SOE 35 - it’s finally here, let the debate on how good/bad it is begin!

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Hello, is there any scans of the booklet anywhere to see the credits, the names of the people who collaborates to the songs ?
 
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Any idea on the backing vocal on 13?!?!?!

It sounds like a male voice, but operatic and doesn't sound like Bono or Edge...
Lots going on in the background of some of these tracks.
 
Tim Wallach said:
It seems like musical references are dripping all over this one.

I definitely noticed the Beck guitar in Lights of Home, which has also drawn Zeppelin and Pink Floyd comparisons. Red Flag Day has the Clash and Bo Diddley comparisons. Summer of Love likened to Ed Sheeran. Some Beatles on all three of those middle tracks. And to my ears, Love is Bigger has Journey written all over it.

It's a real trainspotting album.
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Bloody hell - think of us who are still to hear this album. We don't want to be scared away from listening it!
 
kiwilad said:
Up to 10-20 plays now - depending on the song. Here's where I'm at.

My big takeaway at this point is this is an album for us. It's for fans. Which makes the single choices a bit more understandable - they're more mainstream. They're not so much for us.

The rest of the album? So much of what this record is is going to be lost/undervalued/misunderstood if you don't know the U2 backstory and catalogue.
This isn't a classic U2 record. The Unforgettable Fire, The Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby were. Those records were defining. Game changing.
This is a record from a band that spent years being defining, and is now happy to simply defy. Defy age, defy criticism, defy cynicism.
There are a few 'god given rights' in our society. The right for kids to think their parents are unfair and their teachers are mean. The right to think your local council is wasting your money. The right to hate the media. We all do them.
For a section of music fans, those who have come through their youth and are now exploring, creating, forging new musical paths, there is a right to hate a band like U2. They are yesterday, but without the good grace to stay in yesterday. And they have the weight to suck oxygen away from the new acts the defining acts. They are loathed for it.
And that's fine. Finally, it seems, U2 have accepted they'll not win those people over while still making the music they want to make. And that is music that fills arenas and stadiums. Music that soars and leaves a crowd walking away feeling mightier, more elated, more hopeful than they were three hours earlier. Music that tells U2's own story.
It's no surprise this record isn't gaining universal appeal - even on this fan-board. It's nostalgic, emotional, melodramatic. Clumsy and cheesy at times. It's romantic. And that will never have universal appeal.
What seems clear though is that there is a good proportion of U2 fans who love the band because of the very music, themes, ambitions and hopefulness this album taps into. Perhaps that's what attracted them to U2. Perhaps its what moved them during a concert when they felt lifted somewhere higher than they ever expected to feel. Perhaps a lyric that seemed melodramatic or pompous to many cut through and spoke with clarity to them.
For me, it's not a classic. It's not Achtung Baby or The Joshua Tree or The Unforgettable Fire. It's not even Boy or Zooropa. And nor could it have ever been. There's no precedent for a band as big as U2 - and there have only been a handful in history - creating a broad-appeal classic for their 14th album. I suspect it will never happen for the simple fact the audience who decides on what is classic is, at any given moment, considerably younger than U2 are now. Younger musicians and fans are constantly searching to create or find new sounds and styles to exult, not old ones to remember. That's how it should be.
But as a long-time fan of the enormity of the anthems and atmosphere U2 delivered over a 40 year career, Songs of Experience is better than the best thing I thought they could do in 2017.
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very, very well said. I had that thought yesterday about how so much of this album can only be appreciated by fans. Especially those that have been with them for a while.
I think about how I've grown up with them. I've listened earnestly and intently to these 4 guys for 33 years. We've watched them grow and change and reach the highest highs and get their asses knocked down along the way.

We've defended them, loved them, hated them, lost faith in them, believed deeply in them, got bored by them and come back again, just as excited to hear them again.
So when we get to hear Bono sing songs like this. From a new, elder, father, husband perspective. It is pretty damn personal for a lot of us.
Some of us in that stage of our lives, and many seeing ahead to our lives where our kids are grown and leaving and need that advice...
When our relationships sail along or hit big rocks...
So some random music reviewer, will never really get this record. And that's ok. This one means something to me.
 
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PauloX said:
SOE...best U2 album since Achtung Baby... :up:
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Well, to me it is the album the only one since AB/Zooropa that got an atmosphere.
To me SOE is a competitor to SOI for the moment(SOI is the best album since the 90s to me).

SOI still got RBW, SLBT, Iris and EBW which to me is really strong songs.
 
Peterrrrr said:
Well, to me it is the album the only one since AB/Zooropa that got an atmosphere.
To me SOE is a competitor to SOI for the moment(SOI is the best album since the 90s to me).

SOI still got RBW, SLBT, Iris and EBW which to me is really strong songs.
Click to expand...

I'm with you. I think SOE has a better atmosphere than SOI. But as i stated before. SOI has some really terrific songs. For me, EBW, The Troubles, RBW, SLABT, are just incredible. So its really close for me between these two.

I think they are both better than ATYCLB, and are in the vacinity of Pop, Zooropa and UF...
 
womanfish said:
I'm with you. I think SOE has a better atmosphere than SOI. But as i stated before. SOI has some really terrific songs. For me, EBW, The Troubles, RBW, SLABT, are just incredible. So its really close for me between these two.

I think they are both better than ATYCLB, and are in the vacinity of Pop, Zooropa and UF...
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I agree with you nearly to 100%.

