New Album Discussion 9 - Larry needs new arms, ba rum pa pum pum

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I like it.Preordered the limited edition clear vinyl and the digital. I can’t wait to see what else they’ve done.
 
We secretly replaced Larry with a new drummer. Let's see if the rest of the band notices...

 
Anybody tried a 25% off code for the Clear Vinyl version? Mine says it won't work. I had two codes in my account. One *did* work for the deluxe version, but now I think I want the clear vinyl instead... my second said not applicable.

Just wondering if anybody got it to work for the clear one.
 
gvox said:
Bad is up on TikTok well at least a snippet anyways

I’m over 50 and can’t figure out how to get a link to it here [emoji23]
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I could barely figure out how to quote you. I think at 50 you may be near the youngest person here. (now watch everyone get angry that I called them old.)
 
well, that was unexpected. It started as an simple acoustic arrangement and then it changes into something unique.

i actually liked it. Honestly I was sick of the current live version. This really gives a new twist. Great solo at the end.
 
There's also fans getting wound up because this isn't the rock guitar focused album Bono has been talking about, which is kind of interesting as to how stuff gets interpreted by fans & what they are & aren't aware-of.
 
Hollow Island said:
Well, I didn’t expect an aging U2 to be coasting on past glories. Bowie, Weller and Cave had/are having the kind of late career I expected U2 to have. Granted I haven’t expected them to be like that for a long time. I’m taking 20-30 years ago. It’s been clear for a while that their late period was going to be more Stones than Bad Seeds.
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It's all incredibly shocking that a band that has been highly commercial since birth remains highly commercial.


Also - "coasting" would have been to simply put out another normal ass greatest hits album. Whether you like this or not is secondary on that question... a ton of work clearly went into it. It's the opposite of coasting.

You're crushing U2 for wanting to rerecord old songs and using David Bowie as your example while completely ignoring that Toy exists. It all comes off as bashing for bashing's sake. Again.


You really think they’re going so hard into nostalgia because of the Apple thing? And not because they’re old, have less to say, find it more difficult to write, want an easy paycheque and easy applause…you know, the standard reasons old bands glorify their past. It’s not just “the songs” that made them beloved. It’s the sound, arguably more so than the songs. It’s the recordings. And this project strips away a lot of what made the songs beloved. It’s brave, in a lazy and self-glorifying kind of way.
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If they were abandoning new recordings? Sure, maybe you'd have a point. They've made no such indications. The opposite, actually - much like how they followed up JT30 with a new album and a tour that featured that album and dropped some of their most well known songs from the set.



U2 isn’t pushing for relevance with yootz, but this is in no way a side project. It’s a huge U2 album of new recordings made with Bob Ezrin and will have a tie in doc hosted my David Letterman. Those guys don’t get called in for side projects or things designed to be footnotes or curiosities or whatever.
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So call it something else. You're harping on semantics here. This does not have the same hype machine build up of a traditional album release. They didn't even call Pride a single in their press release, btw.

As for the Letterman thing? I would still put good money that it's merely a U2 centered "My Next Guest .." episode and not some documentary. The same sources calling it a documentary are saying it's going to be released on Disney Plus over and over again... yet Letterman has a contract with Netflix and U2 are rumored to have been working with Netflix for years.

If it IS a documentary? They released a documentary with the 25th anniversary of Achtung Baby. Are you trying to say THAT was the same as a traditional album release?

Oh, and Bob Ezrin mixed The Saints Are Coming, and produced the BBC special that came out around Songs of Experience. Rick Rubin produced two songs on a throw away, contract obligation greatest hits album.

Calling it a side project is a way to dismiss criticism of its quality in the same way that criticism of Your Song Saved My Life was dismissed because it was a soundtrack song for a kids movie and criticism of Ahimsa was dismissed because it was a song with an Indian singer made to commemorate their show in India. U2 didn’t cut themselves slack when making those records because of why they were made, and we shouldn’t either. We should hold them to the same standard they hold themselves to.
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I know you really thought Bono being in a kids movie was lame (hi David Bowie doing songs for SpongeBob and Rugrats). Maybe you'll get over that some day.

