lazarus
Blue Crack Supplier
Was it necessary to post that in two different threads?
Almost Finished with U2
- Thread starter dreamletter
- Start date
The friendliest place on the web for anyone that follows U2.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
wait, NSW exists?
HeartlandGirl
Rock n' Roll Doggie ALL ACCESS
I can confirm his realness.
Irvine511
Blue Crack Supplier
mikemiller48
Babyface
- Joined
- Oct 15, 2021
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I'll probably catch hell for this, but Coldplay has become my backup U2, ready to be hot-swapped in at any time. (Mostly due to my chronic lack of time and/or energy to be aware of newer music.) As one of the possibly few with a favorable view of the younger band's current album, maybe this is already happening. This allows me to feel less attached to U2's next move. I suppose with Coldplay announcing the timeline for its recorded output to end, I should put another band in the bullpen. Maybe Inhaler? 
That being said, my hunch of the story arc says that the next album and tour from U2 will be strong.
That being said, my hunch of the story arc says that the next album and tour from U2 will be strong.
The Panther
Refugee
I'm gonna listen to Songs of Experience tonight (I've heard it only about thrice) and see if I really like it or not.
(Just checked the files and see I had already deleted two tracks -- the vocoder one and the obligatory-cringe-induder, in this case 'American Soul'. So I won't be hearing those...)
(Just checked the files and see I had already deleted two tracks -- the vocoder one and the obligatory-cringe-induder, in this case 'American Soul'. So I won't be hearing those...)
The Panther
Refugee
I listened to it. Yeah, it's pretty good. Especially without those two awful tracks I mentioned above. I have no idea yet where it ranks in the U2 pantheon, but the very fact that it's a pretty great album at this stage of their career is a small miracle.
lazarus
Blue Crack Supplier
It will get even better if you delete Get Out, one of their 3-5 worst tracks, period.
bono_212
Blue Crack Distributor
dan_smee
ONE love, blood, life
womanfish
Rock n' Roll Doggie ALL ACCESS
Love is All is actually in my top 5 or so on this album. I think it’s a great opener. Beautifully delicate song which I assume is about a near death experience? I remove American Suck and The showman. I can live with the mediocre Get Out. Add in Book of Your Heart and a very fine album indeed.
dan_smee
ONE love, blood, life
I think it was easy to dismiss LIAWHL on one listen because of the vocoder, but it isn’t some pseudo-celebrity trying an additional fame avenue putting out an album of auto tune because they can’t sing - it’s an interplay between Bono and his sub-conscience through that near death experience, and it’s quite well done. Surprisingly delicate for latter day U2
On my first listen to SOE I was eager for the opening track to finish so I could get to some meatier tracks. My first impression was more or less, “That’s it? Not much there, barely a song”.
for the next couple of days I was surprised to find that the one turn other than Red Flag day that kept getting stuck between my ears was the spacey lyrics of LiAWHL, mostly snippets here and there. “So many stars, so many ways..” and “.. at the other end of the telescope” we’re just floating around my head like the song’s characters drifting between here and the other side.
It ended up being one of my favourites on the album and I felt a little shiver hearing it at their Montreal show.
Bono would probably try to explain it as a Sinatra song, but run through some trickery to disguise the fact. It might be. It definitely uses the vocal effects less for style or disguise and more as an evocation of something ethereal.
It’s worth more than a passing listen.
for the next couple of days I was surprised to find that the one turn other than Red Flag day that kept getting stuck between my ears was the spacey lyrics of LiAWHL, mostly snippets here and there. “So many stars, so many ways..” and “.. at the other end of the telescope” we’re just floating around my head like the song’s characters drifting between here and the other side.
It ended up being one of my favourites on the album and I felt a little shiver hearing it at their Montreal show.
Bono would probably try to explain it as a Sinatra song, but run through some trickery to disguise the fact. It might be. It definitely uses the vocal effects less for style or disguise and more as an evocation of something ethereal.
It’s worth more than a passing listen.
bono_212
Blue Crack Distributor
I just can't get past the idea that people remove songs from albums.
HeartlandGirl
Rock n' Roll Doggie ALL ACCESS
Just adding my axe re: Love Is All We Have Left. That song has made me weep in my car.
the tourist
Blue Crack Addict
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The Panther
Refugee
Yeah, I'll give it another go and see if I can tolerate it. It might indeed be a good song, but my basic policy is, "If there's vocoder / auto-tune, it's CRAP".
The Panther
Refugee
So, it seems a lot of people don't like this one.
When I listened to it again last night, I though the intro was a little cheesy, but the chorus was catchy and well performed. It seemed kind of breezy, but my impression wasn't of too much cheese.
What specifically about this song do y'all dislike?
The Panther
Refugee
I guess it depends on how seriously you take the concept of an "album". The reason we call them "albums" in the first place is akin to a photo-album -- i.e., a collection of singles. That's the origin of the term, State-side.
Later, as music buyers had more money and took the music more seriously (late sixties), "albums" became the primary format. 1969 was the first year albums outsold singles in the UK, and I think maybe 1968 was the first year in the US, but I'm not sure.