After seeing the best live vrersion of RBW on the last show in Stockholm into UTEOTW I was stunned. It was one of the best performences by the band I've seen.
It is really worthy to be togheter with UTEOTW.
 
kiwilad said:
Up to 10-20 plays now - depending on the song. Here's where I'm at.

My big takeaway at this point is this is an album for us. It's for fans. Which makes the single choices a bit more understandable - they're more mainstream. They're not so much for us.

The rest of the album? So much of what this record is is going to be lost/undervalued/misunderstood if you don't know the U2 backstory and catalogue.
This isn't a classic U2 record. The Unforgettable Fire, The Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby were. Those records were defining. Game changing.
This is a record from a band that spent years being defining, and is now happy to simply defy. Defy age, defy criticism, defy cynicism.
There are a few 'god given rights' in our society. The right for kids to think their parents are unfair and their teachers are mean. The right to think your local council is wasting your money. The right to hate the media. We all do them.
For a section of music fans, those who have come through their youth and are now exploring, creating, forging new musical paths, there is a right to hate a band like U2. They are yesterday, but without the good grace to stay in yesterday. And they have the weight to suck oxygen away from the new acts the defining acts. They are loathed for it.
And that's fine. Finally, it seems, U2 have accepted they'll not win those people over while still making the music they want to make. And that is music that fills arenas and stadiums. Music that soars and leaves a crowd walking away feeling mightier, more elated, more hopeful than they were three hours earlier. Music that tells U2's own story.
It's no surprise this record isn't gaining universal appeal - even on this fan-board. It's nostalgic, emotional, melodramatic. Clumsy and cheesy at times. It's romantic. And that will never have universal appeal.
What seems clear though is that there is a good proportion of U2 fans who love the band because of the very music, themes, ambitions and hopefulness this album taps into. Perhaps that's what attracted them to U2. Perhaps its what moved them during a concert when they felt lifted somewhere higher than they ever expected to feel. Perhaps a lyric that seemed melodramatic or pompous to many cut through and spoke with clarity to them.
For me, it's not a classic. It's not Achtung Baby or The Joshua Tree or The Unforgettable Fire. It's not even Boy or Zooropa. And nor could it have ever been. There's no precedent for a band as big as U2 - and there have only been a handful in history - creating a broad-appeal classic for their 14th album. I suspect it will never happen for the simple fact the audience who decides on what is classic is, at any given moment, considerably younger than U2 are now. Younger musicians and fans are constantly searching to create or find new sounds and styles to exult, not old ones to remember. That's how it should be.
But as a long-time fan of the enormity of the anthems and atmosphere U2 delivered over a 40 year career, Songs of Experience is better than the best thing I thought they could do in 2017.
Click to expand...

While the appeal may not be universal, I have seen largely positive reactions, here and among outside reviewers, which I think is as much as anyone could hope for a 40 year-old rock band in today's music climate.
 
On first listen, I found it to be the worst U2 album and pretty much had nothing going for it.

On my next listen, oh wait, there won't be one.

0/5



And as I've expressed elsewhere, you won't find too many people higher on 00's U2 than myself. But pretty much everything new they've done this decade has been absolutely embarrassing.
 
I also think this is an album for long time fans. I find it hard to imagine that it would hit home with a casual listener or reviewer. It's so deeply personal, the songs have a far greater impact if you "know" the band. To hear the shift in tone to this mature, melancholy sound, it's harder to appreciate out of context. Just my opinion :shrug:
 
Digested it. Album is Ok. Some Nice tracks like red flag day, summer of love.
But also Some weird ones like the lights of Home: ends up like a fucked up musical tune. In the end its in the leauge of post 00's u2: not much played after release. U first like it a bit and then you wonder off longing for achtung baby and zooropa:drool:
 
Ok...I thought I could wait until Friday, but I'm dying here. Is there anyone who could PM a link to a good quality rip? I'd be forever grateful!
 
The shiny new toy is quickly fading out for me. It’s an ok record. Landlady will still be one of my favorite songs and Love Is All We Have Left is interesting. But the rest of the album leaves me with a depressed feeling and a bit of annoyance.
 
BEAL said:
Ok
Landlady -- Again, this song feels like it could have something more. Fantastic melody and atmosphere from the band. Maybe another verse, or again let the song breathe in the beginning before Bono jumps right into the lyrics. Or again, allow the band to play itself out
Click to expand...

I completely agree and think the quick Landlady ending is most jarring on the album.

Closing with the symbol crash and a quick fade out gives the impression that the final line of the song – "if the prize is not for you" – is extra important compared to the lines before it.

A gentler ending, by contrast, would allow the amazing four stanzas that come before to be absorbed in their entirety, which seems like what Bono is striving for.

Landlady isn't going to be a radio single, and a lot of music in this streaming age isn't beholden to traditional length limits anymore, so why not apply the slower atmospheric pace of NLOTH-era songs to this superior lyrical product?

Seems like a missed opportunity, but one that's so glaring that I hope some gifted fans will mix extended versions of several of these tracks. Anybody up for the task?
 
BRB, going down to his office to give him a piece of my mind about this, and also why I'm npt getting my deluxe cd until the 6th-8th.
 
This broadcast reminds me of listening to breakfast with the Beatles. It follows the same format. Clip of old interview plays followed by song.
 
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