New Album Discussion 1 - Songs of..... - Unreasonable guitar album

[BEAL]

I’m hoping with all this stuff and several albums they are basically writing several projects and developing them through to nearly done as a way of filling in time while Larry is recovering. It would make sense for them to have the work done sans final recording for a bunch of things and then just smash through it with Larry. Maybe that is where Bono’s “we’re not releasing SOA now” stuff comes from. Queue them up, record them, drop them over the next 5-6 years, bail around their 70ths

We all know this is not the case.

For probably 20 years now we have heard how they have so many songs. So much material, and even how they’ll release follow up albums immediately….

Yet we never ever see (or hear ) it.

I think the two truths are

Bono and edge consider every sound a potential song. A riff, a lyric, whatever. So technically they may have 4 billion songs. A unreasonable guitar album is probably just an unreasonable amount of Edge riffs recorded on his phone.

They cannot stop tinkering with whatever songs are finished. I don’t doubt they have loads of songs in the vault, but they cannot let go of being the perfect pop/beatles song so they will tinker

 

[The John Tree]

Agreed on the podcasts. Especially something like Conan, those interviews typically are focused on the rise to the top and their influences and how they got to where they are. Which is fine, except we’ve heard that story a million times.

It’s kind of like every time we get a new Spider-Man, we see the radioactive spider bite. Every new Batman, the Waynes get popped in the street. So on and so forth.

Rick Beato would be interesting because he’d skip right past that and focus on the songwriting.

 

[The John Tree]

Bono and edge consider every sound a potential song.

Adam has said this before about Bono. Something along the lines of “Bono thinks he’s playing me a completed song and all I hear is a bunch of parts that need work,” or something to that effect.

 

[DeVaul]

Adam has said this before about Bono. Something along the lines of “Bono thinks he’s playing me a completed song and all I hear is a bunch of parts that need work,” or something to that effect.

For a bit now, Adam is the only one whose public comments seem realistic, and he has probably had the POV on songs and approach that most closely aligns with the hardcore fanbase. (Larry just don’t talk much)

 

[dan_smee]

I’m not sold there isn’t a bunch of stuff well progressed. They’ve had 7 years, including the covid period. They simply
Have to have written a ton of stuff. If Larry isn’t injured, there would have been another album by now. What is highly possible is them shelving it all for new things, but I doubt very much they are starting with nothing.

 

[Scorpionac]

It’s kind of like every time we get a new Spider-Man, we see the radioactive spider bite.

Thank god we don't get a musical every time.

 

[Fly-2000]

They're just hoarders, think an old idea might come in handy later on and some just never get that chance.

 

[ascender_RS]

I’m not sold there isn’t a bunch of stuff well progressed. They’ve had 7 years, including the covid period. They simply
Have to have written a ton of stuff. If Larry isn’t injured, there would have been another album by now. What is highly possible is them shelving it all for new things, but I doubt very much they are starting with nothing.

I think it was Adam who was doing promo for SOS and he was saying that until they know they can tour an album, they find it difficult to really focus on an album and get it finished.

So there was COVID and no Larry = no tour = no album.

They lack focus and as we also know, if they aren't "feeling it" with songs or possibly even whole albums, they will just shelve them.

 

[lazarus]

I also like that ATYCLB feels more sonically diverse, whereas Bomb has a cohesive guitar sound. You can admire the consistency, but by the time we get to ABOY, I need a break.

I'll give you this. I don't like the "back to basics" direction, but within this pop version of their classic selves, the album does have a wide range of sounds/styles, and I credit Eno/Lanois for that.

The issue is more with the concise recording process and not exploring the tracks more as they usually do; the finished products mostly sound entombed and aren't allowed to breathe.

So with Bomb they sacrifice a wider palette but it sounds looser, more alive. ABOY is the most generic song on the album and yeah, when you get to that point it might add some energy but it doesn't deepen the experience.