Nowadays, we're basically back to songs ruling and albums just being an alternative method of presenting songs to more committed fans.
In short, there are such things as (to my tastes) "perfect" albums where everything fits together and the album as whole is greater than the sum of its parts, but that's a small minority of albums, even by artists I really like. Like, maybe, 5%.
So, I greatly appreciate how easy it is to delete crappy tracks or re-shuffle poor track-listings.
Like, do I really want to listen to "Mother" every time I cue up Synchronicity?
lazarus
Blue Crack Supplier
This band removed Mercy and Fast Cars from their own album, and I’m supposed to just take what I’m given?
Their shameless actions with Lillywhite on No Line was past the point of no return. They’re just not trustworthy anymore at filtering/evaluating their material.
U2 on auto-pilot inspo setting, Beautiful Day ripoff, terrible lyrics.
Irvine511
Blue Crack Supplier
When I first heard it, I thought that my worst feee came true: U2 as inspirational Christian rock for tweens. I find the sentiment so cheesy and thuddingly obvious that the 13-year old in me rolled his eyes at this parental advice and much such a blatant rip off of BD that it’s almost unbearable. It feels like they could perform this on Sesame Street.
And I love “Love Is Bigger,” which is where I think they got the sentiment exactly right and it’s so “Hey Jude” colossal and brought the house down live and reduced folks to tears.
The Panther
Refugee
Okay, so it seems to be the lyrics that are turning y'all off. I confess I wasn't really paying attention to that.
Will have a gander at them now...
Will have a gander at them now...
The Panther
Refugee
Yeah, okay, the first two verses are really poor. Like, could I have some lyrics with that cheese, Bono?
The last verse (Kedrick) is somewhat interesting in that I have no idea what they're trying to say. According to the ever-correct random Internet hit, this is what he says/sings:
Blessed are the arrogant
For there is the kingdom of their own company
Blessed are the superstars
For the magnificence in their light
We understand better our own insignificance
Blessed are the filthy rich
For you can only truly own what you give away
Like your pain
Those first two points are (I hope) laced with extreme irony, but what is the "filthy rich" part about? They're saying... if the rich give away their pain, then they "own" it. I dunno, not getting it.
Anyway, the lyrics are not good.
On the other hand, I thought it was an enjoyable track on a purely musical / aesthetics level.
The last verse (Kedrick) is somewhat interesting in that I have no idea what they're trying to say. According to the ever-correct random Internet hit, this is what he says/sings:
Blessed are the arrogant
For there is the kingdom of their own company
Blessed are the superstars
For the magnificence in their light
We understand better our own insignificance
Blessed are the filthy rich
For you can only truly own what you give away
Like your pain
Those first two points are (I hope) laced with extreme irony, but what is the "filthy rich" part about? They're saying... if the rich give away their pain, then they "own" it. I dunno, not getting it.
Anyway, the lyrics are not good.
On the other hand, I thought it was an enjoyable track on a purely musical / aesthetics level.
The Panther
Refugee
Oh, it's gone on a lot longer than that. U2 have been extremely 'OCD' in regard to their recordings since Pop, which didn't suffer from a premature birth (as the band rather weakly claim) but rather was given too much time.
This last album has, I think, 9 producers and 15 engineers...? Yeah, there's something wrong there.
david
ONE love, blood, life
Not sure why Book of Your Heart was left off the album proper. It could have easily taken a spot on the album over the few clunkers they left on.
bono_212
Blue Crack Distributor
Restructuring an album to your taste is the kind of niche thing music nerds do that I can respect.
But if you tell me you're going to revisit an album to decide if it fits your taste and then say, "Ah, but I'm going to skip these two tracks I decided I don't like three years ago," Well, to me, you're not really revisiting the album at all. Who knows if your opinion on those songs might change.
cobl04
45:33
Not sure you're well-placed to comment on any music's validity if this is your lazy take. I don't like metal, but I don't write the whole genre off as crap.
To compare it to Beautiful Day is an insult.
I think there's merit to the argument that Beautiful Day has been a bad thing for U2's career, because it was so big and they've been trying to recapture it ever since.
But Beautiful Day was their first time doing that style, and they nailed it.
Get Out is, along with American Soul and Song Saved My Life, the worst thing they've ever committed to tape. What makes it so bad? The cheap EDM elements, Edge's completely uninspired guitar-playing, the drowned-out, played-out oh-ohs. The chorus is about as rousing as a fart. So devoid of any real passion. It's so bland. Bono's lyrics are so vapid, so literal, there's nothing to hold on to. Even the title is shit and clunky. Before you've even heard the song it's signposting its dumbass, pathetic, anodyne message. And then Kendrick's verse, shoehorned in, is like a shit-stained cherry on top. Paltry, rock-bottom preacher vibes that are there to remind us, HEY, THIS IS AN UPLIFTING, LIFE-AFFIRMING SONG, as if we hadn't been belted over the head with that message for the past four minutes.
The Panther
Refugee
OK, but do you like it??
lazarus
Blue Crack Supplier
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