Songs of Experience - 1 Year Later

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AtomicHorizon

The Fly
Joined
Dec 3, 2017
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52
After one year with this album, I am enjoying and appreciating it more than ever! A great sign for an excellent album's staying power. I tried to make my favorite track list keeping as true as possible to the band's theme and track listing. It took some alternate mixes to take this album to the next level for me.


Fore example, Get Out (Womankind Mix) is leaps and bounds above the album cut. If you are not a fan of this song, I believe this version will at least allow you to tolerate the song. This version removes Kendrick's sermon and the first 25 seconds of the song, which show the band trying to hard to make a "pop" song. This mix makes the song just 3 minutes long and truly accentuates the better elements of the song.


I never totally took to Summer of Love, except for the excellent lyrics. The Egan Driftaway mix elevates the song to new heights with its strings and spare yet prominent piano part. The song and Bono's vocal have room to breathe and make the song's weighty subject matter resonate more deeply.


I also made a homemade mix of the worst song on the album, American Soul, removing Kendrick and starting the song with the big guitar riff. This makes the song just 4 minutes long for those of you who cannot wait until it's over. This song can easily be replaced by Book of Your Heart or simply eliminated.


My new track list is the following:


1. Love is All We Have Left
2. Lights of Home (Strings Version)
3. Best Thing
4. Get Out (Womankind Mix)
5. American Soul (Lamarless Mix)
6. Summer of Love (Driftaway Mix)
7. Red Flag Day
8. The Showman
9. Little Things
10. Landlady
11. Book of Your Heart
12. The Blackout
13. Love is Bigger
14. 13
 
One year later, I’m still a pretty big fan. Lights of Home is the track that has probably aged the worst for me. I actually don’t mind American Soul anymore, as long as I don’t think about it too hard.

I actually heard “best thing” in a restaurant today at lunch, and heard “love is bigger” while getting a haircut last week. Makes me feel like some of the tracks broke through a little bit, which is about the best we can ask for these days.
 
I also made a homemade mix of the worst song on the album, American Soul, removing Kendrick and starting the song with the big guitar riff. This makes the song just 4 minutes long for those of you who cannot wait until it's over.

It will be even more improved if you can take out the clunky "You are Rock n'Roll" mantra.

I thought it worked great in Volcano (not many cared for this tune but I liked it), but it's as flat as it gets in AS.

I actually hate all the recycled lines on SOE carried over from SOI.

Though for 13 who cares? It's a boring dud anyway.
 
It will be even more improved if you can take out the clunky "You are Rock n'Roll" mantra.

I thought it worked great in Volcano (not many cared for this tune but I liked it), but it's as flat as it gets in AS.

I actually hate all the recycled lines on SOE carried over from SOI.

Though for 13 who cares? It's a boring dud anyway.


I agree about the "You are Rock n'Roll" but am not able to take it out successfully with the basic program I have. I also thought it worked well in Volcano and much prefer it to American Soul.
 
I actually love the verses to AS. I find the “it’s not a plaaaaace....” parts to be insanely catchy. That gets stuck in my head more than anything. But yeah, just don’t care for that reused Volcano chorus.
 
One year out, I think I've listened to the album about five or six times.

I have never been less interested in a U2 album.
 
1 year later, still listen to it a lot. I'd say the only song that I really don't care for is The Showman, but I don't go out of my way to skip it. Like SOI, I see myself continuing to revisit these albums, which have been highlights for me.
 
One year out, I think I've listened to the album about five or six times.

I have never been less interested in a U2 album.

same. i think start to finish i've probably listened to it four times at the most, and one of those was at the end of LN7's survey just so that i could say i listened to the entire discography in chronological order.

i'm just not interested anymore in forcing myself to listen to something on repeat just because it's by a certain artist, in hopes that it'll grow on me.
 
I still love SoE. Listen to it quite often. I think it is a solid album, with some fantastic highs (Little Things, Love is Bigger...) In contrast, I rarely listen to anything from SOI. SOE is easily in the upper half of U2 albums.
 
One year out, I think I've listened to the album about five or six times.

I have never been less interested in a U2 album.

