david
ONE love, blood, life
I’m on the Barlow train. I wish they’d work with him again.
Next Album Rumours Thread II - Songs of Ass Scent
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If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
Iggy Fizz
War Child
when Bono claims that Orinary Love and Love is Bigger are not only among their very best, but are also getting an equivalent response from fans as their biggest hits like Pride.... delusional is exactly the word I would continue to use...
Hollow Island
New Yorker
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Same. I always look forward to U2 but it's hard to have much faith in or respect for them now. They seem delusional and it's hard to determine what their motivation is.
womanfish
Rock n' Roll Doggie ALL ACCESS
I was wishing the other day that a group of interferencers travel to Ireland and perform an intervention with the band and tell them what the actual best songs of the last 10 years have been, and what have been dreadful mistakes, from actual long-time fans.
I totally agree with Smee on Barlow, along with Gaffney and I would throw in Jolyon Thomas for the trifecta.
I totally agree with Smee on Barlow, along with Gaffney and I would throw in Jolyon Thomas for the trifecta.
ferball415
Acrobat
Unlike a lot of you, I think SOI/SOE are their worst albums, followed by No Line and Bomb. I'm not--how do I put this--"the world's biggest 21st century-U2 fan".
Yes, Brian and Danny helmed No Line, which was a nadir for all involved. But helming at least three extremely enduring masterpieces (I'll let you decide which those are--hint: ATYCLB is not one of them), and being musical geniuses (and just straight-up genius, in Eno's case) in their own right(s) has to count for a fucking lot here.
I think they're the only ones who have any real idea how to truly "handle" these four clowns too. Tedder sounds like a teenage camp counselor talking about dealing with them--never mind that he should never have been allowed within 500 feet of any studio containing them in the first place. Lillywhite can handle them, but he doesn't have the touch anymore, and hasn't since he became better known as Dave Matthews' producer. Burton, understandably, didn't/doesn't have the patience (but also didn't have the history with them) for late-period aimless fuckery.
Basically, the only other person besides Brian and Danny who I think that could ever get anything truly good out of them at this point, and I'm sure it would come with a lot of conditions, and rightfully so, is Nigel Godrich. That would be the most impressive and daring thing they could do at this stage. I know iterations of all of this have been said before but an Italian interview with Ryan Fucking Tedder talking about "four guys in a room" just ahead of The Joshua Tree 32-And-A-Half-Birthday Tour is just too rich for me.
Of course, they will do nothing of the sort. "But even after admitting this—and I have countless times, in just about every [post] I’ve [submitted]—and coming face-to-face with these truths, there is no [end to love]. I gain no deeper knowledge about [U2's internal logic], no new understanding can be extracted from my [bitching]. There has been no reason for me to tell you any of this. This [Zoo] confession[al] has meant nothing."
P.S. If I'm spanking them too hard, "it hurts me more than it hurts [them, for sure]".
P.P.S. There are, of course, "moments" over the past two decades that are good, even (lower-case) great. I'm just pulling the "centuries-binary" card because I want to make it that stark here.
Honorable mentions:
Steve Albini (who would never put up with more than a week or so of their shit, nor would help them "craft")
Ethan Johns (who might)
Yes, Brian and Danny helmed No Line, which was a nadir for all involved. But helming at least three extremely enduring masterpieces (I'll let you decide which those are--hint: ATYCLB is not one of them), and being musical geniuses (and just straight-up genius, in Eno's case) in their own right(s) has to count for a fucking lot here.
I think they're the only ones who have any real idea how to truly "handle" these four clowns too. Tedder sounds like a teenage camp counselor talking about dealing with them--never mind that he should never have been allowed within 500 feet of any studio containing them in the first place. Lillywhite can handle them, but he doesn't have the touch anymore, and hasn't since he became better known as Dave Matthews' producer. Burton, understandably, didn't/doesn't have the patience (but also didn't have the history with them) for late-period aimless fuckery.
