Yeah, the pre-album hype of ATYCLB was possibly as high as it is for this new one. There were people who thought U2 were about to release their best ever, mostly fueled by Bono himself, who had said, "We have 15 of the best U2 songs ever written, and now we will pick our favourite 10 to 12 songs for the record." Ah, Bono, we love him, but he is king of hyperbole. This is probably why we love him, actually, haha. He also had stated, once they narrowed down the album to 11 tracks, that they had to have a very good reason to leave their families and go on tour...and said they now had "11 great reasons to go on tour." Sound familiar? He said the same thing for this new album!
As for my personal reaction when I first heard bits and pieces of ATYCLB: When the first 30 second clip came out of 'Beautiful Day', I was ecstatic. It sounded just as I had imagined it would, strangely enough - a combination of Radiohead with a tad bit of Oasis - basically an uplifting version of the Radiohead sound - all parts of U2 coming together to create a huge, ecstatic sound....with soaring vocals (the clip was the ending - the "what you don't have you don't need it now.....beautifuuuuulll daaaaayyy" part), and I thought the rest of the song would be in similar vein. Well, it wasn't. So when I first heard the entire song (which had leaked a few days early), I thought to myself, "Okay....." I was expecting more of the ferver that is found at the end. Having heard the entire song, it sounded like the ending was a bad cut and paste job....which now it no longer sounds like as it has blended nicely into one song since then! It's one of my favourites from ATYCLB now.
As for the rest of the 30 second clips: I enjoyed them a LOT. I knew they shouldn't be judged as full songs - it would be like judging a table without looking at the legs. Songs need all their legs to stand tall, too. My favourite clip was 'Kite' and 'Walk On' if I remember. I loved the clip of 'Grace' as well, probably more than the album version! The only clip I was disappointed in was 'Peace on Earth' - and the album version actually caught me by surprise in that case, as it was way better.
On first listening of the entire album (which was a leaked version, so the tracks weren't in order), I thought it was very good....though it shocked me in a way for being so understated. This was something U2 had never done before. It was sooo pop! I liked it because how fresh and new it sounded...so different from anything else in their catalogue...but I felt it lacked something. It had a beginning, middle, and end, but there was something missing. Once the novelty of the newieness wore off, I started listening to only parts of it at a time. Some of those songs really helped me out in times of need, songs like 'Stuck' and 'Kite'...but it wasn't the album that took me on a journey like UF, JT, Achtung and Zooropa do. It came into my life and brought me warmth and comfort. And for that, I am ever grateful to U2. They made an album that helped me out in a way they never would have before. It's their "warm blanket" album, their "sunlight" album.
I look for this new album to reach a little deeper and to go into the darkness below that blanket, into the shadows behind the sunlight...and lead me back again. Guess we'll see....