SOE 21 - It comes down to this...

[JamietheEdgefan]

I admit that for me, a massive part of U2's charm is their use of atmospherics, effects and layering, but as RD says, they also have the ability to create/perform a great tune with just the bare basics.

There are many examples, but take 'I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For', or 'One' - played live, they are essentially just guitar, bass, drums & vocals (plus some occasional shimmer), but they're still magical.

If they have good enough riffs, melodies and lyrics, they can pull off a more basic style for SoE and create some amazing stuff (and I say that as a fan of atmosphere etc).

 

[BVS]

I think it really burned the band, particularly Bono, that it's been said their songs are hidden in effects and can't be played stripped down and wanted to prove a point that they could. Didn't work for me either.

You mean Edge.

 

[lazarus]

stripped down doesn't have to mean acoustic..

it can just mean drums, bass, 1 electric guitar and vocals. I'd like to think u2 have the ability to craft an great album primarily around these components, with little embellishment.

Who said it means acoustic?

Still not interested.

This band has always been at its best with a bigger palette. There's a LOT of gray area between stripped down and overproduced.

 

[Registered Dude]

Who said it means acoustic?

Still not interested.

This band has always been at its best with a bigger palette. There's a LOT of gray area between stripped down and overproduced.

haha you did, you boob! you referenced the SOI bonus disc.. which was marketed as the "acoustic sessions"

agree with you though - I dont want an album of that. They sound neutered

 

[BVS]

 

[lazarus]

I didn't say acoustic, I said stripped-down. I only listened to that thing once so I don't even remember the particulars.

Bottom line, I don't want to hear just "four guys in a room". No interest. We already got that with The Bomb (aside from a few tracks) and I don't need another one.

 

[mikal]

I'd like some balance. I don't mind the sound of the four guys playing in a room but I do like it when they stretch the imagination a little bit, whether it be new guitar effects, cool keyboard effects, or even drum loops.

I think it's too late in the game to expect another Zooropa or Pop, as great as that would be.

 

[bono2017]

They aren't great acoustic band, never have been.

I'll take Red Rocks "Party Girl" over anything acoustic by any other artist.

 

[Registered Dude]

Bottom line, I don't want to hear just "four guys in a room". No interest. We already got that with The Bomb (aside from a few tracks) and I don't need another one.

Bomb is the worst.

I'd like some balance. I don't mind the sound of the four guys playing in a room but I do like it when they stretch the imagination a little bit, whether it be new guitar effects, cool keyboard effects, or even drum loops

this! I hope we get songs centred around the four of them, and that Edge isn't afraid to sound like a UFO again. If anyone can elevate the sound of the four of them, it's him.

 

[BEAL]

Yes to creative Edge

and creative Adam too.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Acoustic Stuck shits all over regular Stuck. I'd argue the same for Starting At The Sun.

The song decides whether they should lay it on thick or if they should strip it down. It's when they forget this that they fuck things up. The idea that everything has to be super produced or that anything that's low key and stripped of production elements is fucking stupid

 

[kabigon]

The first time I heard acoustic RBW, I was wondering how they'd end up replicating Edge's dundundun after the 'I don't believe any more' parts without it sounding cheesy. I laughed.

 

[Mack_Again]

i know regular Stuck in a Moment kinda sucks but that tone from 50s strat tho

 

[The_acrobat]

Hearing acoustic versions of the SOI songs ruined them for me a little bit. Cedar wood Road and Raised by Wolves especially. It just made them seem so "songy" to me, by removing all ambiance and space.

I'm also somebody who hates the acoustic version of Stay, because the album version is such a beautiful combination of songcraft, ambiance and sonic experimentation. Same with SATS, for me anyway.

 

[AndrewCowley]

The acoustic SOI songs are appallingly bad. Their songs sound better when they beef them up.

 

[ascender_RS]

Stuck was the first song that came to mind to disprove the theory that all their stripped down stuff sucks ass. But acoustic isn't exactly the same as stripped down so then I thought...

Stay, Faraway, So Close, is a good example of a more stripped down song and arrangement by their standards? One or two of those on an album is fine, but I couldn't eat a whole one.

I really didn't like the SOI acoustic stuff. That's the sort of thing that should remain in the vaults.

