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

[Headache in a Suitcase]

But I've not seen V-U2 pushed anywhere really.. I'm assuming at this point it's just a no-cost thing that exists and will generate a bit more cash for someone and provides something for people to see that's a product of the circumstances rather than a concerted effort to build buzz about a future record, single etc. It's just something that's there, take it or leave it.

nor should it be. it's a movie. a movie showed in an incredible venue, sure - but it's still just a movie.

i've heard great things - but i was in vegas in january and passed on going because, again, it's a movie.

it's there so people who aren't into gambling or partying have something to do. and it's likely on its way out - which i think will probably open it up for a public release of some sort.

 

[DancingBrft]

Not everyone will like everything, but I'd rather have a Passengers record exist than there be nothing. This was my favourite era of the band by a long shot.

Night & Day
Achtung Baby
Zooropa
(In The Name of the Father tracks)
Passengers
Pop

Never was a huge Sinead O’Connor fan, but “You Made Me the Thief of Your Heart” is a great performance of a great song

 

[TinKnight]

Man I miss the days of 2014. Just graduated college, money in my pocket from my big boy job, SoI had just come out, I&E tour tickets dropping. I feel like that was the last time it was particularly exciting to be a U2 fan. Maybe that's because the Sphere show fell pretty flat for me though.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

i wonder if a remastered Passengers will arrive on digital and streaming as well

 

[Rich79]

Not everyone will like everything, but I'd rather have a Passengers record exist than there be nothing. This was my favourite era of the band by a long shot.

Night & Day
Achtung Baby
Zooropa
(In The Name of the Father tracks)
Passengers
Pop

I'd even tag on The Million Dollar Hotel at the end; as some of those tracks, while more subdued, still have that "trying something out in left-field" vibe. Stateless, Ground Beneath, and Never Let Me Go are blissful pieces of music.

 

[lazarus]

nor should it be. it's a movie. a movie showed in an incredible venue, sure - but it's still just a movie.

i've heard great things - but i was in vegas in january and passed on going because, again, it's a movie.

Was U2-3D just a movie? Tell that to a young Interferencer getting a handy in one of the back rows.

#ylb #jaiho #squirtigo

 

[dan_smee]

Was U2-3D just a movie? Tell that to a young Interferencer getting a handy in one of the back rows.

#ylb #jaiho #squirtigo

#yaw-weh

 

[david]

Not everyone will like everything, but I'd rather have a Passengers record exist than there be nothing. This was my favourite era of the band by a long shot.

Night & Day
Achtung Baby
Zooropa
(In The Name of the Father tracks)
Passengers
Pop

And Hold Me Thrill Me…..

 

[dan_smee]

Well that was easy this morning.

 

[Fly-2000]

And Hold Me Thrill Me…..

I'm Not Your Baby too.

 

[ascender_RS]

Well that was easy this morning.

Nice one!

I don't live anywhere near a record shop now so I just need to hope there's some left on Monday or pay over the odds on eBay. Although I guess the RSD version isn't going to be anywhere near the cost of the original on vinyl.

 

[pacemaker]

Well that was easy this morning.

Nice, glad you got one. One of the record stores near me has 4 copies so I’m hoping I can pop down, grab it (and another record) and go home without having to bus around the city.

 

[dan_smee]

Not sure what they will do with numbers. They often over produce and I reckon they won’t think this will sell the same as regular u2 releases.

 

[lazarus]

Out of curiosity, how much is the LP going for in the USA?

 

[pacemaker]

$47 where I found it.

 

[dan_smee]

$99.95 in australia

 

[dan_smee]

While Passengers is notoriously polarising, some fans love it immediately and others like me needed to find a pathway inside to love the album. For those like me - which is the song that did it? My theory is most fans love the big two, but find the rest a challenge.

I’d always liked Miss Sarajevo and Your Blue Room was an easy one to love. I then spent a few years ignoring the album before I came to
Appreciate Slug and Always Forever Now. There it stayed for a good 10 years before one day One Minute Warning came on one day when I had my whole library on shuffle.

I had tried so hard for so long to get into the album but ran out of steam around Ito Okashi that I may have heard this song twice before and not been in the right headspace. It was wild. Urgent, dense and fascinating. I didn’t what it was because I couldn’t see the now playing b screen at the time. Then I heard the slide guitar and thought “that’s Edge. But what the hell is this?” I finally heard the “lonesome soul” vocal and realised. Everything about this album suddenly fell into place. It was like a switch was flicked and I started to love all of the weird and idiosyncratic twists and turns. I’m beyond excited to have this one vinyl. Such an unexpected treat this year.

 

[PookaMacP]

While Passengers is notoriously polarising, some fans love it immediately and others like me needed to find a pathway inside to love the album. For those like me - which is the song that did it? My theory is most fans love the big two, but find the rest a challenge.

I’d always liked Miss Sarajevo and Your Blue Room was an easy one to love. I then spent a few years ignoring the album before I came to
Appreciate Slug and Always Forever Now. There it stayed for a good 10 years before one day One Minute Warning came on one day when I had my whole library on shuffle.

I had tried so hard for so long to get into the album but ran out of steam around Ito Okashi that I may have heard this song twice before and not been in the right headspace. It was wild. Urgent, dense and fascinating. I didn’t what it was because I couldn’t see the now playing b screen at the time. Then I heard the slide guitar and thought “that’s Edge. But what the hell is this?” I finally heard the “lonesome soul” vocal and realised. Everything about this album suddenly fell into place. It was like a switch was flicked and I started to love all of the weird and idiosyncratic twists and turns. I’m beyond excited to have this one vinyl. Such an unexpected treat this year.

