Songs of Innocence - Album Discussion

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tomtom said:
Unfortunately, it's impossible to take that story any further given that Crazy Tonight is the next song.
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He doesn't need more story because God gets him to reset and reboot. Crazy Tonight is more about Bono and his wife and more light versus darkness themes. It's the Volcano of that album without the execution. Those themes go back far now I think of it. God Part II has "kicking the darkness until it bleeds daylight."
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z587TEAgEJ4

All over youtube now with the typical back and forth arguments about the quality of the album.

Some funny quotes amidst the praise and hatred:

Every Breaking Wave is a B-side. Its been out for years on Youtube. Same with Volcano except the original is better...listen to Glastonbury Song.
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Like "Walk to the water" or "Are you gonna wait forever"! My favorite songs.
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These are like decent eurovision songs.(and that is not a compliment).
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Sellouts! It's ok.
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lazarus said:
All of this x 100 :yes:



And this. SUC I can barely tolerate, and Crazy Tonight is so cringeworthy I skip it automatically on CD and have Winter on my playlist instead.

Boots is decent, at least fun. And UC is great; the lyrics on the verses are standout, the wonky chorus isn't enough to sink it for me.
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I agree with you both. I just ranked NLOTH next-to-last in my rankings and felt bad about it. I like NLOTH a lot, it's just that U2 have so many other great records.

I mean, fuck, Fez-Being Born and MOS alone re-ignited my faith in this group to be willing to be sonically interesting again after their least sonically interesting record, HTDAAB. And before SOI, I held the opinion that the NLOTH title track was the best rocker they'd done since Pop. Love that track. The UC solo also made my jaw hit the floor the first time I heard it. And White As Snow is gorgeous. And Adam's little bass groove at the end of Cedars was maybe the coolest moment of the record for me.

It's just not as cohesive a record as I'd like, and that hurts it in my rankings. But it's got some fucking great songs on it for sure.
 
jrjunior31 said:
Speaking of going back and listening to earlier albums I went back and listened to some of Bomb today. I loved it when it came out, and I saw the Vertigo tour 5 times. But going back and listening today the sound quality seemed vastly inferior to SOI. It was strange I didn't like what I was hearing at all. Maybe I am just not a huge fan of Bomb and when it came out it was the newness factor that I loved. Or maybe SOI is just that much better? To my ears the production on SOI seems like it's in a different league.
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Couldn't agree more. People say Bomb is overproduced. I think it's the opposite - there's almost no production. There's very few layers, and they are all turned up to the max. There is no dynamic range. Compressed the crap out. And the result hurts ears. Plus, on songs like Crumbs you can actually hear popping on the CD and MP3s. SOI, to my ears, also has compression, but nothing compared to Bomb. And WAY more layers and sonic details.
 
lazarus said:
As for comparison between the albums, No Line starts out considerably stronger. I'll take the variety and depth of the title track, Magnificent, Moment Of Surrender, and Unknown Caller over the slick commercialism of The Miracle, Every Breaking Wave, California, and Song For Someone.

The difference is, one album gets better as it goes along and the other steps into a giant pothole in the middle before righting itself.

So which one is the better album? Hard to say; SOI is more "consistent" in that it sets a low bar and then proceeds to top it again and again. But I think if you chopped out the middle three of No Line, added Winter, Soon, and finished some other song lying around you would probably have a more artistically accomplished work.
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Despite the reinvention hype and some sonic new flashes of ideas, NLOTH was the end of 00's. SOI to me is more like UF, a transitional record more than a true reinvetion. I feel like Songs of Experience will be the full on dive into DM's sonics, if much like JT was the real dive into Eno/Lanois collaborations.
Some might rank SOI already, I can't do it. Right now, I've no idea where it ranks. It feels like a grower and not as easy digestible as the 00's albums were.

NLOTH was a two part record, with the middle trio being the eye of the hurricane before we dove in back with FEZ.
SOI does have that 00's evoking, "radio" opening four song, but then Iris comes and throws the whole thing into dissaray, which is not helped by the rifforama in Volcano-Cedarwood trio of songs, only to be thrown into heavy synth-layered final three. No cohesion in sound, even though it's good to have some lyrical cohesiveness.
 
After having this album on repeat for the last few days, I can safely say that I pretty much like every song. Some more than others of course, but there's nothing I dive for the "next track" button to avoid.
 
