New Album Recap (interference mix)
North Star
Album begins with a lone guitar figure that weaves itself into your conciousness, similar in style to the guitar that ends of Your Blue Room. This turns into a familiar sounding Edge riff which he'll repeat for much of the song's verses.
Enter huge organ, bass and drums. Stately beat, but uptempo, ala The Wanderer. Organ figure lends great gravity to the mood.
Bono is the last to come in. There's a very distinct melody, melancholy, but very catchy. It'll be described by fans and critics as haunting.
Chorus brings a careening vocal line, nothing too long or complex. Bono just sings "you are... my north star" and Edge's riff changes to an ethereal effect, one we haven't heard before, that evokes a feeling of infinity, and transcendence.
The ending of the song gives us a cascading solo from Edge. Think of a slightly longer version of the solo in When I Look at the World. This ends at along with the bass and drums, leaving only the organ drone, and the song fades into nothingness.
BULLDOZER
Adam's bass just sounds epic, throbbing and making the speakers shake in my house. The bass fades to a crystal thin guitar line from Edge with only a high hat from Larry. Bono plays a hard acoustic guitar. He sings about pushing and digging to find the root of people's sin. The chorus is "Why must an act of a bulldozer change your heart?".........BOOM Adams bass comes back in full force leaving the other band members behind...Edge then competes with Adam in a kind of thrashing and pulling back and forth....digging deep like a bulldozer..........you know that kind of song about a stubborn asshole who won't change his mind about anything because he is stuck in his ways.....
TREASON
Bono spits hot fire over this Dr. Dre produced beat.
Lead me in the Way I should Go
an atomic bomb leftover, this song opens with a bass drum and a murky wah-wah from edge. A light piano is a stark contrast over the rhythm guitar and low key drum from Larry. Adam doesn't come in until the second verse with Larry resuming his usual duites behind the kit. Edge tones give way after the murky wah wah in the second verse as well as his voice harmonizes with Bono with the chorus "and though the dark surrounds me...the light leads me in the way I should go..........." The middle eight takes Bono into the same territory as "blue room" but he is conversing with God, not a woman...the song is Eno like but no keyboards heard in this one, just the hard notes of the piano fade over the return of Larry's bass drum......
Yesterday and Tomorrow
a classic U2 mid-tempo number with a small twist. In a reach back to the live performance of "40", Adam Clayton takes the lead guitar on this track. Bono on rhythm guitar and Edge on piano allow Adam to play similiar type slide style like "40" but he also plays some power chords to give the song some depth. Gavin Friday gets credit on this track for an echo effect put onto the piano that resonates low tones like a bass but doesn't overide the other instruments. The chorus rises up over the foundation with ".......keeping her close in order to reach her, her eyes look so far away.........."
Away
The one new song that harkens directly to Rubin's work with Johnny Cash. Stark, acoustic arrangement carries this dark song, the band's most desperate sounding song in a decade. Adam is nowehere to be found here, and Larry only thumps sparingly on a bodhran drum. The song is distinctly Irish sounding in its melody. Bono lyrics suggest a near loss of faith, cryptically singing "love draws her away..." for the chorus. Edge's thrashes through the chords, providing little decoration for the song. Think Van Diemen's Land for the melody, and Nebraska-era Springsteen for the music.
Your Musical Taste Sucks
U2's longest song ever is, lyrically, an aggressive rant against those who try to confine U2 to a box, whether it is their eighties sincerity, nineties experimentalism, or 2000s crowd-pleasing mediocrity. Musically, the song is a sprawling epic, opening with an eerie, atmospheric intro that harks back to the darker moments of The Unforgettable Fire and The Joshua Tree. It then explodes in a frenzy, a whirlwind to make The Electric Co. or Acrobat sound tame, and Larry provides his most original, thumping drum line in twenty years as Bono vents his fury through some of his most abstract lyrics. The band then transitions into an anthemic passage with the power of Pride and stark lyrical depth of Wake Up Dead Man creating a powerful juxtaposition. Bono and Edge trade lead vocals in beautiful harmony throughout this passage, and both Adam and Larry sing a couple of lines. Adam then reels in the song and slows it down, providing a rock-solid foundation for Edge to play an extended atmospheric piece that conjures up sweeping soundscapes without boundaries in the listener's mind, illustrating U2's desire not to be boxed in to any definitions. Slowly but surely, this atmospheric playing morphs into a solo and the band up the tempo as Edge surges forward, bursting into guitar brilliance not seen since Bullet on ZooTV. This screaming, cathartic solo finally explodes in the most rousing, euphoric chorus in U2's history - the band sees the light, the shackles are gone, and the jubilance of Gloria's climax is left choking in the dust. The track clocks in at 17:21 and divides the fanbase forever.
