More new U2 album discussion!

[saltlick]

The only thing MoS did for me is show Bono can still channel his inner Joshua Tree, he sounds great in that song, very ISHFWILF (at least to me). Other then that it was a nice song on a solid album. Hopefully the next album can have some spectacular songs on a spectacular (or at least good) album.

 

[PookaMacP]

I know we should probably try to keep on topic (that's been working well so far, hasn't it?) but I just can't let the discussion about Moment of Surrender go by without comment.

There are two three things to be said here:
First, to these ears MOS is better than anything U2 have done since the early 1990s - and one of their best songs full stop. It's absolutely transcendental, with the most unusual, inventive playing, the best Bono vocals, and some of the best Bono lyrics that the band have come up with since at least Please, if not since One. (As an aside, Bono's lyric writing on NLOTH is superb - middle three tracks aside. Cedars of Lebanon, for example, is so unusual it's just great.)

Second, MOS genuinely was the one track on NLOTH that made the reviewers and critics sit up and pay attention. To paraphrase one otherwise relatively lukewarm review I read in The Word magazine at the time: MOS is a terrific song in anyone's book.

The third lesson is simple: get used to it. MOS sounds to me like a band on the cusp of their fifties being comfortable in their skin and making great music that fits that place. Whereas the middle three songs and, to be honest, whole chunks of their live performance on 360 (especially the awfulness of Crazy Tonight) made me cringe and think 'aren't they too old for this', MOS sounded like they just, well meant it. (And I'm more than 20 years younger than U2, in case you ask.) The upshot of all of this is simple: they are now in their early 50s, so I think we can be expecting a lot more songs like MOS from now on. And I'd be pretty happy with that!

 

[PookaMacP]

Anybody else here that would prefer an album of half-awesomeness/half-shit to an album that's merely good most of the way through? At this point, I've given up hope on U2 making another masterpiece, so I'd rather get a few songs that give me "the chills" rather than some album I enjoy and then forget about.

I'd honestly rather they released nothing at all than released a half-awesome / half-awful record. Why do we need a new U2 record if it's anything less than perfect? Ten great songs would be nice thanks. If they can't come up with that, I've got plenty of other U2 and plenty of other great music to keep me going.

 

[last unicorn]

I wouldn't compare NLOTH to PoP. While NLOTH is not a *bad* album, in my mind the portrait it paints is mostly dull or overcast, save for one or two songs as mentioned before. On the other hand PoP is a continuous stream of vivid colors, sounds, explosive bursts, and mind bending skies that stretch for eternity. Its a 60 minute erection. Its like waking up to find out the supermodel you went home with the night before...really is a supermodel! With NLOTH we don't know that, because you wake up alone and depressed and you don't really want to get out of bed. At least that's how it is for me. I tried like hell to like it but its not something I could go back to again and again. I guess with u2 the bar has been set pretty high, so anything less than spectacular could be seen as a failure by some.

To me, Pop is the most depressing album U2 has done.

 

[*I*]

I know we should probably try to keep on topic (that's been working well so far, hasn't it?) but I just can't let the discussion about Moment of Surrender go by without comment.

There are two three things to be said here:
First, to these ears MOS is better than anything U2 have done since the early 1990s - and one of their best songs full stop. It's absolutely transcendental, with the most unusual, inventive playing, the best Bono vocals, and some of the best Bono lyrics that the band have come up with since at least Please, if not since One. (As an aside, Bono's lyric writing on NLOTH is superb - middle three tracks aside. Cedars of Lebanon, for example, is so unusual it's just great.)

Second, MOS genuinely was the one track on NLOTH that made the reviewers and critics sit up and pay attention. To paraphrase one otherwise relatively lukewarm review I read in The Word magazine at the time: MOS is a terrific song in anyone's book.

The third lesson is simple: get used to it. MOS sounds to me like a band on the cusp of their fifties being comfortable in their skin and making great music that fits that place. Whereas the middle three songs and, to be honest, whole chunks of their live performance on 360 (especially the awfulness of Crazy Tonight) made me cringe and think 'aren't they too old for this', MOS sounded like they just, well meant it. (And I'm more than 20 years younger than U2, in case you ask.) The upshot of all of this is simple: they are now in their early 50s, so I think we can be expecting a lot more songs like MOS from now on. And I'd be pretty happy with that!

I TIED MYSELF WITH WHYYYUH
TO LET THE HORSES RUN FREE
*greatness*

sadly it goes down hill quite fast after that.

 

[lemonfly]

MOS made plenty of people go "wow".

It's deeply frustrating because the song is simply begging for Edge to apply the magic and make it transcend, and he delivers a wet firework. His faux-Dave Gilmour is fucking embarrassing. Sorry, I do like it a lot, but I can't love it with such lazy guitar work.