IMO Bomb has the best track order out of all their 21st century albums and requires the least tinkering, but if I was going to make a move I would probably put Crumbs in the #6/Side Two opener slot, and put ABOY in between One Step Closer and OOTS to give things some juice in the final stretch.

 

[ChurchBay]

I have some fondness for Bomb while recognizing it's not their best work. Like a few people here it was my first exposure to U2, at age 13 in 2005. I really liked Vertigo and was disappointed when I bought ATYCLB to find that Elevation was really the only rock song on there.

From there I went to the 80s best of, which might as well have been a different band entirely. But super glad I made the jump, cause after that I devoured all their music within months, including Mercy, which -- I'm not gonna lie -- reminds me of being an angsty teenager, just like the rest of Bomb.

Lovely post. I think I was too naïve a teenager to be angsty. Like you Vertigo was my hook, which in hindsight I find odd because even then my instinctive tastes were towards melodic melancholy and atmosphere (I loved whatever Travis and Coldplay put out in the early 00s).

The best of album never came my way nor was it ever sought out. I stuck with my lot but it was my brother who was a lot more curious and was first on board the classic U2 train by buying Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby. Other bands had taken my tastes but then I bought Zoo TV on DVD and watching that smashed my musical ceiling. I didn't even consider myself that big a fan of Achtung Baby till I watched that show. After that, it became my favourite album of all time.

It's a shame - I really wish U2 could make their stuff so much more accessible. Find a way to release those live shows on streaming, give people a flavour of the Sphere show by releasing it on Disney or something (rather than some shaky phone recording on youtube). Do what Springsteen has done and release live recordings. Everything's too exclusive in their world which is ironic given that the most famous thing they've done over the last decade or so is giving SOI away for free by spamming it into everyone's itunes. If they did, then so many more could have the revelation of their greatness like I did.

 

[ChurchBay]

I'll give you this. I don't like the "back to basics" direction, but within this pop version of their classic selves, the album does have a wide range of sounds/styles, and I credit Eno/Lanois for that.

The issue is more with the concise recording process and not exploring the tracks more as they usually do; the finished products mostly sound entombed and aren't allowed to breathe.

So with Bomb they sacrifice a wider palette but it sounds looser, more alive. ABOY is the most generic song on the album and yeah, when you get to that point it might add some energy but it doesn't deepen the experience.

IMO Bomb has the best track order out of all their 21st century albums and requires the least tinkering, but if I was going to make a move I would probably put Crumbs in the #6/Side Two opener slot, and put ABOY in between One Step Closer and OOTS to give things some juice in the final stretch.

Good point - I never much pondered the track order of Bomb in the way I have done with other albums around it. I sometimes wondered if the album could open with City of Blinding Lights but that would do it a disservice / misrepresent things from the off. It's long intro and atmosphere would lead too many to compare it to Streets as well. I love where it is and I love that it's position as a tentpole in the middle of the album.

Vertigo works perfectly in that it just cuts to the chase perfectly. It may be naff, cheesy, irritating to some but it electrifies and I think the lads and Lillywhite did a grand job remoulding an existing song into what was a massive smash hit.

 

[lazarus]

Exactly. On a "typical" U2 album, COBL would have been a great opener, but it would be misrepresenting Bomb and what its overall intention was as a rock statement ("This is our first album", e.g.).

Now if we look at SOI, which had a different mission, The Miracle isn't as necessary or fitting in that opening slot. The knowledge that they had intended to begin the album with This Is Where... is really frustrating because we know they changed it due to the Apple arrangement, and subsequently forgot the track existed during the corresponding tour. a shame as its one of the album's best.

 

[trevgreg]

I'd love this to be the case, but as we all know and even they admit, there will be a whole lot of "noodling" going on and 40-100 "songs" for a while and at some point something will come into focus and we'll get to hear 10 of them.

And that's your lot for 5 years.

