Next Album Rumours Thread III - The Gospel of Adam

[super fly guy]

Steve lilywhite was on talk radio and says the band were in London last week, and worked on new material with him.

From U2songs.com

 

[lazarus]

 

[dan_smee]

Still very early days, but good to know they are working.

 

[Irvine511]

Doesnt Lillywhite usually come in towards the end?

 

[JamietheEdgefan]

Doesnt Lillywhite usually come in towards the end?

I got the impression from the interview that Lillywhite is simply aware that the band in the studio, rather than actually working with them (but maybe I'm mistaken).

Still, great news that they're working on the next album!

 

[lazarus]

Yeah, you're correct.

[TWEET]1399468255065038849[/TWEET]

If the band had actually brought a producer onboard, I think we'd have heard about it.

 

[the tourist]

Maybe Edge is finally producing an album.

 

[LuckyNumber7]

This is exciting news!

 

[pacemaker]

Oh snap. Confidants starting to drop tidbits is exciting, no matter how vague or scripted they are.

 

[david]

It is time.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

U2022, Electric Boogaloo

 

[prbiker15]

Well I’m glad to hear they were together again. Hopefully the ball will continue to roll.

 

[lazarus]

2025 it is.

 

[doxxer]

This would be the perfect time to make a really stripped back album - even something semi-acoustic. Forget all the studio polish and trickery and show if they still have the song-writing/chemistry chops between themselves. Song for someone was beautiful - something as simple and beautiful as that would be fantastic.

Ugh.... this would be the absolute worst-case scenario for me personally, because it completely goes against what I liked about U2.

SOI proves that slick production doesn't compliment a minimalist approach, which is what makes songs like Every Breaking Wave, California and Volcano, feel kind of flat and uninspired because it felt like the band were going for a 4 people playing in a room approach but they then proceed to put so much effort into polishing up the final mix and ironing out the kinks and rough-edges that you have this sort of division where the production is in contradiction with the feel U2 were going for in the first place.

I would prefer that these songs were made in the way that U2 did in the 90's, when they had the approach to create more-from-less. They laid down the foundations of the song, kept the raw and organic sound from what they recorded and then added all the additional effects later on.

(instead of putting lot's effort into trying to polish up the rough edges and making the final mix sound as clean as possible)

The reason U2's 80s and 90s records worked so well is that the production helped to make mountains out of molehills.

I like that full, luscious production from tracks from 'POP' such as Do You Feel Loved, Discoteque, Mofo, where the production is dense and full but the sound isn't smoothened-out and polished to feel more comfortable for the ears and that rawness isn't ironed-out - in contrast to what we got with many songs on SOI such as EBW, Volcano, California etc..

The songwriting is for the most part very strong, it's just that the production on songs like Miracle, EBW, Volcano, California, Raised By Wolves (this one is mixed terribly), is so flat and polished that it distracts you from the strength of the songwriting. (IMO this is the main reason I feel why SOI is so overlooked by die-hards, the songwriting on SOI is exceptionally strong and close to on-par with The Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby, but the production strips it of that 'wholeness' that that is present on records like UF, JT and AB, and consequently the album tends to slip lower down people's rankings.

 

[MattD]

Song for Someone is just wretched. One of their very worst.

You can tell Tedder got his filthy hands on it as it’s that kind of syrupy sentimental shallow high school prom date bollocks.

Again, one of those songs where they think they’re writing a modern day With or Without You, but cliched beyond belief and without the ethereal beauty and mystique of the recording.

 

[Hewson]

2025 it is.

Beat me to it.

 

[Hewson]

Song for Someone is just wretched. One of their very worst.

.

Absolutely agree.

 

[DeVaul]

2025 it is.

Came here for this

 

[mikal]

Yeah, they may have shared recordings, but don't get your hopes up. I think 2025 is pretty accurate actually.

 

[lazarus]

I don’t think they’re going to have an 8-year gap between albums, to be honest.

 

[Hewson]

I don’t think they’re going to have an 8-year gap between albums, to be honest.

2027 it is.

 

[mikal]

I don’t think they’re going to have an 8-year gap between albums, to be honest.

I think it will be close. Even with the report that came out, there doesn't seem to be anything imminent. We haven't even gone through the phase where the band has 2 albums worth of material that they don't know what to do with it yet. Once we hear that report, then add 2.5-3 years. 2024, maybe...but I think we're waiting a long time for the next one.

 

[ascender_RS]

I guess there’s also the chance of a contractually obligated next “best-of”, maybe 2000-2020 given 2000 - 2010 could make for slim pickings.

Good to hear they’ve been in the studio though.

 

[LuckyNumber7]

I think Covid must’ve sobered the band up, I doubt they’ll be as intensely fixed on their typical production delays.

 

[JamietheEdgefan]

For what it's worth (probably not much!), in July of last year Adam said of new music:
"It’s very, very fresh. We’ve cut everything quite quickly. We’re coming to things in a shorthand way. The feedback we get from that is pretty good. We want to be quick, down and dirty with the next one."

But hey, SoE was meant to be a quick Zooropa style record. Instead, they re-recorded it to make it sound more 'live', reflect an election result, and brought in Lillywhite to re-produce, over twelve months.

So, them wanting to record quickly probably means nothing. It'll likely go through the same delays, rotations of producers etc as usual.

It's possible they're aware that the pandemic will have delayed any album cycle by a year or two, which might make them commit more to recording quickly, though I think that's unlikely.

I imagine late 2022 at the earliest, probably late 2023.

 

[Hollow Island]

Record quickly and spend years re-recording, overdubbing, mixing, remixing, and finally writing some new songs at the last minute and slapping them on the album instead of ones recorded years earlier in the sessions that are much better. That's the U2 way.

 

[Hollow Island]

The most frustrating aspect of their recent music for me is how far above the music Bono's voice is. It makes the music seem small, and the layers get lost because so much space is devoted to the vocals. They need to integrate his voice into the mix.

 

[DeVaul]

I don’t think they’re going to have an 8-year gap between albums, to be honest.

No. But end of next year will be 5, matching their gaps between HTDAAB/NLOTH/SOI. Could they put something out in the next 18 months? Possibly. Or maybe the 2019 extension of JT30 makes them feel like they were “just out there”. Do they repeat history and use another anniversary tour to go back into stadiums, fewer dates/easier sellouts and buy more time for a release? TBD!

 

[tommycharles]

But hey, SoE was meant to be a quick Zooropa style record. Instead, they re-recorded it to make it sound more 'live', reflect an election result, and brought in Lillywhite to re-produce, over twelve months.

Wasn’t all that about re-recording etc just a cover story for Bono’s health issue? SOE would have been a Fall ‘16 release, except B spent the first half of the year nearly dying and then recovering, and then they had to go on the road in ‘17 to fulfill their Livenation contract, so they dreamt up TJT17, which pushed things back even further.

 

[AndrewCowley]

The most frustrating aspect of their recent music for me is how far above the music Bono's voice is. It makes the music seem small, and the layers get lost because so much space is devoted to the vocals. They need to integrate his voice into the mix.

Absolutely 100%. This combined with Edge being awol is what irks me about SOI and to a lesser extent SOE. The songs sound sterile. It’s a bit like listening to an IEM bootleg.