Pretty much the same here.

Kinda reminds me how I fell off the REM wagon when New Adventures In Hi-Fi came out.

Sounded good, but I couldn't connect with the album much.

SOI ranks at the bottom of my U2 evaluation, perhaps a tie with October in that regard.

But at least October had Gloria.
 
Fore example, Get Out (Womankind Mix) is leaps and bounds above the album cut. If you are not a fan of this song, I believe this version will at least allow you to tolerate the song. This version removes Kendrick's sermon and the first 25 seconds of the song, which show the band trying to hard to make a "pop" song. This mix makes the song just 3 minutes long and truly accentuates the better elements of the song.


The Kendrick appearance is the only good thing about Get Out.
 
Still really liking it. Some of the bands strongest work in nearly 20 years. I still can't really place it above or below SOI. Both land just about the same.

Still love listening to Love is All, Summer of Love, Red Flag, Little Things, LANDLADY!, 13, and Book of Your Heart.
Lights may have slipped a bit for me, The Showman may be my least fave U2 song ever, and i don't listen to Get Out of American Soul anymore. But i heard the best thing the other day, and i enjoy it quite a bit.

So to have 6 songs i love plus 1 more non album track (Book) and 4 more (LIghts, Best Thing, Blackout,Love is Bigger) that i enjoy after one year on a U2 album in the 2000's is quite a feat.

ATYCLB I'd say I have about 5 songs I really like and listen to
Bomb - About 5
No Line - Around 5 (possibly 6, I'm liking Cedars more lately)
SOI - 8 (including Crystal Ballroom)

So all in all, These last two albums have been a solid step up in their output for me and stands in stark contrast with my second favorite band, REM where their output from UP and on was almost unlistenable except for a few select tracks here and there and the fairly decent final album Accelerate.
 
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I just listened to it again this morning and I'm certain that it's my least favorite by the band, but it's no worse than mediocre on the whole. That, I suppose, is a testament to the quality of their discography.

The problems here are four-fold:

1. Bono's boring A/B/A/B rhyme schemes and bumper sticker slogan lyricism

2. Edge contributing next to nothing innovative or even memorable on guitar

3. Sturdy but dull chord progressions that don't stick in the head at all

4. Ultra-stick production that drains the life out of even the album's most intriguing moments

Breaking it down song by song:

Love Is All We Have Left - A good idea to start things soft and unassuming in a refreshing change from The Miracle, but the vocoder sounds awful and it doesn't really build to anything. Not their best opener, but not awful.

Lights of Home - I have an electronic drum kit in my apartment that cost a couple hundred bucks and it has a similar tone to Larry's crash cymbal on this song. So yeah, the production doesn't help. It's a bit of a Frankenstein monster too, jumping around without ever locking into a groove. The best part of the song is when it evokes Iris, and that is not a compliment by any means.

You're the Best Thing About Me - Enough bandwith has been spent shitting on this song, but I'll add to it. The "I can see it all so clearly" bridge is great, but nearly everything else is trash. The verses drag badly with a clunky tempo and nagging vocal melody and the chorus features the line "you're the best thing that ever happened a boy." It ain't pre-release single material, that's for sure.

Get Out of Your Own Way - Eugh. I love the textures in the intro, but it goes downhill fast. It's an absolute ripoff of Beautiful Day, sure, but the biggest problem is the awful second verse, which is maybe well-intended but baffling in execution. The ALL NIGHT ALRIGHT ALRIGHT WHAT'S INSIDE INSIDE ALRIGHT YEAH YEAH YEAH chorus is like a caricature of 21st century U2.

American Soul - They mixed together one of my favorite songs of 2017 and one of the better songs on SOI and made a mess. I don't despise this track or anything, but it's Stand Up Comedy all over again; a clunky rocker with a bad arrangement and no flow. Plus: refujesus!

Summer of Love - It's at this point that the album locks into a nice groove for a bit. This is a very pleasant track with a good message, decent melody and likable beat. I get a Time of the Season vibe from this one. More interesting or exotic percussion would have helped, but it's a fine track, if a little bland sonically.

