Here's an e-mail I just received from a musician/producer friend of mine. I didn't edit it at all...it's bustling with enthusiasm, and I didn't want to tarnish it in any way... Enjoy.
"its not punk in the normal sense cause Bono has way too much taste for that, and so does the rest of the band actually.. notice for one, Edge has been forced to go to Eleven, thats not very Edgy like, from what we've seen in the past, hes very melodic, he's driving it now, no longer cleaning the rear
view mirrors as it were... its gonna be loud, which is the reason i love U2, turn it up for crissakes, notice as well that they've departed from Danny and Eno, they build landscapes, but do so with the subtleness of the wind, U2 want to be the storm, or at least get it started... someones gotta bring back the Queen sound, somebody must want to muse with the amp like Hendrix,
its funny how Bono mentions blues like Muddy Waters, I think he should head south and listen to Robert Randolph play the blues, he plays a mean, and i mean MEAN!! electric pedal steel!!! amazing, really ripped my head off, you should check him out.. specially "soul refreshing" from 'unclasified'; really great stuff, so sorry Bono but there are new blues out there!!!
you just gotta put your ear to the ground, I thought it was funny that they are recording in hte french riviera... but i can understand, actually if you want to really turn it up, you wanna be in the quietest state you possibly can, and they have surrounded themselves with ZEN, which is what they need
the most of right now.. my prediction, its not ATYCLB, its Achtung
Doux...!!!! is that straight enough for you??
i do want to hear a new direction from them, bring back the drums, bass,guitar and some FUCKING SOUL!!! WE need it bad, and we need it now, but spring time will be perffect enough... i kinda thought they were hinting at it with atyclb; but decided almost sub-counsciously to test the waters first, you know?? like they knew this is what we needed but were afraid to ask, so they thought, kick down the gate, and see if anybody complains,
heay, we all need a pay-check dont we/??
in any case, its gonna be U2, and everybody will say, well yeah, its U2 what the fuck did you expect///??? its always them, and everybody always burns up the wire making predictions and it never sounds like they thought, but then again it always does!!! Bono has been travelling the globe talking policy, biting his lip; he's been force to talk their talk and walk their walk,
i'm sure he's got some frustrations to deal with , and the mic is always to listen to him!! eagerly, so its gonna be poetic, in your face; no holds barred, but with love, the way the boy is!!! we all love hime for that!!! so bring it on... piss us off and make us say ThANK yoU!!! but make us move, one thing is people always think of punk as dark and moody, but this is from Venus, so bring the ladies up, they wanna dance!!! they always did!!! so make'em dance!!! for crissakes!!! thats what that is, kill'em with love!!!
just do it and dont apologize for it...
now just cause most of teh people with half a brain in this forsaken world like the sound U2 make, does that really mean they toned it down???"