All My Life
In an interview with Blender, Bono reveals that this was on scheduled to make "All That you Can't Leave Behind" as a song called "Home" before it joined another song to become "Walk On". The old lyrics dumped, this song was revived by Edge by a blusey solo after an uplifting chorus by Bono, the song not only echoes back to its brother "Walk On" but allows Edge to endulge himself in a little guitar work. A typical U2 anthem that will force sing alongs for the next tour.
Got A Feeling
Song begins with a playful bassline by bassist Adam Clayton which dominates the mix of this song. Bono starts with almost a whisper extolling the virtues of having faith in something and the potential pitfalls it can also cause. Bono seems to be struggling with some internal demons throughout. The song builds when Edge begins to strum along with a simple rythmic guitar underneath Clayton's bassline. Bono's vocal becomes more intense as the song progresses. Then the song kicks in with Larry Mullen hitting a powerful yet simple drumline midway through. It reaches its climax with Bono hitting high notes not heard since an album named after a tree hit the market 20 years ago. A very simple song that sounds different from most of U2's previous work, yet still unmistakeably U2.
GIVE ME SOME RESPECT
This is a complete Adam Clayton solo. It's full of slapping and popping that makes Gloria's solo sound small. It's kept up by Larry's repetitive beat. Bono and Edge weren't at the studio that day. This song will show that Adam is a very good bass player, but never was given the chance.
HEART AND SOUL
A soaring anthem about how unity and togetherness can still be a force regardless of all the hardships that may come. With beautiful slide guitar work by the Edge and a larger than life outro.
TWO WORDS FOR YOU
That's right - a Larry solo song. He raps over a monotone drum beat, and the lyric is making the angriest Bono rants look like baby talk. He vetoed anyone else on the track though, so no bass, drums, or guitars or Bono vocals. The outro is full of censored "bleep" sounds. The rumour is Larry plans to open for the band on the next tour with this song.
A BLESSING IN DISGUISE
The Kanye West-produced penultimate track from U2's latest studio album sounds like a cross between INXS's Just Keep Walking and West's Touch The Sky and Nelly Fertado's Promiscuous. Bono more or less spits out the verse, featuring a vocal not dissimilar from the one that closed out the single Window In the Skies, just with a little more punch. With a bassline reminiscent of Endless Deep, Adam Clayton shines on this track, while Edge's guitar rings out sweetly ala the opening to Pride during the chorus. Clocking in at 5:03, it is one of the highlights from the latest album, and certainly a potential Chart topiing single. Segues into the closing track, a cover of Live's "Love Shines (A Song For My Daighters About God)" beautifully.
The Sun The Moon The Stars
Piano intro verses:
When we pushed ourselves over
When we swam further down under
And ran on through that oh so slippery way
It was the sun, the moon, the stars that melted away
The fire in the night that pulled our dreams away
Into orange and gold
Against an open sea, an open sea
Into your arms, not needing to breathe
And waves, they now come crashing in
Bringing me back under your skin
It was through your liquid shards
And the sun the moon, the Stars...
Chorus:
And she finds her way just as you look away
You walk on by in the shadow she kept for you
Behind the candle she lit for you
In the ocean she pulled for you
And she slips away...
It was the sun, the moon, the stars...
Her eyes, the skylight in my afternoon
Her hands, the hourglass of this moment
She shall not pass, shall not pass
It was the sun, the moon, the stars
Never to fall through
No, she shall not pass
Verse:
And so she goes as the eyes of the world are closed
As the kings in high places lose control
The Earth, the friend betrayed
A pearl in the sea, not to fade, not to fade
Below these skies, a world still breathing
A firefly at dusk keeps singing...oh,
hmmmyeah...[scat singing in falsetto]
Chorus:
And she finds her way just as you look away
You walk on by in the shadow she kept for you
In the candle she lit for you
In the ocean she pulled for you
And she slips away
It was the sun, the moon the stars...[scat singing]
The skylight in my afternoon
Her hands, the hourglass of this moment
She shall not pass, shall not pass
For it was the sun, the moon, the stars...
Reprise:
Never to fall through
Never to die out
Never to fall out
Never to drop out
Never to cry out
Never to burn out
Never to fade out
Never to pass on through
No, for this shall not pass...
Outro Verses:
And sometimes I fall away against the night
Under the crack that lets through the light
Pushed inside, it's only of you
Your candlelight
Through the window explosions seep in
The lights in the sky all turn dim
Beyond silence I hear your cry
Yeah, beyond it all, the buzz and firefly
And so I fall away into arms
Beyond the sun, the moon and the stars...