Basically, the only other person besides Brian and Danny who I think that could ever get anything truly good out of them at this point, and I'm sure it would come with a lot of conditions, and rightfully so, is Nigel Godrich. That would be the most impressive and daring thing they could do at this stage. I know iterations of all of this have been said before but an Italian interview with Ryan Fucking Tedder talking about "four guys in a room" just ahead of The Joshua Tree 32-And-A-Half-Birthday Tour is just too rich for me.
Of course, they will do nothing of the sort. "But even after admitting this—and I have countless times, in just about every [post] I’ve [submitted]—and coming face-to-face with these truths, there is no [end to love]. I gain no deeper knowledge about [U2's internal logic], no new understanding can be extracted from my [bitching]. There has been no reason for me to tell you any of this. This [Zoo] confession[al] has meant nothing."
P.S. If I'm spanking them too hard, "it hurts me more than it hurts [them, for sure]".
P.P.S. There are, of course, "moments" over the past two decades that are good, even (lower-case) great. I'm just pulling the "centuries-binary" card because I want to make it that stark here.
Honorable mentions:
Steve Albini (who would never put up with more than a week or so of their shit, nor would help them "craft")
Ethan Johns (who might)
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I'd hate to think it was someone other than The Edge playing. Then again, Lanois played a ton, so why not the others. I was kinda disappointed the band couldn't come up with more of their own original melodies, but those are some pretty great ones on "Lights of Home" and "Summer of Love."
Ah, well; I still love that sound on "The Blackout" and others. I love most of Bono's lyrics on "13", too. Then, I tried to watch the campaign stuff, where Bono talks too much about it and it ruins it.
So glad that album has so much texture, though -- much more than "Songs of Innocence", so I think Adam was right about putting more time into the production.
Not a fan of recycling past melodies generally, though. (The took the okay bridge from the pretty catchy "Volcano" and turned that into a song?!)
I recall Bono telling the Rolling Stone publisher that he thought "How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb" had better songs than previous albums and tearing songs like "Bad" to pieces, when it's actually amazing.
Bono has got to stop hanging around the Clintons and Bernie Sanders it up.
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That Ordinary Love proved more popular than people here give it credit for (don't @ me Ax) and that Love Is Bigger got a pretty decent reaction should absolutely tell them some things... just not the things Bono thinks it's telling them
It should tell them that;
a) you should have stuck it out with danger mouse during the innocence recordings
b) your single choices are awful
It should tell them that;
a) you should have stuck it out with danger mouse during the innocence recordings
b) your single choices are awful
The_acrobat
Rock n' Roll Doggie VIP PASS
Their single choices are awful, it’s true. How can one of the world’s biggest bands not employ people that can tell them what they should and shouldn’t do, from a public perspective standpoint.
GOYB as a lead single... bad idea.
The Apple/iPhone scandal... bad idea.
The Ireland tax evasion... bad idea, creates false headlines of hypocrisy.
The Miracle of Joey Ramone... poor single choice
Every Breaking Wave... should’ve, could’ve been a massive hit single. They didn’t market it properly or try hard enough with it.
American Soul... why the fuck is this a song?
It’s like their PR team don’t exist. I think U2 are given too much control, and they don’t always make good decisions. Guy sucks as a manager. I love SOI and SOE, but it’s almost like they’re trying to make bad marketing choices.
GOYB as a lead single... bad idea.
The Apple/iPhone scandal... bad idea.
The Ireland tax evasion... bad idea, creates false headlines of hypocrisy.
The Miracle of Joey Ramone... poor single choice
Every Breaking Wave... should’ve, could’ve been a massive hit single. They didn’t market it properly or try hard enough with it.
American Soul... why the fuck is this a song?
It’s like their PR team don’t exist. I think U2 are given too much control, and they don’t always make good decisions. Guy sucks as a manager. I love SOI and SOE, but it’s almost like they’re trying to make bad marketing choices.
CosmoKramer
Rock n' Roll Doggie
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LOL @ people still trying to tow the “Ordinary Love is more popular” line.
The song hit the Hot 100 for 1 week after they performed it at the Oscars and it promptly fell out the following week(as evident that it was released 4 months early and didn’t come remotely close to the Hot 100 or even the “bubbling under” Top 120 chart). The song was played on 1 format (Triple A) and even on that U2 dominated chart it barely (might not have even) cracked the top 10.
