Songs of Surrender - New album discussion - 6

[Hollow Island]

It's a companion album to the lead singer's autobiography.

Your reading way too much into this.

I was referring to Womanfish's comment. I still think it's a pointless project, a lame retreading of the past that will have an exceedingly small audience. I will listen to it and am prepared to be pleasantly surprised but I have absolutely no desire to hear a newly recorded versions of Out of Control, Streets, Luminous Times, etc. They already recorded those fuckin songs, and they're great. It's hard to reconcile the band who prided themselves on never repeating themselves with a band that is now literally repeating themselves.

 

[Gonna Run 2 U]

Well, I guess this is why Bono held onto the “I was sick but I won’t tell you what it was” thing. Let’s save it for the book $$$

 

[dan_smee]

Well, I guess this is why Bono held onto the “I was sick but I won’t tell you what it was” thing. Let’s save it for the book $$$

As 99.99% of people with a brain who were planning on writing a book one day would do.

 

[david]

With Bono discovering he has a half brother will Bono now do the right thing for his son Leo?

 

[mikal]

With Bono discovering he has a half brother will Bono now do the right thing for his son Leo?

He’s safe with me, don’t worry.

 

[lazarus]

To be fair GAF is also excited for the 15

You almost made such a good pint.

 

[Hollow Island]

Well, I guess this is why Bono held onto the “I was sick but I won’t tell you what it was” thing. Let’s save it for the book $$$

But he didn't save it in the book, he talked about it on Desert Island Discs. He didn't say why he had the operation, but there's no guarantee it will be in the book.

 

[ascender_RS]

Surely its going to be in the book given how serious it appears to have been and how it affected his performance for the BBC directly after? And also given how important spirituality is in his life etc.

I'm really looking forward to the book, but I'm still underwhelmed by the prospect of the reimagined songs on the album.

 

[mikal]

Surely its going to be in the book given how serious it appears to have been and how it affected his performance for the BBC directly after? And also given how important spirituality is in his life etc.

I'm really looking forward to the book, but I'm still underwhelmed by the prospect of the reimagined songs on the album.

I'd expect some of the songs to be hit or miss. What's cool is that it sounds like all or most of them are completely different arrangements. I'm sure out of the 40 songs there will be some really cool takes, and others that you'll immediately want to skip.

 

[ascender_RS]

I'd expect some of the songs to be hit or miss. What's cool is that it sounds like all or most of them are completely different arrangements. I'm sure out of the 40 songs there will be some really cool takes, and others that you'll immediately want to skip.

Has it been confirmed we're getting all 40 new versions? Its difficult to keep up with everything that happens in amongst the puns!

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

did we already know that this surgery complication was the near-death experience that bono cryptically spoke about on/around SOE? or is this new information?

i remember a lot of speculation here but don't think we ever got anything solid before this on what specifically happened.

This is definitely new. We knew it was "something" but didn't have specifics.

I think someone posted photos of him blubbering around the beach somewhere with what looked like a chest scar, but that's about the closest we've gotten to hearing about what really happened.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

I was referring to Womanfish's comment. I still think it's a pointless project, a lame retreading of the past that will have an exceedingly small audience. I will listen to it and am prepared to be pleasantly surprised but I have absolutely no desire to hear a newly recorded versions of Out of Control, Streets, Luminous Times, etc. They already recorded those fuckin songs, and they're great. It's hard to reconcile the band who prided themselves on never repeating themselves with a band that is now literally repeating themselves.

You're perilously close to using the old "you glorify the past when the future dries up" bullshit line.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

You almost made such a good pint.

I think you missed the GAF joke I was going for...

 

[Registered Dude]

The band could easily just have released the original versions of the 40 songs in a boxset to tie into this book. And we wouldn't be surprised. And we'd gripe (rightly so)

Instead, they're putting some effort behind this, and apparently rerecording all 40 in new ways. Not remixes, not just Bono & Edge acoustic renditions, but new recordings. I'm thankful

 

[lazarus]

I think someone posted photos of him blubbering around the beach somewhere with what looked like a chest scar

I guess I just assumed he had been harpooned.

I think you missed the GAF joke I was going for...

 

[Rich79]

The more I think about how these songs will be the ones that are most significant to Bono's life story in the context of his life as a musician, the more I'm thinking the deepest cut you'll see on the LP will be Miss Sarajevo (possibly complete with his faux-opera singing) or maybe something along the lines of Moment of Surrender; which honestly, I'd welcome a reworking of that one. Overall though, it's probably the career milestones (AKA - the hits) and I do think that's a bit of a bummer compared to songs that have more "what could have been" potential.

Either way, I'm remaining open to whether these versions will be any good or not; and you can count me as more interested than uninterested.

 

[mikal]

The band could easily just have released the original versions of the 40 songs in a boxset to tie into this book. And we wouldn't be surprised. And we'd gripe (rightly so)

Instead, they're putting some effort behind this, and apparently rerecording all 40 in new ways. Not remixes, not just Bono & Edge acoustic renditions, but new recordings. I'm thankful

Agreed. Even if there's something ala the remake of "Tomorrow" that was done back in the 90's. Obviously not a ton to it from an arrangement standpoint, but I'd still be down for versions like that, mixed in with acoustic and maybe even full band.

 

[DeVaul]

Digging back into their old songs of inspiration moving forward is far preferable to waiting for Ryan Tedder to walk through the room.

 

[david]

Well, he had a surgery that required his chest being opened up. I’m guessing some type of cardiac situation?

 

[lazarus]

The more I think about how these songs will be the ones that are most significant to Bono's life story in the context of his life as a musician, the more I'm thinking the deepest cut you'll see on the LP will be Miss Sarajevo (possibly complete with his faux-opera singing) or maybe something along the lines of Moment of Surrender; which honestly, I'd welcome a reworking of that one. Overall though, it's probably the career milestones (AKA - the hits) and I do think that's a bit of a bummer compared to songs that have more "what could have been" potential.

