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

[Headache in a Suitcase]

It always amuses me when people make suggestions that the band will never entertain. Deep cut shows, an EP to whet people's appetites between LPs, big release of archival material, etc.

Not happening. These guys suck and have been following awful instincts and advice for over 15 years. Even the tease about a rotating oldies setlist during the Sphere residency was bullshit and turned into the R&H section. They finally release the long-awaited Mercy and can't even give us the actual version people liked that was about to go to press with the rest of that album. A movie about the JT anniversary tour shot by Anton Corbijn that gets shelved.

Phil Joanou posted publicly about working on a restoration of Rattle and Hum. What do you think the odds are that it gets released any time soon? Or Edge's recent words about revisiting/celebrating Pop in some way. Good luck with that.

Stop having so much optimism and respect for them and you'll be less disappointed.

I... I critiqued them for being lazy, sir.

 

[2861U2]

I heard Picture Of You on the radio on my way to work today. Thought that was incredibly odd. That replaces The First Time as the most obscure song I've heard on the radio. And actually, a few days prior the same station played Lemon. Can't say I've ever heard that on the radio before.

 

[MattD]

The World Cup is no Johnstone's Paint Trophy...

Fortunately millions of other competitions and nations to keep the spirit of the game alive, rather than bastardising it into a dumb corporate American sport.

 

[MattD]

I don’t feel as frustrated by delays as I used to - partly because it’s been so long at this point that tacking on another 6 months or whatever doesn’t seem like such a big deal in the grand scheme of things.

But mainly because the longer they take, and the more times they start over, the more distance they put between themselves and the ‘Songs of’ era.

With a couple of exceptions, I just didn’t love the overall sound or style of that era, particularly the Ryan Tedder style, and the extent to which the attempt to ‘modernise’ the band made them sound less unique and unusual. Not to mention songs like ‘Summer of Love’ that were essentially re-worked One Republic sketches, and didn’t feel fundamentally conjured up by U2 themselves.

And having two ‘songs of’ titles, and near-identical tours may have worked if the albums had been released together, or a year apart, but as a fan, waiting three years to get a continuation of the same, rather than a new era, did leave me feeling underwhelmed and a little disappointed when SoE and the Experience and Innocence tour finally materialised. The whole thing was missing a part of the magic I’d feel when they started a new chapter.

So the longer they take, I reckon the greater the chances are that we’ll get that experience of a new ‘era’. And I’d rather a new, novel album in 2026 than if we’d already had another Ryan Tedder produced ‘Songs of’ album by now.

(… Of course, ideally I’d rather a new, innovative album from them right now. But this is the silver lining I’m trying to find in all this silence.)

Astonishing that a band that prided itself on renewal and invention just churned out the same mediocre MOR stuff from Innocnece onwards. The creative spirit well and truly deserted them.

 

[Achtung Ya'll]

I heard Picture Of You on the radio on my way to work today. Thought that was incredibly odd. That replaces The First Time as the most obscure song I've heard on the radio. And actually, a few days prior the same station played Lemon. Can't say I've ever heard that on the radio before.

Holy crap. No way does Picture of You replace The First Time though. There's a big commercial push for HTDAAB. The First Time is such a weird quiet song (one of my all-time faves) that it doesn't make any sense for it being on the radio! Picture of You has total radio quality.

 

[Salome]

I heard 11 o clock tick tock (single version, not UABRS) on the radio a week or so ago.
That took me by surprise.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

I haven't listened to music on the actual radio in at least a decade, but they play picture of you on Sirius channels like the Spectrum all the time.

 

[DeVaul]

Astonishing that a band that prided itself on renewal and invention just churned out the same mediocre MOR stuff from Innocnece onwards. The creative spirit well and truly deserted them.

TBF, that’s only like… 2 albums.

 

[MattD]

TBF, that’s only like… 2 albums.

If you count Songs of Surrender which, while a few songs have been brilliantly reinvented, for the most part is 'U2 for elevators'. Their peddling of the Songs of... albums on that compilation shows they have no self awareness regarding the poor reception of most of those songs.

 

[DeVaul]

If you count Songs of Surrender

What now?

 

[trevgreg]

I haven't listened to music on the actual radio in at least a decade, but they play picture of you on Sirius channels like the Spectrum all the time.

Alt Nation even played it a few times, which was surprising (or maybe not, as Sirius is pretty U2-friendly as it is).

Some of the terrestrial stations under the AAA format gave it some decent airplay after the release too.

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

I love Picture Of You

 

[JWR1992]

Sirius stations playing a lot of U2 is kind of expected tho since they have a U2 channel. I have mine set to where it comes up with a push notification when a channel is playing U2 songs. I swear there was literally one time 4-5 stations came up at the same time playing U2.

 

[phanan]

I thought I was lost for a moment

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Heyyyy guys... Take it to FYM.

Or, rather, let me move your posts to FYM!

An off topic post or the occasional political pun or shot at someone is fine and expected. It's a discussion board, after all. But once it starts becoming multiple posts, we're just simply going to move it to the proper location. Especially political posts.

By all means - continue your discussions there. Be loud and angry (but respectful) - but be loud and angry in the appropriate part of the forum. We're only banning trolls, blatant racists and spammers these days - so go hog wild.

 

[lazarus]

I have mine set to where it comes up with a push notification when a channel is playing U2 songs.

I'm trying to comprehend why a longtime fan would be this desperate to hear music they can pull up at any time on their own.

 

[DaveC]

i'm trying to comprehend why someone who lives in LA would be struggling with the notion of changing radio stations to find the best song while in traffic.

 

[Registered Dude]

I'm trying to comprehend why a longtime fan would be this desperate to hear music they can pull up at any time on their own.

ahh cmon.. to be fair - do you need to comprehend?

the world is shit. we all enjoy the little joys that life offers in our own ways

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

U2 Song Notifications 1, Laz 0

 

[TinKnight]

has u2 released a new album yet son?

 

[mikal]

Why doesn't U2 write lyrics about the Lakers more often?

 

[Hewson]

Why doesn't U2 write lyrics about the Lakers more often?

Bronny Threw a Brick at the Backboard

 

[JWR1992]

I'm trying to comprehend why a longtime fan would be this desperate to hear music they can pull up at any time on their own.

How about you eat my ass?

 

[DeVaul]

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

How about you eat my ass?

Careful or I'll move your post to pleba

 

[dan_smee]

Careful or I'll move your post to pleba

Shut down the forum. We have peaked, and can get no higher.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Bronny Threw a Brick at the Backboard

i've been racking my brain trying to come up with anything else and nothing can approach this.

bravo, sir. you won the pun war with the first shot.

 

[mikal]

i've been racking my brain trying to come up with anything else and nothing can approach this.

bravo, sir. you won the pun war with the first shot.

The only pun I could think of was Flop (The Poverty), but I like Hewson's more.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

The only pun I could think of was Flop (The Poverty), but I like Hewson's more.

i had JJ Swallow typed out but it seemed... weird.

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

Bono Ate The Lakers' Buffet After Elvis Ate America