Your Song Saved My Life is one of the most criticized tracks on this board, and Ahimsa, the true definition of a throw away release, is largely ignored.

Again - call it something else. I called it a side project only because it's clearly not on the same hype level as a traditional album release - what with no KMart press conferences, surprise concerts on flat bed trucks or spamming of the world's itunes accounts.

If anything merely dropping a social video is fairly low key for this band's typical releases.

To me this is a greatest hits album that they actually put a lot of time and effort into (instead of just coasting). It's an appetizer before the main course. I think this first track is fine. It won't replace the original. It's not supposed to.

Some of the clips in the audiobook were very interesting. Some were crap. But I appreciate that they put some time and effort into this instead of just trying to convince us to buy shit we already own - which is what most bands actually do.

That doesn't mean there can't be valid criticisms. Would be great if you ever focused on the valid part instead of just bashing the for not being in the 90s anymore.
 
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This also can serve as prep for fans at concerts to not be so surprised by how many acoustic songs they get to both rest Bono’s voice and Larry’s bionic arms
 
On a separate note, last summer Bono mentioned that they didn't have a producer yet for the upcoming rock album, and that they're looking for a Mutt Lange, AC/DC type producer.

Who do you all reckon would be the best or most likely person the band might end up working with to create that sort of sound?
 
Gonna Run 2 U said:
Ryan Tedder by miles
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Yeahhh there certainly are strong indications they've already recorded the bulk of the next album with Tedder.

But it looks like they're after a separate producer to give it all a finishing touch, like how they re-recorded a lot of SoE with Lillywhite in 2017. At least, that's what I got from Bono's quote about not knowing yet who will make their album.
 
How will that work in practice though?

You can't just turn the guitars up to 11 or make it sound more rawk if the songs haven't been written with that vibe/ethos/whatever-you-want-to-call-it in mind surely?

I'm always really interested in the writing & recording process, so I'm just wondering how they're working at the moment.
 
ascender_RS said:
How will that work in practice though?

You can't just turn the guitars up to 11 or make it sound more rawk if the songs haven't been written with that vibe/ethos/whatever-you-want-to-call-it in mind surely?

I'm always really interested in the writing & recording process, so I'm just wondering how they're working at the moment.
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Same here, I'm really fascinated by how songs are built (especially with U2 where they clearly change so much in the recording process!), and particularly how they're influenced and shaped by different producers.

They've been talking up a rock album since 2019, when they presumably started work on the next album, so the songs probably have that ethos built in already, rather than needing to be scrapped/rebuilt.

I reckon they probably have much of the songs/guitar riffs/melodies written and recorded already (they apparently all-but finished the album by summer 2022), but maybe in their current form they don't sound rough/heavy enough for their liking, and they're after a producer who can make them sound like something on Highway to Hell?
 
Headache in a Suitcase said:
It's all incredibly shocking that a band that has been highly commercial since birth remains highly commercial.


Also - "coasting" would have been to simply put out another normal ass greatest hits album. Whether you like this or not is secondary on that question... a ton of work clearly went into it. It's the opposite of coasting.

You're crushing U2 for wanting to rerecord old songs and using David Bowie as your example while completely ignoring that Toy exists. It all comes off as bashing for bashing's sake. Again.




If they were abandoning new recordings? Sure, maybe you'd have a point. They've made no such indications. The opposite, actually - much like how they followed up JT30 with a new album and a tour that featured that album and dropped some of their most well known songs from the set.





So call it something else. You're harping on semantics here. This does not have the same hype machine build up of a traditional album release. They didn't even call Pride a single in their press release, btw.

As for the Letterman thing? I would still put good money that it's merely a U2 centered "My Next Guest .." episode and not some documentary. The same sources calling it a documentary are saying it's going to be released on Disney Plus over and over again... yet Letterman has a contract with Netflix and U2 are rumored to have been working with Netflix for years.