The filming in the studio could just be for promo use though, so lets not get depressed about a second disc of acoustic stuff quite yet.

Remember the rumour that a new album with a second disc of dance remixes (or re-imaginings) of every track by "cool" producers was imminent? Good times.

 

[Registered Dude]

Olaf's full interview with the band from Seattle is now posted. We already knew about the American Soul tune, and the fact that it's sampled on XXX. But there are some other bits:


How many from Songs of Experience will you be playing? There’s one in the setlist already.

[Edge]“Well, that’s all that we’re doing so far, ‘The Little Things That Give You Away’,” replies Edge. “But we’ll see. You don’t really know until you start to listen again to your new record from the point of view of a fan, because when you’ve first made it you’re so close to it. You just have your head all twisted around. I remember seriously sitting the guys down with Unforgettable Fire and saying that the first single is clearly ‘Indian Summer Sky’. Clearly! ‘What are you talking about ‘Pride (In The Name Of Love)’? That’s ridiculous!’ (laughs).

“So perspective comes back slowly when you finish a record. Who knows, in other words, whether that song is one of the great songs on the record or actually something that is going to get released as a single.”

Where are you at with that album now?

“Actually, the work has survived pretty well and I don’t think that we’re going to change that much. And the Kendrick collaboration has fit perfectly, in a way, into the trajectory of launching the record, because again, he is getting out there and making some comments about where things are at. Hip–hop is, as I said earlier, more actively engaged politically. So I don’t think we’re going to have to change that much.”

Is it done?

[Bono] “Pretty much,” he replies. “It’s a very special piece of work. I think it might have benefited from the pause that we took. Because I would’ve put it out a year ago. Things have changed now, it just had to happen. Our songs come out as stories, breaking news as well as what’s going on in our own lives, what’s going on in the community. U2 always came out of that and the whole world changed and you just didn’t want to be singing about the Millennium bug!”

 

[ascender_RS]

Thanks for posting that.

They should be in politics though - it's amazing how they can actually say so little but use so many words in doing so.

 

[Registered Dude]

They should be in politics though - it's amazing how they can actually say so little but use so many words in doing so.

Edge is particularly adept at this..

makes me appreciate those interviews where we hear from Adam and Larry that much more

 

[Hewson]

I'll take Red Rocks "Party Girl" over anything acoustic by any other artist.

Perhaps you should check out some things like Alice in Chains MTV Unplugged or Pearl Jam MTV Unplugged or Nirvana MTV Unplugged etc. etc.

Some bands do acoustic well, some, like U2 (save for a stray tune here and there), do not.

 

[popacrobat]

the only acoustic version on the bonus disc that i enjoyed was Miracle. I thought that one translated alright acoustically.

other than that, meh.

 

[prbiker15]

I've never been a fan of acoustic arrangements, so I hope they never do something like the SOI acoustic sessions ever again.

 

[womanfish]

Yeah, SOI acoustics were a throw away to me. I wish they would realize their strength lies in open atmospheres that can feel "stripped down" but still have a fullness and beauty to them that few bands can do better.
I will admit that Slow Dancin is one of my favorite songs and thats because it is meant to be an acoustic song. Taking already done full studio versions and translating them doesn't work so great. Stay was decent, and SATS came off ok and EBW piano version was fine as well.

But I would much rather have a "stripped down" sound of something like Your Blue Room, Never Let Me Go, Stateless, The First Time, Walk to the Water, SLABT, The Troubles (kinda), Wake up Dead Man, etc...

 

[Axver]

I'll take Red Rocks "Party Girl" over anything acoustic by any other artist.

Spoken like somebody whose favourite movie is Rattle and Hum and whose top three artists are U2, Passengers, and The Hype.

 

[RoKKeR]

Agreed that acoustics from SOI were lame, but a raw/live sound is alright by me. We've had some good sounding clips from last year of some huge sounding Edge riffs... hopefully we are in for plenty of that.

Also lol at Edge wanting Indian Summery Sky to be the first single from TUF, that's hilarious.

