Songs of _________________; New album discussion #7

[JamietheEdgefan]

Originally Posted by ferball415

It was for X-Radio originally, that's correct (which I've never heard because I'm not a Sirius subscriber). But seems odd that they would reactivate it, and cryptically, without there being anything bigger than something only-station-related. Then again..

Yeah, if it hasn't really been utilised since it was set up, or teased anything cryptically before, maybe there is something more interesting going on.

... But it would be so on-brand for the U2 fan experience to expect a new album, receive a cryptic text almost 5 years after the last album, only to end up getting a radio channel update

[Headache in a Suitcase]

My attendance at St. Patrick’s was ultimately unhappy for me and unhappy for them. I lasted just a year. The final straw involved a Spanish teacher known as Biddy who I was convinced put lines through my homework without even looking at it. When the weather was good, Biddy would take her lunch from a clear plastic Tupperware box on a park bench in the shadow of the magnificent cathedral. Schoolboys were not allowed in the park at lunchtime, but I’d found a way to mount the railings, and one day, with a couple of accomplices, I successfully lobbed dog shit into her lunchbox. Unsurprisingly, by the end of term Biddy wanted this little shit-throwing shit out of her hair, and it was suggested I might be happier elsewhere. In September, 1972, I enrolled at Mount Temple Comprehensive School.

Bono want the Biddy?

[ferball415]

Originally Posted by JamietheEdgefan

Yeah, if it hasn't really been utilised since it was set up, or teased anything cryptically before, maybe there is something more interesting going on.

... But it would be so on-brand for the U2 fan experience to expect a new album, receive a cryptic text almost 5 years after the last album, only to end up getting a radio channel update

Yes.

[PopFly]

My attendance at St. Patrick’s was ultimately unhappy for me and unhappy for them. I lasted just a year. The final straw involved a Spanish teacher known as Biddy who I was convinced put lines through my homework without even looking at it. When the weather was good, Biddy would take her lunch from a clear plastic Tupperware box on a park bench in the shadow of the magnificent cathedral. Schoolboys were not allowed in the park at lunchtime, but I’d found a way to mount the railings, and one day, with a couple of accomplices, I successfully lobbed dog shit into her lunchbox. Unsurprisingly, by the end of term Biddy wanted this little shit-throwing shit out of her hair, and it was suggested I might be happier elsewhere. In September, 1972, I enrolled at Mount Temple Comprehensive School.

1000 percent chance some snarky reviewer compares "dog shit in the lunchbox" to SOI in everyone's iTunes account

[Registered Dude]

I notice U2songs has Bono's Oct 7 Surrender promo as a reading and performance

interesting

let's stay tuned to tonight's promo too

[The_acrobat]

Originally Posted by Registered Dude

I notice U2songs has Bono's Oct 7 Surrender promo as a reading and performance

interesting

let's stay tuned to tonight's promo too

Bono has a hard time performing without The Edge, so unless Edge will be with him, this will be very interesting. Edge knows how to keep Bono on track. But he also knows what to do in the case where Bono gets off track. Bono's voice is still good, but a bit wobbly at times, and Edge knows exactly how to fill in those gaps with harmony vocals so that it's not very noticeable to untrained ears.

Also, random. Was just listening to a bootleg of the 8/21/2010 show in Helsinki. At this point it had been 13 years since U2's last visit to Finland, in 1997. He PROMISED the audience that it won't be that long again. Next summer marks 13 years since that show. Hopefully they tour next year in general, and that Finland is on the schedule if they do!!

[mikal]

Originally Posted by The_acrobat

Bono has a hard time performing without The Edge, so unless Edge will be with him, this will be very interesting. Edge knows how to keep Bono on track. But he also knows what to do in the case where Bono gets off track. Bono's voice is still good, but a bit wobbly at times, and Edge knows exactly how to fill in those gaps with harmony vocals so that it's not very noticeable to untrained ears.

Also, random. Was just listening to a bootleg of the 8/21/2010 show in Helsinki. At this point it had been 13 years since U2's last visit to Finland, in 1997. He PROMISED the audience that it won't be that long again. Next summer marks 13 years since that show. Hopefully they tour next year in general, and that Finland is on the schedule if they do!!

He might not need The Edge for this.

[DeVaul]

What if he’s performing spoken word?

[Hewson]

Originally Posted by DeVaul

What if he’s performing spoken word?

Or taking on Joey Chestnut one on one?

[The_acrobat]

Originally Posted by PopFly

1000 percent chance some snarky reviewer compares "dog shit in the lunchbox" to SOI in everyone's iTunes account

OMG it's a guarantee. I know Bono's a nice guy and he means well. But this book is probably just going to give his haters more fodder to keep the fire blazing. As for his fans, I doubt it will have very many insights that we haven't already heard before.

[lazarus]

We’ve already got new information and insights from the excerpts that have been released already? No reason to act like this is a pointless endeavor on his part.

[DaveC]

all the excerpts i've read (or viewed, in the case of the video about his wedding day) so far have been very well written and moving, so i'm definitely going to be buying and reading this, even if there aren't any big omg reveals in the book.

[Hollow Island]

The part where his mom laughed at his dad after he drilled his crotch was really funny. All the excerpts have been pretty amusing. I'm really excited for this book.

[Headache in a Suitcase]

I really enjoyed for a chapter about his mom doing ended with a couple of pages about eating

[mikal]

.

[Registered Dude]

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts...ano-interview/

in case there was any doubt about whether Daniel Lanois is producing new u2 music

The easiest way to annoy Daniel Lanois is to ask him about something that has already been done.

The albums he produced for U2? Ancient history: “We bask in the glory of familiarity,” he says in a Zoom call. “Have we not had enough?”

...

What he’s working on next: “I just spent a week recording [drummer] Brian Blade in Toronto. I have hours of recordings to go through with [co-producer] Wayne Lorenz to see what of it is special. We’ve got a tom-tom track that is a mind blower. I know people want to hear that I’m doing the next U2 record and then I’m going to do ZZ Top. Life is not that simple, though. I’m an experimenter. I’m a sonic explorer. I wish I could say I had some broad-stroke industry manoeuvre that will catapult me into the limelight, and that I’m going to be doing the next Rolling Stones record. I can do all that – I can give Mick Jagger a call. But if I don’t do my experiments and I don’t go through my explorations, then I’ve got nothing to bring to the table. I’d be a charlatan.”

[BEAL]

I still think he’d join up with the band under the right conditions.

A final farewell, with Eno (and flood).

The band would need to have a vision that aligns with Brian and Danny, but it could happen.

Clearly the band is not interested in experimenting as so much churning out songs.

[lazarus]

And Lanois is the polite one. Imagine Eno's response if prodded enough.

The band would do well to watch the new Bowie documentary, where he talks about the artistic dilemmas.

Sad that U2 is content to be stuck in the Let's Dance/Tonight/Never Let Me Down era for 20 years.

[dan_smee]

There was a semi promising quote from Bono at the Dreamforce thing:

"I wish to be useful going forward. I think it may mean serving the song more, and my interests in conquering Everest less."

Though this is about less activism, serving the songs hopefully also means going back to their thoughts on not interfering with songs and just letting what’s in him come out.

[DeVaul]

It’d be nice but this is Bono and he has a whole new set of talking points to deploy. If his idea of serving the song is continued focus on craft vs core emotion, welp