1 Year ago Today!!!

[rennowba]

So its been one year since apple released songs of innocence to everyone.

I rememeber the rumours that u2 were gonna be at the apple event. I got some dodgy stream of the event on my iphone. I was at the in laws so i was on 3g. The stream kept stuttering. I couldnt really take in the miracle performance cause it was stop start. I had to go in the kitchen so it was quiet.

One of the only bits i could hear is that the album is available to download now on itunes. I nearly pissed my pants in excitement.

I ran in the living room to my wife and said "we have to go home now,u2 have just dropped their album" i was so excited. Say what you want about the release but for a u2 fan those few hours were mental!

I got home and downloaded it and listened to it all night. I got obsessed with the album and this obsession carried on for about the next 6 months. Listening to it daily.

Ive had a break and now ive got it in the car again. I love the album,i listen to the whole album,i dont skip a track. I know alot of people would disagree but id put it in their top 5!

What a day it was for a u2 fan!

 

[mikal]

What a great day that was. Great album.

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[mikal]

Also, what's encouraging is that my love for this album hasn't died off...like a couple people here boldly predicted would happen.

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[djerdap]

Oh it will.

Fun day. Too bad the album wasn't good.

 

[youarenotimmune]

What a great day that was. Great album.

Really was. And now that the honeymoon period for SOI is over, I can legitimately claim it to be a great album.

 

[CosmoKramer]

Really was. And now that the honeymoon period for SOI is over, I can legitimately claim it to be a great album.

I'm with you, what a great album! Still love it.

Every Breaking Wave is easily in my top 15 favorite songs.



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[prbiker15]

One year ago already? It was an amazing day. And yes, I agree with those who say it's still a great album.

 

[Mack_Again]

Yeah I really thought that was great album, aside of it being very produced.

 

[The_acrobat]

A year later and I still love it! My favorite is TIWYCRMN. It's such an unusual song for them to write.


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[MrPryck2U]

What a great day that was. Great album.

A year has flown by quickly. I still think it's one of their best. Reach Around has been my favorite track since Day One. It definitely ranks among my all time favorites. The release method has been beaten into the ground, but you know what, fuck 'em if they can't take a joke...

 

[Hawkmoon269]

It was a great day!! I still remember everyone complaining about hearing all the apple talk and the appleWatch infomercial but also how everyone was soo excited and giddy about getting the whole album and for free - - FREE!!! - - it was so awesome!!!

I surprise releases, wish the next one is a surprise release too


And I love all the songs (except volcano ), lately raised by wolves is my absolute favorite

 

[JoRu]

I still like SOI, I'm actually listening to it right now. My opinion has changed very little; it has a lot of solid songs and very few actual duds, but lacks those real highs and classics. In a way it's the polar opposite of NLOTH, that had some real lows IMO, but also classics such as Moment of Surrender and Cedars of Lebanon.

 

[david]

It's crazy to think it was a year ago when I was getting ready to leave my old job, move out of the house I was still living in. I took that day off for mental health reasons and drove to a record store and purchased a couple Beatles in mono albums on vinyl that had just been reissued. I came home to watch the apple thing and sat online with everyone here as we figured U2 were just going to debut a new song live... But then we got the new album.


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[zoopop]

What a great day! I wasn't really blown away by anything on the album but I took a liking to all the songs and still do to this day.

I was just so happy to get new U2 after 5 years!

Good to see the band playing the new material & having some success (SFS) after 1 year.

 

[RoKKeR]

Still remember where I was when I found out. Absolutely couldn't fucking believe it, and it was incredible being able to listen to an album start to finish without having heard any of the songs previously. Will probably never happen again for a band I cherish as much as U2...

Think I'll give it a spin today. The back half is amongst my favorite U2 material ever, from Wolves->Troubles.

 

[trevgreg]

Very fun day, no question! Hard to believe it's been a year already...

 

[dan_smee]

Great day. Gotta say that it is still up there for me - top half, in their history, which at this stage of their career is a huge edfort


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[super fly guy]

I was working late that night,got home just in time to hear Bono announce the album was dropping. Cue hysteria and constantly refreshing iTunes until it showed up!

Still love the album today.

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[RoKKeR]

Great day. Gotta say that it is still up there for me - top half, in their history, which at this stage of their career is a huge edfort


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No doubt. It's too bad that the release was soured so much by the way it was delivered. Also unfortunate that in reignited U2-hating in the public eye, ha, but what can you do.

 

[mikal]

Good to see the positive vibes. I think the tour is only helping the songs too. Miracle is an energetic opener that has aged well with me. Cedarwood Road has actually become my favorite song on the album.

