New Album Discussion 10 - Songs of Sir, this is a Wendy's, durr

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If someone's got a faster way for me to hear this than the 2 hours I have left on this getmetal download, I'd appreciate it!

How exciting to have a new(ish) release again.
 
Only in Disc 2 but I’m just really refreshed by how it feels much more like listening to them play music than the recent records… not even so much in terms of ‘intimacy’ but like people (mostly edge, but also Bono’s singing) are making semi-spontaneous choices based on what feels right, rather than focus-grouping the fifth version of a rewritten song so much it’s hard to feel the human/U2 DNA on the other side. I’m realizing how much I missed that. Makes SOI/SOE feel a little like Disney Star Wars. And yes I know they’ve often worked very closely with producers, but the recent stuff tends to feel like we’re several layers of self doubt and reworking from any original musical impulse. EBW is a great example of this to me (I realize this is controversial)—original guitar performances feel hearbreaking, sad, genuinely depressed… the later rewrite feels like somebody had to write a pop chorus.
 
Gilead12 said:
Only in Disc 2 but I’m just really refreshed by how it feels much more like listening to them play music than the recent records… not even so much in terms of ‘intimacy’ but like people (mostly edge, but also Bono’s singing) are making semi-spontaneous choices based on what feels right, rather than focus-grouping the fifth version of a rewritten song so much it’s hard to feel the human/U2 DNA on the other side. I’m realizing how much I missed that. Makes SOI/SOE feel a little like Disney Star Wars. And yes I know they’ve often worked very closely with producers, but the recent stuff tends to feel like we’re several layers of self doubt and reworking from any original musical impulse. EBW is a great example of this to me (I realize this is controversial)—original guitar performances feel hearbreaking, sad, genuinely depressed… the later rewrite feels like somebody had to write a pop chorus.
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Agree, and I love SoI and SoE. There's a root nugget there that's quintessentially U2, but feels buried under a combination of self-doubt and meddling. There just feels like something is just a *tad* off on some songs. My goto for this is Red Flag Day. There's no reason for it to feel hollow or off, but to me, it does.
 
images
 
Disc 1 down. Highlights so far:
- Stories For Boys is sublime. Expected from the clips, but I just love it’s atmosphere.
- 11 O’Clock solo is wonderful. It fades out a bit soon, but not as jarring as the Troubles.
- Bad is better than the TUF version. There, I said it. It’s always been an epic song, but it was a live song. The album version was a bit of an odd one until it blew up live. The added lyrics did complete the sketch, and it worked. We give Bono lots of shit for making stuff worse, so credit where it’s due.
- EBW - yeah we’ve heard this before, but it is much better than the radio or acoustic versions from 2014. Well recorded - captures the spontaneity as well as not sounding rushed.
- Walk On - same as bad re lyrics - credit where it’s due. The original production and instrumentation is special to me, but it’s a lovely companion.

I had high expectations. I was one of the strongest advocates for waiting until hearing the whole before jumping off cliffs. I got shit for it. They’ve exceeded the expectations and then some. I hope they use some of the decision making that went into this on the new record.
 
dan_smee said:
Disc 1 down. Highlights so far:
- Stories For Boys is sublime. Expected from the clips, but I just love it’s atmosphere.
- 11 O’Clock solo is wonderful. It fades out a bit soon, but not as jarring as the Troubles.
- Bad is better than the TUF version. There, I said it. It’s always been an epic song, but it was a live song. The album version was a bit of an odd one until it blew up live. The added lyrics did complete the sketch, and it worked. We give Bono lots of shit for making stuff worse, so credit where it’s due.
- EBW - yeah we’ve heard this before, but it is much better than the radio or acoustic versions from 2014. Well recorded - captures the spontaneity as well as not sounding rushed.
- Walk On - same as bad re lyrics - credit where it’s due. The original production and instrumentation is special to me, but it’s a lovely companion.

I had high expectations. I was one of the strongest advocates for waiting until hearing the whole before jumping off cliffs. I got shit for it. They’ve exceeded the expectations and then some. I hope they use some of the decision making that went into this on the new record.
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I've always thought the album version of Bad's strength was in the transition from 4th of July's creepy atmosphere into the clouds parting (not that Bad is an uplifter, but it's a nice musical flow that I can't seem to describe any other way)
 
dan_smee said:
I had high expectations. I was one of the strongest advocates for waiting until hearing the whole before jumping off cliffs. I got shit for it. They’ve exceeded the expectations and then some. I hope they use some of the decision making that went into this on the new record.
Click to expand...

Just imagine if they would have dropped it at once. Or at least the 16 song version and the extended today. Two and a half months of just thinking about the concept based on preconceived notions didn't help matters and probably shaped a lot of opinions early.
 