If it IS a documentary? They released a documentary with the 25th anniversary of Achtung Baby. Are you trying to say THAT was the same as a traditional album release?

Oh, and Bob Ezrin mixed The Saints Are Coming, and produced the BBC special that came out around Songs of Experience. Rick Rubin produced two songs on a throw away, contract obligation greatest hits album.



I know you really thought Bono being in a kids movie was lame (hi David Bowie doing songs for SpongeBob and Rugrats). Maybe you'll get over that some day.

Your Song Saved My Life is one of the most criticized tracks on this board, and Ahimsa, the true definition of a throw away release, is largely ignored.

Again - call it something else. I called it a side project only because it's clearly not on the same hype level as a traditional album release - what with no KMart press conferences, surprise concerts on flat bed trucks or spamming of the world's itunes accounts.

If anything merely dropping a social video is fairly low key for this band's typical releases.

To me this is a greatest hits album that they actually put a lot of time and effort into (instead of just coasting). It's an appetizer before the main course. I think this first track is fine. It won't replace the original. It's not supposed to.

Some of the clips in the audiobook were very interesting. Some were crap. But I appreciate that they put some time and effort into this instead of just trying to convince us to buy shit we already own - which is what most bands actually do.

That doesn't mean there can't be valid criticisms. Would be great if you ever focused on the valid part instead of just bashing the for not being in the 90s anymore.
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First of all, I'm not bashing them. I'm barely even criticizing them. I'm criticizing you and your claims of being able to interpret what they're doing. Their motivation is similar to most other old bands who do what they've been doing. The anniversary tours and SOS aren't them "looking to reverse and refreseh damage to their legacy that was caused by that stupid ass release." That's a baseless claim. You're reading their minds, ffs.

They were commercially successful, but they weren't highly commercial. They spent the 80s and much of the 90s loudly and explicitly going against commercial trends. There's a difference between commercial and being commercially successful. Since Sweetest Thing they have been very commercial, and I have a vague memory of you saying you became a fan in the late 90s. So i guess I can see why you're confused, because during the time you've been a fan they have been commercial. But that was not always the case.

I didn't ignore that Toy exists, but I was referring to his late career, which is generally thought to have begun with Heathen and his reunion with Visconti. Btw, what do you think the contemporary reaction to the news he'd rerecorded juvenalia was? Hint: it wasn't positive. It's not like Toy is comparable to SOS anyway. One is juvenalia, the other is greatest hits. At least SOS will largely be good.

I said they're coasting on past glories and you twist that to mean that they're generally coasting. Rerecording old material is the definition of coasting on past glories. So are anniversary tours. They're doing it in a relatively creative way, but they're still doing it. And fair enough - they're an old band. It's what old bands do, for reasons that I mentioned. I didn't think it's what this band would do when they were old, but here we are. Maybe they'll put out of the nostalgia pit, but I'm not holding my breath. They've been engaging in varying degrees of nostalgia since 2000.

Of course the Achtung Baby box set wasn't a traditional album. Don't be stupid. Im obviously not suggesting that. This isn't a traditional album either, but it is an album of new recordings that will be given the traditional U2 push. It's not reissue, and it's not a side project. It should have been, but it isn't.

You know I think Bono doing a song for a kids movie is lame? Funny, because I don't think that. What I think is lame is using its placement in a kids movie as a justification for its poor quality, which is what some here - including you, iirc - did.

I'm not criticizing U2 for "not being the 90s." I've never done that, and I don't want them to be that band. It would boring. It would be great if you could understand what criticisms are actually being made, if you could differentiate reasonable criticism from bashing, and if you could learn that your disagreeing with an opinion doesn't mean that the opinion is unsound or unreasonable.
 
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Re some of their peers who have continued to change their musical styles in their later career, have become more prolific, tried new things etc, a lot of them are solo artists rather than bands. I do wonder how much the collective band approach to everything restricts what they might have done were Bono and/or Edge solo artists or if the band had broken up for example.
 
