Earnie Shavers
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I think we get HTDAAB II before we get Zooropa or Achtung Baby IMHO.
Oh, I have no belief at all that we’re getting any dramatic Achtung/Zooropa type departure or new direction. You can tell that from the early reviews. You’d be getting more bamboozlement from the general critics and more “HOLYFUCKINGSHIT!!!” from those that are obviously hardcore fans. The reviews from all sides are still all loaded with ‘classic’ ‘anthem’ ‘stadium’ etc. But I also don’t think we’re getting Bomb II. I think it will be kind of an alternate universe album.
Sort of a ‘what if’ album.
What if U2 didn’t swing wholly over to a classic, more commercial sound and song structure for ATYCLB? What if they instead accepted they needed to move more to the centre after Pop, re-incorporate some of that traditional sound, but still wanted to give a bit of a ‘fuck the haters’ by proving they could merge their classic sound (being now, really, both the late 80s and early 90s, so in itself a hybrid of JT, Achtung and Zooropa) with whatever the hell they want to push forward with? Be it another shot at the late 90s Pop electronic bedding, this time driven by Eno, or something (anything) else?
-or-
What if after ATYCLB they saw that re-treading old sounds and structures is okay, is more than just accepted but wholly loved, but felt like they’d done what they needed to do and now wanted to move back away from the centre, take those sounds and re-introduce the spirit of the 90s to it. Create new sounds from it, mess around with new structures etc, but not go so far that they lose what they gained back with those classic/traditional songs.
I think it will be one of those two, and I think the reviews reflect that. Either how a move to the centre could have been in 2000 if they hadn't gone all the way in, or how a move back away from the centre in 2004 could have sounded. New sounds, some very interesting songs and structures, but overall, not a massive shift in direction or big leap back out into left field. Certainly not an overhaul, but definitely not Bomb II, more like they’re just showing us one of their other options.