The members of U2 may be Dublin’s favorite musical sons, but Glen Hansard isn’t far behind, thanks to his work as a solo artist and with the Frames and Once cohort Marketa Irglova. As such, it’s fitting the veteran troubadour appears in U2’s David Letterman-hosted Disney+ special A Sort of Homecoming, which will be released tomorrow (March 17).

Hansard tells SPIN the invitation to be involved came from Bono himself. “He had a nice idea to have some music in a bar, and he wanted me there, and a couple other musicians we know,” he says, referencing the participation of himself, Irglova, Imelda May, Saint Sister, Fontaines DC’s Grian Chatten, and Dermot Kennedy during two nights of music at the tiny McDaid’s Pub in mid-December. Among the songs performed was U2’s “Desire” by Bono and Hansard.

Afterward, Hansard thought his on-camera duties were complete, but then Bono asked if he’d talk with Letterman, who serves as a kind of spirit guide to U2’s Dublin in the special. Hansard told Bono he was game, but that he’d actually never spoken to Letterman before despite performing on his CBS late night show on several occasions.

“We have a local train in Ireland called the DART, and he wanted me to ride the train from terminus to terminus, which is about an hour,” Hansard recalls. “I’ve never met this guy, and suddenly I’m sitting on the train with him for an hour. He was an absolute sweetheart. We did talk about U2, but almost the whole conversation was about our sons, which was just a lovely, lovely way to meet him. The first thing I said was, ‘I’ve done your show, but I’ve never spoken to you.’ He said, ‘you were probably told don’t look me in the eye, right?’ I said, ‘yeah.’ He said, ‘yeah, that’s how I like it’ (laughs). He was really, really sweet. We rode the train for an hour and then we went to a bar. David really surprised me. Not that I was expecting a cold fish, but he was an absolute gent.”
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.
 
I've been experiencing this vicariously through this thread so far. Going to wait until tomorrow afternoon when I can listen front-to-back uninterrupted for the full deal.
 
Disc two down:

- every song here is a worthy inclusion, even GOOYOW. It’s the unheralded or disliked songs that shine brightest for me, and even though it’s the weakest track for what it is, I can appreciate the fun involved and the attempt to make it work in a very different context.
- I think this will end up being my favourite disc, and on the announcement of the tracklist I thought it would be bottom.
- Wild Horses works because it’s straight up. No gloss needed, just a great song played well.
- Stuck is very similar to acoustic, but for some reason it just hits a little harder. Vocal delivery just feels like it means more.
- Red Hill - wow did that 90 second clip not do this justice. Amazing.
- Invisible is a great song already, and this version is very enjoyable.
- Dirty Day - another that seemed to leave the best bits o it if the clip, and some of the twists and turns were great surprises. So good.
- The Miracle - probably the triumph of the project. One of their worst songs ever (at least the way it was recorded) and definitely their worst single ever for me. This is great. Fun, breezy, not trying too hard, but this just clicks.
 
Disc 3

- vertigo strings is fun and won’t be a single listen track, but the bbc live version packs more punch. I suppose that wasn’t the point here, but it left me wanting a studio version of it instead.
- SHF - I liked more than the clip, but another victim of the “big songs translate worst” syndrome unfolding on this project.
- ES, The Fly, IGWSHA - maybe the strongest run of three tracks so far? The tone shift halfway through ES was a bit jarring, but I kind of liked it! The Fly again, much more going on than the clip showed. IGWSHA - shows how beautiful Bono’s melodies actually are. They aren’t heroes enough.
- Desire, again better than the clips, but not landing with me yet.
- UTEOTW - so much going on here - from all the clips I felt it would be closer to Wild Horses, but it’s actually quite intricate.
- SFS - seemed like it would mirror the SOI acoustic for a while, but you suddenly realise halfway through the layers were growing and lots of interesting things were happening all through - extra guitars, pianos, possibly a cello. I had to start it again to notice it all. Really cool. Another I like better than the original.
- AIWIY - we had most of this, glad it keeps growing through the end.
 
Headache in a Suitcase said:
while i'll agree that this Bad is good, and that live Bad is the best Bad... saying it's better than the original studio version is a bridge too far for this guy, but to each their own.
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I’ve had a secret shame that I felt the album version felt like an ambient remix of a real song that didn’t exist, and took some of the heart out of it. Now, I fully expect in two years time to think I was an idiot for thinking this was better, but it hits the spots I want this project to hit, and covers over the things that fell short in the original for me.
 
super fly guy said:
Fuck it just listened to a couple. And little things blew me away,just cemented itself as top tier U2. And that's a hill I'm willing to die on.
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Just started on Disc 2, but the album version and also the jimmy kimmel performance cemented Little Things as top tier for me
 
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