Songs of Experience 36 - Now with 20% fewer acronyms

[Yahweh]

Keep in mind the members of U2 are almost 60 - I am afraid that the music buying public doesn't listen to 60 year olds no matter how good the music is.

Also U2 is a band that people love to hate - apparently especially the Brits

 

[Sr. Poop]

The changes I would have made was put in Lights of Home string version for the original... but I love both

Then remove 13 and replace with LIAWHL

 

[hasin73]

Thank you UK people. Your good taste in music is greatly appreciated in the third world countries who were once under your rule.

 

[macphisto54]

Thank you UK people. Your good taste in music is greatly appreciated in the third world countries who were once under your rule.

Give it a rest. What has that got to do with SOE's chart performance?

UK promotion has been pretty weak from what I've seen. I expect a boost after the BBC show is televised.

 

[rennowba]

Thank you UK people. Your good taste in music is greatly appreciated in the third world countries who were once under your rule.

Third world countries, we ruled the world [emoji289][emoji23][emoji23];-)

 

[ChurchBay]

Thank you UK people. Your good taste in music is greatly appreciated in the third world countries who were once under your rule.

The fuck is this post of shit?

 

[patternshirt170]

Thank you UK people. Your good taste in music is greatly appreciated in the third world countries who were once under your rule.

Aye, just keep up the pish generalisations now.

 

[dazzledbylight]

yay! Just got my copy from a different Target (Bronx, Gateway Mall in case anyone in the 5 boroughs & north NJ are still looking- 5 copies left )

 

[hasin73]

The fuck is this post of shit?

What I wanted to mean is that if the musical taste of a country as culturally prominent as UK is so rotten that garbage like Sam & Ed can prevent U2 from getting to no. 1 with its new album, then it gives negative impulse to the music lovers of the third world countries who follow UK & US charts regularly.

 

[KUEFC09U2]

What I wanted to mean is that if the musical taste of a country as culturally prominent as UK is so rotten that garbage like Sam & Ed can prevent U2 from getting to no. 1 with its new album, then it gives negative impulse to the music lovers of the third world countries who follow UK & US charts regularly.

Don't follow the UK charts, and I am from the UK, people listen to some horrible stuff over here

 

[superchuk5]

Don't follow the UK charts, and I am from the UK, people listen to some horrible stuff over here

Didn't a ringtone block Coldplay's "Speed of Sound" from #1?

 

[CosmoKramer]

Didn't a ringtone block Coldplay's "Speed of Sound" from #1?

Hahahaha.....I think you’re right. It was the fucking frog “ring ding ding” or something. I think he road a motorcycle or something.


Edit: hahahahahahahahaha


http://www.officialcharts.com/chart...5-crazy-frog-beats-coldplay-to-the-top__9493/

 

[METFIELD]

Number 2 in Germany

https://www.offiziellecharts.de/charts/album

 

[Axver]

Ha. No. I have worn glasses/contacts since that age as well. Now I need a *second* level of assistance to read stuff right in front of my face.

That's the Old.

No, that's exactly what I mean! I've had glasses my whole life, and my second reading pair since I was 11.

If they were prescription at age 11, you were not an old.

If they were granny reading glasses, you were an early old.

Well they're a fucking wacky prescription, so I'll take that as my get-out-of-old-jail-free card.

 

[corianderstem]

Oh my! Yes, then you are indeed Old Before Your Time.

 

[rennowba]

What I wanted to mean is that if the musical taste of a country as culturally prominent as UK is so rotten that garbage like Sam & Ed can prevent U2 from getting to no. 1 with its new album, then it gives negative impulse to the music lovers of the third world countries who follow UK & US charts regularly.

Hey don't ever forget we are home to more or less every artist (probably around 90%)that's been any good as years have gone by

Beatles,stones,the who,zeppelin,pink floyd, Bowie etc etc etc the list goes on and on



Rule Britannia

 

[CMIS]

Hahahaha.....I think you’re right. It was the fucking frog “ring ding ding” or something. I think he road a motorcycle or something.