I'm really captivated by the flow of it all

into the never-ending stream

Pour your soul into a glass
and drink
until you hear the sound of clouds
crashing into mountains

The rust in your eyes
eventually fades away
Into the dust in the skies
where the stars call home

Floating into the sunsets
which become someone else's sunrise

we shine eternal
 
purpleoscar said:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z587TEAgEJ4

All over youtube now with the typical back and forth arguments about the quality of the album.

Some funny quotes amidst the praise and hatred:
Click to expand...

I was just going to post this link, I swear but not because of negative comments, but positive ones:

""Every Breaking Wave" is a great song !... people calling this album B-side material --- obscure/ "B-side" songs are sometimes the Best, that were never shoved in our faces or discovered by the masses."


"I can't stop listening to it! My faves are Sleep like a baby tonight, The Troubles, This is where you can reach me, Iris, song for someone, Raised by wolves. I like all of them really... It's an album you can just play and listen to all the way thru over n over. Bass on Volcano is great, Bono's many different singing techniques I REALLY like A LOT! Edges guitar is great, many diff guitar styles too thru this album!! I love when you hear Larry come in on the drums finally on sleep like a baby tonight, really like that... i just can't stop listening to this album!!"

"I really wanted to hate this album, especially after the Cult (Apple) release. After one listen, all I can say is amazing and from the heart."

I really liked No Line On The Horizon, but this is just so much better! It's brilliant, it's U2 back on fire and it's made of sounds that came deep from the soul and bones of U2. What an amazing piece of art. It's a really great shiver, from the beginning to the end."

"Nice guitars edge! Bono's voice is amazing only heard up to "iris" but they're all AMAZING so far... Song for someone was a bit dull but beautiful…"


Im telling you, once you weed out the bias for and against U2 reviews/comments, you get down to the real feel for SOI, which I think is positive.
 
Mrs. Garrison said:
I'm really captivated by the flow of it all

into the never-ending stream

Pour your soul into a glass
and drink
until you hear the sound of clouds
crashing into mountains

The rust in your eyes
eventually fades away
Into the dust in the skies
where the stars call home

Floating into the sunsets
which become someone else's sunrise

we shine eternal
Click to expand...
:up:
 
U2girl said:
Despite the reinvention hype and some sonic new flashes of ideas, NLOTH was the end of 00's. SOI to me is more like UF, a transitional record more than a true reinvetion. I feel like Songs of Experience will be the full on dive into DM's sonics, if much like JT was the real dive into Eno/Lanois collaborations.
Click to expand...

We can only hope.
 
KUEFC09U2 said:
Really feels like this album is getting a bit of a kicking :(
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have you ever read YouTube comments?

Here's a sample of comments from The Beatles - "20 Greatest Hits" (U.S. Version!):

JB, Iggy and selena all have so much more talent than this shit. Like why is this garbage even famous???? Thry don't even kno how to sing rite lol
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dude i have Too much about these guys being good so i decided to check it out And this is the crap i get "sorry beetles you just don't have what it takes to be even Just Barely on the edge of horrible that is how bad this is And i like old music i think if they had put some effort into it they might have made it to the status of "Awful" but no no they aren't good and they are From England witch Should Have Mad It Obvious
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Am I the only one who thinks this band is really overrated?
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It's just average, I really don't see what's so good about it. I mean seriously in 20 songs there's not even 1 drop. Everyone hated on JB, 1D and other pop musicians, but at least their songs aren't boring and repetitive like these. I mean listen to the first song;"she loves you yeah yeah yeah she loves you yeah yeah yeah she loves you yeah yeah yeah..." That isn't real music, that is just like 3 or 4 guys (however many of them there are) saying the same thing over and over again. Why is that OK but "Baby baby baby" isn't. Its the exact same thing, at least Baby has some good instrumentals to back it up. All these sound like they were recorded with a phone then sent through an e-mail to another phone then held up to a mic that went into and am with another mic picking it up and putting it into a computer, then compressing it and changing the file format a few times, before sending it to your friend why held his phone up to his headphones and then sent the song back to you to put it into a disc and call it "The Beatles - 20 Greatest Hits". Smh you all need to listen to some good music, then maybe you will realize that this isn't even CLOSE to the best band ever.
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I'm not a fan of this band...
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I can not know what's good these songs really not liked :/
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aren't you boring people sick of this shit after 50 years?same ole crap,mcartne the billionaire money hungry fucks
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The Beatles are literally the worst shit band that ever existed.
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stupid music
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and my personal favourite:

why people still like the beatles i have no idea. u2 can sell out a stadium arena faster than the beatles could play the blues scale.
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my point is... don't worry about YouTube comments. You can search for literally anything - including one of the most universally respected and important bands ever in the history of rock music - and get hate.
 
