LP13 Discussion - Rock Bottom: Still No F#@&*ng News!

[Nick66]

Maybe I've not paid close enough attention, but is this supposed "writer's block" a real thing admitted by Bono? Or is it just an assumption people are having due to the long period between releases? If the former, is there a source?

I'm not sure Bono has ever publicly mentioned it...though maybe he has, I don't know. It's been something that's been widely reported often enough that my suspicion is that there's some truth to it. And frankly, even without news reports, if all I had to go on were his recent lyrics, and the time it's taking to make this record, I'd still guess writer's block.

But no, AFAIK Bono hasn't admitted it.

 

[prbiker15]

Maybe I've not paid close enough attention, but is this supposed "writer's block" a real thing admitted by Bono? Or is it just an assumption people are having due to the long period between releases? If the former, is there a source?

I've always assumed that it was an assumption that the media was having.

 

[gvox]

According to my sources there's been no writer's block whatsoever.

Cock block, on the other hand..

 

[doctorwho]

According to my sources there's been no writer's block whatsoever.

Cock block, on the other hand..

His own or???

I'm sure this is setting us up for some fat jokes. So I will retreat at this time.


P.S. The only time I've heard of this supposed writer's block has been on U2 fan sites in comments made by fans. Nothing ever in the media. Hmmm...

 

[Hewson]

I'm sure this is setting us up for some fat jokes. So I will retreat at this time.

Writer's block of cheese?

 

[purpleoscar]

I have my own speculation on the matter.

I think NLOTH revealed that the creative relationship with them is pretty much toast. The best material was the stuff left pretty much alone (and written with E/L) like MOS and the worst material is the stuff U2 kept tinkering with late and were said to have finished last (Boots, SUC, CT) and don't have E/L writing credits.

From all reports it seems they ended up moving away from some of the original ideas. And they have a completed work (at least according to Bono) that was said to be more...downbeat or less straightforward and that has still never seen the light of day.

I sense E/L felt a little burned, especially from some of Lanois' words afterward. Considering they let them write with them and be credited, only to sandwich three crap songs in the middle of that album...this, after scaling back whatever they scaled back. Lanois was hyping the hell out of that record before he kind of got quiet about it all, even after the fact.

It's no great wonder to me, that the 4 songs that E/L did not get writing credits on were the three usual suspects and the dad-rock waltz of Breathe.

I just feel like, in the end, whatever authority E/L had over them, U2 had firmly seized it back by the time NLOTH was completed. And whatever among the interesting musical ideas they came up with, a lot of that was pushed back in favor or Will.I.Am tripe like Crazy and Boots and the dreadful SUC.

In short, NLOTH seemed like the album some of us had been waiting for - for a dozen years, and it just wasn't allowed to come to fruition. Personally, I still believe it's their best album since POP but man, 'what could have been'. That's how I read Lanois comments after the fact. He seemed disappointed.

Maybe I'm reading too much into it but I don't believe so. I feel like E/L probably feel they've done as much as they can with U2. Especially if U2 doesn't trust them as much as they used to. After all, U2 made some questionable decisions for that album, seemingly, on their own.

I'm most curious if they let Burton actually write with them. And if so, how much of that they moved away from in the end.

I do remember Lanois saying how hard it was to work with people who are so intense (though Lanois's description of his first working with Bob Dylan shows he's intense as well). He felt glad Danger Mouse was on the new record instead of him. Eno did say that he thought people would like NLOTH but he also complained about Winter not being finished for the record.

I don't believe E/L will never work with U2 again. Bono even said that he would always work with E/L again. I could actually see them working again and trying to correct whatever mistakes they made in the last time around.

Lanois recently said he liked how some of the NLOTH leftovers are still "on the burner" for the new album and he likes Bono's vocals. Lillywhite did make a jab at Danger Mouse and how "he thinks U2 should sound", but that could be sour grapes for not being included this time. Without hearing the new music it's hard to tell.

BTW if NLOTH was missing Breathe it would be a much poorer record for it IMHO.

I think if Brian Eno could work it out with U2 when they didn't give him enough credits in ATYCLB then the last album shouldn't be a problem. I think any one of the old guard would jump at the chance of being in another U2 album.

I would like the old guard to be there for their last album.

 

[Nick66]

I would like the old guard to be there for their last album.

I'd love that...but do you think there will be another record after this one?

 

[purpleoscar]

I'd love that...but do you think there will be another record after this one?

Unless there's health problems I think there's two more albums after this one to finish the last trilogy. If there's still no health problems after that there could be one off songs or collabs. I'd still like to see if this "writer's block" thing is true. That could be the other thing that ends the band like REM. If U2 really does complete a last trilogy of good original material they would have such a complete record what else could they add?