Edit: hahahahahahahahaha


http://www.officialcharts.com/chart...5-crazy-frog-beats-coldplay-to-the-top__9493/

I was in UK at the time... that was hilarious

 

[hasin73]

Hey don't ever forget we are home to more or less every artist (probably around 90%)that's been any good as years have gone by

Beatles,stones,the who,zeppelin,pink floyd, Bowie etc etc etc the list goes on and on



Rule Britannia

That's my arguing point. When this country or region has produced so much talents then how in the earth the people of this region have fallen for turd like Sam, End, Dua Ripa etc. etc. I can't understand the logic behind it.

 

[AndrewCowley]

Happy to report that I reckon SOE is really good. Much better than SOI. Anyhow I'd be really happy if this turned out to be their last album. It seems to have that sort of feeling to it. Also it'd be nice for them to finish on such a high.

 

[rennowba]

That's my arguing point. When this country or region has produced so much talents then how in the earth the people of this region have fallen for turd like Sam, End, Dua Ripa etc. etc. I can't understand the logic behind it.

That's all of opinion to be fair though mate. Something u hate someone else might love and vice Versa.

 

[gweeps]

Why does every new album have to be better than the last one? Why can't folks just appreciate the new album in context with the whole canon?

 

[patternshirt170]

I've been gone a while but the UK music mainstream really seems to be going through a long shitty beige phase, maybe reflecting it's country's politics as opposed to reacting against them ala 1976, 1979 and 1981? tut tut. And it's unlikely any movement - as in the past - is gonna come along and kick over the uninspiring sandcastle and rid us of some of these guff acts or pull the plug on what still seems to be X factor omnipotence.

There's no summer of '76 punk reset in the wind, no 2 Tone, no Jam, no colourful new romanticsm, hardly any provincial city based scenes coming through ala Glasgow, Manchester and so forth - something to at least maybe shake up the scene and lay waste or lay claim. Are we really at - What are we going to do now it's all been said? No new ideas in the house, and every book's been read? Britpop was the closest thing but became a tired brand towards the end, god it was almost endorsed by the government as opposed to feared by it and it was the artists on the fringe who'd been around before (Pulp/Jarvis, Weller) and who remained after it had fizzled out which were always the most interesting (in my book) and not the feuding 'big two'. Like punk it spawned and gave a platform to more interesting acts - eg. the Sex Pistols led to PIL, Pablo Honey led to The Bends >>.

I guess we're stuck with sad Sam singing with his eyes closed on winding, windy moors and the ubiquitious twit with his drum machine, bad raps, woeful lyrics (worse than a buttered refujesus on toast) and banjo singing about his "daddy" and his "angels" for the foreseable future until we run out of - + = signs for album titles.

 

[CMIS]

Why does every new album have to be better than the last one? Why can't folks just appreciate the new album in context with the whole canon?

I think it's a pretty unavoidable kneejerk reaction for those who are pleased with the new material AND have been following the buildup to the new release. I have fallen into that trap a few times myself and this time too, the kneejerk was "this is much better than SOI". I heard SOI in its entirety two days ago and I have to say it was a decent record. As standalone albums, I think SOE just shades SOI with songs like Landlady, Little Things, 13, Summer of Love, Red Flag Day. The highs on SOE are really high, like some chronic shit. SOI though, has fewer lows (The Best Thing and Get Out are really not doing it for me).
But the good news is, these are truly companion albums, and I am happy that bar a few relevance reaches, U2 have actually executed an artistic vision that is very, very rich. I have created a playlist of six songs from SOI and eight from SOE, and it is killer. Calling it Songs of Awakening. Will share after a few more listens.

Part of the reason I say that SOE is better because a lot more authenticity of Bono's experience comes through here in the songs mentioned above.

