New Album Discussion 1 - Songs of..... - Unreasonable guitar album

[Headache in a Suitcase]

2025 it is.

[super fly guy]

Originally Posted by Headache in a Suitcase

2025 it is.

Said it before,larry records with the band but doesn't tour.

[gvox]

They’ll tour when Larry’s ready.

[ascender_RS]

Originally Posted by super fly guy

Said it before,larry records with the band but doesn't tour.

That has to be a possibility now surely? They have said they can’t get motivated to work on new music unless there’s the chance of touring it. But multiple surgeries, even if they’re minor, is going to mean another chunk of time on the sidelines.

Or they just do the Sphere shows and then have another break, with nothing…

[dan_smee]

We don’t know what surgeries are left and what he’s had, what the prognosis is or recovery time. Maybe we just chill and see what happens?

[clerks]

Originally Posted by dan_smee

We don’t know what surgeries are left and what he’s had, what the prognosis is or recovery time. Maybe we just chill and see what happens?

ha ha ha ha.... Give us Larry's hair and we will make a new one like the swamp thing...

[ascender_RS]

Originally Posted by dan_smee

We don’t know what surgeries are left and what he’s had, what the prognosis is or recovery time. Maybe we just chill and see what happens?

It's ok, I'm not going all FB Sphere group on it or losing sleep over it, just thinking out loud.

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Originally Posted by ascender_RS

Or they just do the Sphere shows and then have another break, with nothing…

This seems more likely.

Maybe they release Songs of Ascent in the meantime, but probably not.

[clerks]

Or they love it so much, they come back to do POP in the spring...

[JWR1992]

Originally Posted by clerks

Or they love it so much, they come back to do POP in the spring...

I hope we finally get some sort of POPcore with this show.

[dan_smee]

So if there’s a clip on Monday it’s likely to be sometime in the next 24 hours. Not long now.

[dan_smee]

All 2025 jokes aside - as of March this year they apparently had two albums in the can. They need approx 3-6 months lead time between album and tour.

If Larry had surgery earlier this year, has some more to go - assuming he has it this year, it’s POSSIBLE they could go on tour in 12 months from now. Depends on the surgeries and recovery times, but the Marc h next year window isn’t off the table. If they think touring won’t happen until 2025, they could drop SOA early next year and the other album early 2025/late 2024?

[JamietheEdgefan]

I can certainly see the pragmatism behind dropping SoA in spring 2024 - it's supposedly a more meditative album which might not work in a live setting, or for promoting a tour. And if it's actually close to finished, they might as well release it if they're unable to tour for another year anyway.

But I suspect SoA is meant to be their final album. The fact it keeps resurfacing throughout the years, and that they're writing/keeping material for it, have a clear idea of the tone/sound/theme for it, but insist on focusing on other albums first (SoI, SoE, the unreasonable guitar album) all makes it seem like, if it really exists, they're deliberately holding it back to release as their swansong.

We're in the final few months of the year, and Larry still needs surgeries. Makes me feel pretty pessimistic about an album in early '24, but you never know. Evidently he's well enough to record, so I'm sure they'll do plenty of writing and recording next year if nothing else.

I reckon what we'll likely get is Songs of Fuck Off Guitar in late 2024, and a stadium tour in 2025, with Songs of Ascent released late 2025, mid-way through the tour. They can promote SoA as their final album (or maybe the final one with their original line up) and use that to do a big push for the final legs of the tour.

Then call it a day.

[JamietheEdgefan]

Alternatively, I could imagine Songs of Ascent being a much bigger, 'classic u2' album than we may think.

Bono described the recent songs he'd written for it as being pop songs, and compared one of them to the Beatles 'Rubber Soul'. Doesn't sound like the meditative spinoff of NLOTH anymore - an album they've since distanced themselves from.

I could see SoA having more in common with the Joshua Tree than NLOTH; songs with the DNA of hymns and gospel music, but written in big stadium pop. Wouldn't shock me if it ended up having the identity of songs like Streets and ISHFWILF, rather than, say, Moment of Surrender.

Adam also mentioned that Larry is specifically having surgeries so that he's able to keep drumming for years and years ahead, so maybe SoA would get its own promo and tour down the line.

And if it really is planned as their last album, they'd probably want to do the standard 'big U2 album', with all the massive sounds, promo and stadium vibes that define them, rather than something that never gets toured and might get commended by a few critics as slightly more daring or interesting. If they can decide their own terms, U2 would surely go out with a bang, not a whimper.

We also know they've been hanging out (granted in very limited capacity) with Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois. Both featured on backing vocals on SoS (ISHFWILF), and Eno designed the Sphere tour logo with Edge, and helped inspire the stage itself. Maybe they've been working on SoA with them as well, or plan to?

(I'm aware most of this is extremely wishful thinking; there's probably a decent chance SoA never actually comes to fruition and only ever exists in interviews with Bono.)

[Headache in a Suitcase]

I want them to drop Songs of Ascent next so that they can forever be done with Songs of albums

[Gonna Run 2 U]

Originally Posted by Headache in a Suitcase

I want them to drop Songs of Ascent next so that they can forever be done with Songs of albums

Yes the Songs Of needs to go. It’s time for a fresh start plus anything even remotely tied to memory of the iTunes release needs to be stopped already.

[JWR1992]

SOA should be their next album and then they can close out their careers with “The Virus”. An album that drops onto every device in the world.

[clerks]

Originally Posted by Headache in a Suitcase

I want them to drop Songs of Ascent next so that they can forever be done with Songs of albums

Can we (meaning YOU) start a thread in the right spot that is BAD ALBUM NAMES in history.

[dan_smee]

Just looked back at the Your Song Saved My Life promo:

- first mentioned, started teasing Saturday 30/10/2021
- first clip played Monday 01/11/2021
- song released Wednesday 03/11/2021

So on that timeline it should be announced today (Monday 25/09/2023), clip Wednesday 27th.

[dan_smee]

Originally Posted by Headache in a Suitcase

I want them to drop Songs of Ascent next so that they can forever be done with Songs of albums

It’s horseshit at this stage. The album would work just as well if it was simply called ‘Ascent’.