No joke, I actually sometimes put my hand up to cover half the screen as I'm scrolling down related videos on YT as to try & avoid any comments.
 
I'm hoping someone can help me out here. I seem to recall Bono 'sort of' hoping to be able to release an album similar to this one a number of years ago. I'm not sure whether it was a magazine article, book, or interview, but I thought he made reference to wishing they could simply put an album out, without the build up hype or fancy packaging, and just get it out there, in a brown paper bag.

Now I know the brown paper bag bit didn't really play out, but the album sleeve really is minimalist and as plain as they come....and it was released without the build up hype. I just think its interesting that this type of release may have been on their minds for a number of years and they were just waiting for the moment to be right.

Either way, even though the release was instant, I'm loving the fact that the album itself isn't, IMO. It takes quite a few listens for some of the songs to reveal themselves and I like this about it a lot. I will say that when I first heard Song for Someone I was bummed, and confused, as it was not at all like the beach clip (maybe others felt the same, IDK). I was thinking why the hell did they change the song as it sounded really good, even with the waves, on the beach clip. In fact it may have thrown me off for a couple of songs. However the smile I had on hearing the opening bars of The Troubles made everything good again, and it is one of the best closers for a long time. Really looking forward to hearing the acoustic tracks....I think they will be awesome!
 
Cross posting since I think my comments belong in this thread mostly.

I consider the 00's albums to be the weakest collection of all their eras and SOI is probably my least favorite U2 album of all time. It all just feels so phoned in and weak.

Well let me clarify...the LYRICS all fee very phoned in and weak. Musically I think there's some interesting bordering on great stuff going on there. But as soon as a song sounds like it's going to be interesting, all the music gets relegated to a muted background while Bono comes in with cringe worthy lyrics that sound like "songwriting 101" shit. And not only are the lyrics bad, but his delivery (not necessarily the quality of his voice which is fine) is just plain. There's nothing interesting going on with how Bono is exploring the lyrics or the delivery. It's all very basic "hey I'm just singing this song pretty straightforward and now the song's done goodbye!"

He needs to a.) stop trying to write about big picture stuff...he's terrible at it. Bring it back to the inward facing stuff from the late 80s and 90s. He was way better at finding metaphor and emotion there. and b.) play with how he sings. You don't have to have TONS of lyrics in every song. Focus on the delivery as well as the content.

And the band as a whole needs to let some of these awesome sonic riffs REMAIN AT THE FOREFRONT OF THE SONG DAMNIT!

I'm hoping (But really I gave up hope a decade ago) that SOE is something that, tonally, pegs the other direction and really lets the music be the star here. We'll see.

I thought ATYCLB was a great catharsis to the 90s era extravagance, but I feel like they've stuck in that rut ever since and SOI feels like their weakest album yet. Except for Raised by Wolves, which I think is the standout track and should be the lead (and only) single.
 
Songs of Innocence is about as good as U2 can write and produce at this stage in their career. They're never going to make another classic album like The Joshua Tree or Achtung Baby again.

This is easily their best and most credible work since All You Can't Leave Behind. I've been listening to it constantly since it was released.

HTDAAB and No Line on the Horizon had some classic individual songs but were disjointed, over produced, messy and made the band look like rich rock stars over selling their product.

Songs of Innocence really comes across as a complete piece of work, with a fresh sound and something they've put everything into. The lyrical theme adds to it.

People keep talking about singles to be released. With the album given away for free, there will be no singles, maybe some videos distributed for some of the more mainstream tracks and the extras to come in October. Edge said in an interview around March time that unless the work could be played acoustically and sound good the songs weren't strong enough. Some of the songs on here are going to sound incredible stripped back.

Invisible was clearly earmarked as a lead single for an album, whilst it's a knockout track it doesn't belong on this record.

Whilst the band have struggled in the studio I think we'll see Songs of Experience maybe having a commercial sound and dropped for free sometime in the Spring ahead of the tour.






Sent from my iPad using U2 Interference
 
Speaking of Songs of Experience, will they also Itune it first, like Songs of Innocence ? Or will it be a more traditional release ?