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[bobsaget77]

I wish they would've included the full version of Invisible on the album, but I have it anyway so I shouldn't complain too much. But I'm still a fan of this album, solidly in the middle of the pack.


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[RoKKeR]

Good to see the positive vibes. I think the tour is only helping the songs too. Miracle is an energetic opener that has aged well with me. Cedarwood Road has actually become my favorite song on the album.

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I think Cedarwood is the strongest song on the album, with RBW being a close second. Also seems that (unsurprisingly) the European crowds have taken to the new tunes better than the American crowds. Seem to be getting a good response.

 

[Oregoropa]

I loved that day because once I got headphones, and got it off the cloud it was a pure virgin listen. So rare with U2, usually we get leaks or 30 second samples (which I still the segments hear when listening to ATYCLB).

Had a cocktail and sat back.

 

[Mrs. Garrison]

Still a great album, glad to see one of the songs has gotten some radio play (song for someone). I agree with most that the songs from RBW on are clearly the best. Also wish Invisible would have been on the album as well.

A year has flown by quickly. I still think it's one of their best. Reach Around has been my favorite track since Day One. It definitely ranks among my all time favorites. The release method has been beaten into the ground, but you know what, fuck 'em if they can't take a joke...

I love a good Reach Around too

 

[mikal]

And a scissors, amirite?

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[Hollow Island]

What a great day! I remember waiting for a dud but each song was better than the one before,hand the album has only grown on me. Not a first tier U2 album, but not second either. Tier 1.5. Which is far beyond the reach of mist good bands.

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[mikal]

What a great day! I remember waiting for a dud but each song was better than the one before,hand the album has only grown on me. Not a first tier U2 album, but not second either. Tier 1.5. Which is far beyond the reach of mist good bands.

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My untouchable albums (basically nothing can top them) are:

Achtung
Zooropa
Pop
UF
JT
Boy

This album falls right below it which is a massive complement.

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[LemonMelon]

Haven't heard it since early this year. Time flies.

 

[U2387]

Will never forget that day. Gorgeous September day in Boston and I, like everyone else, knew something was up with the Apple event.

However, I never expected what we got. I remember racing to my girlfriend's house to get a copy of it on a CD because my I Tunes account was all screwed up at the time and it took a while for the album to download.

I remember first hearing the beginning of Joey Ramone and thinking "this isn't Boy 2.0 or AB 2.0 or ATYCLB 2.0 or anything else. It's just GOOD."

Then literally everything after that blew me away . Especially California and SFS. They hit me most immediately, even though Reach, Wolves, Cedarwood and EBW are probably the strongest ones.

The fact that U2 released an album as vital and energetic and lyrically poignant as SOI in 2014 is just amazing. They met and exceeded my very high expectations.

I said a year ago that this was good. I said 11 months ago that this was the best effort since AB.

The last year, including seeing 5 shows in person, has only made me more confident in this statement.

I hadn't discussed SOI with my uncle, a long time fan, before I saw the first Boston show. As we were walking back to my grandmother's after the concert, he was analyzing the show and said " this album is probably the best thing they've done since AB. Nothing will top that.... I mean any band would kill to have Salome, Lady and Blow Your House Down in their catalogue and none of them even made it on there, that's how good AB is."

I still agree with him.

As for the no classics argument, doesn't hold up for me. Of course there are no hits, but NLOTH had none either.

MOS is a classic because it is so good and so distinct in the U2 catalog because nothing else comes very close in terms of sound or overall vibe.

There's nothing else like it. It's a truly spectacular song.

However, in terms of quality, I feel comfortable putting Iris, Wolves, Invisible, etc right up there with MOS.

It's incredible to me that it's been an entire year!

I was driving around today and EBW came on the radio!

Brought me straight back to that September afternoon a year ago.

A day I will always remember fondly.

 

[Mr. Happy]

I was initially very critical of SoI, but I've admittedly warmed up to a lot in the last year. I've hated Volcano and RBW from the start, and that hasn't changed (they've been replaced by LH and CB in my iTunes listing), but the rest is pretty great. Every Breaking Wave and This Is Where You Can Reach Me Now are the obvious standouts.

It took me a long time to get into EBW, just because the live versions from 360 showed it had the potential to be the next Bad, but once I got over my disappointment and took it for what it is I fell in love with it. I'm at the point now that I think EBW is their second-best song since Zooropa (the album) behind Moment of Surrender. Great, great song.

Overall, SoI is probably fourth or fifth on my "favourite U2 albums" list.