Time considerations aside, that's usually how every single album that ever gets written gets finished. You write a few dozen ideas or demos in various degrees of being finished, and keep hammering away until you have 10 or 12 you’re more or less happy with. And those are the ones you put out into the world. I don’t think it’s unique to U2 or any other band really in that respect.

I get how “tinkering” or “over baked” gets used like it’s a less than desirable thing at times, and the wait as a fan can definitely be frustrating. But I also know well enough that the initial ideas are never always the best ones, and for every track that is finished, there is usually 3-4 ideas that are awful or average at best. And those are the ones that a songwriter would hate putting out there.

 

[dan_smee]

I think it was Adam who was doing promo for SOS and he was saying that until they know they can tour an album, they find it difficult to really focus on an album and get it finished.

So there was COVID and no Larry = no tour = no album.

They lack focus and as we also know, if they aren't "feeling it" with songs or possibly even whole albums, they will just shelve them.

Yeah and I don’t doubt that’s true for the concrete concept of an album made with U2 as a whole. They are also not dumb (despite some questionable decisions), and if Bono and edge have been developing projects, they might be in far more complete shape than the usual shopping bag if snippets they have when they start an album.

 

[ferball415]

Oh—they’re dumb, alright (winking at DeVaul)..

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you fellow Yank clowns and rats. Ehh happy Thanksgiving to all of youse guys.

If only we could communally watch Live in Sydney for its (belated) 31st oh wait……

 

[vaz020202]

u2 at #12 on the UK midweek album charts. Probs will fall outside top 10 as anyone who wanted it would have bought on the Friday or Saturday

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Just missed it

 

[vaz020202]

u2 at #12 on the UK midweek album charts. Probs will fall outside top 10 as anyone who wanted it would have bought on the Friday or Saturday

Think it ended up #50

 

[ChurchBay]

Exactly. On a "typical" U2 album, COBL would have been a great opener, but it would be misrepresenting Bomb and what its overall intention was as a rock statement ("This is our first album", e.g.).

Now if we look at SOI, which had a different mission, The Miracle isn't as necessary or fitting in that opening slot. The knowledge that they had intended to begin the album with This Is Where... is really frustrating because we know they changed it due to the Apple arrangement, and subsequently forgot the track existed during the corresponding tour. a shame as its one of the album's best.

That's the one that annoys me. One of the standout tunes from SOI and it's punted almost as an afterthought right towards the end when it is bona fide made to be a strong opener. And very fresh and different sounding for U2.

By the way, has it ever been discussed on here who the producer Bono mentions in his autobiography who told them they'd "never work in LA ever again"? Is it Danger Mouse?

 

[vaz020202]

I don’t remember that line in the autobiography. Danger Mouse isn’t a big cheese, he isn’t an influential figure in the business

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Straight from the original leaker...

Thread 'Finally.. We all have Mercy!!!!' Finally.. We all have Mercy!!!!

 

[wolbersu2]

Straight from the original leaker...

Thread 'Finally.. We all have Mercy!!!!' Finally.. We all have Mercy!!!!

And what a great song 'luckiest' is!!!

 

[PookaMacP]

Some nice insight from Edge here (on a Record Store day podcast) about how Luckiest Man came together. It never would have dawned on me that it was Bono playing some of the guitar parts in the intro.

The Record Store Day Podcast with Paul Myers

Listen from around 54:40 for the reference to Luckiest Man.

 

[ChurchBay]

How would a Sci-fi folk album sound? No doubt that they could lean effortlessly into folk - it's a surprise they haven't done so but as an Irish rock band that made it big, perhaps they were keen to stray far from the image that is stereotypical in some people's eyes. Whether people like it or not, U2 were cultural representatives of an Ireland undergoing rapid change and modernity in the late 20th century / early 21st century. And their musical exploration in that time underpinned and foresaw the modern Ireland that we have today (I really believe that). Maybe going down the folk route just didn't suit that.