The song received basically no radio play(less than any song since NLOTH that was released) and when it’s played live (I’ve personally heard it twice) its usually drowned out by the sound of flushing toilets in the arena.
I get it, it has 40 million YouTube views...wow... I guess it’s more popular than I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For if that’s the measurement.
Maybe if they keep remixing it and putting it on albums it will get airplay, sales and a response from a U2 crowd.
The song hit the Hot 100 for 1 week after they performed it at the Oscars and it promptly fell out the following week(as evident that it was released 4 months early and didn’t come remotely close to the Hot 100 or even the “bubbling under” Top 120 chart). The song was played on 1 format (Triple A) and even on that U2 dominated chart it barely (might not have even) cracked the top 10.
The song received basically no radio play(less than any song since NLOTH that was released) and when it’s played live (I’ve personally heard it twice) its usually drowned out by the sound of flushing toilets in the arena.
I get it, it has 40 million YouTube views...wow... I guess it’s more popular than I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For if that’s the measurement.
Maybe if they keep remixing it and putting it on albums it will get airplay, sales and a response from a U2 crowd.
Hollow Island
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Maybe nobody wants to work with them. Flood had a hell of a time on Pop, the sessions with Chris Thomas and Rick Rubin didn't work out. Eno & Lanois had credit disputes with the band and were annoyed with what U2 did to an album on which they were full collaborators. Danger Mouse was pissed with how they treated him and SOI. I'd be surprised if U2 didnt have a piss poor reputation among producers. They pissed off some very highly regarded people.
Maybe Tedder is the best they can get. Even if that's the case, has there ever been an artist to reach as far down for a long term partnership with a producer as U2 did for Tedder? It's hard to believe this band reached so far up for Eno in 84, after trying to get Conny Plank (Neu and a bunchbof other krautrock) and then Colin Newman (of fucking Wire!). They used to have good taste.
Maybe Tedder is the best they can get. Even if that's the case, has there ever been an artist to reach as far down for a long term partnership with a producer as U2 did for Tedder? It's hard to believe this band reached so far up for Eno in 84, after trying to get Conny Plank (Neu and a bunchbof other krautrock) and then Colin Newman (of fucking Wire!). They used to have good taste.
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CosmoKramer
Rock n' Roll Doggie
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Agree with most of the above except American Soul...while not a “good” song, I personally don’t mind it.
Where you win me over....is your PR comment. For SOE, it was the worst of all albums and I would add to it their creative decisions for the tour (more so the US leg as Europe was much improved) were abysmal.
Off the top of my head:
PR Decisions:
The lip sync “performance” on Spanish television of Best Thing with Kygo. U2 is strongest live, showcasing their talents...so you have Bono lip sync and don’t bring the Edge or Larry? It was embarrassing.
The Grammy performance of GOYOW....again, U2s at their best live and in front of a crowd so what do they do? Pre record a performance in the middle of a river with NO ONE around.
Bono giving an interview where he called Rock music nowadays is weak, soft and not as in your face for young boys to grab onto and yet their album would contain songs like GOOYOW and Love is Bigger and while both songs I like....they are as “girly” as they come.
Tour Decisions:
Opening up with LIAYHL sucked all the energy out of the arena.
Lip syncing LIAYHL was embarrassingly bad and insulting. I paid $300 to see U2 lip sync a song? FOH
The snap chat of Mcphisto was so cringeworthy. Not only was it cheesy, when Bono moved around the filter would flicker off of him and it was just him making odd faces.
Playing the string version of LOH (better version IMO) but having pre-recorded strings! They couldn’t pay a few musicians to come out and play the strings proper? The strings are a very prominent element of that version of the song and they are canned....$300 should get you more.
Best Thing ‘stripped down’ was so bad and was the first time I was at a U2 concert and felt like they lost their magic. That was their lead single and it was flat, dull and boring. The crowd barely even clapped...it was legitimately sad.
Bullhorn use on multiple songs.....a fucking bullhorn!
