still a trilogy theory

[U2girl]

I used to believe in the trilogy theory, but it's really crap. It's like reading a horoscope and finding the reasons that it applies to you.

Every single album has clues to the next album. There is no radical, "out of the blue" departure---even from R&H to AB. The big clues to AB were God Part II and the entire Lovetown tour. The rock got harder; the only thing that was different was the addition of various effects and a vocoder. People erroneously think that there was a big jump between JT and AB because they forget about R&H and Lovetown. Looking back, the biggest jump is probably War to UF, but even that had some foreshadowing. NYD, to me, is closer to Pride than it is most songs on Boy or October. Surrender and 40 are just an Eno treatment away from fitting on UF. ATYCLB is foreshadowed by IGWSHA, perhaps even WUDM, IYWTVD, and maybe even Playboy Mansion & Miami in terms of lyrical style (think: New York).

There are no massive jumps that come without warning. The issue is that the warning goes unrecognized until the next album is made.

I still believe in the theory. The albums have foreshadowing in the future, but it still works.

War fits after Boy and October, it's just a more fleshed out sound. Hint to UF: Drowning man.

UF started - lyrically - their obsession with America, when they developed that sound they got JT and then Rattle and Hum that peaked the "American trilogy". God part II being the hint to AB.

AB started the Euro/electronica period that continued with Zooropa and Pop. IGWSHA and SATS being hints to the straighworward songwriting on

ATYCLB which started more accessible "pop trilogy". Elements of U2's past musically enter each of these albums. It was a little of it in ATYCLB but more in HTDAAB (more 80's) and NLOTH (which is like UF through a 90's filter but with the songwriting skills of the last two albums).

NLOTH isn't the reboot of U2 the way UF, AB and ATYCLB were. We're not at the U2 4.0 yet.

 

[Salome]

I used to believe in the trilogy theory, but it's really crap. It's like reading a horoscope and finding the reasons that it applies to you.

 

[medley]

I totally agree with this concept of trilogies and I think that the ATYCLB/HTDAAB and NLOTH are going in the same direction even if there are of course clear differences and distinctive atmospheres for each of these records. Nevertheless the same statement can be said for at least the second and third trilogy as well. ATYCLB/HTDAAB and NLOTH all have very diversified tracks that directly remind previous eras of the U2 career. I know that most of you are going to hate this idea but I think we can simplify it as a flashback trilogy. Don't get me wrong none of these 3 albums sounds really like any of the 80s and 90s ones. They have different moods and their own identity but there is a clear will to create dense albums that takes all the fantastic kinds of sounds that U2 has created during their career even if it is not in the exact same way.

The Edge himself says something in that vein for NLOTH and I don't see how this can be considered true for ATYCLB and HTDAAB as well. I can push even further this theory by saying that the mood of ATYCLB is more in line in with the first trilogy with very typical U2-ish songs, HTDAAB is closer to the second trilogy as we can feel a lot of classic pop-rock influences in this record and NLOTH is more comparable with the third trilogy in its will to use more synth. Nevertheless all these albums have reminiscences of all the previous eras of U2 but just not in the same proportions. Well that's my feeling, now you can call me insane and/or stupid .

 

[An Cat Gav]

I still believe in the theory. The albums have foreshadowing in the future, but it still works.

War fits after Boy and October, it's just a more fleshed out sound. Hint to UF: Drowning man.

UF started - lyrically - their obsession with America, when they developed that sound they got JT and then Rattle and Hum that peaked the "American trilogy". God part II being the hint to AB.

AB started the Euro/electronica period that continued with Zooropa and Pop. IGWSHA and SATS being hints to the straighworward songwriting on

ATYCLB which started more accessible "pop trilogy". Elements of U2's past musically enter each of these albums. It was a little of it in ATYCLB but more in HTDAAB (more 80's) and NLOTH (which is like UF through a 90's filter but with the songwriting skills of the last two albums).

NLOTH isn't the reboot of U2 the way UF, AB and ATYCLB were. We're not at the U2 4.0 yet.

I'd go along with this, though I can't comment on NLOTH yet as I am still yet to hear it.

 

[Niceman]

Hmm.... How's this for a theory; The trilogy theory worked fine for a while, but then broke down later in their career????

