i agree with you on North and South of the River and Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me.
i could not disagree more on Crystal Ballroom. It fits not just musically, but thematically - as it's technically speaking Bono's origin story.
New Album Discussion 1 - Songs of..... - Unreasonable guitar album
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i could not disagree more on Crystal Ballroom. It fits not just musically, but thematically - as it's technically speaking Bono's origin story.
Joey788
Refugee
I’m working on a custom Pop tracklist and will definitely be including I’m Not Your Baby and North & South of the River. Brilliant songs.
The John Tree
War Child
I alway thought North and South of the River should have been held until All That You Can't Leave Behind, replacing Peace on Earth, and it should have been re-recorded to sound like the version they performed at the Omagh tribute.
trevgreg
Rock n' Roll Doggie
You bring up a good point in that there could be some reasons why certain songs are left off or not finished completely. Sometimes it's just vibe or the sound, and sometimes it's even when a song might sound too close to someone else's.
Edge's recent comment about being excited about the Evidence of Life instrumental he did, then getting "spooked" when his brother suggested it was like the White Stripes' Seven Nation Army brought that to mind.
U2 Songs Summary - I basically had to play everything myself, and I left the studio, and I was so happy with it. Then I went to my brother’s house, and I was like ‘check this out’ and he just went ‘oh, it’s very like ‘Seven Nation Army’ isn’t it?’ I went ‘What? Shit, maybe you’re right.’
Although spooked by similarities to a chord structure in “Seven Nation Army” upon review Edge realized it was nothing like the song. “You can get spooked. You can get knocked off an idea. So objectivity is important.”
That might sound like a somewhat peculiar reason at times. But I can remember when Finger Eleven released their hit single "Paralyzer" in 2007, and many people proclaiming "They ripped off Take Me Out by Franz Ferdinand!" Granted, they later embraced the comparison and even mashed up the two live from time to time, but there can be sensitivities like that for the creative types out there. Same for the TV writers that stalk the fan Reddit forums and change their storyline, because they saw some random fan actually guess what was going to happen!
2861U2
Rock n' Roll Doggie Band-aid
New hour-long interview with Zane Lowe. Some album talk in the final two minutes. Larry has been "staying late working on his parts," they've got about 25 songs to narrow down to 10, and no timeline for release.
PookaMacP
War Child
Interesting comments, but I'm glad you pointed us to the right spot in the interview - because, boody hell Zane Lowe, tone down the sycophancy. I couldn't take him for more than two minutes.
PookaMacP
War Child
The John Tree
War Child
I agree. Zane Lowe seems to be a kiwi version of Jimmy Fallon, who is just dying to kiss the ass of whatever celebrity is right in front of him, acting as their biggest fan.
Zane does display a bit too much sycophancy but his knowledge of the band is excellent, and the way he was able to draw out a genuine discussion for The Joshua Tree provided us with one of the best U2 interviews. So I look forward to this interview.
Fallon on the other hand is just awful. Awful human being, asks the most vapid questions, there's no comparison.
The John Tree
War Child
He's actually pretty good at this!
25 songs which means it’s 25 single notes of a guitar line or a Bono lyric haha
In a few months it’ll be 50 songs cause a rich songwriting vein has been struck
How about a double album to end it all!
trevgreg
Rock n' Roll Doggie
Nah, this actually sounds par for the course and could be somewhere towards the end game here. 100+ ideas from 2018 narrowed down to 25 or so songs - in various stages of completion - that they're excited about. "Tinkering" with those ideas (aka: songwriting) until they're happy with at least ten of them. And maybe writing a few new ideas during that time to see if inspiration strikes? Yeah, I think this sounds like the usual way towards an album's finish.
Could they eventually not be happy with them at all down the road and throw some of them out? Sure. But with the way it's sounding and - perhaps more importantly - knowing they probably want to tour at some point here, I'd say it's finally looking like something could be coalescing here.
Could they eventually not be happy with them at all down the road and throw some of them out? Sure. But with the way it's sounding and - perhaps more importantly - knowing they probably want to tour at some point here, I'd say it's finally looking like something could be coalescing here.
Probably coalescing, but I think that still means early Spring 26 at the soonest
I was writing kind of a folksy song about five years ago and changed an entire segment because someone said "Is that the Stones' Let's Spend the Night Together?" and I freaked out a little. Different ears pick up different things (as evidenced by the comments about Crystal Ballroom above). It's sort of amazing.
