(12-04-2007) Bono: New U2 album will be extraordinary*

[Anu]

Bono: New U2 album will be extraordinary

By Kimberley Dadds, Rex Features

Bono has claimed that U2's new album is going to be "extraordinary" and that it will sound completely different to anything that has been heard before.

The frontman revealed that the band's new sound has been inspired by a visit to Morocco last year.

Bono told the Independent: "Normally when you play a U2 tune, it clears the dancefloor. And that may not be true of this. There's some trance influences. But there's some very hardcore guitar coming out of The Edge. Real molten metal.

"It's not like anything we've ever done before, and we don't think it sounds like anything anyone else has done either."

The singer explained that going to a religious music festival in Fez, Morocco helped them write new material. He said: "It was a real humbling thing for a punk rock shouter, listening to these people who just close their eyes for 40 minutes and sing the most sophisticated melodies."

He added: "We have enough material for two albums but it has to be extraordinary. And I think we've got that."

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/music/a81056/bono-new-u2-album-will-be-extraordinary.html

 

[last unicorn]

Well, after hearing Bono sing at the Union Chapel surprise gig, I hope they are going for a more vocal and less noise thing ... but then again: Whatever comes out of Bono's mouth - I believe it when I actually hear the new songs. The man is surely good at promoting stuff and pushing expectations. At least we have something to discuss for the next couple of months, whether it turns out to be true or not.

 

[Aardvark747]

A double album would be glorious. Metal and trance....sounds interesting!

 

[mkdominatr]

Metal influenced from a religious festival in Fez....Ill have to hear this to believe it!

 

[Elvis]

POP II

 

[BoMac]

I particularly enjoy the progression from "punk rock from Venus" to "molten metal". I can't wait to hear what it will actually sound like!

 

[dabiggestu2fan]

its so funny people here are saying the album will be "metal influenced" at no point at all did Bono say that it was metal influenced. He just said the sound that edge is coming out is like molten metal.

 

[Miringeltje]

"Normally when you play a U2 tune, it clears the dancefloor. And that may not be true of this. There's some trance influences. But there's some very hardcore guitar coming out of The Edge.

Oh yeah!

Right up my alley!

 

[TCUFrog]

molten metal

If, by "molten metal", he means that we'll hear alot of those chimey guitar sounds that exist in almost every U2 song ever recorded, then I'll believe him.

 

[howarezhao]

molten metal......remind me of the guita in the "bullet The Blue Sky"~
Anyway~I am so glad to see their new ablum again after this long wait。

 

[Muldfeld]

I'd feel more secure if one of the other band members were speaking up. Bono exaggerates things too much. The worst thing U2 could do was to self-consciously aim for the mainstream again or compromise their work in any way from being artistically true. Leave the pop kids behind if you need to, guys. Competing with Britney Spears is a terrible idea, given the fact that the kinds of people who love that care more about experiencing a party when they go to one of her concerts; those people aren't about music at all.

I am pulling for a return to aristic prioritization and lyrical subtlety, though. I really think U2 can get back to what made them great and depart from the wrong-headed path of Beatles mimicry and obsession with grandeur and superficial "relevance" over originality.

 

[maycocksean]

I'd feel more secure if one of the other band members were speaking up. Bono exaggerates things too much. The worst thing U2 could do was to self-consciously aim for the mainstream again or compromise their work in any way from being artistically true. Leave the pop kids behind if you need to, guys. Competing with Britney Spears is a terrible idea, given the fact that the kinds of people who love that care more about experiencing a party when they go to one of her concerts; those people aren't about music at all.

A am pulling for a return to aristic prioritization and lyrical subtlety, though.

Well that's Bono being Bono. But U2 has reinvented themselves at least twice already, and I'm excited to see them do it again.

I don't see them pandering to the Britney Spears crowd though and nothing Bono said seemed to indicate that direction.

When's the new album supposed to come out?

 

[Val]

I thought the guitar sound from u2 in the clip from Lanois' movie sounded very different. Molten medal it was.

