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

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The album is having a little renaissance though. It certainly does sound fresh. Plot 180 is the only thing that sounds of a time, and even in 1995 I think it would have felt like a throwback (not a diss, just a sounds thing for me). I talked to a few people in the line at my record store saying they were buying it and never listened to it until the RSD release was announced. Weren’t massive u2 fans but were intrigued by the collab and didn’t realise they were artists like that.
 
I really dig One Minute Warning and I can't entirely describe why. Especially the last 1:12 or so when the vocals and random guitar kick in.
Yeah, same here. It's basically the peak Eno/U2 sound....maybe it draws back to UF a little bit with it's atmospheric guitar and chanting. I always bummed that last min didn't drag on out longer or have it be a full song of chants
 
What I remember most about the Passengers era was that it really just felt like the next step in the ride of creative audacity that U2 was taking us on after Zooropa and “Hold Me”. I remember them telling us they were working on two albums, this one and Pop. I was all for the utter confidence that they could do anything creatively. Passengers has some great stuff, and I do enjoy it overall, but I love that they put it out, and weren’t yet worried that it wasn’t “U2 enough”, same with Pop.
 
I wonder if their hindsight hatred of Passengers is more to do with the fact that it compressed their working time on Pop so much that it was rushed out and the U2 project was compromised for a flighty indulgence.
 
I wonder if their hindsight hatred of Passengers is more to do with the fact that it compressed their working time on Pop so much that it was rushed out and the U2 project was compromised for a flighty indulgence.
If they were smart, they'd thank Passengers for limiting their time to eventually tinker and overcook POP.
 
It's kinda bullshit that one minute warning isn't only a minute long

When I first acquired the album, I legit felt like that was a weird choice; especially if there was any intention of it being in a film...but we all know those suspenseful countdowns in movies are never the actual length they say. So, maybe it adds up, considering.
 
I wonder if their hindsight hatred of Passengers is more to do with the fact that it compressed their working time on Pop so much that it was rushed out and the U2 project was compromised for a flighty indulgence.
I'm sure having an annoyed drummer saying "I fucking told you so," didn't help.
 
When I first acquired the album, I legit felt like that was a weird choice; especially if there was any intention of it being in a film...but we all know those suspenseful countdowns in movies are never the actual length they say. So, maybe it adds up, considering.
It actually is in a film:


The ending credits theme of the film's English version is "One Minute Warning" by Passengers, a collaboration between U2 and Brian Eno. The song appeared on the album Original Soundtracks 1, and was one of three songs on that album to actually be featured in a film.[25][26] Andy Frain, the founder of Manga Entertainment and an executive producer on the film, was a former marketing director for Island Records, the record label that publishes U2's songs.[4]
 
Passengers is an album I still have mixed feelings about. When I started my U2 mega-fandom c2001, it wasn't on my radar right away; didn't know it existed. After I realized the 90s material was far-and-away my favorite and subsequently finding out about Passengers, I had to have a copy. My dad drove me out to a Barnes & Noble to get the only CD copy I could find in-stock somewhat locally (in the days before online ordering was commonplace). I had heard Miss Sarajevo at that point and loved it, but listening to the whole of the album, I think I went in with too many Zooropa-level expectations and came out feeling like "Oh, I get it. Eno worked with the band so much in the background that he said 'My turn, guys' and the other four are just passengers on a largely Eno project." I guess I still have a little of that feeling; though I know U2 were more involved than that.

I wanted it to bridge the gap between Zooropa and POP, but really it is the gap. It's largely a deviation from either of those albums and since it's not labeled a U2 album, I know that was the intent of it. For some reason, that didn't sink in with my teenage brain back then. So, it's been a grower. I still find much of it very "random"; which makes sense given its experimental nature. It's funny because I like most of it now, but I still can't get myself to think of it as some great album; more of an interesting, yet sometimes challenging listen.

Highlights: Slug, YBR, AFN, Beach, Miss Sarajevo, Corpse, Plot 180, OMW, TFLGN (though I wish it had more substance)

Take or leave: ADKOB (though it's growing on me because it feels like the start of a three-track sequence), Ito Okashi, TFTS

Low point: Elvis Ate America - I just can't figure out what mood you'd have to be in to think of this as a banger, nor what audience this is supposed to cater to. I'm not a big Elvis fan, but I feel like even if I was, I'd still be scratching my head like WTF. It feels like the self-indulgent Bono moment and sticks out like a sore thumb.
 
