SOE 35 - it’s finally here, let the debate on how good/bad it is begin!
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Blasted Red Flag Day from my car today. It's a song that I think gets better each listen.
Several posters have mentioned it, but what really sets this album apart for me is the strength of the lyrics. I have enjoyed a lot of their post-2000 work, but will admit that they were not as strong as they previously been when it came to the lyrics. This album very much bucks that trend.
And LIBTAIIW is going to be the closing song on the E&I Tour. Calling it now. Or maybe it leads into Streets. I don't know.
Several posters have mentioned it, but what really sets this album apart for me is the strength of the lyrics. I have enjoyed a lot of their post-2000 work, but will admit that they were not as strong as they previously been when it came to the lyrics. This album very much bucks that trend.
And LIBTAIIW is going to be the closing song on the E&I Tour. Calling it now. Or maybe it leads into Streets. I don't know.
Yeah, I think The Blackout to open, and Love is Bigger to close the show.
Gonna Run 2 U
New Yorker
Book Of Your Heart sounds like an Achtung Baby b side or demo. Pretty amazing.
kiwilad
Refugee
Wow. First full listen completed.
My first thought is, 'oops'. I've been pretty down on U2 lately, watching them follow a much younger pack, watching them burn credibility like its confetti. I thought, after the singles, this album was going to be painful on a few levels.
What I'm thinking after this first listen is that I was wrong. This album isn't following the pack. It is in the sense that it is poppy, it has very fresh production etc. But it's a heavy mother fucker. THere are songs on here that no-one else would have the gravitas to pull off. Lyrics that no one else has the backstory and experience to write, let alone sing.
Landlady - which is my favourite so far - reminded of Keith Richards 'How Could I Stop'. Not musically, but in that only someone like Keith could write a song like that and have me buy into it. After his life, his experiences, and his wife sticking in there and being his rock. Landlady is like that. A young man could not have written that.
Little Things - which is my favourite so far - does U2 at their best as well as anything since Ground Beneath Her Feet in my opinion. I thought City of Blinding LIghts was going to get there but it never quite did for me. This does. In a way only U2 can. But what makes it mature, what makes it a leader not a follower, is that heavy mother fucker of a lyric. That's heavy shit. Not many people have lived that. So how could they write it?
The second Lights of Home - which is my favourite so far - is just epic. Epic, melodic, sophisticated, deep, awesome.
I like the poppy middle too, a lot. Though while I like them they don't move me like the three mentioned above.
Wonderful.
Oh, and just to make a complete fanny of myself - i was listening on my quietcomfort35s while outside working with a pair of safety goggles on. About 3/4 into Little Things I had to take the goggles off. They'd gotten foggy. Didn't think U2 would produce another moment like that.
I said in another thread I probably won't buy this album - just stream it. Fuck that. I'm buying the extended deluxe and putting on the wall as a totem of musical resilience through a 40 year career.
Well done lads.
My first thought is, 'oops'. I've been pretty down on U2 lately, watching them follow a much younger pack, watching them burn credibility like its confetti. I thought, after the singles, this album was going to be painful on a few levels.
What I'm thinking after this first listen is that I was wrong. This album isn't following the pack. It is in the sense that it is poppy, it has very fresh production etc. But it's a heavy mother fucker. THere are songs on here that no-one else would have the gravitas to pull off. Lyrics that no one else has the backstory and experience to write, let alone sing.
Landlady - which is my favourite so far - reminded of Keith Richards 'How Could I Stop'. Not musically, but in that only someone like Keith could write a song like that and have me buy into it. After his life, his experiences, and his wife sticking in there and being his rock. Landlady is like that. A young man could not have written that.
Little Things - which is my favourite so far - does U2 at their best as well as anything since Ground Beneath Her Feet in my opinion. I thought City of Blinding LIghts was going to get there but it never quite did for me. This does. In a way only U2 can. But what makes it mature, what makes it a leader not a follower, is that heavy mother fucker of a lyric. That's heavy shit. Not many people have lived that. So how could they write it?
The second Lights of Home - which is my favourite so far - is just epic. Epic, melodic, sophisticated, deep, awesome.
I like the poppy middle too, a lot. Though while I like them they don't move me like the three mentioned above.
Wonderful.
Oh, and just to make a complete fanny of myself - i was listening on my quietcomfort35s while outside working with a pair of safety goggles on. About 3/4 into Little Things I had to take the goggles off. They'd gotten foggy. Didn't think U2 would produce another moment like that.
I said in another thread I probably won't buy this album - just stream it. Fuck that. I'm buying the extended deluxe and putting on the wall as a totem of musical resilience through a 40 year career.
Well done lads.
womanfish
Rock n' Roll Doggie ALL ACCESS
Holy fuck. I am SO happy to read this review. So many glowing over the top reviews that I wanted to hear one from someone I knew wouldn’t hold back if they thought it was weak.