North Star
Album begins with a lone guitar figure that weaves itself into your conciousness, similar in style to the guitar that ends of Your Blue Room. This turns into a familiar sounding Edge riff which he'll repeat for much of the song's verses.
Enter huge organ, bass and drums. Stately beat, but uptempo, ala The Wanderer. Organ figure lends great gravity to the mood.
Bono is the last to come in. There's a very distinct melody, melancholy, but very catchy. It'll be described by fans and critics as haunting.
Chorus brings a careening vocal line, nothing too long or complex. Bono just sings "you are... my north star" and Edge's riff changes to an ethereal effect, one we haven't heard before, that evokes a feeling of infinity, and transcendence.
The ending of the song gives us a cascading solo from Edge. Think of a slightly longer version of the solo in When I Look at the World. This ends at along with the bass and drums, leaving only the organ drone, and the song fades into nothingness.
BULLDOZER
Adam's bass just sounds epic, throbbing and making the speakers shake in my house. The bass fades to a crystal thin guitar line from Edge with only a high hat from Larry. Bono plays a hard acoustic guitar. He sings about pushing and digging to find the root of people's sin. The chorus is "Why must an act of a bulldozer change your heart?".........BOOM Adams bass comes back in full force leaving the other band members behind...Edge then competes with Adam in a kind of thrashing and pulling back and forth....digging deep like a bulldozer..........you know that kind of song about a stubborn asshole who won't change his mind about anything because he is stuck in his ways.....
TREASON
Bono spits hot fire over this Dr. Dre produced beat.
Lead me in the Way I should Go
an atomic bomb leftover, this song opens with a bass drum and a murky wah-wah from edge. A light piano is a stark contrast over the rhythm guitar and low key drum from Larry. Adam doesn't come in until the second verse with Larry resuming his usual duites behind the kit. Edge tones give way after the murky wah wah in the second verse as well as his voice harmonizes with Bono with the chorus "and though the dark surrounds me...the light leads me in the way I should go..........." The middle eight takes Bono into the same territory as "blue room" but he is conversing with God, not a woman...the song is Eno like but no keyboards heard in this one, just the hard notes of the piano fade over the return of Larry's bass drum......
Yesterday and Tomorrow
a classic U2 mid-tempo number with a small twist. In a reach back to the live performance of "40", Adam Clayton takes the lead guitar on this track. Bono on rhythm guitar and Edge on piano allow Adam to play similiar type slide style like "40" but he also plays some power chords to give the song some depth. Gavin Friday gets credit on this track for an echo effect put onto the piano that resonates low tones like a bass but doesn't overide the other instruments. The chorus rises up over the foundation with ".......keeping her close in order to reach her, her eyes look so far away.........."
Away
The one new song that harkens directly to Rubin's work with Johnny Cash. Stark, acoustic arrangement carries this dark song, the band's most desperate sounding song in a decade. Adam is nowehere to be found here, and Larry only thumps sparingly on a bodhran drum. The song is distinctly Irish sounding in its melody. Bono lyrics suggest a near loss of faith, cryptically singing "love draws her away..." for the chorus. Edge's thrashes through the chords, providing little decoration for the song. Think Van Diemen's Land for the melody, and Nebraska-era Springsteen for the music.
Your Musical Taste Sucks
U2's longest song ever is, lyrically, an aggressive rant against those who try to confine U2 to a box, whether it is their eighties sincerity, nineties experimentalism, or 2000s crowd-pleasing mediocrity. Musically, the song is a sprawling epic, opening with an eerie, atmospheric intro that harks back to the darker moments of The Unforgettable Fire and The Joshua Tree. It then explodes in a frenzy, a whirlwind to make The Electric Co. or Acrobat sound tame, and Larry provides his most original, thumping drum line in twenty years as Bono vents his fury through some of his most abstract lyrics. The band then transitions into an anthemic passage with the power of Pride and stark lyrical depth of Wake Up Dead Man creating a powerful juxtaposition. Bono and Edge trade lead vocals in beautiful harmony throughout this passage, and both Adam and Larry sing a couple of lines. Adam then reels in the song and slows it down, providing a rock-solid foundation for Edge to play an extended atmospheric piece that conjures up sweeping soundscapes without boundaries in the listener's mind, illustrating U2's desire not to be boxed in to any definitions. Slowly but surely, this atmospheric playing morphs into a solo and the band up the tempo as Edge surges forward, bursting into guitar brilliance not seen since Bullet on ZooTV. This screaming, cathartic solo finally explodes in the most rousing, euphoric chorus in U2's history - the band sees the light, the shackles are gone, and the jubilance of Gloria's climax is left choking in the dust. The track clocks in at 17:21 and divides the fanbase forever.