Red Flag Day - Another rocker that's way too polished and overdone, but it sounds reasonably modern and is buoyed by a strong chorus. Again, there's a good bit of social commentary here that works and I think Bono and Edge play off each other well vocally. Solid.

The Showman - I like how low key the album continues to be during this section of the album, but I'll pass on this one. It starts off well enough and I appreciate the self-reflection contained in the lyrics - Bono has discussed this subject in the past quite eloquently - but the chorus could be used for torture. LIL MO LIL MO! Fuck. Half of this song should be thrown into a fire.

The Little Things That Give You Away - Honestly, I think this is one of the more overrated U2 songs. I liked the live arrangement, but the album take feels stiff and rote until the outro, which is so over the top that I can't help but appreciate how hard it's trying. The song is explicitly sad and overtly U2 and it means well, but something doesn't connect. It's lacking subtlety and contrast. I do like what Edge brings to the table on guitar though, a rarity for this album.

Landlady - Another track with a few different parts that doesn't cohere into anything or offer much that sticks. The subject matter sticks in the head, though it comes off a bit goofy on this drab, sleepy backdrop. The chorus is somewhat memorable, but the verses are in one ear and out the other. I've heard this song like half a dozen times and can never remember them. The bridge suffers from a leaden rhyme scheme that drags an already slow track to a halt.

The Blackout - Most of this is very good. The pre-chorus is potent and the chorus is memorable. Adam sounds great on here. Edge's guitar textures are kinda badass. Unfortunately...those end rhymes in the verses. SHEESH. Full body cringe.

Love Is Bigger Than Anything In Its Way - You know what you're getting with this one from the title. It's a fucking Coldplay song that you might hear at the grocery store sometimes. And yet...it's one of the best tracks here. From the start, there's an actual hook and as overdone as it all is, at least it sticks with you after it's over. The effort was well-placed this time. Heartwarming, goofy, mildly embarrassing and familiar. U2 feels like family here.

13 - For a song with Song For Someone at its core, it's not bad. I don't dislike the re-used lyrics, but it does bug me that they actually use the title verbatim. I don't have much to say about the music because it just kind of floats there. The lyrics are a mixed bag, not good enough for a song that places so much emphasis on the vocals, but not the worst on the album. Kind of disappointing after great closers like Cedars of Lebanon and The Troubles.

I've listened to SOE maybe half a dozen times and today's listen only confirmed what I already knew: it's a 5/10 album. But that's OK; U2 have released plenty of amazing albums and plenty of great albums come out every year. One mediocre record is no big deal in the grand scheme of things. If they do want to contribute to that list of great records to drop every year though, they need to hook up with Eno and Lanois to at least get their textures right. The sound of SOE is so bad, which makes the inconsistent content much less enjoyable.
 
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2. Edge contributing next to nothing innovative or even memorable on guitar
This puts it at the bottom of their catalogue for me.
The biggest drawing point to U2 for me has always been Edge. This album has so little from him (and a couple of the very few interesting guitar pieces belong to Haim and One Republic, not Edge) that it just doesn't resonate with me much at all.

For me, The Blackout, Red Flag Day and maybe Summer of Love & Little Things are keepers.
 
I still listen to this album pretty often when the mood hits, with the exception of GOOYOW, Lights of Home, American Soul, and Love is Bigger.

There’s some catchy tunes. No songs are top echelon, but a few are very good.

I also know there are plenty of valid criticisms, such as Hewson’s above, but I try not to analyze songs I like because I end up disliking them.

GOOYOW and American Soul are plain dogshit, although American Soul did kick some ass live.

Love is Bigger has some catchy parts and I can see why people like it, but since the first listen, I can’t get over how sappy it is.

Lights of Home just doesn’t connect for me. It has the bones of a good song but feels flat. Even live it was a dud. The BBC version was the only time they got it right.
 
The only song from Songs of Experience that I still find unlistenable is American Soul. After originally thinking it was decent, it just fell flat afterwards.

Other than that, I still enjoy listening to the album. I often return to Little Things, Red Flag Day, Love is Bigger and Landlady. As a whole it’s not as strong as Songs of Innocence, but it’s another solid effort.
 