 

[Luke2]

I had heard for some time that this was gonna be a break from the last two albums and this was not gonna be part of a the trilogy-like cycle that has un-officaly been thier way thier entire career. I have listened to the album and why i don't know where i rate it yet, caused to sleep on it and let it grow a bit, i believe this is still part/extension of ATYCLB and HTDAAB . First its another long title. lol. Second, i just get the feeling its coming off of the same mindframe that started with ATYCLB and has evolved. You can see it with BOY/OCT/WAR and TUF/TJT/RAH and AB/ZOO/POP. The last album in those trios sounds like its going off ideas from the first but expanded. now its complete. ATYCLB/HTDAAB/NLOTH. Bono had said something about "dancefloor shock" and "trance". or something. i really don;t see any of that dancefloor shock on here. As far as how i feel about the album i know i def like 3 songs. and Have to explore it more. This is a u2 album, i can;t just decide in a matter of hours. lol.

Totally agree, good call.

As Edge has said, after listening to their entire back catalogue in order to compile their Best Of CDs, he decided he would go back and 'sample' some of the SOUNDS of U2 for ATYCLB.

The idea was first demonstrated with the first single, Beautiful Day... as Edge plays that familiar sound in the chiming chords in the bridge, Bono sings "take me to that other place...." - a rather obvious, pleasant and melancholy reference to Bono letting himself inside the sound.... the sound that dates right back to Boy and I Will Follow...

Many other songs on that album contained musical hints of U2's past... Then we had HTDAAB... where the idea is continued, most notably during the middle eight of Vertigo, and exemplified by the entire track number five.... City of Blinding Lights, which is the different but reverentially similar sequel to Where The Streets Have No Name...

Lastly, all these sounds mentioned above are harnessed, and now on the third part of the 00s trilogy, Edge and Eno add in the 90s referential sounds... The first 45 seconds of Magnificent virtually referencing their entire career, the vocals and guitar resembling 80s U2 but the rhythm section for the most part (apart from the Pride-like drum rolls) based on 90s Zoo TV-Popmart era loops and dance beats... and Bono ends the decade (possibly) with the very same thoughts that Edge had at the start... "Let me in the sound sound" indeed...

ATYCLB goes back to the B-O-W era, for inspirational sounds....

HTDAAB takes some of those ideas and adds in further UF-TJT-RAH sounds....

NLOTH takes all of the above and then harks back to the AB-Z-P era for added texture...

Like all therories there are flaws in the above, but I reckon it's not far from the mark. Interesting to see where this leads U2 for the first album of the next trilogy.... Their next record will be something totally, utterly different from anything they have ever done before, and their best album yet, to be sure

 

[Niceman]

Their next album, this fall, will apparently be the left-overs from this one.

 

[major_panic]

Their next album, this fall, will apparently be the left-overs from this one.

*cough*ProspektsMarch*cough*

 

[Niceman]

*cough*ProspektsMarch*cough*

*cough*Amnesiac*cough*

 

[Rafiennes]

Boy - October - War -- The boyhood to man trilogy. Going out and seeing the world and allowing it to shape you. Starting off with a lack of confidence in who you are, what you have to say and how you play your instruments. By the end of it all, you’re in command of your guitar, your sticks and your voice and what you want to say.

Unforgettable Fire - Joshua Tree - Rattle & Hum – The Discovering America trilogy. Just dipping the toe in the water in the first album, and then embracing the country in all of its ugly glory with the second album. The third and final album is the scrap book of the adventure in the Americas – the people you met along the way, the sounds you absorbed into yours and a glimpse in to who you might like to become.

Achtung, Baby - Zooropa - POP -- The Nighttown Trilogy. A man caught up in the daily grind, longing to get away from it all and discover what lies in the distance in the great land of Zooropa. Finally going to this fabled, Blade Runner-esque cityscape and tasting and touching and feeling as much as a man can before he repents. And he will repent. Because he finds that there is another day tomorrow. And as the drug of Zooropa wears off in the Discotheque and the sun rises, you wish God would send his angels and that all you believed in and loved is not always what it seems.

ATYCLB - HTDAAB - NLOTH – The Some Songs With Long Titles Trilogy. After finding himself stuck in a moment that he can’t get out of, our hero walks on to find that sometimes you can’t make it on your own. But in the end, all you need is love and peace or else and that in a little while, when you look at the world, you find that you are an original of the species and that all because of you, we achieve a sense of elevation. Eventually, you get to the city of blinding lights to find that there is no line on the horizon. And as a man and a woman begin their trek in search of their moment of surrender, they find that it’s the crumbs from their table that feeds the souls of those who crave a miracle drug. And as the tension mounts, they find that they will go crazy if they don’t go crazy tonight. Overcome with a sense of magnificent vertigo, they get on their boots and attend an evening of stand up comedy. It is their that the cell phone rings and an unknown caller tells the man and woman to hed to FEZ for some regression therapy where they re-experience being born and find themselves one step closer to knowing what the hell this trilogy is all about.