All My Life
In an interview with Blender, Bono reveals that this was on scheduled to make "All That you Can't Leave Behind" as a song called "Home" before it joined another song to become "Walk On". The old lyrics dumped, this song was revived by Edge by a blusey solo after an uplifting chorus by Bono, the song not only echoes back to its brother "Walk On" but allows Edge to endulge himself in a little guitar work. A typical U2 anthem that will force sing alongs for the next tour.
Got A Feeling
Song begins with a playful bassline by bassist Adam Clayton which dominates the mix of this song. Bono starts with almost a whisper extolling the virtues of having faith in something and the potential pitfalls it can also cause. Bono seems to be struggling with some internal demons throughout. The song builds when Edge begins to strum along with a simple rythmic guitar underneath Clayton's bassline. Bono's vocal becomes more intense as the song progresses. Then the song kicks in with Larry Mullen hitting a powerful yet simple drumline midway through. It reaches its climax with Bono hitting high notes not heard since an album named after a tree hit the market 20 years ago. A very simple song that sounds different from most of U2's previous work, yet still unmistakeably U2.
GIVE ME SOME RESPECT
This is a complete Adam Clayton solo. It's full of slapping and popping that makes Gloria's solo sound small. It's kept up by Larry's repetitive beat. Bono and Edge weren't at the studio that day. This song will show that Adam is a very good bass player, but never was given the chance.
HEART AND SOUL
A soaring anthem about how unity and togetherness can still be a force regardless of all the hardships that may come. With beautiful slide guitar work by the Edge and a larger than life outro.
TWO WORDS FOR YOU
That's right - a Larry solo song. He raps over a monotone drum beat, and the lyric is making the angriest Bono rants look like baby talk. He vetoed anyone else on the track though, so no bass, drums, or guitars or Bono vocals. The outro is full of censored "bleep" sounds. The rumour is Larry plans to open for the band on the next tour with this song.
A BLESSING IN DISGUISE
The Kanye West-produced penultimate track from U2's latest studio album sounds like a cross between INXS's Just Keep Walking and West's Touch The Sky and Nelly Fertado's Promiscuous. Bono more or less spits out the verse, featuring a vocal not dissimilar from the one that closed out the single Window In the Skies, just with a little more punch. With a bassline reminiscent of Endless Deep, Adam Clayton shines on this track, while Edge's guitar rings out sweetly ala the opening to Pride during the chorus. Clocking in at 5:03, it is one of the highlights from the latest album, and certainly a potential Chart topiing single. Segues into the closing track, a cover of Live's "Love Shines (A Song For My Daighters About God)" beautifully.
The Sun The Moon The Stars
Piano intro verses:
When we pushed ourselves over
When we swam further down under
And ran on through that oh so slippery way
It was the sun, the moon, the stars that melted away
The fire in the night that pulled our dreams away
Into orange and gold
Against an open sea, an open sea
Into your arms, not needing to breathe
And waves, they now come crashing in
Bringing me back under your skin
It was through your liquid shards
And the sun the moon, the Stars...
Chorus:
And she finds her way just as you look away
You walk on by in the shadow she kept for you
Behind the candle she lit for you
In the ocean she pulled for you
And she slips away...
It was the sun, the moon, the stars...
Her eyes, the skylight in my afternoon
Her hands, the hourglass of this moment
She shall not pass, shall not pass
It was the sun, the moon, the stars
Never to fall through
No, she shall not pass
Verse:
And so she goes as the eyes of the world are closed
As the kings in high places lose control
The Earth, the friend betrayed
A pearl in the sea, not to fade, not to fade
Below these skies, a world still breathing
A firefly at dusk keeps singing...oh,
hmmmyeah...[scat singing in falsetto]
Chorus:
And she finds her way just as you look away
You walk on by in the shadow she kept for you
In the candle she lit for you
In the ocean she pulled for you
And she slips away
It was the sun, the moon the stars...[scat singing]
The skylight in my afternoon
Her hands, the hourglass of this moment
She shall not pass, shall not pass
For it was the sun, the moon, the stars...
Reprise:
Never to fall through
Never to die out
Never to fall out
Never to drop out
Never to cry out
Never to burn out
Never to fade out
Never to pass on through
No, for this shall not pass...
Outro Verses:
And sometimes I fall away against the night
Under the crack that lets through the light
Pushed inside, it's only of you
Your candlelight
Through the window explosions seep in
The lights in the sky all turn dim
Beyond silence I hear your cry
Yeah, beyond it all, the buzz and firefly
And so I fall away into arms
Beyond the sun, the moon and the stars...
Which they will probably "save" for the next album. 