I’m not sure this will be the case; yes, some of those big hits were meaningful for the story of his life, but there are also deeper cuts that are very autobiographical/personal that he might wind up writing about in the book and want to reinterpret with the band.

I honestly think they’d get bored by simply doing a greatest hits album of alternate versions.

 

[Hewson]

Well, he had a surgery that required his chest being opened up. I’m guessing some type of cardiac situation?

Or a swallowed whole chicken wing that went down the wrong pipe and ended up in his left lung.

 

[lazarus]

The Little Wings That Give You An Emergency

 

[Hewson]

The judges would have also accepted:

The Little Wings That Block Your Airway

 

[Hollow Island]

You're perilously close to using the old "you glorify the past when the future dries up" bullshit line.

If only they were glorifying the past...instead they're repeating themselves, and they don't even have the excuse of trying to get back copyright.

Also, glorifying the past is detrimental to the past and present, and it's a good line.

 

[RUBIKSCUBE]

Well, he had a surgery that required his chest being opened up. I’m guessing some type of cardiac situation?

I'm sure there's somewhere in the liner notes of Song of Experience when he's referencing his health scare, and he says "it was arresting ... I was arrested", or something like that, which is a strangely explicit reference to a cardiac arrest for someone who didn't want to talk about it at the time.

I always find the end of Landlady quite emosh with the lines "Every heart that kept me, the strangers that protected me, to bring me back to you". I assume that was a reference to doctors/bystanders saving him when he had a heart attack.

 

[Hollow Island]

The more I think about how these songs will be the ones that are most significant to Bono's life story in the context of his life as a musician, the more I'm thinking the deepest cut you'll see on the LP will be Miss Sarajevo (possibly complete with his faux-opera singing) or maybe something along the lines of Moment of Surrender; which honestly, I'd welcome a reworking of that one. Overall though, it's probably the career milestones (AKA - the hits) and I do think that's a bit of a bummer compared to songs that have more "what could have been" potential.

Either way, I'm remaining open to whether these versions will be any good or not; and you can count me as more interested than uninterested.

I'd be somewhat excited if they were reworking songs they feel like they bungled. That would be interesting. It would also be interesting to hear them make an album of very early (pre-Boy) songs, something akin to Bowie's Toy (which sucked, but that's because of the execution, not the concept). But making new versions of songs that are already great is a stupid idea and a waste of time.

A compilation of unreleased live versions of the 40 songs - supplemented by live-in-the-studio recordings of songs they never played live, if any chapters are based on songs they didn't perform - would have been a much better idea. It would be a trip through time, and it would showcase the band at their best. It would, I dare say, be a legendary set! Alas, they chose to work on a curiosity that will be unloved and forgotten.

 

[Hollow Island]

I'm sure there's somewhere in the liner notes of Song of Experience when he's referencing his health scare, and he says "it was arresting ... I was arrested", or something like that, which is a strangely explicit reference to a cardiac arrest for someone who didn't want to talk about it at the time.

I always find the end of Landlady quite emosh with the lines "Every heart that kept me, the strangers that protected me, to bring me back to you". I assume that was a reference to doctors/bystanders saving him when he had a heart attack.

Maybe he had a transplant. He was open for 10 hours.

"A routine heart transplant surgery can be performed in less than four hours, while some complex ones may take seven, eight, nine hours—or more, especially if we need to remove a heart pump or clean up scar tissue from previous surgeries,” says Arnar Geirsson, MD, chief of cardiac surgery."

 

[dan_smee]

I'd be somewhat excited if they were reworking songs they feel like they bungled. That would be interesting. It would also be interesting to hear them make an album of very early (pre-Boy) songs, something akin to Bowie's Toy (which sucked, but that's because of the execution, not the concept). But making new versions of songs that are already great is a stupid idea and a waste of time.

A compilation of unreleased live versions of the 40 songs - supplemented by live-in-the-studio recordings of songs they never played live, if any chapters are based on songs they didn't perform - would have been a much better idea. It would be a trip through time, and it would showcase the band at their best. It would, I dare say, be a legendary set! Alas, they chose to work on a curiosity that will be unloved and forgotten.

And it would miss the entire point.

I think you are over thinking the issue here. Registered Dude put it best - they could have just cobbled them together from the original recordings, but instead they put the effort in to re work and re record them to make it somewhat interesting and different. Above all, it will make it a cohesive companion, but the book is the focus.

 

[the tourist]

The band could easily just have released the original versions of the 40 songs in a boxset to tie into this book. And we wouldn't be surprised. And we'd gripe (rightly so)

Instead, they're putting some effort behind this, and apparently rerecording all 40 in new ways. Not remixes, not just Bono & Edge acoustic renditions, but new recordings. I'm thankful

I’d be a lot more happy with this whole concept if they used Bono’s original vocals. But they won’t. So I’m resigned to the fact that I will not like a single one of these new versions better than the originals since Bono’s voice from like 1980-1995 is what made me really love the band originally.

 

[dan_smee]

I’d be a lot more happy with this whole concept if they used Bono’s original vocals. But they won’t. So I’m resigned to the fact that I will not like a single one of these new versions better than the originals since Bono’s voice from like 1980-1995 is what made me really love the band originally.

Again though, I think people are setting strange limiters or strange expectations for what this is. You are certain to not enjoy it if your frame of mind is expecting to like them better than the originals. I think you’re meant to go in with a curious mindset to see where they take them, and hopefully you find some that are worthy re-interpretations that you would happily listen to occasionally as a point of difference.