U2's Thirteenth Album: Aimless Uncertainty?

[Airseven]

When they weren't happy with Bomb version 1.0 in 2003, they opted for the "revolving door" approach of multiple producers. And regardless of my personal feelings about Bomb v2.0, it definitely worked out for them. 9m in sales and close to a dozen Grammy wins? They'd take the same now in a heartbeat and sign-off. In short - I think Epworth/Tedder could be just the first two of a "brain trust" of producers they'll bring aboard.

And in the end, Bomb is widely considered to be one of their weakest albums. The sales figures can be attributed to a strong lead single and an influential marketing gimmick.

The revolving door approach worked for the modern, commercialized version of U2. It didn't work for the music.

 

[U2andU2andU2]

And in the end, Bomb is widely considered to be one of their weakest albums.

citation needed

 

[Mrs. Garrison]

That was a good article. Honestly though I love 'Invisible', its just so much more upbeat and positive (sounding) than anything released since BD, in my opinion. These so-called "hits" don't happen overnight, the song was released only a month and a half ago. If you go look at what the number 1 song out there is right now I believe its some shit that was released last summer.

I like the idea of U2 "saving the album" if it in fact actually works. The last album I bought was PJ 'Lightning Bolts' and before that it was Washed Out 'Paracosm', though other than that I didn't buy too many records last year. Nor did I download that many tracks off of iTunes. I do eagerly await a new U2 album as a reason to go buy a physical copy of a CD, which I can import to my ipod.

Well one of my cats just jumped into my lap so I will have to finish this thought later as its hard to type with a giant ball of fur in my lap. But I was probably going to say its really nice to sit in my favorite chair and read through the linear notes while listening to new music from my favorite band.

 

[Zoo Lemon]

Spoiler

Larry hates hip hop. And jokes. No laughter allowed.

 

[vaz02]

Time of his life

Sent from my SM-T210 using U2 Interference mobile app

 

[ClaytonsKitten]

Spoiler

Larry hates hip hop. And jokes. No laughter allowed.

Don't tell Larry that there's a Latino radio station that played the same Nelly song over and over again as part of a promotion to switch from Latino to a new format.

Why Is a Radio Station Playing Nelly's 'Hot in Herre' on an Endless Loop? | Music News | Rolling Stone

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeZZr_p6vB8

 

[Nick66]

That's a pretty good article, meaning it's better than most written about U2 and this new record.

I will say that I'm not so sure about the "Larry calls the shots" part. Certainly Larry has a veto, which he doesn't hesitate to use when he feels like it, but it's pretty clear that Bono more than anyone runs things in the recording studio, and sets the general musical direction the band is taking. To me at least that was really brought home watching the FTSD doc.

Also, and this is a nit, but the statement that "most" of the NLOTH songs had been dropped by the time the show reached the US is just wrong. Actually, the first 360 show I saw in the US had 7 songs, I believe, from that record. It wasn't until later that they dropped most of them in favour of the AB stuff.

But yeah, in general a good read and better than most articles written about U2, which usually get things wrong.

 

[CosmoKramer]

citation needed

Let me help you out:

"And in the end, Bomb is widely considered to be one of their weakest albums"*

*One fan on a U2 Fansite

 

[jeevey]

I considered that calls the shots phrase to be a figure of speech for "has a say". Maybe he's the one most likely to use his veto power, maybe he's the mama in U2's "Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy", but I don't think the writer meant to say that Larry drives the band creatively.

 

[CosmoKramer]

And in the end, Bomb is widely considered to be one of their weakest albums. The sales figures can be attributed to a strong lead single and an influential marketing gimmick.

The revolving door approach worked for the modern, commercialized version of U2. It didn't work for the music.

1) One of U2's best selling albums, but I don't think you can say it was due to a "gimmick". If that were the case, wouldn't Invisible be one of their best selling/charting singles (i.e. Commercial during the biggest TV EVENT in the USA)

2) Won 9 grammy awards, which even if you give them no credibility, that would imply that the album was not "widely" considered weak as this is an example of "X" amount of people that thought it was the BEST album released in 2004.

3) I personally think it is one of their best albums from start to finish (M&W & Crumbs I could do without)

4) "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb received generally favourable reviews. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 79 based on 26 reviews.[29] Critics like Rolling Stone (who described it as "grandiose music from grandiose men"), Q, NME, the Los Angeles Times, and The Boston Globe,[30] among others were quite vocal in its praise. The album received an average critic score of 79%, according to Metacritic.[16] (Wikipedia)

 

[josh82]

And in the end, Bomb is widely considered to be one of their weakest albums

Really? I don't think so, in fact Bomb is regarded as highly successful. And as a whole, Hutdab is as an underrated album around here, just as NLOTH is overrated

 

[ClaytonsKitten]

Nuff said.