 

[Vlaco]

I like MOS to a certain degree, but it's way overrated down here. I once read it's their best song since Streets. It might be one of their best songs post 2000, but it's not even close to the greatness they created in the eighties and nineties.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

'Moment of Surrender' was never on the level of say a 'One' or a 'With or Without You' for me (or the general public, as the charting would show) -- but I would say 'Magnificent' and 'Unknown Caller' have some spine-tingling moments. The familiar, yet elusive U2 magic comes out in those songs. 'Moment of Surrender' seems more like 2000s U2 by the numbers to me. But it's a nice, verging on adult-contemporty pop song if you like nice, verging on adult contemporary pop songs. The verses are more unique, and some amazing vocal work by Bono. The chorus suffers from the very thing that makes it great: It is very poppy, and is where the song becomes more generic, IMO, in contrast with its passionate, not so poppy verses. But again, as pop song, it's a nice song, and has more depth than most pop songs on the radio. For me, if you're going to go "pop", don't sacrifice such amazing verses on that song. If you're going to go "pop", go all in, like 'The Sweetest Thing', which I actually enjoy on a pop level more than 'Moment of Surrender'.

The lyrics to both Magnificent and Unknown Caller make me cringe the cringe of a thousand cringes.

 

[Globo14]

Wow, I didn't know that there were this many people who weren't nuts over Moment of Surrender. It's a nice song with decent lyrics and a cool atmosphere, but it's not even in my top 3 on its album. It can get simply boring at times.

 

[2861U2]

Wow, I didn't know that there were this many people who weren't nuts over Moment of Surrender. It's a nice song with decent lyrics and a cool atmosphere, but it's not even in my top 3 on its album. It can get simply boring at times.

I haven't listened to NLOTH all the way through for a while, but with the exception of Boots, it might be my least favorite song on the album. Live, I thought it was a very weak closer. I'm glad I was lucky enough to be at the One Tree Hill Chicago show.

The chorus is decent, but some of the other lyrics are absolutely dreadful. It's certainly a unique U2 song, and I appreciate that, but it just doesn't do anything for me the way most of the other songs on the album do.

 

[Angtre01]

I haven't listened to NLOTH all the way through for a while, but with the exception of Boots, it might be my least favorite song on the album. Live, I thought it was a very weak closer. I'm glad I was lucky enough to be at the One Tree Hill Chicago show.

The chorus is decent, but some of the other lyrics are absolutely dreadful. It's certainly a unique U2 song, and I appreciate that, but it just doesn't do anything for me the way most of the other songs on the album do.

What u said

 

[Airseven]

MoS is a top 5 song in the lackluster ATYCLB/HTDAAB/NLOTH trilogy. It has powerful atmospherics, strong vocal delivery and some nice melodies, but very little staying power. I never go back to it. Most everything they've done since 2000 sounds half-inspired, including MoS. The framework is there, but they come up short.

 

[Van Cleef]

I like MOS to a certain degree, but it's way overrated down here. I once read it's their best song since Streets. It might be one of their best songs post 2000, but it's not even close to the greatness they created in the eighties and nineties.

This.

 

[Van Cleef]

MoS is a top 5 song in the lackluster ATYCLB/HTDAAB/NLOTH trilogy. It has powerful atmospherics, strong vocal delivery and some nice melodies, but very little staying power. I never go back to it. Most everything they've done since 2000 sounds half-inspired, including MoS. The framework is there, but they come up short.

And this.

 

[digitize]

MoS is probably in my top 10 or so U2 songs. Maybe 5.

 

[Michael Griffiths]

The lyrics to both Magnificent and Unknown Caller make me cringe the cringe of a thousand cringes.

I wasn't really talking about the lyrics so much as the melody lines and the U2 "wall of sound" those songs exhibit that harken back to TUF and Joshua Tree. The vocals are great as well. As for the lyrics, what has to be understood is that this album deals a lot with metaphysical subject matter. It has a spirituality to it, not just in the typical "religious" sense found in their earlier work. It goes deeper than that, and to a very personal level -- to the point where if you're not ready for it, it may not make any impact. But if you see where Bono is coming from -- reaching for the stars from within his own personal universe, I think these lyrics are not just great; they're transcending:

"I was born, I was born to sing for you
I didn't have a choice but to lift you up
And sing whatever song you wanted me to
I give you back my voice from the womb
My first cry, it was a joyful noise."

And also:

"I was right there at the top of the bottom
On the edge of the known universe where I wanted to be
I had driven to the scene of the accident
And I sat there waiting for me"

Thematically, 'Moment of Surrender' runs along the exact same lines. The Fez sessions opened up a very metaphysical vein, and all those Fez songs share this in common. If you read these lyrics through that metaphysical lens, I think you'll also be transported in the way I was when I heard it. But who knows. Music, like all art, is very subjective, and requires us to meet ourselves in a certain place before we see it the way the artist might have: "And I sat there, waiting for me".....