Great description. I love the way Edge's guitar has that jabbing, piercing effect. And the "lonesome soul" vocal fits the 'ghost' vibe very well.

 

[PookaMacP]

For those like me - which is the song that did it?

It was Ito Okashi for me. I always liked the first seven songs, plus Theme from Let's Go Native, but I struggled with some of the more challenging parts of the record.

Until one day I let it run on longer past Miss Sarajevo than I would normally. I remember that I was only half-listening when the lure of Holi's voice first made me pay attention, then opened my ears to those beautiful atmospherics that surround it. It was a proper "what the hell was that?" moment. With hindsight (and a little more musical knowledge, particularly of Eno's solo work), I can hear what they were going for quite clearly, but at that point it was like a blindfold had been removed and I could 'see' the album in a totally different way.

Once the door had opened, I kept coming back to explore those more experimental corners further. Now, I think Passengers stands as a testament to their abilities as artists - particularly to the breadth of their imaginations. It's certainly in my top 5 U2 (or U2 adjacent) albums. And although I can see why people don't like it, and why the band didn't want to put it out under the U2 banner, I don't think we can understand the band without it.

 

[pacemaker]

For the longest time I would put it on as I went to sleep and would usually pass out around Pavarotti’s verse in Miss Sarajevo, so I had a false sense of what the album actually was.

It wasn’t until recently when I moved to DC and started a daily commute to work through an urban landscape that OST1 became an occasional soundtrack to riding buses and metro cars. Even though the concept of the album would lend itself to every song sounding disparate from the others, the more I listened to it the more it gelled into a cohesive statement.

It feels like a career spanning mixtape turned into a remixed retrospective. U2 and Eno pulling from every nook and cranny of their career(s) and throwing it through the studio and musical experience of 1995. The best part about it, is that it comes out the other end not feeling or sounding dated (which, a lot of electronic leaning music from that era does, to me anyway).

It’s a mysterious curio that is everything I love about experimental pop. The “fabricated compilation” nature of the album might be what works against a lot of peoples’ abilities to appreciate and/or enjoy it as a whole.

 

[Joey788]

$47 where I found it.

I ran into similar prices. I like the album but that is just not worth it to me. I could buy two records from indie bands I love for that price.

But if this rerelease leads to even a tiny bit of reassessment of Passengers, I’ll take that as a win.

 

[trevgreg]

$38 USD where I found a copy. I live in an area where quite a few record stores are, but it was sold out at the first two I stopped by.

 

[JWR1992]

I checked 5 records stores in different parts of my home state and found nothing. I ended up buying a copy on eBay for $75

 

[The John Tree]

I struggle sometimes to find myself actively engaged when listening to U2 instrumentals. Which is not to denigrate the rest of the band, but 4-5 minutes of soundscape - as evocative as they may be - usually lends itself better to background noise while I'm thinking about something else, doing dishes, etc. If I'm driving in my car, it's hard for me to listen to something like One Minute Warning or Plot 180. Bono is *really* important to my enjoyment of the band's music, apparently.

As a result, it was the songs with vocals (U2 vocals) that did it for me: Slug, Your Blue Room, Miss Sarajevo, Corpse (These Chains Are Way Too Long), and even Elvis Ate America (which I quite like, actually) are the ones that did it for me. The 'big 2' and 'Corpse' in particular. I think Corpse is underrated.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

i've tried at least a dozen times to get into Passengers and - uh - yea. nope. i'm on #TeamLarry on this one. it has it's moments - but ultimately does absolutely nothing for me and i'm glad it was just a momentary diversion.

miss sarajevo. your blue room. slug. you guys can stay. everything else - meh - nah.

 

[super fly guy]

i've tried at least a dozen times to get into Passengers and - uh - yea. nope. i'm on #TeamLarry on this one. it has it's moments - but ultimately does absolutely nothing for me and i'm glad it was just a momentary diversion.

miss sarajevo. your blue room. slug. you guys can stay. everything else - meh - nah.

Yep,sends me to sleep. Absolutely dire,glad Lawrence put his foot down.

 

[mikal]

i've tried at least a dozen times to get into Passengers and - uh - yea. nope. i'm on #TeamLarry on this one. it has it's moments - but ultimately does absolutely nothing for me and i'm glad it was just a momentary diversion.

miss sarajevo. your blue room. slug. you guys can stay. everything else - meh - nah.

Always Forever Now is actually my favorite song on that album, even though it's mostly an instrumental. Otherwise, yeah those songs and Beach Sequence and I don't really need the rest. That's why I didn't drop $50 on it this weekend. Picked up a Marcus King live album instead.

 

[BEAL]

It was my go to study album. Put it on and was wonderful background noise while doing homework or reading some text.

Now the bigger "u2" sounding songs could always distract, but 90% of the album was perfect for creating that atmosphere of diving in

 

[jphelmet]

Always Forever Now and Slug are great.
Your Blue Room is pretty good.
Elvis ate America is mildly amusing.
Miss Sarajevo- so dull, and just brutal energy suck live. Never understood the love for this song.
The rest- eh.

 

[Irvine511]

I think I loved Passengers from the start. I was a teenager when it came out, and I think because it was U2 it got me to be more openminded towards instrumental and experimental music, which kind of primed me for a bit of a dive into techno a few years later. I think it still sounds fresh and modern, and I can see why people who like U2 likely don't like this album, because it isn't U2. I also viewed it as an artistic investment, and the payoff would come on the next album.

Alas.