But really, Iovine was in the house and Bono was making hostile remarks? Hm.
Not likely.
But really, Iovine was in the house and Bono was making hostile remarks? Hm.
Hard to "re-invent" when they've already covered almost every pop musical style around. They can revisit previously-covered territory, but that's abiut it.
And half of NLOTH wasn't "basic-sounding", at least not compared to the previous two albums.
All this "It's a good thing they're not working with Eno/Lanois" stuff is silly. It's like saying "I really wish U2 would do a record without Bono singing and writing lyrics...they need a fresh new voice". As if Eno and Lanois' absence alone is cause for optimism. All U2 and Eno/Lanois working together gave us was The Unforgettable Fire, The Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby...not to mention ATYCLB and NLOTH. Those two are as responsible for U2's sound and where they today as anyone in the band.
U2 is perfectly capable of making a good, or bad, record with or without Brian and Danny...but their absence only ensures the album will be different, not better.
I just think some of us are vastly over rating what a producer can do. U2 has worked with some of the best in the business, both to great success and disappointment. And they've had aborted attempts with others still. They've been working on these sessions on and off for years now. My feeling is that if they somehow captured lighting in a bottle with these sessions, and something extraordinary came together, it wouldn't be taking this long. Great art, especially music, normally doesn't work that way.
(in fact, a good deal of the 00's lyrics have been awful)
It's not silly since U2 needs to back away from the umpteenth rehash of the chimes and weak riffs. I think the producers are, as you say, at least as responsible for that.
Well, working with a producer not coming out of rock for once might help get them creative again.
Not coming out of rock? He's a lot more rock than Eno...
I just think some of us are vastly over rating what a producer can do. .
Not coming out of rock? He's a lot more rock than Eno...
Adam Ant thinks U2's habit of having huge gaps between albums is the way to do it and other bands should follow their lead:
Adam Ant urges bands to follow U2's lead
It's not silly since the last *new* sound they brought to U2 was ATYLCB. Despite the hype, NLOTH was nowhere near as a reinvention. NLOTH is basically, imo, what Bomb would be with Eno and Lanois at the helm. A little smarter/better vintage U2 record, but not really anything new. And not a cohesive album.
It's not silly since U2 needs to back away from the umpteenth rehash of the chimes and weak riffs. I think the producers are, as you say, at least as responsible for that.
I've got a feeling that Zane Lowe was talking about Kings of Leon
Brian Eno is a genius. He should work more with U2 and he should have more freedom when doing his thing with the band.
Anyway, if not Eno, I'd like to see Steve Hillage or Jack White producing U2.
I'm not too sure about DM.
How are the producers responsible for rehashes? Does Brian Eno break out a guitar and tell Edge what to play? Did the same Lanois that was miffed at what U2 ended up doing on NLOTH push them towards a sound that ending up making him miffed at them? Make some sense here.
It was Bono that talked Edge back into his "Coca-Cola riff" back in 2000.
Blame that on the band. It's their music and they have the ultimate say-so.
U2 have worked with 8 different producers over 4 albums - Howie B, Flood, Nellee Hooper, Eno, Lanois, Chris Thomas, Jacknife, Lillywhite - and not one of those 4 albums was "cohesive". Not one. They were all 'Best of' the eras.
Maybe it's just time to stop blaming the producers. And/or giving them that much credit for 'new sounds' that U2 end up moving away from anyhow.
U2 will either have the goods or they won't. Regardless of who is producing. What DM/Burton gives them - is a different and younger perspective. A fresher set of years. A jolt of confidence. And if they don't listen to him, it's not going to matter. They stopped listening to Eno and Lanois.
And the ONE time we know they listened to them on NLOTH was on Moment of Surrender, pretty much the universally accepted best song on NLOTH (not my fav, but the consensus) - when E/L told them to leave it the fuck alone.
The one piece of hard evidence we have - is that quite possibly, they should have listened MORE to Eno and Lanois on NLOTH. But I know that conflicts with your 'narrative', so I wonder why I bother even as I type these words.
It's widely irrelevant who Lowe was talking about.
I get what you're trying to say there, but what are we supposed to have Edge do in the end? Come up with just bar chord riffs? Stop playing the higher and lighter strings altogether? Stop using effects pedals? Being innovative is one thing, but someone has to play guitar in the end, you know?
Personally, I have no problems with the "chimes" per se, just the uninspired phoned-in playing that Edge displayed on NLOTH. Cedars was probably the only track where he demonstrated some innovation. I don't think anyone is expecting Edge to radically shift from his recognisable minimalistic style, but he really was the weak(est) link on NLOTH. Eno ended up doing a lot of the heavy lifting on the better tracks, and I can't help but feel he was compensating for Edge's overwhelming blandness.
I think people are mistaking innovation within the sphere of what has been done, and total reinvention. Edge has created some dynamic and complex sounds in his day, and I for one don't care if he camps there forever - as long as he gets innovative within that sphere. Of course the ultimate is that he builds new sounds, new textures and new dimensions to his music, but the building blocks have always been there, since Boy.
He knows what he's doing.
It's not silly since the last *new* sound they brought to U2 was ATYLCB. Despite the hype, NLOTH was nowhere near as a reinvention. NLOTH is basically, imo, what Bomb would be with Eno and Lanois at the helm.
This is bullshit. The band was clearly interested in trying something different by recording in Morocco, even if the more heavily-influenced experiments didn't make it to the album. There's also the increase in group singing, chants, etc.
Fez, Cedars of Lebanon, Moment Of Surrender, even the vibe on Magnificent don't sound like anything from the two previous albums.
If the new album is not radically different from the last 3, then it either means that U2 have completely abandoned the trilogy theory or there never was one to start with. :/