NLOTH 30 Second Walmart Clips - DISCUSSION THREAD - Part II

[U2_Guy]

I love that lyric

Me 2. It's been a long time since i felt this way about an U2 album...

U2's music sounds urgent again.

BTW, Fez-Being Born reminds me a lot of Theme from Let's Go Native...

 

[bigjohn2441]

looks like i started a new trend with these smileys!

 

[bcrt2000]

[/B]

Ok. That's pretty harsh. It's 30 seconds. And even then, video game music has come a very long way.

Yep... "The Best is Yet To Come" from the Metal Gear Solid soundtrack can rival any other song out there

 

[Rich79]

After hearing the clips a couple times now:

NLOTH - wouldn't be all that excited except for the "Whoa" part by Bono
Magnificent - U2 at their most U2-ish yet
MOS - Really, Really looking forward to this one; this is the first clip that sounded like there was some of that keyword that everyone's been talking about...oh yeah "Innovation"
UC - Thought this was supposed to be the "F***off Rocker" that Edge talked about; this sounds like a watered down pop ballad that U2 could make in their sleep. Only thing that I think could save it is if it is the one with the chanting Eno, Lanois, Bono, Edge chorus.
Crazy Tonight - See comments for UC; thought this was supposed to be an electro-rock thing or something
Boots - Unique in the context of the album; Vertigo pt. 2
Stand Up Comedy - Excited about this one, sounds interesting and kinda funky; almost like what Dave Matthews Band would do these days.
FEZ-Being Born - Amazing rhythm section; sounds like the album's 3rd actual rocker
WAS - almost a Joshua Tree type of landscape; good change of pace I think
Breathe - U2 rockin' out; sounds pretty awesome
COL - It's like the non-sexy version of Velvet Dress...just waiting for Bono to say "The whole world could just dissolve"

Disclaimer: These are only 30 sec clips and I could be way off base with how I'll feel about the album when it comes out and well after it comes out, too.

 

[Sicy]

Glad to see Magnificent getting some love.

 

[Registered Dude]

After hearing the clips a couple times now:

UC - Thought this was supposed to be the "F***off Rocker" that Edge talked about; this sounds like a watered down pop ballad that U2 could make in their sleep. Only thing that I think could save it is if it is the one with the chanting Eno, Lanois, Bono, Edge chorus.
Crazy Tonight - See comments for UC; thought this was supposed to be an electro-rock thing or something

Breathe was the fuck off live rocker.
Crazy Tonight was always described as being a big pop song, akin to Beautiful Day

 

[Sanchez]

The previews are not available on the Wal-Mart site anymore. Some lady tells me that previews are not available for this advanced product but GOYB still works.

 

[MMP]

The previews are not available on the Wal-Mart site anymore. Some lady tells me that previews are not available for this advanced product but GOYB still works.

Same here

 

[Registered Dude]

"previews are currently unavailable for this advance product"

anybody else getting this instead of theclips?

 

[Jeannieco]

^Ya, they just diabled the samples. Glad I heard them before they disappeared.
Magnificent

 

[adypole]

the temptation died with the previews!

RIP walmart clips.

 

[Aardvark747]

Well that's that then. Until the leak or release

 

[U2Cowboy]

Samples. Gone. Fun. Gone. Excitement. Sky high!

 

[doctorwho]

i still dont like the scratchy bono voice, its all-over these 30 sec clips.
but the music it self is the Sex!

Sorry, I have no idea to what you are referring. Granted, these are just clips and perhaps after hearing the entire song, I'll agree with you. But based on the clips, I don't hear ANY scratchy voice.

When I think of Bono's scratchy voice, I think of songs like "One", "In a Little While" and "Beautiful Day" - songs where Bono purposely tried to give the song a little extra emotion by actually making his vocals sound more desperate and pleading. "One" wouldn't have come off nearly as well had he belted it out like WOWY.

That said, some could argue that circa 1995 or so, his voice was getting worse. Plenty of "off" vocals on "Pop", ATYCLB and songs done in that general time frame. However, come HTDAAB, he started sounding a LOT better. And instead of his voice becoming weaker while on tour (Boston Elevation to Slane Elevation), it became stronger (and without a "kermit" sound, like in Love Town).

Right now, if there's a weakness is that he's almost too high in his range. That works great once in a while, like with "I Still Haven't Found...", but he seems up in that range a lot. This could be Lanois' influence, as he loves Bono's upper register open throat voice.

But scratchy? Nope, not hearing it. This is the best sound I've heard Bono on an album since - dare I say it? - R&H!

 

[Partyslammer]

Of course, itty bitty clips are a poor way to judge an entire song or album, but aside from perhaps "Breathe," I'm not that impressed thus far. A lot of the tunes either seem to be a continuation of the weaker elements of the last album or variations on the type of music they did on the "Passengers" soundtrack album. Not nearly as "experimental" as advance word made it sound.

T.B.

 

[jampot]

That was a nice tease, NLOTH, Magnifcent, Fez standout tracks for me........

 

[vaz02]

After hearing the clips a couple times now:

Crazy Tonight - See comments for UC; thought this was supposed to be an electro-rock thing or something

Boots is the electro rocker that was mentioned and Breathe is the fuck off live song Edge talked about.

 

[doctorwho]

the temptation died with the previews!

RIP walmart clips.