Or something like that.

 

[allbecauseofu2]

i believe the next trilogy should be a a deep experirment in irish tradtional music. like only hinted at on tomorromo from october. and if that happened you could point to FEZ i guess as a hint. i really wonder if u2 has ever considered going that route. after all they have done in rock. they could call it a return to roots. not music roots but thier own roots. many artists have gone that route. world music and such. actuly a great example is the common ground version of tomrmro from that irish album. and the band black 47. that would require proly alot of extra instruments and other people. and then you would redone versions of old songs done WAYYY differently. not sure how that would go over.

 

[IndyShade]

I don't buy that...



You can't hear the departure? How many songs have they done like NLOTH, MOS, Cedars, UC?

Here are some similarities I can hear in the songs that you listed:

No Line On The Horizon - No direct rehashing, but it sounds like it could have been on an album with Gone without raising much of an eyebrow.

Moment Of Surrender - Again, no direct rehashing, but this is not entirely dissimilar from songs like North And South of The River or If God Will Send His Angels. It's certainly more epic and much heavier in musical and lyrical tone. But, again, those are songs from over ten years ago.

Cedars of Lebanon - Hails from the same sonic territory as Your Blue Room, with its atmospheric keys, Bono's low, spoken-in-the-ear confessional delivery, and the "block choruses" from Your Blue Room and Lemon.

Unknown Caller - Takes guitar parts/tones almost directly from Miracle Drug, Electrical Storm and Walk On, and the "block choruses".

 

[allbecauseofu2]

bono said this album would feature edges guitar challenging sonic ground or some stuff. like on AB. as well as the dance floor shock. i find that a bit misleading. it really dosn't go that far. i think it just continues along the path of the last 2 albums. Like on WILATW or LPOE. it reminds one a bit of thier guitar work in the 90's but the approach is completely different. it gave the impression that it was going be so totally un-u2 soudning. its not. it would be to someone who never heard the the last two albums, or none of the 90's

 

[allbecauseofu2]

bump. come on lol that can;t be it? lol.

 

[TheBrazilianFly]

I believe this is the third part of the 00's trilogy era as well. At first I thought that with all the atempts to do new stuff and all that this would be like going from R&H to Pop but it's not. It really feels like natural progression from the sound of the two previous albums, it has the same mature adult contemporany vibe (that's alright) from those records. It is is a little more experimental and fun but it lives in the same universe just like Pop with AB and Zooropa.

Which makes the next album very interesting already.

 

[Niceman]

I think the best argument against the trilogy theory working at the moment involves the fall 2009 album. It would surely be from the same era as NLOTH. So, either we have a 2 or 4 song trilogy. Neither of those numbers is a 3. If Spiderman really is 18 tracks, maybe it, along with NLOTH and NLOTH's SEQUEL represent a trilogy of their own. The "2009" trilogy.

How's that for an argument against lumping NLOTH in with ATYCLB and HTDAAB???

 

[allbecauseofu2]

All i know is, its not anything like how bono was going off about it. he made it sound like it was gonna as shocking as AB was in 1991, but be something totally different. Its not. Dosn't mean its bad. no way. but it is what they acted like it wasn't. a next step in the the last two albums direction. And i'm serious about the next time they sit down to discuss thier next journey. I wonder if irish traditional music or some really far out ,never even attempted before style, dose not come up. If u2 put out a album that sounded like black 47 ,or like a really toned down,but similar in spirit and pride dropkick murphys, THAT would shocking.

 

[Chief43]

I think it is very different and extending the boundaries not so much in the music sense (although it is a very ambient album) but in the idea of a concept album where it is the whole album which is essential and not several instant classics.

Unfortunately, I think people were expecting an industrial rock (AB), electronica/dance album (POP) and the fact that NLOTH is not it then this means it is not at least reaching for something different?

If it had sounded anything like Bono was describing it would have been a step back into the nineties. Anyway, after all my verbosity the point is I think the album is reaching in new directions in the overall idea and not necessarily the sound.

 

[Niceman]

I think it is very different and extending the boundaries not so much in the music sense (although it is a very ambient album) but in the idea of a concept album where it is the whole album which is essential and not several instant classics.

Unfortunately, I think people were expecting an industrial rock (AB), electronica/dance album (POP) and the fact that NLOTH is not it then this means it is not at least reaching for something different?