Not sure they would get it out before the tour : that means two full albums' worth of songs to work into the setlist. And we know they like to play their hits. Unless, of course, the next arena tour is all about Innocence & Experience songs...
 
This album has completely renewed my faith in U2.

I love Pop. love the fearlessness. Loved Edge not being in jangly guitar mode. Loved the lyrics and the dark places they reflected. Loved Adam and Larry getting out of their comfort zones. Loved how they made a Rock album and fooled stupid "critics" with an icing of Electronics. Loved the power of the live shows, some absolute barnburners on that tour.

Then came ATYCLB, a band in full retreat mode. Some nice songs, but a definite retreat into their panic shelter. Fear. A Patchy album was forgiven by a wonderful stripped down tour which despite it's simplicity was actually very well thought out, was conceptually tied to the album and some great performances capturing a mood. A modified Fly, a new message in BTBS, the old dog still had a few new tricks.

Then came HTDAAB. Even more Fear. Leaving out the 2 more adventurous songs (Mercy, Fast Cars). Abandoning early versions which were superior to what ended up on the album. A tour that was a mish mash of silly props (lights on strings), a recycling of the elevation set up and some very sloppy half hearted performances. Preachy Bono, some not very good arrangements of old songs, a weak album.

Onto NLOTH, news of Morocco raised hopes (I had been listening to a lot of North African music at the time, having been taken there by Robert Plant). End result ? Abandonded Fez sessions, GOYB, Guy-liner and some last minute inserting of half baked attempts at radio hits. An album that had glorious highs (Fez, MOs) and some deep deep deep lows. Fear. A stadium tour with a spinal tap structure with no tie in to the album, and again some very half hearted performances.

In between times we got mostly Corporate, South-of-France, Corporate, Hobnobbing with the rich and powerful Bono. We got Malibu housing developments, Revisionist History in U2 by U2, Tax evasion, Expensive Chinese-made-clothing, ranting and raving about wanting to tax me through my isp to line McGuine$$' pockets even more.

Now, we get this. An abandonment of Fear.. Not a care about "biggest band in the world", #1 album or a Grammy. just throwing the album out there knowing there would be backlashes.

Fear abandoned. Faith restored. Thanks Guys !
 
JTbaby said:
This album has completely renewed my faith in U2.

I love Pop. love the fearlessness. Loved Edge not being in jangly guitar mode. Loved the lyrics and the dark places they reflected. Loved Adam and Larry getting out of their comfort zones. Loved how they made a Rock album and fooled stupid "critics" with an icing of Electronics. Loved the power of the live shows, some absolute barnburners on that tour.

Then came ATYCLB, a band in full retreat mode. Some nice songs, but a definite retreat into their panic shelter. Fear. A Patchy album was forgiven by a wonderful stripped down tour which despite it's simplicity was actually very well thought out, was conceptually tied to the album and some great performances capturing a mood. A modified Fly, a new message in BTBS, the old dog still had a few new tricks.

Then came HTDAAB. Even more Fear. Leaving out the 2 more adventurous songs (Mercy, Fast Cars). Abandoning early versions which were superior to what ended up on the album. A tour that was a mish mash of silly props (lights on strings), a recycling of the elevation set up and some very sloppy half hearted performances. Preachy Bono, some not very good arrangements of old songs, a weak album.

Onto NLOTH, news of Morocco raised hopes (I had been listening to a lot of North African music at the time, having been taken there by Robert Plant). End result ? Abandonded Fez sessions, GOYB, Guy-liner and some last minute inserting of half baked attempts at radio hits. An album that had glorious highs (Fez, MOs) and some deep deep deep lows. Fear. A stadium tour with a spinal tap structure with no tie in to the album, and again some very half hearted performances.

In between times we got mostly Corporate, South-of-France, Corporate, Hobnobbing with the rich and powerful Bono. We got Malibu housing developments, Revisionist History in U2 by U2, Tax evasion, Expensive Chinese-made-clothing, ranting and raving about wanting to tax me through my isp to line McGuine$$' pockets even more.

Now, we get this. An abandonment of Fear.. Not a care about "biggest band in the world", #1 album or a Grammy. just throwing the album out there knowing there would be backlashes.

Fear abandoned. Faith restored. Thanks Guys !
Click to expand...

I'm generally in agreement with you, I love this record.

But just out of curiosity, what part or parts of U2 By U2 do you think are revisionist?
 
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