 

[Muldfeld]

Well that's Bono being Bono. But U2 has reinvented themselves at least twice already, and I'm excited to see them do it again.

I don't see them pandering to the Britney Spears crowd though and nothing Bono said seemed to indicate that direction.

When's the new album supposed to come out?

Well, didn't Larry say that "Beautiful Day" was U2's attempt to compete with Britney Spears. Also, if you look at Achtung Baby era interviews, Bono honestly doesn't care if the album doesn't sell millions immediately. Toward the end of this clip, Bono specifically shows how U2 didn't care about the pop kids and that they weren't afraid to not have their setlists appeal to everyone, especially annoying bellweather fans who dictate the setlists nowadays.:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ry42AY3efqw

I was reading "U2 by U2" the other day, and in that 2005/2006 retrospective, Bono mentions that "The Fly" didn't do too well, but it did reach Number 1 in the UK. It's worthy to note this because it's an obsession with metrics of popularity over creative quality as substantial justification.

I love U2, but I've really become disillusioned at the newer work; the recent singles have been awful.

 

[MCF74]

Pull it off, boys! Do it again! Only one band in the world could do it and that's U2. Seriously, I know Bono exaggerates things ridiculously, but I really do hope that U2 puts out something spectacular. My fingers are crossed here in L.A.

 

[ponkine]

I don't beLIEve Bono.

"Best collection of songs ever created", "Edge is On Fire", "our best album", and so on

He has been saying the same bulls*** since 2000

Surely this album will be ATYCLB III

 

[IndyShade]

Mudfeld, you hit the nail on the head. The worst thing U2 can do right now is make an album that sounds like the last couple. When you have young, mega-hit-producing bands like Coldplay and The Killers duplicating your sound all over mainstream radio, you'd better get back to innovating, and fast.

I recently rewatched RATTLE & HUM, and there's a clip where Edge talks about how music in the '80s had become "so boring, so conservative, so predictable". Those three points essentially describe the last ten years of U2's career, beginning with the re-versions of the Pop singles. If "relevance" is genuinely a priority for them, then they should consider themselves in an artistic state of emergency and try to correct it. They need to quit worrying so much about getting singles played on the radio and make an album with a cohesive vision that will stand the test of time.

I don't really have faith that they'll do that, though. I remember Bono talking about how 'rock-and-roll' HTDAAB was going to be, saying that they were taking cues from bands like Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. In the end, we got another batch of sonically antiseptic AOR ditties that tried way too hard to be clearly understood by the casual listener. That album contained some of the most aggregiously heavy-handed and unpoetic lyrics Bono has ever produced, like "Crumbs From Your Table". And ATYCLB wasn't much better. That whole album felt phoned-in, which was doubly disappointing coming from Eno and Lanois.

The newer material just feels so calculated and over-produced, and it won't last. It's telling that only two songs from ATYCLB were played nightly on the Vertigo tour, after all the hoopla about how that was their best album since Joshua Tree, or some such nonsense. Apart from "Vertigo", I can't think of any song on HTDAAB that really has the potential to be a live staple on a future tour, and even that can't compare to "Sunday Bloody Sunday" or "Bad" or "Where The Streets Have No Name" or "With Or Without You".

U2 used to be my favorite band in the world. I almost lived and breathed the music. And I still love everything up to and ending with Pop. From the last two albums, the only songs I really like are "When I Look At The World" and "A Man And A Woman", neither of which were ever even played live. In the interim, I've discovered other artists who, though stylistically dissimilar and far less popular (think Wilco, BRMC and The Flaming Lips), deliver for me on all the levels that U2 used to, and for a fraction of the price.

I really hope U2 can surprise me again. I guess we'll see what we'll see.

 

[dj_tranquility]

 

[Carek1230]

Yeah I've heard it all before too. BUT.........a double album would be so very cool!