I'll give you thematically, but to my ears, it's only one of two that have an unmistakable DM sound. The other being "This is where..." which sounds like it could be on a Broken Bells album. I guess I'll eat my own words a little here though because I do feel like SOI was the most cohesive record in theme and sound they've done this millennium. Either way, I love The Crystal Ballroom and really wish the rest of SOI sounded more like it!
Totally. Winter was mentioned earlier and it is totally a riff on the Viva La Vida framework (and I'd argue the ONLY time the two bands have sounded like each other, but I digress).
I was writing kind of a folksy song about five years ago and changed an entire segment because someone said "Is that the Stones' Let's Spend the Night Together?" and I freaked out a little. Different ears pick up different things (as evidenced by the comments about Crystal Ballroom above). It's sort of amazing.
And some of those are Bono with the MDH Band, not even U2.
Beach tits?
TinKnight
Refugee
there is no album
TinKnight
Refugee
nah, I'm kidding - this is probably the first time In the last 7 years where I actually feel like something concrete is being worked on.
my white whale (go ahead, hewson) would be the original danger mouse recordings.
you mention broken bells - and shit, that's exactly what i was hoping for when news first came out that they were working with DM.
The Disciple
New Yorker
Share it when you finalize it!
trevgreg
Rock n' Roll Doggie
Yes! The struggle is real, right? I still remember the one time I played a friend something and he started singing "Owner of a Lonely Heart" over it, so I quickly soured on that, needless to say!
Then I remember another time I came up with something and thought "Hey, that's pretty good!" Played it a week later and quickly realized Axl Rose might be suing me for reusing his "Civil War" melody if that ever got out. Granted, maybe two people would've ever heard it, but sometimes those realizations can be a good thing!
It's a great interview, Lowe always brings the best out of Bono, you can tell he's very comfortable and not self-conscious in his answers.
I've forgotten which part he discusses it, but discussing recording, he talks about 'feeling the room' again and complaining that rock n roll 'has got tight', with Zane rebutting him say 'U2 got tight, Songs of Innocence and Experience were tight'.
Citing Nirvana and Wunderhorse (latter not the heaviest act but last album certainly rough around the edges), seems he wants a live, raw and spontaneous sound? But we hear this all the time. Atomic Bomb was supposed to be that album. Songs of Experience was supposed to rectify the sterile sound of Innocence (reason they re-recorded it with Lillywhite I believe?).
It never really happens though, and they end up falling in line with the other bland polished MOR guitar acts. If they want to be ahead of the curve, break the rules so to speak and make an album that stands out sonically from their peers, then go down the raw spontaneous sound.
He talks a good game, but then you hear something as sterile and dull as Atomic City and you think 'I'm not sure if he gets it'. Maybe I'm being harsh, perhaps he's outmanoeuvred on this by bandmates who want that sterile radio friendly sound, and to be fair on Bono, going by the Pop chapter in his memoir, he is often the one pushing the band to extremes when everyone is against it.
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I don't find Atomic City to be sterile or dull.
Yeah I think that sums up the naffness of it perfectly.
OP
OP
dan_smee
ONE love, blood, life
Atomic City needs more credit. It reflects the subject matter well, its tongue in cheek, its grandiose in ways it had to be, but the instrumentation is a nice nod to the Clash without the overt “we were a punk band Ramones Ramones, Sex Pistols blah”.
I get that a lot of people are negative about the prospects for a new album noting a lot of the one off material of the last 8-9 years, but I think Atomic city IN CONTEXT provides a lot of hope. I’d add to that a lot of what we saw/heard around SOS (not the album itself). 40 Foot Man and the live in studio every breaking wave from the documentary were both massive positives for me.
I get that a lot of people are negative about the prospects for a new album noting a lot of the one off material of the last 8-9 years, but I think Atomic city IN CONTEXT provides a lot of hope. I’d add to that a lot of what we saw/heard around SOS (not the album itself). 40 Foot Man and the live in studio every breaking wave from the documentary were both massive positives for me.
jphelmet
Refugee
Atomic City is miles better than Your Song Save My Life or American Soul. Not even close. It also fit Vegas residency perfectly. I don’t want a whole album of it, it’s nowhere near their worst.
When I've tried putting HMTMKMKM on the album, I've usually put it second. I think last stab I ended up with something like this:
Zooropa
Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me
Babyface
Daddy's Gonna Pay For Your Crashed Car
Stay (Faraway, So Close)
Numb
Some Days Are Better Than Others
Lemon
Dirty Day
The First Time
The Wanderer (ft. Johnny Cash)
I'd swapped 'The First Time' and 'Dirty Day' a few times too. I think I'd probably do that again despite the thematics of having 'Dirty Day' following on from 'Lemon' for me.
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