 

[Michael Griffiths]

It's deeply frustrating because the song is simply begging for Edge to apply the magic and make it transcend, and he delivers a wet firework. His faux-Dave Gilmour is fucking embarrassing. Sorry, I do like it a lot, but I can't love it with such lazy guitar work.

I tend to agree somewhat. I keep searching for that transcending moment that even a song like 'Unknown Caller' (during the organ buildup, and the subsequent guitar solo) is able to achieve. That's why I enjoy a song like 'Unknown Caller' more than 'Moment of Surrender'. My spirit yearns for songs like 'Bad' that have a buildup and, most importantly, a release. A buildup with no release leaves me feeling a bit let down.

 

[lazarus]

A buildup with no release leaves me feeling a bit let down.

Have you tired the Tantric method?

 

[U2girl]

It made me go "wow, that was boring".

Sorry for being harsh but I have to be honest about the song. Tried getting into it during the tour. Haven't listened to it for a couple years now. Maybe it's because I cannot relate to it thematically (and thank God for that) but the music to MOS puts me to sleep. Oh well.

That's too bad.

 

[pepokiss]

I don't know if you've seen this, but at a FNAC VALENCIA ( Blog de las tiendas Fnac - https://twitter.com/FnacValencia ) store in Spain the new U2 album is being listed for NOVEMBER

 

[U2girl]

It's deeply frustrating because the song is simply begging for Edge to apply the magic and make it transcend, and he delivers a wet firework. His faux-Dave Gilmour is fucking embarrassing. Sorry, I do like it a lot, but I can't love it with such lazy guitar work.

I like the solo a lot and I think the song climaxes with it. Basically it's what Magnificent's solo never did in contrast.

 

[U2girl]

'Moment of Surrender' was never on the level of say a 'One' or a 'With or Without You' for me (or the general public, as the charting would show) -- but I would say 'Magnificent' and 'Unknown Caller' have some spine-tingling moments. The familiar, yet elusive U2 magic comes out in those songs. 'Moment of Surrender' seems more like 2000s U2 by the numbers to me. But it's a nice, verging on adult-contemporty pop song if you like nice, verging on adult contemporary pop songs. The verses are more unique, and some amazing vocal work by Bono. The chorus suffers from the very thing that makes it great: It is very poppy, and is where the song becomes more generic, IMO, in contrast with its passionate, not so poppy verses. But again, as pop song, it's a nice song, and has more depth than most pop songs on the radio. For me, if you're going to go "pop", don't sacrifice such amazing verses on that song. If you're going to go "pop", go all in, like 'The Sweetest Thing', which I actually enjoy on a pop level more than 'Moment of Surrender'.

 

[Michael Griffiths]

Have you tired the Tantric method?

No, but I'm sure Bono got into that around 1997 judging by the shift in songwriting

 

[Michael Griffiths]

Yes, U2girl, some people do have different opinions than you. But that's ok. People have different opinions than I do as well. That is what makes music great. We can all see something different.

 

[U2girl]

MOS isn't 00's U2 by numbers. The comparisons to One are justified. And while the chorus is "pop"/radio friendly, the song itself is very far from pop.

 

[Edge Evans]

MOS chorus is too much of a churchy gospel approach for me. It's revered around here and I respect MOS but I honestly thought that OOTS was more exciting to listen to - although I hated to production on OOTS that tanked it

 

[super fly guy]

Im thinking it will be november for the new album, just makes sense for this band. But for the love of god just announce it!

 

[Michael Griffiths]

MOS isn't 00's U2 by numbers. The comparisons to One are justified. And while the chorus is "pop"/radio friendly, the song itself is very far from pop.

Is the chorus not part of "the song itself"? I always thought it was And, no, the comparisons to 'One' are not justified. One has a very unusual structure. It's like a middle 8 on repeat. The verses and the chorus are essentially part of the same chord structure. Conversely, 'Moment of Surrender' has a very traditional gospel structure -- and as you already stated, has a very poppy and (using your words) "radio friendly" chorus. These are attributes that 'One' does not have. Neither does a song like 'With or Without You'. Ironically, it's the unusual, unpoppy structure of songs like 'One' & 'Without or Without You' that made them stand out on the radio -- and propelled them to chart positions that 'Moment of Surrender' could only dream of.

 

[AcrobatU2Pop]

Im thinking it will be november for the new album, just makes sense for this band. But for the love of god just announce it!

Following U2's history with album announcements, if the album comes out in November we won't have an announcement until September earliest.

 

[Mrs. Garrison]

To me, Pop is the most depressing album U2 has done.

Lyrically, perhaps, there were some pretty heavy subjects in the air. Sonically it's a different story, there are a lot of fireworks, one fucking explosion after another. And then they toured with a lemon and a giant olive, that took some balls.

Not that im bashing current u2, I still them and I realize people get older and look at things differently. Still, 90's u2 were much more fun and certainly more adventurous. I hope DM helps them get out of their comfort zone and they are more daring this time than last.


I just want to use this smilie for no particular reason