 

[Zoomerang96]

it seems to me that a fair amount of people here are interested in arguing about completely insignificant shit than any genuine interest in what this record will be about. i might be wrong, but i consider myself an expert in starting petty arguments online so i can see it in others as good as anyone.

that said, how many of you ever listen to SOI, Horizon, Bomb or ATYCLB anymore?

or when you watch shows from the 80's, ZooTV or Popmart, do you ever think to yourself "yeah this is good, but if only they had songs from (name whatever unreleased album) in it, this would be even better"?

for me, pretty much the only song i'd want to hear is beautiful day. and it's not like i need it, but i think there's a lot going in that song (especially their more recent versions of it with the layered vocals, etc).

now that i've completely thrown everything off track, and made a remarkably disjointed post even by my own standards, i think i'll leave for a while. just killing time over here

 

[Registered Dude]

it seems to me that a fair amount of people here are interested in arguing about completely insignificant shit than any genuine interest in what this record will be about. i might be wrong, but i consider myself an expert in starting petty arguments online so i can see it in others as good as anyone.

tis true.

so, let's talk about American Soul..

do we agree that the last 2 minutes or so of XXX is primarily American Soul, with Kendrick rapping over it?

how close to the actual song's sound do we think it is?

here is what I can hear during that section of XXX. Am I missing anything?
- Kendrick
- seagulls
- Bono vocal
- drums, likely Larry
- bass, likely Adam
- keys

I wonder if the reverb-y sound of Bono's vocal is unique to XXX, or if the U2 song will be mixed differently. Been a while since we've had something akin to this sound on a U2 record

what part of American Soul is Bono's vocal taken from? chorus? verse? intro or bridge?

 

[mikal]

that said, how many of you ever listen to SOI, Horizon, Bomb or ATYCLB anymore? yes

or when you watch shows from the 80's, ZooTV or Popmart, do you ever think to yourself "yeah this is good, but if only they had songs from (name whatever unreleased album) in it, this would be even better"? yes

 

[lazarus]

it seems to me that a fair amount of people here are interested in arguing about completely insignificant shit than any genuine interest in what this record will be about. i might be wrong, but i consider myself an expert in starting petty arguments online so i can see it in others as good as anyone.

that said, how many of you ever listen to SOI, Horizon, Bomb or ATYCLB anymore?

or when you watch shows from the 80's, ZooTV or Popmart, do you ever think to yourself "yeah this is good, but if only they had songs from (name whatever unreleased album) in it, this would be even better"?

for me, pretty much the only song i'd want to hear is beautiful day. and it's not like i need it, but i think there's a lot going in that song (especially their more recent versions of it with the layered vocals, etc).

now that i've completely thrown everything off track, and made a remarkably disjointed post even by my own standards, i think i'll leave for a while. just killing time over here

I listen to all those albums. And Beautiful Day is in my bottom 5 tracks of everything they've done from 2000 onward.

tis true.

so, let's talk about American Soul..

do we agree that the last 2 minutes or so of XXX is primarily American Soul, with Kendrick rapping over it?

how close to the actual song's sound do we think it is?

here is what I can hear during that section of XXX. Am I missing anything?
- Kendrick
- seagulls
- Bono vocal
- drums, likely Larry
- bass, likely Adam
- keys

I wonder if the reverb-y sound of Bono's vocal is unique to XXX, or if the U2 song will be mixed differently. Been a while since we've had something akin to this sound on a U2 record

what part of American Soul is Bono's vocal taken from? chorus? verse? intro or bridge?

I was under the impression from interviews that the rhythm section was supplied by Kendrick's crew and not Adam and Larry. It sure doesn't sound like them, at least not since 1997-1999.

Maybe the piano is Edge but that's all I'm prepared to assume.

 

[Registered Dude]

I listen to all those albums. And Beautiful Day is in my bottom 5 tracks of everything they've done from 2000 onward.



I was under the impression from interviews that the rhythm section was supplied by Kendrick's crew and not Adam and Larry. It sure doesn't sound like them, at least not since 1997-1999.

Maybe the piano is Edge but that's all I'm prepared to assume.

DAMN. shitty. I thought that was a Mullen Jr beat, for sure.

The piano was added by Kendrick's production team:

To make it work, Lamar's production team expanded on the template established by Mike's original drums (heard in the song's middle portion), adding transitions and some new instrumental sections, including the downbeat piano that accompanies Bono's part.