 

[BVS]

If Air doesn't like it, then that's the consensus. Facts will never matter.

 

[CosmoKramer]

Really? I don't think so, in fact Bomb is regarded as highly successful. And as a whole, Hutdab is as an underrated album around here, just as NLOTH is overrated

I thought for a second I wrote this!

Nice to meet you Josh82, well said!

 

[mikal]

I feel like HTDAAB really gets donkey punched around here.

Hi. My name is mikal and I like warm hugs.

 

[Mrs. Garrison]

Clearly the author of the independent article (Brendan O'Connor) is indeed the Fisher King.

There. Im calling my own church now.

 

[dazzledbylight]

The article was good...esp re the change in music listening habits and how they might be trying to possibly work with that. Plus Bono's self-declared effort to revamp/reboost the album format.

I was an early to mid-teen pop/rock lover as the semi and full free-form FM Radio emerged besides AM Pop Radio in the mid-late 60's.

Even then- I didn't always listen to a whole album if there were songs I really didn't like!With songs at the very end or begining of an album I could place or take the needle on/off.
This got better when I could afford a better turntabble with a push button - raise or lower the needle arm! Almost no scrichting/scratching the records then!

If they (songs) were back then what some people didn't like NLOTH's middle 3 now- the record might get scratched untill the better turntable came along, OR i'd do my best to tune out those songs. It was not easy back then say like with The Beatles "Mister Moonlight" , which now I can listen without the earlier grimace, or pick UP the Needle "race", before it started.

Some- even with an album's theme/s I'd focus on the various swatches of cuts (album/CD cuts, Tape tracks) that called to me. Whether in was 2 to say 7(+?) or so songs in a row.

As a highly Visual person (and artist-drawing) plus very strong Kinesthetic sense (touch, tecture, 3D-ness (sculptor, too) , motion) I albums, tapes,and CD's . To have and to hold, and look at the artwork/design!

 

[ClaytonsKitten]

I'm still a CD person when it's a band/artist that I'm really interested in. But I also am quite comfortable downloading a song or two off amazon or itunes.

 

[dazzledbylight]

I actually do have a MP3 player thaT i finally bought in ? 2006 or 7 (Pink's special one) but it's been lost in the house somewhere for a bunch of years admist bins etc of art, craft ajnd some non-artistic bins of stuff. ( but I'm slowly going through stuff- I will find it)

I don't know if all MP3 players have a recording feature but mine does and I was able a band during the ? Make Music Day event!

 

[youarenotimmune]

Bomb could've been a much, much better album had it not been for its gaudy production and mixing. NLOTH on the other hand was so well produced.

 

[ClaytonsKitten]

I actually do have a MP3 player thaT i finally bought in ? 2006 or 7 (Pink's special one) but it's been lost in the house somewhere for a bunch of years admist bins etc of art, craft ajnd some non-artistic bins of stuff. ( but I'm slowly going through stuff- I will find it)

I don't know if all MP3 players have a recording feature but mine does and I was able a band during the ? Make Music Day event!

I had an iPod nano for a few years but everything is on my Droid these days or the laptop.

 

[Mrs. Garrison]

Bomb could've been a much, much better album had it not been for its gaudy production and mixing. NLOTH on the other hand was so well produced.

yet NLOTH is a boring album by comparison.

 

[Nick66]

1) One of U2's best selling albums, but I don't think you can say it was due to a "gimmick". If that were the case, wouldn't Invisible be one of their best selling/charting singles (i.e. Commercial during the biggest TV EVENT in the USA)

2) Won 9 grammy awards, which even if you give them no credibility, that would imply that the album was not "widely" considered weak as this is an example of "X" amount of people that thought it was the BEST album released in 2004.

3) I personally think it is one of their best albums from start to finish (M&W & Crumbs I could do without)

4) "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb received generally favourable reviews. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 79 based on 26 reviews.[29] Critics like Rolling Stone (who described it as "grandiose music from grandiose men"), Q, NME, the Los Angeles Times, and The Boston Globe,[30] among others were quite vocal in its praise. The album received an average critic score of 79%, according to Metacritic.[16] (Wikipedia)

I thought Bomb for the most part was terrible, and a profound disappointment. Listened to it the first time on a flight from LA to Auckland and just felt totally let down and deflated after so much anticipation. And I find the record at times literally fatiguing to listen to (the experience is admitted slightly better on vinyl, which appears to have a different mastering). There a few decent songs on there, most notably COBL, but for the most part, I rank it among U2's lower half, and couldn't care less what Rolling Stone says about it or how many Grammys it won. I thought it was a creative and artistic disaster and the sound of U2 trying too hard to hold on to the precious relevance they found again with (the far superior) ATYCLB. And Bomb, more than any other record by U2, pretty much owes all of its success and all the awards to one song (which in turn owes a lot of its success, at least in terms of exposure, to an iPod commercial).