I have been listening to it in a regular basis since it came out. GOOYOW/American Soul still makes me cringe, but otherwise I’m still enjoying it.
 
Haven't played it in months, I guess the last time would have been around the time of the shows I went to. I never connected with SOE, I thought SOI was better/ more interesting, but I did invest more time in that album

For SOE, it's well made, well produced and Summer of Love is excellent, and generally the rest is ok, but it's all a bit bland and Coldplay like.
 
I was pretty lukewarm to most of the album when I first heard it. I didn't really think any song was bad per se, but it definitely registered with me a lot less than SOI did (which I probably listened to very frequently for a year straight).

Cue to one year later, and my opinion has probably gone up a little bit as a whole. It probably helped watching them play some of these songs live back in May. but I can tolerate stuff like Love is Bigger a lot more than I did on the first few listens. I did enjoy some songs like The Blackout and Red Flag Day initially, but I probably like them a little more nowadays. And even GOOYOW is a decent little tune, even if it just recycles the G-D-A-Bm progression already used in The Best Thing (which I don't listen to often now, but again, isn't that bad).
 
Summer of Love - It's at this point that the album locks into a nice groove for a bit. This is a very pleasant track with a good message, decent melody and likable beat. I get a Time of the Season vibe from this one. More interesting or exotic percussion would have helped, but it's a fine track, if a little bland sonically.

Red Flag Day - Another rocker that's way too polished and overdone, but it sounds reasonably modern and is buoyed by a strong chorus. Again, there's a good bit of social commentary here that works and I think Bono and Edge play off each other well vocally. Solid.


The Blackout - Most of this is very good. The pre-chorus is potent and the chorus is memorable. Adam sounds great on here. Edge's guitar textures are kinda badass. Unfortunately...those end rhymes in the verses. SHEESH. Full body cringe.

Nice summaton/evaluation . . . these are the three songs I would play if I were of the mind to expose someone to this particular U2 offering.

The album doesn't suck outright. It's more of a "maybe you guys are out of ideas" moment.
 
Summer of Love - It's at this point that the album locks into a nice groove for a bit. This is a very pleasant track with a good message, decent melody and likable beat. I get a Time of the Season vibe from this one. More interesting or exotic percussion would have helped, but it's a fine track, if a little bland sonically.

Red Flag Day - Another rocker that's way too polished and overdone, but it sounds reasonably modern and is buoyed by a strong chorus. Again, there's a good bit of social commentary here that works and I think Bono and Edge play off each other well vocally. Solid.


The Blackout - Most of this is very good. The pre-chorus is potent and the chorus is memorable. Adam sounds great on here. Edge's guitar textures are kinda badass. Unfortunately...those end rhymes in the verses. SHEESH. Full body cringe.

These are the three that I would play if I had to expose someone to this particular U2 outing.
 
Am I the only one that likes both SOI and SOE? I’d rank them both somewhere in the middle of the pack of U2’s albums, which I think says a lot. Obviously it doesn’t touch their best material, but I really like the albums and am glad U2 are still making music.

My wish for the next album is for them to go a little darker, and stop trying to make “joyful” music.
 
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I don't overly care for either, but SOI has some flashes of more subtle, experimental U2 in Sleep Like a Baby Tonight and The Troubles. Plus, Raised By Wolves has some legit great Edge guitar work and California is one of U2's best pop songs of this century. I'll mostly pass on the rest, but for me those four songs put it well in front of SOE.
 
My thing about Blackout; the video we got about the end of summer 2017 was an awesome version. The album version falls flat as fuck by comparison.
 
Am I the only one that likes both SOI and SOE? I’d rank them both somewhere in the middle of the pack of U2’s albums, which I think says a lot.

Well, I like SOI decidedly, though I don't know where I'd rank it. It's to U2's credit that they have such a great catalog that an album like SOI would end up down the list.

SOE . . .well . . .it's a good album, far from great.

And it's got problems.
 
