On The New Album !:

[onyourkneesboy]

U2 need to "dream it all up again"and start around 1984:

When they started to record The Unforgettable Fire U2 (and Eno/Lanois) found "a Musical Dimension" that gave them their special "out-of this-world sound/emotion" They were looking for something that wasn't done before and found it.

Later on they found this High Dimension" again on albums like The Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby.

With songs like: The Unforgettable Fire, Bad, Wire, In God's Country, Streets, Love Comes Tumbling, One Tree Hill, Exit, Luminous Times, Walk To The Water, All I Want Is You, Until The End Of The World, One, Ultraviolet, Acrobat, Love Is Blindness, Zooropa, Lemon, Stay, Please...,

They created all very different songs that made you float, feeling emotions you didn't know could happen from music, take you on a trip, make you feel like you had an enormous chest, creating poetic landscapes that challenged you to think about all kinds of matters...

There are almost no words to explain this kind of "Highness" in some of U2 music. I guess these were the moments as Bono said: "God came walking in the room".

Well, here's my point:
I know nobody expects "God walking in the room" on EVERY song. They (U2) probably don't even want to.
But they can at least invite Him!
I don't mean this in any religious way, of course.

My opinion is that on the last two albums they are far to much "down-to-the-ground". Therefore the songs on these 2 albums are great but are too 1-dimensional.
Except for 3 tracks: Kite, When I Look At The World, Yahweh! They have this "Highness", they're multi-dimensional...

I mean, U2 seem to be to much "down-to-the-ground" and "literally"
They tend to lose their magic. They seem to want to avoid anything that has to do with words like sonic landscapes,(Joshua Tree, Unforgettable fire (the song), Ultraviolet), ambient, poetic, broadening horizons, experimental efforts...etc..where I think lie their new oppertunities and future.

They don't have to make The Unforgettable Fire 2 or Achtung Baby 2, but with all the new technology at present, there are numorous undiscovered recources of song waiting there for them.
It seems like U2 don't want to tickle their and our imagination anymore.
They are trying to find their new way in writing "every-day-life-songs". Therefore their music tends to sound a little simple and "cheesy" nowadays. Good songs but a little cheesy. For example: Stuck In A Moment, New York, Grace, Miracle Drug, City Of Blinding Lights (that intro on the CD ) All Because Of You (Oh, were so Rock and Roll, ....but the chorus is terrible!)

But there's still hope for the new albums I think. A few tips:

* U2 needs to search for undiscovered territory in being experimental again, and get rid of the "this is what's real life is about as a family-man" attitude.

* Bono needs to be in the studio from the start and finish of the album. Not being a part-time musician and part-time politician. The music suffers from his abscence all the time. He needs to push the other 3 in the band and they need to push him. Inspiring each other.

* They need to get back at work full-time with Eno and Lanois. These are magicians. They could beware them for cheesyness. They get the best out of U2. They challenge them and are not impressed by their "greatness". The best work came out of working with these 2 guys.

* They should try new sounds (like on Achtung). They should be worried how to play it live. They always pulled it of anyway. The (magical) music comes first. Try unconventional chord-progressions and sounds. Dare!

* There's new territory in, how shall I call it.. new New-Wave? Forget the Rock and Roll thing. U2 have Vertigo now..so move on.

* U2 should use more percussion and synthesizers again (Lanois) like they did on Achtung Baby. That's what gives the music it's multidimensional feel and broadness.

Well?

 

[Nisse]

New Wave? that would be U2 ca 1978-84, but that's exaclty what I think they should do more of. Bring on Steve Lillywhite!

 

[Pero]

* There's new territory in, how shall I call it.. new New-Wave? Forget the Rock and Roll thing. U2 have Vertigo now..so move on.

In former Yugoslavia there was New wave and New wave 2(New Primitives), so no for the name.
The name should be U2 Music.

About the post:
Good thinking, but there's no point for saying that. Most of U2 fans feel sorry for not beeing born before to feel 90's U2 or for that period beeing finished. And U2 still makes this "secure and cheesy" music

 

[bathiu]

* They need to get back at work full-time with Eno and Lanois. These are magicians. They could beware them for cheesyness. They get the best out of U2. They challenge them and are not impressed by their "greatness". The best work came out of working with these 2 guys.

Magicians? They made ATYCLB... they butchered and killed every song on ATYCLB leaving only their stinking corpses on the final CD... what's worse, they made U2 sound......pop.
They should stay as far from U2 as possible....
U2 should find someone young and creative.

