I really think North Star is the kind of stuff they would have mocked in their younger years. It’s way worse than Phil Collins. And they mocked him.

It literally sounds like a completely different band. A terrible one.

No offense.

To each his own.

Wow ... somehow in all my years I didn't even know North Star was a thing???

And oh my GOD is it bad. I totally agree, this is something they would have mocked. Sounds like a pre-pre-pre alpha song that should (rightfully) just be shelved and let's move on.

 

[CedarwoodAWT]

Wow ... somehow in all my years I didn't even know North Star was a thing???

And oh my GOD is it bad. I totally agree, this is something they would have mocked. Sounds like a pre-pre-pre alpha song that should (rightfully) just be shelved and let's move on.

Such bloaty and sentimental cliche drivel. It’s not only horrible; not only awful - it’s horro-awful.

It’s a much much more terrible stage of the adult schlock rock disease that’s worked so much rot in them since 2000.

“Atomic City” is 10,000 light years away from being the prophetic wildfire that is “Wire”; barely the same genre.

But it’s a heck of a lot better than “North Star”.

They were smart to leave it off anything they’d be remembered for.