JamietheEdgefan said:
On a separate note, last summer Bono mentioned that they didn't have a producer yet for the upcoming rock album, and that they're looking for a Mutt Lange, AC/DC type producer.

Who do you all reckon would be the best or most likely person the band might end up working with to create that sort of sound?
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Old guard: Butch Vig or Brendan O'Brien.
New guard: Andrew Watt or Greg Kurstin.

I think one of the latter two are more likely because they're also songwriters so they'd be able to pitch in.
 
ascender_RS said:
Re some of their peers who have continued to change their musical styles in their later career, have become more prolific, tried new things etc, a lot of them are solo artists rather than bands. I do wonder how much the collective band approach to everything restricts what they might have done were Bono and/or Edge solo artists or if the band had broken up for example.
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True. The constraints of being a band probably plays a large role in their musical conservatism of the last few years (decades?).
 
I don't have a dog in this fight, but I'll just say that a band that's been together for 47 years and putting out albums for 43, and have been one of the most successful rock bands in history, I think it's ok for them to take a look back and celebrate their accomplishments.

They could have cashed in by just putting out a 40 song album of regular versions of hits over 43 years, and not included songs like Dirty Day, Stories for Boys, Red Hill, Lights of Home, etc...
But instead they did something actually non-lazy and did some creative stuff with the past material. I mean, I'm not as old as them, but I can imagine having played many of those songs over and over for so many years, on so many tours, that it would be interesting to stop and reflect on it and mess around with them in a way that might evoke different emotions from years of experience and just being kinda old guys now, and seeing things differently.

That said, I also think branding them a legacy act isn't accurate. If they had only done the JT tour and then put this out, with nothing else on the horizon - Sure thing. Legacy act mode activated.

But they are simultaneously putting out new music with Songs of Experience, and then Songs of Unreasonable Guitar, and Songs of Ascent to come. Still going to be touring in support of the new music. This isn't GNR, or The Eagles, or Roger Waters, etc...

Going with this definition, any band that ever put out a best of would be called a legacy band.
 
Hollow Island said:
Old guard: Butch Vig or Brendan O'Brien.
New guard: Andrew Watt or Greg Kurstin.

I think one of the latter two are more likely because they're also songwriters so they'd be able to pitch in.
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Interesting choices here. I think Kurstin is a bit to glossy and pop leaning. Either one of the old guard producers teamed up with Watt would be pretty cool in my opinion.

And to follow up on the original post, I don't think that U2 were "eyeing Mutt Lange or AC/DC producers" I think he was throwing those names out there as an example of the type of producers that could craft a straight on, guitar driven rock album.
 
for me - I'm choosing to see Songs of Surrender as the product as band curious about itself. I can't see this as a lazy endeavor. Why do this, if not to challenge them creatively in some way? They know it's not to sell records or support a tour - so it's not for money. Maybe contractual obligation? If so then why do 40 songs?

The fact that Edge is leading this is very telling, to me. I wouldn't be surprised if it some ways it rejuvenates his creativity, which has felt tired to my ears over recent releases

And I think the work they've done here will inform whatever new music follows. If so, what might be the takeaways?

Maybe a focus on arrangement over production - where the band, the performance and musicianship take centre-stage. They've already alluded that this is an aim of the their next record (see comments from Tedder)

Maybe a focus on intimacy over bombast or bigness - where they seek to connect via different means. Not something that's been their strength in the past save for a few glorious examples (Running to Standstill, comes to mind). It will be fascinating to see if they pull this off with any sort of consistency on SOS
 
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dan_smee said:
What’s the user name of the person sharing it?
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The TikTok user is TheFly90 - I think all they did was take the Bono book tour audio snippets and tack them over the promo video just released yesterday.. they also did 40 too

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMFo8vjhq/


And yeah I guess that shouldn't have been so hard for my still 30something acting ass lol
 
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