I'm pretty sure we'll have a U2 anthology like the Beatles. Whether these session extras are released with the albums that spurred the material we are going to get some good leftovers.

I would really like to know what happened after Bono said this in 2012:

We've been through many songs and there's some great stuff. I would say we had the best three weeks in the studio that we've had since, like, 1979. Three weeks is all it should take...."

 

[JOFO]

I would sincerely doubt a few, if any, albums after this one.

They are lazy now. If nothing else. They aren't hungry....(insert Bono joke).
Maybe this album comes out and proves this wrong. Great!
War was hungry. So was UF, JT, AB, Zooropa, ATYCLB (even if it was hungry on a diet)...

From the 2 tunes recently they ain't hungry, so either we get more of that or we get a new thing with great tunes.....

 

[trevgreg]

I'm really curious about what is going to be on this record. How much of the Danger Mouse material will it be composed of? Or will it be more of the recent stuff they've apparently done? Or a little bit of everything they've been screwing around with the past 5 years?

I can only guess that even if they use a lot of the DM stuff, that they will have tinkered with it quite a bit...in which case, I wonder what he'll have to say about it all, if anything? Will the DM "material" with his name on it even sound like DM?

Regardless of how the new album turns out, I don't think there's any doubt that most of us will be looking forward to the accompanying interviews for it. Should be interesting!

i think the dreaded "middle 3" were a panicked reaction to an all-stadium tour meant to support an album that didn't seem to have any strong/obvious singles beyond "magnificent." after 2 albums and lots of hard work in areans solidifying the fan base and reestablishing themselves after the creative and commercial disappointment of Pop, they didn't want a repeat of 1997. i don't think the middle 3 are *that* bad -- there's lots of interesting things to listen to even in SUC -- but i'm sure E/L understand that there's a lot more at stake for a band like U2 than fidelity to their original vision. however, this is a situation where (and i think Edge mentioned this cryptically in an interview) the original vision likely would have done better than the uncertain, confused album we actually got.

i don't think that's the situation here. it sounds like the quality of the material wasn't there, or at least they didn't think it was there, until recently. i don't think the DM material was in danger of getting lost in esoterica, like they may have feared NLOTH was. it just may not have been that good (more the situation with Bomb).

I'm not sure if I ever bought that those three songs were solely made to support the album in the mainstream sense. Interviews with Lanois and others made it look like those songs were around for quite some time and, if anything, just went through a lot of changes or were worked on for some time (at least GOYB and SUC anyway). Now how they factored into decisions for the final track listing, who knows? But at the same time, it's hard for me to think that they would have released anything that didn't have at least some sort of basis in their rock roots. Not that a few of the other songs didn't (Breathe, for instance), but it's not like they didn't have something invested in them either. They played Boots at just about every show, after all.

Overall, I've always felt that the problem with the "middle 3" wasn't that they were last minute additions, had guitar and lacked ambiance, or worked on too long, or whatever. At the end of the day, they were just average songs. That was about it in a nutshell.

I do remember Lanois saying how hard it was to work with people who are so intense (though Lanois's description of his first working with Bob Dylan shows he's intense as well). He felt glad Danger Mouse was on the new record instead of him. Eno did say that he thought people would like NLOTH but he also complained about Winter not being finished for the record.

I don't believe E/L will never work with U2 again. Bono even said that he would always work with E/L again. I could actually see them working again and trying to correct whatever mistakes they made in the last time around.

Lanois recently said he liked how some of the NLOTH leftovers are still "on the burner" for the new album and he likes Bono's vocals. Lillywhite did make a jab at Danger Mouse and how "he thinks U2 should sound", but that could be sour grapes for not being included this time. Without hearing the new music it's hard to tell.

BTW if NLOTH was missing Breathe it would be a much poorer record for it IMHO.

I think if Brian Eno could work it out with U2 when they didn't give him enough credits in ATYCLB then the last album shouldn't be a problem. I think any one of the old guard would jump at the chance of being in another U2 album.

I would like the old guard to be there for their last album.

I want to say that Edge hinted in late 2009 that they were talking to Eno about possibly returning to look over some leftover tracks from NLOTH. Rolling Stone maybe? If that was the case, it wouldn't sound like they were closed off to working with each other again.

 

[BVS]

From the 2 tunes recently they ain't hungry, so either we get more of that or we get a new thing with great tunes.....

I'm curious what you consider a hungry song(non U2) these days?



Sent from my iPhone using U2 Interference

 

[mikal]

I'm curious what you consider a hungry song(non U2) these days?