Regardless, Van Diemen's Land is a beautiful tune and Running to Stand Still sort of has folksy elements. They could drop the sci fi bit and easily go folk I'm sure. It's surprising how untapped they are in that area.

 

[vaz020202]

How would a Sci-fi folk album sound? No doubt that they could lean effortlessly into folk - it's a surprise they haven't done so but as an Irish rock band that made it big, perhaps they were keen to stray far from the image that is stereotypical in some people's eyes. Whether people like it or not, U2 were cultural representatives of an Ireland undergoing rapid change and modernity in the late 20th century / early 21st century. And their musical exploration in that time underpinned and foresaw the modern Ireland that we have today (I really believe that). Maybe going down the folk route just didn't suit that.

Regardless, Van Diemen's Land is a beautiful tune and Running to Stand Still sort of has folksy elements. They could drop the sci fi bit and easily go folk I'm sure. It's surprising how untapped they are in that area.

This is a very good point. U2 get criticised for not sounding Irish but yet don’t get the praise for not leaning on the regular cliche Irish tropes, the type of stuff Americans love so much

 

[lazarus]

Straight from the original leaker...

Fergie is on this forum??

 

[The John Tree]

Regardless, Van Diemen's Land is a beautiful tune and Running to Stand Still sort of has folksy elements. They could drop the sci fi bit and easily go folk I'm sure. It's surprising how untapped they are in that area.

I just don’t know if I want a whole project in that direction. Van Diemen’s Land is gorgeous…and then Desire comes and blows you out of your seat. Running to Stand Still is absolutely stunning…and then Red Hill Mining Town comes and hits you with that massive chorus.

Even White As Snow is followed by Breathe. While I’m not crazy about the band’s pop rock/garage rock/riff-y leanings of their third phase, they are still a rock band. I’m still a sucker for Larry pounding the toms and a big anthemic chorus from Bono over a soundscape from Edge. That part will never get old.

 

[dan_smee]

How would a Sci-fi folk album sound? No doubt that they could lean effortlessly into folk - it's a surprise they haven't done so but as an Irish rock band that made it big, perhaps they were keen to stray far from the image that is stereotypical in some people's eyes. Whether people like it or not, U2 were cultural representatives of an Ireland undergoing rapid change and modernity in the late 20th century / early 21st century. And their musical exploration in that time underpinned and foresaw the modern Ireland that we have today (I really believe that). Maybe going down the folk route just didn't suit that.

Regardless, Van Diemen's Land is a beautiful tune and Running to Stand Still sort of has folksy elements. They could drop the sci fi bit and easily go folk I'm sure. It's surprising how untapped they are in that area.

I would imagine it’d sound somewhere in the intersection of kindergarten TTTYAATW, SOS Invisible and Dissapearing Act.

 

[JamietheEdgefan]

I'd imagine any folk elements will be absorbed into a wider 'U2 sound'. As Edge said, all the avenues he and Bono are exploring outside of the band right now are "likely to be folded into the U2 project", and I imagine that's true in terms of sound as well.

They said it about SoI/working with Dangermouse, and they're saying it now - that they venture outside of the band sound and try out more unusual, experimental stuff, and then reign it back in to a more classic U2 sound.

So I'm sure there will very much still be all the big choruses, full band sounds etc that define U2, and any folk elements (if they even survive - maybe they'll get discarded!) will be layered along with the rest of the band, e.g. the folk musicians Edge mentions they're working with. And with perhaps one or two quieter songs that lean more into a folky arrangement.

 

[ascender_RS]

I'd rather they took a wild swing at something new which didn't quite come off than play it safe again. But they're still focused on a single album & tour so it's highly unlikely we'll hear any of the experimental stuff in a form that will surprise us.

Bands make their money from touring now, it's not about how many albums and singles you sell. So if a band are going through a really creative spell, what's to stop them releasing an album which could be "sci-fi folk" whilst working on the next "proper" one. I guess that's how we got to hear Passengers all those years ago.