 

[U2girl]

"Also, if you look at Achtung Baby era interviews, Bono honestly doesn't care if the album doesn't sell millions immediately. Toward the end of this clip, Bono specifically shows how U2 didn't care about the pop kids and that they weren't afraid to not have their setlists appeal to everyone, especially annoying bellweather fans who dictate the setlists nowadays."

"It's telling that only two songs from ATYCLB were played nightly on the Vertigo tour, after all the hoopla about how that was their best album since Joshua Tree, or some such nonsense. Apart from "Vertigo", I can't think of any song on HTDAAB that really has the potential to be a live staple on a future tour, and even that can't compare to "Sunday Bloody Sunday" or "Bad" or "Where The Streets Have No Name" or "With Or Without You"

Assumption, the mother of all mistakes.

 

[last unicorn]

Surely this album will be ATYCLB III

Yeah, so what, it was a great album.



I'd rather have a album that has heart and soul - and more voice from Bono! - than something from a band trying too hard to be innovative.

 

[IndyShade]

Assumption, the mother of all mistakes.

I think the dearth of regularly-played ATYCLB material on Vertigo setlists speaks for itself.

At any rate, which songs from HTDAAB do you feel are in the same class as the earlier songs I mentioned?

 

[bugo]

ATYCLB is an amazing album and much better than HTDAAB.

it's an insult to the former to compare the two - the lyrics are immensly superior in ATYCLB. The first five songs are collosal and the second half is poignant, beautiful and certainly not as consumer friendly as HTDAAB tried to be.

 

[IndyShade]

ATYCLB is an amazing album and much better than HTDAAB.

it's an insult to the former to compare the two - the lyrics are immensly superior in ATYCLB. The first five songs are collosal and the second half is poignant, beautiful and certainly not as consumer friendly as HTDAAB tried to be.

What I'm saying is this: If they didn't play many songs from ATYCLB on the Vertigo Tour - just one tour after their Elevation debut - I can't see why they'd keep very much of HTDAAB around for the next campaign. It's a weaker set of songs than ATYCLB contains.

 

[U2girl]

I think the dearth of regularly-played ATYCLB material on Vertigo setlists speaks for itself.

At any rate, which songs from HTDAAB do you feel are in the same class as the earlier songs I mentioned?

As the tour went on, they played 5 ATYCLB songs on the tour, as much as Pop got on Elevation.

City of blinding lights.

 

[IndyShade]

As the tour went on, they played 5 ATYCLB songs on the tour, as much as Pop got on Elevation.

City of blinding lights.

Yes, but we're talking about setlist staples, not snippets and occasional acoustic versions, which is basically what you got on the first four legs, apart from "Beautiful Day" and "Elevation". I remember seeing them do a snippet of "In A Little While" and an acoustic "Stuck" at a couple of the MSG shows, but I wouldn't call those regularly-featured songs.

I think the only full-on, regularly-featured tracks they added later on in the last 13 shows were "Kite" and "Walk On", in the fifth leg, when they toured a section of the world that the Elevation Tour didn't visit. The band obviously felt bad that those fans had never seen those songs performed live - but not enough to play them for the previous 119 shows on the tour. Again, I don't think that is strong evidence that we will be hearing those songs on the next tour.

I do like "City of Blinding Lights" live. It was a good opener for the Vertigo shows I saw, especially in NYC. But, let's conjecture that U2 are still playing shows ten years from now - do you really think that song will be ranked with songs like "Bad" or "Streets" or "One" as a U2 classic and a regular part of future sets?

 

[U2girl]

Let's wait and see.

 

[IndyShade]

I'm just asking your opinion.

 

[U2girl]

Do I think they will play Bomb songs 10 years from now ? Yes.
As for live classic status, I think it's too early to say after only one tour of live Bomb songs.

Speaking for studio versions only, I consider COBL their best song in this decade, better than the overhyped "classic" Beautiful day.

 

[IndyShade]

I'm with you on "Beautiful Day" - if they never played it again, I wouldn't miss it.