It’s funny, I reallllly like SOI, to me cracks top 5 or 6 because they really struck a vein that feels runs through the whole album sonically and in theme. I believe the autobiographical nature pushed the lyrics into a less contrived and less forced direction from Bono. When he writes good lyrics, the songs usually follow suit. And I hate saying Bono and contrived in the same sentence because he truly is a genius, but for me believe I notice a song sticks with me when lyrically Bono writes a song in storytelling mode, and gets more difficult for me when he shifts to advice giving mode. The two seem to generate a really different feeling for me personally and I like story telling mode better.

I listened to SOI album a shit ton, and I feel a lot of storytelling is going on. On the other hand I’ve only listened to SOE in full just a handful of times. And I think it’s because I get a similar vibe/ feeling about SOE to HTDAAB in that I feel we have this huge mish mash of really emotional greeting card type songs that just swing you from one range of emotions to the next, and the ‘Experience’ puts him in advice mode.

SOE I feel has a more single-minded songlist where they try to hit home runs with ‘big’ songs this a lot more variation sonically within than SOI (Reach Around might be the one exception that feels it’s from an entirely different sounding place). Like in HTDAAB there’s a huge difference and single-minded approach with Sometimes you can’t make it on your own/Love and Peace or Else/ All Because of You/ A Man and a Woman- gives me the same kind of separated vibe as You’re The Best Thing/ The Little Things/ American Soul/ Landlady/ Love is Bigger. I like all of those songs, but when I hear them within a single listen of their full album, just feels like too much like an over-loaded Thanksgiving dinner plate. ‘One round of Aunt Jeannine’s stuffing (i.e. Love is Bigger) was more than enough, and I really didn’t need to try her other stuffing, exactly the same, only with extra onions (i.e. You’re the Best thing) LOL.

And to the credit of some other comments made by folks on the forum in this thread, the recordings on SOE do feel much more flat and very far away from their live counterparts. On the other hand I think SOI’s album cuts are really strong and the live versions seem to build on a strong foundation such as Raised by Wolves- SOI gets a high grade as an album for that song alone.

All in all, so thankful and glad they are still pushing themselves and giving us new material when they could’ve hung it up a very long time ago. We are better people because of them.
 
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I just listened to it again this morning and I'm certain that it's my least favorite by the band, but it's no worse than mediocre on the whole. That, I suppose, is a testament to the quality of their discography.

The problems here are four-fold:

1. Bono's boring A/B/A/B rhyme schemes and bumper sticker slogan lyricism

2. Edge contributing next to nothing innovative or even memorable on guitar

3. Sturdy but dull chord progressions that don't stick in the head at all

4. Ultra-stick production that drains the life out of even the album's most intriguing moments

Breaking it down song by song:

Love Is All We Have Left - A good idea to start things soft and unassuming in a refreshing change from The Miracle, but the vocoder sounds awful and it doesn't really build to anything. Not their best opener, but not awful.

Lights of Home - I have an electronic drum kit in my apartment that cost a couple hundred bucks and it has a similar tone to Larry's crash cymbal on this song. So yeah, the production doesn't help. It's a bit of a Frankenstein monster too, jumping around without ever locking into a groove. The best part of the song is when it evokes Iris, and that is not a compliment by any means.

You're the Best Thing About Me - Enough bandwith has been spent shitting on this song, but I'll add to it. The "I can see it all so clearly" bridge is great, but nearly everything else is trash. The verses drag badly with a clunky tempo and nagging vocal melody and the chorus features the line "you're the best thing that ever happened a boy." It ain't pre-release single material, that's for sure.

Get Out of Your Own Way - Eugh. I love the textures in the intro, but it goes downhill fast. It's an absolute ripoff of Beautiful Day, sure, but the biggest problem is the awful second verse, which is maybe well-intended but baffling in execution. The ALL NIGHT ALRIGHT ALRIGHT WHAT'S INSIDE INSIDE ALRIGHT YEAH YEAH YEAH chorus is like a caricature of 21st century U2.

American Soul - They mixed together one of my favorite songs of 2017 and one of the better songs on SOI and made a mess. I don't despise this track or anything, but it's Stand Up Comedy all over again; a clunky rocker with a bad arrangement and no flow. Plus: refujesus!