I had a feeling this might happen. As a result, I just recorded the sounds from the site. Didn't download from anyone as I have no idea what all the policies are on all these sites. I figure it's best not to download - but I can, uh, "sample" the samples.

That said, 30 seconds of a 6 minute song is nothing. And several times we heard just music.

I recall in another thread one person commenting that Bono basically "never shut up" on HTDAAB. Some truth to that as it was a heavy vocal/lyrical album. But already on NLOTH, we can see the music is coming through quite a bit.

Also, just as the 30 second clips did nothing for ATYCLB, I don't feel they are doing justic for NLOTH.

But they were still fun to hear.

 

[yenlard]

maybe amazon will have some 30 second previews. exciting to hear the clips. however, too many of you of judging the whole song by a 30 second preview. kinda ridiculous

 

[laurent37]

Judging Unknown Caller by the clip is useless because it is the intro and after that the song starts. Take the time to read some previews and you will get some more information about the songs. The clip of NLOTH is the mellow part. The rest of the song is said to be totally rocking.

 

[doctorwho]

Of course, itty bitty clips are a poor way to judge an entire song or album, but aside from perhaps "Breathe," I'm not that impressed thus far. A lot of the tunes either seem to be a continuation of the weaker elements of the last album or variations on the type of music they did on the "Passengers" soundtrack album. Not nearly as "experimental" as advance word made it sound.

T.B.

I hear you there. Nothing truly leapt out from the clips - and oddly enough, I found GOYB to be the most fun.

That said, 30 seconds is nothing. I recall the clips from ATYCLB and they were not all that representative of the actual songs. But they did their job in getting one excited for the album. Maybe these particular clips weren't the best parts of the song?

Still, I have found that of U2's more challenging albums, it usually takes a few lisentings to enjoy. If I find myself loving it immediately, I usually don't later on. This was true for "Pop" and ATYCLB. Oddly enough, it took me longer to really get into UF, JT, all of AB and HTDAAB. And those are the albums I gravite towards these days (and this is from a person who still doesn't think JT was "all that"). The same may be true for NLOTH.

 

[purpleblackeye]

the clips sound very promising. the only clip that really perplexes me is Stand Up Comedy...that was supposed to be this heavy Led Zep influenced rocker but there is absolutely nothing to indicate that this is the case.

i love the title track, especially the "no line on the horizon" sort of chorus...i don't see why people have a problem with it...not every chorus has to scrape the heavens.

 

[fna692002]

With UC, MOS pretty much all the clips, its like were just eating the pizza crust. We havent even got to the main part yet. These clips are a perfect hold over til march 3rd

 

[vaz02]

the clips sound very promising. the only clip that really perplexes me is Stand Up Comedy...that was supposed to be this heavy Led Zep influenced rocker but there is absolutely nothing to indicate that this is the case.

You heard 22 seconds of the song.

 

[monke]

i still dont know what NLOTH chorus everybodys talking about, maybe my clips are wrong

 

[Irvine511]

sounds great.

NLOTH is, for me, easily the most intriguing.

Breath seems a bit much like a Stipe-style rant song.

these are like crack. i need more.

for me, so far, it's NLOTH that's the standout. i'm assuming much more is coming from MOS and UC (which sounds gorgeous). and i'm happy that "crazy tonight" sounds like it's going to be a super-enjoyable pop song in sort of an OOTS mode.

smiles, all around.

 

[oceane]

I happen to think you can tell quite a lot from 30 seconds clips. You can certainly get the 'feel', and to me that's probably the most important thing. It's like 98% of people I've ever liked, I've liked them within 30 secs of meeting them, sometimes without even having to talk. It is also said that employers doing interviews usually know within 60 seconds if they'll hire the person or not. It makes total sense to me.

I personally really trust my first impressions in general (both for people and for music), as they are almost always right. My first impressions of both ATYCLB and HTDAAB were not that great, I was really unsure about both albums at the first listen, although I ended liking both albums quite a lot for a while. I actually ended up being quite in love with HTDAAB, but only for a few weeks. My first impression was right as the album did not really stand the test of time.

I remember that the ATYCLB clips were often not representative of the songs, but the 'feel' I got from them (which was not that great) turned out absolutely dead-on.

In this case I think it really depends on the part of the song we got. MOS, UC, FEZ, and NLOTH to a lesser extent, all seems to be either intros or bridges, so they are very likely not representative of the songs (for UC we know that for a fact). But for Magnificient, Breathe, Crazy Tonight, and even Stand Up, I think we got a pretty good idea.

Actually for MOS I'm thinking this might be more of a bridge than the main chord sequences we are hearing, because for the first second of the clip you can hear quite different music. So it might not be the intro. Or the song does not follow a 'typical' verse-chorus-verse-bridge-chorus type structure, which is I think what Lanois has hinted about the song. It better not if it's 7 min!

EDITED TO ADD: And I should say that my first impression from these clips is VERY good Miles ahead of my first impression of the last 2 albums (I don't want to bash, they are both great albums IMO... but there was something missing)

 

[neatperson42]

omg, I'm too late! the clips are gone!

 

[bigjohn2441]

You heard 22 seconds of the song.

you really thing the whole song will sound different than that 22 seconds? what, is it suddenly gonna go from THAT into a badass zeppelin-ish riff? come on, this IS U2 were talking about here.

i do hope im wrong though

 

[bigjohn2441]

double post