And I'm not sure about it being one of the best selling records, though I guess it would be somewhere in the top half (but nowhere near the top). It wasn't even their best selling record of the 00's.

Don't misunderstand me, I have no issue with you loving the record at all, all that's just a matter of taste. Just rare to hear from someone who loves Bomb as much as you seem to.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

 

[U2andU2andU2]

Let me help you out:

"And in the end, Bomb is widely considered to be one of their weakest albums"*

*One fan on a U2 Fansite

Hehe. I know right? It's very tempting to amplify one's own opinion with phrases like "everyone agrees," "the consensus is," "it's widely believed" etc. Especially with subjective stuff like this. And even more so if the so called consensus paints a picture, a narrative, that might explain what goes on internally in a band.

I personally think NLOTH is aggressively boring and nowhere near as experimental as some claim. And yet objectively its sales mark it as a commercial success. Maybe not an earth shattering success but a success nonetheless. And barring Pitchfork and some other places it got generally favorable reviews. It is what it is.

 

[ahittle]

Funny story... I was visiting a friend of mine a few weekends ago, and at one point we were driving somewhere and the topic of music came up. I asked him "You don't buy CDs anymore, do you?" He replies "No, I don't." Then I asked "How do you get your music then? Itunes? Amazon?"

His answer?

"YouTube."

YouTube is the internet's largest music streaming provider.

Is your friend nine years old?

 

[Irvine511]

yes, it treads water and tries to solidify the massive gains made in 2000-01. it's the one album that really isn't a progression in terms of sound. but i still like Bomb. it is exhausting, but it has it's thrills -- it's U2's big summer blockbuster special effects movie.

lots of critics liked Bomb:

Critic Reviews for How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb - Metacritic

for me, this part of the Onion AV Club review captures it:

The emphasis, however, remains on the human experience, and U2 always has the sound to match. The first single, "Vertigo," summons the nervous feeling of being somewhere late at night where there's too much going on—some of it tempting, some of it frightening, some of it unhealthy, and most of it somewhere in between. An exercise in quietude reminiscent of the Joshua Tree days, "One Step Closer" recalls the death of Bono's father to the accompaniment of what sounds like the first great rock hymn of the 21st century. When "Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own" builds on a slow Adam Clayton bassline, a between-the-notes Larry Mullen drum tap, and a Bono vocal that builds in drama until it explodes with the line "You're the reason why the opera is in me," as The Edge unfurls a muscular, angelic guitar line that only he could play, U2 secures its status as the Biggest Band On Earth, assuming the planet is still big enough to hold it.

 

[trevgreg]

YouTube is the internet's largest music streaming provider.

Is your friend nine years old?

I know, which makes it all the more surprising given the typical quality of those streams. If I'm checking out studio tracks on YouTube, it's usually for the comments section to see what people say about them.

And my friend is 25.

 

[Tumbling Dice]

Maybe back in the '90s Bono put all their earnings into Kodak stock.

 

[The_acrobat]

I don't really get the Bomb hate. I admit it's not their best, and obviously a calculated attempt to hold the position that ATYCLB gained them. I don't really care how the production of an album sounds, as long as I like the songs. I mean, what is good production? Should all songs sound like they're on vinyl? I don't really know what that means, but it's just not something I listen for when I listen to music.

Most of Bomb began with Thomas and was taken over by Lillywhite. 9 of the 12 tracks were like this, plus AYGWF and Mercy.
LAPOE was Eno and Lanois, because it came from ATYCLB sessions
COBL was Flood and Hooper, because it came from POP Sessions
AMAAW was produced by Jackknife Lee.
So really, Thomas/Lillywhite were the album's producers, but they had a few spare parts lying around that they really liked, and did something with.

The question is: what was the extent of their involvement with Jackknife Lee? Did they try him out as a producer after Thomas only to fall back on Lillywhite? You can blame producers all you want, but they can only work with what the band gives them.

 

[dazzledbylight]

I had an iPod nano for a few years but everything is on my Droid these days or the laptop.

i have a semi-basic cellphone. Not SO basic like they advertise to "old" people who just want one with big text, no bells and whistles.