I wanted to make sure I wasn’t crazy for loving it so much
Glad you love it. It’s stunning. That’s about the best word I can use.
TinKnight
Refugee
13 is a fucking gut punch that I did not expect at all. Like God damn, I cannot stop crying.
womanfish
Rock n' Roll Doggie ALL ACCESS
Loving these reviews!!! Well said man.
Hollow Island
New Yorker
- Joined
- Jan 16, 2011
- Messages
- 2,947
same. it's been how long since they had a moment like that?
TinKnight
Refugee
I don't want to write too much because I've only listened to it once and need more listens.
Everyone said that Songs of Experience should be the least attempt at relevance and that there should be a Songs of Ascent for the fans. Songs of Experience is an album for the fans. It's U2 loving and appreciating everything. It's subtle, it's different, and its destructive. It's like the anti-Achtung Baby thematically, but with all the nuance.
Love is Bigger Than Anything In It's Way and following up with 13 is perhaps the saddest thing I've ever heard from this band. I'm devastated in all the best ways.
Everyone said that Songs of Experience should be the least attempt at relevance and that there should be a Songs of Ascent for the fans. Songs of Experience is an album for the fans. It's U2 loving and appreciating everything. It's subtle, it's different, and its destructive. It's like the anti-Achtung Baby thematically, but with all the nuance.
Love is Bigger Than Anything In It's Way and following up with 13 is perhaps the saddest thing I've ever heard from this band. I'm devastated in all the best ways.
TinKnight
Refugee
Having to ensure three years of Song for Someone is so worth it for that payoff.
kiwilad
Refugee
The end of Love is Blindness? I mean - shit that's 26 years ago but I'm struggling to think of anything from Pop onwards that lifted and lifted and then exploded, while talking absolutely authentically about reality and heartache, like this song does.
I still think American Soul is pathetic. I don't feel sycophantic. It's just that, this is a really great album.
corianderstem
Blue Crack Distributor
American Soul is easily my least favorite on the album, but I don't think it's *that* bad.
Ha ha haaaa, yes.
victor_f
Refugee
- Joined
- Jan 6, 2004
- Messages
- 1,206
Just noticed that in the leak Kendrick Lamar is all in American Soul instead of cropped between Get Out Of Your Own Way and American Soul like the Apple Music version.
Gonna Run 2 U
New Yorker
I’m dying to see the production credits. The unreleased songs on are on a completely different level. It’s so noticeable. I’m intrigued as to know how much Andy Barlow was involved here. Perhaps he’s their new Eno.
The Slow Loris
War Child
I started off feeling the same way about American Soul, but now that I can hear the atmospherics of the album, I am appreciating it much more. I especially like the "Brother John" background vocals. Very psychedelic Beatles, and with a 70s groove.
kiwilad
Refugee
Lyrically it is.
corianderstem
Blue Crack Distributor
Can't really argue with that. The album is lyrically really strong except for American Soul and Best Thing.
jameskinsella
The Fly
- Joined
- Dec 6, 2006
- Messages
- 161
Agreed. If you were to separate the songs out individually then it's probably the worst on it, but it does sound much better in the context of the album. I have no idea why it was released as a single though.
kiwilad
Refugee
I'll give you the background vocals. That I admit is cool. And I too got that late-60s Beatles from it. Fair point. And I do love the rhythm section on this song.
But lyrically - it's dead to me.
TinKnight
Refugee
I don't hate American Soul at all, but I do think it's a pimple on this album.
kiwilad
Refugee
So. Who wants to see them perform the orchestral Light of Home with a decent string section and all necessary backing musicians, on a massive platform - ie Grammys or similar?
Scorpionac
War Child
I do miss the piano on Little Things. I find it really adds to the atmosphere in the Kimmel performance. The vocal is better there, too. (Maybe listening to that performance for months has coloured my expectations.)
The Slow Loris
War Child
Yes, we must have similar tastes! I really believe Book of Your Heart deserves to be on the proper album. The ending is epic, (and the first half also very alluring with its electronic elements). Also maybe the best lyrics on the album.Slow, you and I think very alike! I was thinking exactly the same thing about lights and book of your heart!
jameskinsella
The Fly
- Joined
- Dec 6, 2006
- Messages
- 161
Anyone else think that Love is All We have Left would've fitted very well on the new Blade Runner movie?
What replaces the piano on the album version?
Scorpionac
War Child
Synths and some quiet guitar. Piano shows up later, but it's pretty buried and soft, and Edge plays fewer chords.
How's the atmosphere on this album? One thing that struck me about SOI was the complete lack of atmosphere. Where the songwriting was (personally) quite good that record really lacked that ethereal element that was at the heart of all the best U2 albums - the backdrop and soundscapes.
Cheers!
Cheers!
I know I might get killed for saying this, but the last 40 seconds of "Walk On" did that for me.
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