SOE 34: If there is a leak, don't let it go unheard

[dazzledbylight]

WF wow. Good Luck to you.

 

[Psychobabble]

Yeah.... solos are gone.... compare SOE with AB and you hang yourself. However, they found other ways to make great songs. Edge is just being lazy

Even ATYCLB had several great The Edge Solos (e.g., When I Look at the World). I wonder why he hasn't been doing many of them....carpal tunnel syndrome?

 

[dazzledbylight]

DL

don't have a he net at home (subway free WiFi) when u r up to it drop in at our old haunt (thread) stay strong just lost my aunt.

 

[purpleoscar]

My thoughts are with you. I’m sorry for your loss and how life can hit you over and over sometimes.

I just found out tonight that I am probably getting divorced. So this album, with its experience laden lyrics, may be a touchstone for me for the rest of my life.

Thank you all for being here. It’s helped me a lot these last few months.

That's got to be tough. I hope you take those lyrics to heart of 13 and maintain that light through darkness we all have to go through.

 

[Psychobabble]

Hot Take: SOE has the strongest ending of all U2 albums

I thought The Troubles was a pretty fabulous ending. I hope SFS 2 will improve for me, but SFS 1 was never a favorite, so I'm not optimistic. There are some other songs on SOE that would have been good (better?) endings.

 

[Psychobabble]

IS it just me or the little things just a really poor quality rip, moreso than the others? Today I listened to it again and I am really underwhelmed by it. but I feel it must be the quality of the audio. This one along with love is all we have left where the songs I was most excited to hearing on the album. Liawhl hasnt dessapointed me but little things I am just not hearing the greatness that I heard on the kimmel version.

I thought the same thing. Most of the sound quality is poor, but the Little Things seems worse. Doesn't really matter to me, but it is curious.

 

[Pop Artist]

I thought The Troubles was a pretty fabulous ending. I hope SFS 2 will improve for me, but SFS 1 was never a favorite, so I'm not optimistic. There are some other songs on SOE that would have been good (better?) endings.

I hated SFS, so much that I cut it out my SOI playlist. BUT 13 is such a better take on it, they have evolved it from treacle to a mature thing of beauty that is a stunning end to the album.

 

[Psychobabble]

For me, nothing on the new album hits the same heights as NLOTH (MOS and FBB).


After listening to the Kimmel version for months, I'm not sure how I feel about the lack of piano on the studio version.

I miss the piano a bit as well. The Edge's guitar work on the studio version is also more obvious in the early part of the song.

 

[Diane L]

My thoughts are with you. I’m sorry for your loss and how life can hit you over and over sometimes.



I just found out tonight that I am probably getting divorced. So this album, with its experience laden lyrics, may be a touchstone for me for the rest of my life.



Thank you all for being here. It’s helped me a lot these last few months.

I'm sorry, womanfish. I hope that all of us having a difficult time right now will be able to look back in a couple of years & feel proud that we got through this.


Sent from my iPad using U2 Interference

 

[Diane L]

DL

don't have a he net at home (subway free WiFi) when u r up to it drop in at our old haunt (thread) stay strong just lost my aunt.

I'm sorry, Dazz.


Sent from my iPad using U2 Interference

 

[Psychobabble]

Does anyone else think Love is All We Have Left could have made a brilliant closing track?

Yep. Also Little Things.

 

[Psychobabble]

Anyone noticed the guitar at the start of Landlady is the same as Raised by wolves?

Yup. Threw me for a second.

 

[womanfish]

I'm sorry, womanfish. I hope that all of us having a difficult time right now will be able to look back in a couple of years & feel proud that we got through this.


Sent from my iPad using U2 Interference

Thank you. Truly.

 

[Pop Artist]

Ah, I just came to me - not Oasis, it reminds me of Weeping Willow from The Verve.

And I'm a loser for quoting myself, but just had my memory jarred that Richard Ashcroft has a song called Songs of Experience!

 

[superchuk5]

I hated SFS, so much that I cut it out my SOI playlist. BUT 13 is such a better take on it, they have evolved it from treacle to a mature thing of beauty that is a stunning end to the album.

It works because it sums up the whole theme of the album in one coda. Lyrically, it is 100% "brush with mortality" Bono.

The middle section is getting most of the praise here, but Little Things through 13 (or The Blackout through 13) is a stunning, devastating, and lovely suite of songs. The suite tells the album's story: the world is dark and breaking, but by holding onto love and being a source of light you can help heal it.

 

[Gilead12]

I'm judging the SOE close differently from how I'd judge the rest, except maybe MLK.

It just feels much more like a song made *as a closer* for this particular record than the typical U2 closers. MOTD, LIB, and Troubles are way better songs, I think, and are also appropriate last tracks. But this, I think, is tailor made to end this record.