If it had sounded anything like Bono was describing it would have been a step back into the nineties. Anyway, after all my verbosity the point is I think the album is reaching in new directions in the overall idea and not necessarily the sound.

Someone said before, for a lot of people "experimental" means industrial/techno, not actual experimentation, but kind of the opposite....

 

[Chief43]

As you can see I have missed 85 per cent of this conversation .

And I agree with that sentiment. They should release a Gregorian chant album.

 

[jecofficial]

YOU KNEW THIS WAS COMING WHEN AFTER TRYING TO BRANCH OUT DURING THE RECORDING PROCESS, they ended up reverting back to the same old guys and the same tired formulas, this is how it will go down until the final album, sorry but they are old now

 

[Chief43]

They are of a certain age. But I can't buy the age argument in music. True as you get older you tend to branch into a different audience and possibly a different genre - and it becomes harder to develop new ideas. But to suggest that because they are old they cannot create good music is ridiculous. Rick Rubin proved that with Cash and Eno/Lanois proved that with U2.

 

[Chief43]

And the recent comment about Breathe trailing off into nothingness.
Deadset.

 

[allbecauseofu2]

bono had mentioned something about edge using a new distortion pedal or something. that also was misleading to this sounding like AB. NLOTH, the song, sounds like it could have come from the eno/bowie berlin trilogy. Thats different for u2, but not that diffrent.

 

[revolver]

I think it is very different and extending the boundaries not so much in the music sense (although it is a very ambient album) but in the idea of a concept album where it is the whole album which is essential and not several instant classics.

Unfortunately, I think people were expecting an industrial rock (AB), electronica/dance album (POP) and the fact that NLOTH is not it then this means it is not at least reaching for something different?

If it had sounded anything like Bono was describing it would have been a step back into the nineties. Anyway, after all my verbosity the point is I think the album is reaching in new directions in the overall idea and not necessarily the sound.

I kind of agree with what you're saying, but the fact is that the experimentation on this album is merely an experimentation with the band's sound, whether it is from The Unforgettable Fire or the last two albums. This means its not a departure like Achtung was. Its not just the fact that it doesn't sound like Achtung, its the fact that it sounds like their last couple of albums with more experimentation. Organic, in other words, still adventurous, but not adventurous enough to be a departure. I think most of us who say its the third part of a trilogy can agree with this.

 

[bram]

All i know is, its not anything like how bono was going off about it. he made it sound like it was gonna as shocking as AB was in 1991, but be something totally different. Its not. Dosn't mean its bad. no way. but it is what they acted like it wasn't. a next step in the the last two albums direction. And i'm serious about the next time they sit down to discuss thier next journey. I wonder if irish traditional music or some really far out ,never even attempted before style, dose not come up. If u2 put out a album that sounded like black 47 ,or like a really toned down,but similar in spirit and pride dropkick murphys, THAT would shocking.

When was Bono going off about it? His lips were practically sealed during the making of this album (until the delay announcement). I think you're thinking of How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb.

 

[purpleoscar]

The band views this as a new start whether people feel that way or not.

 

[bonoz]

I think NLOTH is a pretty good album - don't know if it's a masterpiece - don't care - but it is definitely a continuation of the last two albums. You can't place this album in the 90's era and get away with it. This is definitely a 00's U2 very safely experimenting with some atmospheric and ambient sounds which borrow some synths and tones from AB/Zooropa/Pop, and some riffs from the late 80's era.

 

[BoyOnTheHorizon]

Now that i've listened a lot to No line i can't hear anything that is experimentation or eletronic, or some of that avantgarde stuff. I it's great for me.
Since Achtung Baby U2 didn't sound this complex, complete and confident. This is a DENSE record. Leave Behind was not. And they confused dense with loud in Bomb.
One thing i find curious is the hype behind Fez-Being Born being a experimental song since it's the song that sound as if it came directly from the 80's.
This album is beautiful made. One thing that the last two album lacked so much is that fluid rock thing. No song except BD and A man and a Woman had a organic intro.
But in terms of innovation this album sound more like the 80's than the last two ones.
But in a awsomely wonderfully way!

 

[revolver]

The band views this as a new start whether people feel that way or not.

Maybe, maybe not. Right now they do, but once they read the amount of reviews saying that its just not new enough, they'll change their mind. This is how Achtung was born, after the band realized they had hit a wall. This time, they might realize they didn't push into the future nearly enough, feel foolish about their grandiose claims, and then really shock us with the next album.