Sent from my iPhone using U2 Interference

I don't think any songs pack as much hunger as U2 songs these days


Sent from my iPhone using U2 Interference

 

[PhilsFan]

Bono has had writer's block since 1999.

 

[purpleoscar]

I think it's ridiculous to say at this point that U2 have no hunger for great music. There's great music in all their albums this past decade. I'm sure there'll be 5 awesome songs on the new record at least. Crossing my fingers for more.

 

[david]

I would sincerely doubt a few, if any, albums after this one.

They are lazy now. If nothing else. They aren't hungry....(insert Bono joke).
Maybe this album comes out and proves this wrong. Great!
War was hungry. So was UF, JT, AB, Zooropa, ATYCLB (even if it was hungry on a diet)...

From the 2 tunes recently they ain't hungry, so either we get more of that or we get a new thing with great tunes.....

Pretty sure Bono is hungry.

 

[Salome]

Discussions on how No Line would have been a better album if non-existent songs had been included instead of songs that are there are even more tedious than discussions about POP.
Personally I enjoy the middle 3 very much and think the album would feel like a drag if those songs would be in the same vein as the first 4.
Of course if they would have been replaced by tremendous songs perfectly fitting in with the mood and theme of the album then, yes, it would be better.
The same as that every album ever released would have been better if some songs had been replaced with superior songs fitting perfectly on the album.

 

[bonocomet]

...
Personally I enjoy the middle 3 very much and think the album would feel like a drag if those songs would be in the same vein as the first 4.
....

Hey! That's almost the exact thing I said back in 2011!

(Of course the only response was "". Yes I'm nuts obviously!)

 

[Galeongirl]

Hey! That's almost the exact thing I said back in 2011!

(Of course the only response was "" .)

Same here. I still love Crazy Tonight quite a lot, and SUC and Boots are okay. Love the music on SUC, the lyrics don't bother me as much.

 

[Tyagu_Anaykus]

Finally! I thought I was alone on that one!

 

[Zoo Lemon]

Not a highlight, but AC plays a fat bass there, probably the most prominent in NLOTH. And when the Josephine line comes, I can't help but singing it, picturing a Bono/Napoleon in my mind.

 

[Reg McGowan]

03 U2 - Desire - YouTube

Everything you need to know is in that first 48 seconds..

hahahahaha, yes !

Amazing rendition of "Desire" here...full of the energy of that era of U2.

 

[Mrs. Garrison]

Those middle 3 songs were terrible on the album

slightly better live (GOYB was okay live, Crazy Tonight sounded like old guys trying to be something they weren't)

However if the middle 3 float your boat, then good for you.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

For me Stand Up Comedy suffered from the same issue as unknown caller did... Great musically, dog shit lyrics.

Perhaps Bono does have writers block. Is it possible to have writers block and diarrhea of the mouth at the same time?

 

[djerdap]

Considering Bono's lyrical output in the last 14 years, his writer's block could be the best thing that happened to this "project".

Reinvention!

 

[Reg McGowan]

I've been bidding on ATYCLB on Vinyl on Ebay in Mint condition but had to drop the bidding race, it's now at 200$ US for Christ's sake !!

Why is this album so expensive on Ebay ?? Rarity ?

 

[Zimmy1987]

I've been bidding on ATYCLB on Vinyl on Ebay in Mint condition but had to drop the bidding race, it's now at 200$ US for Christ's sake !!

Why is this album so expensive on Ebay ?? Rarity ?

Not a lot of albums were on vinyl during the late 90s/early 00s. If an album was on vinyl, there weren't many pressed.

 

[Zimmy1987]

I've been bidding on ATYCLB on Vinyl on Ebay in Mint condition but had to drop the bidding race, it's now at 200$ US for Christ's sake !!

Why is this album so expensive on Ebay ?? Rarity ?

You can find it cheaper here.

http://www.discogs.com/marketplace?release_id=676619&ev=rb

 

[Reg McGowan]

You can find it cheaper here.

http://www.discogs.com/marketplace?release_id=676619&ev=rb

Thanks Zimmy !

Still horribly expensive...oh well...I guess if you really want it, cough up the green ! Collectible stuff

 

[LadySpinHead]

Thanks Zimmy !

Still horribly expensive...oh well...I guess if you really want it, cough up the green ! Collectible stuff

Keep an eye on Discogs- you can have them send you a message when one comes up for sale. I got my vinyl ATYCLB from there for a decent price (<$80 US) a couple of years ago.

 

[Reg McGowan]

Keep an eye on Discogs- you can have them send you a message when one comes up for sale. I got my vinyl ATYCLB from there for a decent price (<$80 US) a couple of years ago.

Thanks for the input !

POP is ridiculously expensive too. Prices go up as years go by for sure...