 

[mama cass]

Happy to report that I reckon SOE is really good

fucking hell

 

[aviastar]

I think SOE is slightly better than SOI - but SOI is a pretty solid album so it’s not a mark against it. I do think SOE breaks into the top half of u2 albums whereas SOI might be somewhere around 8 or 9

 

[ChurchBay]

I've been gone a while but the UK music mainstream really seems to be going through a long shitty beige phase, maybe reflecting it's country's politics as opposed to reacting against them ala 1976, 1979 and 1981? tut tut. And it's unlikely any movement - as in the past - is gonna come along and kick over the uninspiring sandcastle and rid us of some of these guff acts or pull the plug on what still seems to be X factor omnipotence.

There's no summer of '76 punk reset in the wind, no 2 Tone, no Jam, no colourful new romanticsm, hardly any provincial city based scenes coming through ala Glasgow, Manchester and so forth - something to at least maybe shake up the scene and lay waste or lay claim. Are we really at - What are we going to do now it's all been said? No new ideas in the house, and every book's been read? Britpop was the closest thing but became a tired brand towards the end, god it was almost endorsed by the government as opposed to feared by it and it was the artists on the fringe who'd been around before (Pulp/Jarvis, Weller) and who remained after it had fizzled out which were always the most interesting (in my book) and not the feuding 'big two'. Like punk it spawned and gave a platform to more interesting acts - eg. the Sex Pistols led to PIL, Pablo Honey led to The Bends >>.

I guess we're stuck with sad Sam singing with his eyes closed on winding, windy moors and the ubiquitious twit with his drum machine, bad raps, woeful lyrics (worse than a buttered refujesus on toast) and banjo singing about his "daddy" and his "angels" for the foreseable future until we run out of - + = signs for album titles.

This is so true. Merseybeat of the 60s, the punk of the 70s, the rave of the 80s or the Britpop of the 90s. All of these movements had one thing at its centre - enjoyment.

There is an issue in the roots of British music today that kind of scorns upon anyone physically enjoying music. Whether it's the Liverpool's Cavern Club in the 60s or the Hacienda in Manchester during the 80s these places were not just the apex of the British music scene but places of sheer joy where you could let your hair down. A 'hip' culture sadly has hijacked any possibility of such a paradise ever returning. Jangly indie pop music may be played in the underground clubs and pubs of Glasgow and Manchester but look around you in these venues today and you see student types gawking like statues trying to look intensely intelligent rather than singing or dancing along to these tunes they are hearing. What was once an arena for young working class musicians to showcase their talents has become gentrified by elitist middle class students taking their places and shoving them aside, pretending merely to look working class - a bit like what has happened to the Labour Party in recent years (and most of our major cities where the poorest have been priced out of the places they built and called home).

So I think any enjoyment of music in Britain today is in part suppressed and hijacked by a middle class culture that denies true enjoyment of quality music because of an awareness in circles online that such music should not be enjoyed, merely critiqued and intellectualised.

The growth of social media and the internet has fed into a culture where music has become critiqued beyond buggery by part time, sub undergraduate type music sites online. It has fed into an ironic, hipster culture where the fear of looking like your enjoying yourself at a gig can only lead to a 'slippery slope' of looking cool one moment and singing along to Coldplay at Wembley Stadium the next. Underground acts are now expected to stay underground rather than aspire to the reaches of a global tour performing to millions. And often, those who are performing know that and abide by that rule.

 

[kiwilad]

fucking hell

Right? U2 have certainly made a record for the long time fans it seems!

 

[Rachel D.]

There aren't any songs on this album that fade out, are there? They all have a definite ending.

 

[david]

Listening again through headphones and picking up on so many awesome production flourishes.. but one thing I keep taking away from the Andy Barlow tracks is how much I’d love an album produced by him and him alone.

 

[akann]

but one thing I keep taking away from the Andy Barlow tracks is how much I’d love an album produced by him and him alone.