 

[Lancemc]

*cough* Jacknife Lee *cough*

 

[bathiu]

*cough* Jacknife Lee *cough*

...and his work was great...
Vertigo, Man And A Woman are the best in production on HTDAAB
Fast Cars (JL mix) is also very, very good... it's like made for Achtung Baby in POP era, but recorded this year.

 

[2Hearts]

When you associated Miracle Drug with the word 'cheesy', you lost me right there. More passion you will not find. Read the page in the HTDAAB booklet where Bono talks about the Lazurus Effect and read my post in the "The HTDAAB that could have been" thread (Where the Album Has a Name). At one time, there was a Miracle Drug thread here where several members posted how thankful they were for this song. One of them worked in medical research, and another had undergone chemotherapy recently. Yes, this is real world stuff, and Bono is writing some beautiful lyrics about it.
To me, it seems like some people just want an artist to protest injustice in a 'cool' way and 'sound concerned' about suffering. They don't want it to have any real affect on the world, the artist, or the listeners. I certainly see merit in the songs you mentioned, but it is beyond my understanding as to how you fail to see it in MD, LAPOE, Crumbs, Sometimes, One Step Closer, Peace on Earth, Walk On, etc.

But they can at least invite Him!
I don't mean this in any religious way, of course.

What is this supposed to mean? They should invite Him to join in, just so long as He knows who's boss? Sort of like God as a session musician.

 

[typhoon]

Magicians? They made ATYCLB... they butchered and killed every song on ATYCLB leaving only their stinking corpses on the final CD... what's worse, they made U2 sound......pop.
They should stay as far from U2 as possible....
U2 should find someone young and creative.

They also made The Unforgettable Fire, The Joshua Tree, and Achtung, Baby. So, you know, show some respect.

And they didn't take U2 in a pop direction, U2 did. They just made it sound good. ATYCLB's production was excessive in parts (e.g., "Stuck In A Stupid Song Title"), but at least it had color and nuance. The new album just has overprocessed, ultrachimey guitars on every track, even the "atmospheric" ones like "One Step Closer."

Although, at this point, I don't care who produces their next album, as long as they don't have seven freaking different people on the case again.

 

[bathiu]

They also made The Unforgettable Fire, The Joshua Tree, and Achtung, Baby

so?
AB->ATYCLB 9 years, enough time to get old, lose talent.... etc.

And they didn't take U2 in a pop direction, U2 did. They just made it sound good. ATYCLB's production was excessive in parts (e.g., "Stuck In A Stupid Song Title"), but at least it had color and nuance.

Tell me what kind of color boredom/flatness/dullness has?
I imagine if there was AI ever created it would make music like on ATYCLB - perfect, cold, grey and boring.

HTDAAB is alive and warm. That's the diference between the two albums.

 

[AtomicBono]

I agree to an extent...U2 needs to go in a new direction. That's about all I agree on. I feel like maybe a couple of their recent songs are borderline-cheesy, but that's it. Most are brilliant. New York is an epic, especially live - almost on Please level. Beautiful Day has a cheesy intro for like the first five seconds but it's also one of their best songs, ever. Stuck isn't cheesy when you get down to it, it just has that annoying popping sound - man do I loathe the production on that song. But through and through it's a good song, listen to the acoustic version. City of Blinding Lights - also a good song, I do hate that piano intro but other than that it's pretty good...again, borderline-cheesy, but not enough to lose me. Sometimes and One Step Closer are brilliant. A Man and a Woman is brilliant. I could go on. Point is, U2 is still making good music, perhaps some think they've lost "it" but I suppose that's a matter of perception.

I do agree they'd benefit from having a young producer like Jacknife Lee, he was damn good on the A-Bomb. Flood did production on my favourite album ever (Pop) but his work on HTDAAB wasn't as good...Chris Thomas was pretty good, too bad they ditched most of his stuff. Eno and Lanois are always a safe bet as far as I'm concerned. Lillywhite was good on their early stuff, but this not so much.

Stuck in a Stupid Song Title...

 

[Lemonfix]

You know, I was wondering that as the band gets older, their kids grow up, etc. if the music may start getting better and more inventive.

Someone once told me that many rock stars/musicians hit a rough spot in their 40's, often because there is so much going on in their personal lives (things like kids and relationships that top music in terms of importance) and because they are afraid of losing their relevance, and well, being seen as "old." Yet when the artist(s) gets a little older their priorities change yet again--they don't care as much about what people think and have more time to really make innovative stuff.

Of course I may be talking utter nonsense, this may never happen, but we can always hope.

 

[typhoon]

bathiu, I'm not convinced you understand the difference between songwriting and production.