Summer of Love - It's at this point that the album locks into a nice groove for a bit. This is a very pleasant track with a good message, decent melody and likable beat. I get a Time of the Season vibe from this one. More interesting or exotic percussion would have helped, but it's a fine track, if a little bland sonically.

Red Flag Day - Another rocker that's way too polished and overdone, but it sounds reasonably modern and is buoyed by a strong chorus. Again, there's a good bit of social commentary here that works and I think Bono and Edge play off each other well vocally. Solid.

The Showman - I like how low key the album continues to be during this section of the album, but I'll pass on this one. It starts off well enough and I appreciate the self-reflection contained in the lyrics - Bono has discussed this subject in the past quite eloquently - but the chorus could be used for torture. LIL MO LIL MO! Fuck. Half of this song should be thrown into a fire.

The Little Things That Give You Away - Honestly, I think this is one of the more overrated U2 songs. I liked the live arrangement, but the album take feels stiff and rote until the outro, which is so over the top that I can't help but appreciate how hard it's trying. The song is explicitly sad and overtly U2 and it means well, but something doesn't connect. It's lacking subtlety and contrast. I do like what Edge brings to the table on guitar though, a rarity for this album.

Landlady - Another track with a few different parts that doesn't cohere into anything or offer much that sticks. The subject matter sticks in the head, though it comes off a bit goofy on this drab, sleepy backdrop. The chorus is somewhat memorable, but the verses are in one ear and out the other. I've heard this song like half a dozen times and can never remember them. The bridge suffers from a leaden rhyme scheme that drags an already slow track to a halt.

The Blackout - Most of this is very good. The pre-chorus is potent and the chorus is memorable. Adam sounds great on here. Edge's guitar textures are kinda badass. Unfortunately...those end rhymes in the verses. SHEESH. Full body cringe.

Love Is Bigger Than Anything In Its Way - You know what you're getting with this one from the title. It's a fucking Coldplay song that you might hear at the grocery store sometimes. And yet...it's one of the best tracks here. From the start, there's an actual hook and as overdone as it all is, at least it sticks with you after it's over. The effort was well-placed this time. Heartwarming, goofy, mildly embarrassing and familiar. U2 feels like family here.

13 - For a song with Song For Someone at its core, it's not bad. I don't dislike the re-used lyrics, but it does bug me that they actually use the title verbatim. I don't have much to say about the music because it just kind of floats there. The lyrics are a mixed bag, not good enough for a song that places so much emphasis on the vocals, but not the worst on the album. Kind of disappointing after great closers like Cedars of Lebanon and The Troubles.

I've listened to SOE maybe half a dozen times and today's listen only confirmed what I already knew: it's a 5/10 album. But that's OK; U2 have released plenty of amazing albums and plenty of great albums come out every year. One mediocre record is no big deal in the grand scheme of things. If they do want to contribute to that list of great records to drop every year though, they need to hook up with Eno and Lanois to at least get their textures right. The sound of SOE is so bad, which makes the inconsistent content much less enjoyable.



I am someone that loves post Pop U2(prefer most/all of the albums over PoP and Zooropa actually). I have grown very irritated over the years at those who not just dislike post Pop U2 but offer up a one or two line dismissal of the work. At times, I have gotten the impression that anything put out by U2 now will be met with blind criticism and isn’t even given a chance.

With that said, I appreciate your post and you taking the time to walk through your thoughts as opposed to posting one or two lines saying it sucks or you haven’t listed to it in x time. I found Your takes very interesting. I’ll be posting my final thoughts on SOE soon myself as this past year has been very enlightening to me from a U2 perspective.
 
The Blackout - Most of this is very good. The pre-chorus is potent and the chorus is memorable. Adam sounds great on here. Edge's guitar textures are kinda badass. Unfortunately...those end rhymes in the verses. SHEESH. Full body cringe.

Not a cut against you LM... but I do find it funny that the only times I really think about those rhymes for me are when I read about people not liking them on here! When I listen to the actual song, it doesn't really strike me in particular or as something odd. That's just me though.
 
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