Has there ever been anything concrete from either the band or Danger Mouse around what went wrong or what caused the dissatisfaction?
I can’t recall seeing anything other than the typical “the songs just needed something else” kind of banter.
Has anyone actually voiced anything more tangible than the standard PR rhetoric?
Thanks.
I knoowwwww lolz so funny that it did well on the medium people listen to music on now despite having never actually even being an official single.
So craaaaaazy to say it was more successful than people give it credit for lol what a joke
I'm not doing this again... It's so dumb.
Hands That Built America was released at the height of U2's second run at the top, where they could do absolutely no wrong. It was performed on the Oscars. It never charted.
But sure... Oscar bump and all. That's the only reason. Not that maybe some people who aren't here liked it. Nope. Just the Oscars.
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ferball415
Acrobat
Oh shit, how could I forget fucking Flood? Actually, get him, even if Larry's not on board with him on the board.
The last place on Earth they should be working (especially with Ryan Tedder) is L.A. But if they worked there with Brian at least, maybe we'd get a Passengers-style concept album about imaginary Sierra Club lawsuits against Edge, which would be sustained for a few songs before falling apart thematically.
The last place on Earth they should be working (especially with Ryan Tedder) is L.A. But if they worked there with Brian at least, maybe we'd get a Passengers-style concept album about imaginary Sierra Club lawsuits against Edge, which would be sustained for a few songs before falling apart thematically.
AndrewCowley
Refugee
There’s likely an NDA or some other contractual thing stopping him from saying anything. Also I guess out of respect for U2 and his future career he may not want to rat on them.
Hollow Island
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He didn't say much but in interviews he didnt seem thrilled that they redid much of the album with other people.
lazarus
Blue Crack Supplier
Yeah, one has to consider this song’s relative success through the filter of 2014 and onward. It wasn’t another Vertigo, but those days are long gone; they were/are never going to hit that level of mass saturation again.
pacemaker
Refugee
Yea I remember thinking his comments read like he was bummed out and annoyed... like "never meet your heroes" came true for him tenfold. It's unfortunate that the full sessions may never see the light of day.
dan_smee
ONE love, blood, life
When they do eventually call it quits, do you think there is much chance of the vaults opening? There is plenty to fill out some definitive editions of most albums:
Boy - the album, a disc of b-sides, a disc of the early demos (full versions), and a live show that hasn’t been released yet.
October - the album, a disc of b sides, not sure if there is much we missed out on in terms of demos and sessions, but they’ll dig something up, and a live show.
War - the album, b sides (add in Be There), live show.
TUF - album, b sides, live show.
TJT - not much else they can add, though there were some demos that never showed up.
R&H - album, demos disc (sun studios sessions, early sketches), love town show
AB - again, not much else, but you never know.
Zoorooa - album, b sides, some demos of songs that ended up on Pop, live show
Pop - album, b sides, lots of demos and early versions of songs that showed up later, live show
ATYCLB - live album, b sides, lots of demos and sessions we know of (bulldozer, electrical storm, stranded etc), live show
HTDAAB - album, b sides, fucking heaps of demos and outtakes, live show.
NLOTH - album, b sides, original Eno and Lanois album, demos for songs of ascent, Rubin sessions, early versions of EBW, live show.
SOI - album, outtakes, original DM version of the album, leftovers from RedOne sessions, live show
SOE - album, original version they were prepping for 2015/16, leftovers, live show.
There’s heaps there to fill a 4cd box for every album.
Boy - the album, a disc of b-sides, a disc of the early demos (full versions), and a live show that hasn’t been released yet.
October - the album, a disc of b sides, not sure if there is much we missed out on in terms of demos and sessions, but they’ll dig something up, and a live show.
War - the album, b sides (add in Be There), live show.
TUF - album, b sides, live show.
TJT - not much else they can add, though there were some demos that never showed up.
R&H - album, demos disc (sun studios sessions, early sketches), love town show
AB - again, not much else, but you never know.