Low point: Elvis Ate America - I just can't figure out what mood you'd have to be in to think of this as a banger, nor what audience this is supposed to cater to. I'm not a big Elvis fan, but I feel like even if I was, I'd still be scratching my head like WTF. It feels like the self-indulgent Bono moment and sticks out like a sore thumb.
100% agree with this - that repeating "ELVIS!" in the background is a low point in their entire career imo...
 
Low point: Elvis Ate America - I just can't figure out what mood you'd have to be in to think of this as a banger, nor what audience this is supposed to cater to. I'm not a big Elvis fan, but I feel like even if I was, I'd still be scratching my head like WTF. It feels like the self-indulgent Bono moment and sticks out like a sore thumb.
I think I'm the only one who likes it. I enjoy the lyric and the song itself sounds like stopping at shitty gas station in the rural South. It's vibey.
 
I think I'm the only one who likes it. I enjoy the lyric and the song itself sounds like stopping at shitty gas station in the rural South. It's vibey.
I like it for what it is and to me it kind of foreshadows the trashy pop culture vibe of Pop, also an extension of the “Las Vegas Elvis” of MacPhisto
 
I wonder if their hindsight hatred of Passengers is more to do with the fact that it compressed their working time on Pop so much that it was rushed out and the U2 project was compromised for a flighty indulgence.
Funny, I've always thought of it as an ending rather than running into the Pop era. As in, it used up the creative energy that lingered post-Zoo TV, and also provided an ending to a period of working with Brian Eno. It was really their own fault that they gave themselves such a tight recording schedule for what became Pop.

Also, my impression is that it's only Larry that doesn't appreciate Passengers? The resurrection of Miss Sarajevo and Blue Room in subsequent tours suggests it holds something for the others - particularly Bono. When I became a mega fan in 1997, I remember reading Larry's statement on Passengers in Propaganda, as well as hearing Bono's defence of the record on the Year in Pop documentary (something like "Larry's just annoyed because we didn't let him play the drums"), and being struck by them airing their disagreements so openly. Nothing about that suggested it impinged on recording Pop.
 
I don’t mind Elvis… it’s kind of like a beat poem put to a quirky groove.
Were the lyrics not the poem/verse Bono had earlier written for Q magazine when they did a big feature on Elvis?

Not going to google it but certainly rings a bell.

There's clearly some stuff on there which is way more U2 compared to the Brian Eno end of the scale. I think it's a cool collection and with no expectation of it being a U2 album is the sort of thing I wish they'd just do. Might be good, might be bad, might be great, might be average, but try something and release it.
 
Just listening to the “In the Name of the Father” soundtrack again, and just made me think of what a roll U2 and Bono as a writer and singer was on in the 90’s. We could put together a whole other excellent album with the stray tracks outside of the three core U2 albums of the decade. Stuff like “In the Name of the Father, “You Made Me the Thief….”, so good. “Your spirit sings, though your lips never part.” Dang, that man could write.
 
A little more better than he has been lately?
Much More Better!!! LOL!!! I still think the muse is there ……stuff like “The Troubles”, SLABT, Invisible, Little Things (though I still think there’s a great song in there that they never quite cracked). Maybe it’s just age, energy, or work ethic that has slowed. That could go for all the guys I’m afraid
 
His decision to become so literal was where I feel things have gone south. Not to say there haven’t been some good ones

I actually think Best Thing is a good choice for being a very literal lyric but still captured the running theme throughout Bono’s career. Wanderlust

Where I didn’t like it was the rewrite of Mercy. Yes Bono, you’re the luckiest man in the world and you didn’t want to be.

Same basic concept as Best Thing, “why am i walking away…” but hits differently.

If they ever release new music my own preference would be back to drawing out the vowels vs cramming 8 billion words into a verse

Something about the dynamic of Edge, Adam, and Larry already creating a cosmic spacious landscape (at least 80s/90s) and to have Bono also be slightly minimalist in presenting the words….its what really made the magic

I don’t think they could do another Streets lyric

There’d be more words crammed into the verses and chorus
 
We went from having a fuck off guitar record, to something else but we’re just finishing it up with Larry, to we have no idea what we are doing

I haven’t been that impressed with Jack’s production sound with U2. Maybe it’s due to timing with U2 switching over to writing 3 min pop songs
 

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