The Little Things would've been great, but I actually prefer their decision to use LIBTAIIW and 13 to get to a unique ending on a place of resilience. It's a little bit more like the Yahweh closer move, but I think these 2 tracks taken together are both more triumphant and more intimate, respectively, than Yahweh.

It's a really unique, still more album-centric way to end a record than anything else they've done, for my money. Bravo.

 

[Psychobabble]

After a 4th listening,"Lights of home" would be my first choice to open the show.

Not Blackout? It seems perfectly suited...start with the lights on and kill them at the end of the song to start the rest of the show.

 

[Psychobabble]

Since it was mentioned above, I have noticed a pretty immediate shift in my thinking re: U2 and their career going forward.

Based on the SOE singles, I was really hoping this was the last try for a 'big record.' I hoped for a kind of SOE->SOA ride off into the sunset plan.

I still wouldn't mind if that were the case. I still like the idea of U2 going out on their own terms, with a planned build up to a final record.

But I will say that the full SOE has completely convinced me that they can still surprise me. Not that we're necessarily going to get a TJT or AB from a 60 year old rock band, but that we still might get surprising and damn good records from these guys in the years to come.

I guess I just no longer have any confidence in my own judgment of how much the band U2 does or doesn't have left in the tank. They're a surprising bunch of old bastards.

They're old, but not that old.

 

[Psychobabble]

Red Flag Day is the modern day Sunday Bloody Sunday... I know it’s crazy to say but I hear the spirit of that song in it notwithstanding lyrical content.

I absolutely love this album and surprised at the hold it has on me at this early stage.

I love the song, but don't hear Sunday in it.

 

[superchuk5]

Not Blackout? It seems perfectly suited...start with the lights on and kill them at the end of the song to start the rest of the show.

First album since AB where I can imagine them opening and closing shows like the album.

I can see the show starting with Bono singing an abbreviated Love is All We Have Left solo before everyone comes in with Lights of Home.

Then I can see it ending with Love is Bigger, but Bono hangs back and sings the last verse of 13 solo.

If they really want to go for concept shows, this is an option.

 

[Gilead12]

Last thought and I'll probably retire from forum cruising:

Love is Bigger feels to me like they went for the "People Have the Power" thing: shameless 80s anthem uplift

Nailed it.

 

[Scorpionac]

I'm pretty sure one of the lines in Red Flag Day is "I cried at the news today." Reminiscent of "I can't believe the news today."

 

[womanfish]

13 is starting to hit me.

Just look at this verse:

I know the world is done
But you don’t have to be
I’ve got a question
For the child in you before it leaves

God.

 

[womanfish]

I'm judging the SOE close differently from how I'd judge the rest, except maybe MLK.

It just feels much more like a song made *as a closer* for this particular record than the typical U2 closers. MOTD, LIB, and Troubles are way better songs, I think, and are also appropriate last tracks. But this, I think, is tailor made to end this record.

The Little Things would've been great, but I actually prefer their decision to use LIBTAIIW and 13 to get to a unique ending on a place of resilience. It's a little bit more like the Yahweh closer move, but I think these 2 tracks taken together are both more triumphant and more intimate, respectively, than Yahweh.

It's a really unique, still more album-centric way to end a record than anything else they've done, for my money. Bravo.

Great observation.
Well said.

 

[rathergoblind]

My thoughts are with you. I’m sorry for your loss and how life can hit you over and over sometimes.



I just found out tonight that I am probably getting divorced. So this album, with its experience laden lyrics, may be a touchstone for me for the rest of my life.



Thank you all for being here. It’s helped me a lot these last few months.

sorry to hear those who are having a hard time. I do know music can be a powerful therapy. May these songs along with fan discussions add some comfort!

 

[purpleoscar]

13 is starting to hit me.

Just look at this verse:

I know the world is done
But you don’t have to be
I’ve got a question
For the child in you before it leaves

God.

Exactly. Don't lose the self (inner child).

 

[Psychobabble]

SOE feels so joyful to me, even while it is referring to some pretty tough things.

I'm really looking forward to enjoying the high quality CD blaring from my car. speakers.

 

[Zoomerang96]

Just listening to the leaked rip, and Im delighted to hear that American Soul and The Blackout are far and away the lamest songs. Honestly surprised by the rest. Hopefully this holds up, as my first impression on a number of these is quite positive

 

[hasin73]

Just ended first listen. Two words : FUCKING AWESOME !!! I am amazed that any band with 60 year old members can produce such an modern sounding brilliant album with maintaining their uniqueness. But U2 proved that they can and that's why they are my all-time favourite.

 

[hasin73]

I haven't got the chance to hear the album more than 1 listen. On basis of that, the standout tracks to my ears ( in no particular order )

Lights of Home
Little Things
Summer of Love
Landlady Ly
Blackout
Love is Bigger
13


This is for now. More after further listens. But one thing is as universal as the Sun rising from the east........ SOE is in the top 5 region of U2 discography.