Zoorooa - album, b sides, some demos of songs that ended up on Pop, live show
Pop - album, b sides, lots of demos and early versions of songs that showed up later, live show
ATYCLB - live album, b sides, lots of demos and sessions we know of (bulldozer, electrical storm, stranded etc), live show
HTDAAB - album, b sides, fucking heaps of demos and outtakes, live show.
NLOTH - album, b sides, original Eno and Lanois album, demos for songs of ascent, Rubin sessions, early versions of EBW, live show.
SOI - album, outtakes, original DM version of the album, leftovers from RedOne sessions, live show
SOE - album, original version they were prepping for 2015/16, leftovers, live show.
There’s heaps there to fill a 4cd box for every album.
AndrewCowley
Refugee
For Boy through to AB, they already did the remastered box sets that pretty much cover that.
dan_smee
ONE love, blood, life
There’s lots in the early demos and a vault of live shows they could easily drop for the fans
CosmoKramer
Rock n' Roll Doggie
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So a song released in October just happened to chart over 4 months later for the very first time ever and for 1 week only...the week AFTER the Oscar performance but that wasn’t the only reason it charted?? Hahahahahahha
Ok, so the fact it fell off the chart the week following it’s “miraculous” appearance and never had a bump in airplay had nothing to do with the Oscars.....got it! You know you’re right, there were clearly people who woke up in late February and of course didn’t hear it on the radio because it wasn’t being played but they still said “I like this song and I’m going to go buy it”. Then the following week all those people must have shared the song with all of their friends because you know, the song is so popular and people really like it and that would explain why it dropped off the chart and never resurfaced again....yep, that’s it, we cracked the code!
I’ll wait for you to go to your “ But but but it has 40 million Youtube plays so people must like it” take.
I hope the song is played in Australia so they can go absolutely crazy when it’s played and sing along to it because its so much more popular than people give it credit for.
Hollow Island
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They already released sets for the first 5 and Achtung. There are probably things in the vault for Zooropa but they don't seem interested into celebrating either of tgem. Zooropa was basically treated as an afterthought in the Achtung box. As for Boy-JT, if they had anything worth releasing they would have. Their standards weren't terribly high.
There's probably a tonne for OST1 and Pop. ATYCLB & HTDAAB outtakes were released on Medium Rare but I could see them mining that and making a bonus disc with those tracks & b-sides.
There would be loads of alt takes etc for the last three albums and it would be fascinating to hear them.
CosmoKramer
Rock n' Roll Doggie
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One last item on this point that you seem to always mention....in case I am mistaken, and feel free to correct me if I am, THTBA was NOT available as a physical commercial single in the US and was definitely not on iTunes in early 2003. Therefore, it didn’t have an ‘Oscar bump’ because you couldn’t buy it anywhere unless you bought the entire GoNY soundtrack or Best of 90-2000, which wouldn’t help the single in anyway.
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AndrewCowley
Refugee
Sure but it'd be like 13 in that the second version makes you hate the original.
Hewson
Blue Crack Supplier
I hope the album is dark. These are dark times, and we've gotten enough of the LOVE, LOVE, LOVE from Bono. Granted, he's always been about it.....but I'd go for a much moodier, dark, ambient album that is reflective of their age and not the Hip Hop Culture that Edge wants to mimic (meaning giving up his own creativity by sampling other guitarists)
It's way too early to fret over what the next U2 album will be. There'll be delays, new producers, Edge on Fire, Bono hitting a rich songwriting vein, and Larry + Adam no where to be seen until the album drops.
It's way too early to fret over what the next U2 album will be. There'll be delays, new producers, Edge on Fire, Bono hitting a rich songwriting vein, and Larry + Adam no where to be seen until the album drops.
Agree on this!
Iggy Fizz
War Child
Adam and Larry are smart. Their only guaranteed appearances are when it's time to be paid.
I know this kinda derails the topic being discussed but has MERCY ever been officially released in any form? There's one version that I like so much on YouTube but never liked the later versions.
I wondered if anyone else here thinks it was a good song with potential and maybe showing up on a new album if not previously released?
I wondered if anyone else here thinks it was a good song with potential and maybe showing up on a new album if not previously released?
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