Next Album Rumours Thread II - Songs of Ass Scent

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Chris Martin was 37 when Sky Full of Stars came out. Same age as Bono when Pop came out.

Bono was 57 when Best Thing came out. Same age as Jagger when Bridges to Babylon came out.

 

[JamietheEdgefan]

Chris Martin was 37 when Sky Full of Stars came out. Same age as Bono when Pop came out.

Bono was 57 when Best Thing came out. Same age as Jagger when Bridges to Babylon came out.

Damn, that sure puts it in perspective! Good point.

I agree with you that their best shot is likely a 'Little Things' style, mature, unashamedly U2 song at this point.

 

[lazarus]

Bono was 57 when Best Thing came out. Same age as Jagger when Bridges to Babylon came out.

I've been drawing this comparison for a while.

I'd rather be in U2's position at this point in their careers, the same as in 2000 or 2004 or 2015. B2B may have gone platinum, but I think SOE would have as well in a non-streaming world, and it's telling that its only hit resulted in a lawsuit from k.d. lang.

SOE has some serious issues but it has a lot more standout tracks from a band that at least seems to be trying. Well, aside from Edge letting random people play guitar on it.

 

[DeVaul]

I unashamedly love Bridges to Babylon

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

And much like SOE, Bridges to Babylon went with the song with the short interlude from a rapper for the single vs far superior tracks like Saint Of Me or Out Of Control.

 

[pacemaker]

They started trying to write pop songs so late in their career, that it honestly wouldn't surprise me if they eventually nail it and have one last big song that has broad appeal. I won't count on that, though.

As much as I'd love for the Edge to hunker down with Flood and Howie B and get weird again, he's been chasing a different high this century. I'm fine with collaborations, riff-borrowing, ghostwriters, etc. But if someone else is going to write and play some meat and potatoes progression or riff, the least the Edge could do is do SOMETHING Edge-ish on top of it.

 

[DeVaul]

Out Of Control and the Keef songs are the fackin’ best on that one

 

[Hewson]

. I'm fine with collaborations, riff-borrowing, ghostwriters, etc.

Get Edge in touch with Diane Warren and Mutt Lange.

 

[DeVaul]

Jim Steinman seems more in line with Bono’s kitchen-sink verse approach

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Out Of Control and the Keef songs are the fackin’ best on that one

Well didn't Keef use his own producers vs. the Dust Brothers?

 

[mikal]

+1 for really liking the Kygo remix. I remember making an alternate track list with it on there. I’ll have to dig it up.

 

[DeVaul]

Well didn't Keef use his own producers vs. the Dust Brothers?

I thiiiiink so. Let me add Always Suffering, Already Over Me and Too Tight were more in the classic Stones vein and worked great.

Can we talk about this Bleachers-Springsteen thing?

 

[DeVaul]

+1 for really liking the Kygo remix. I remember making an alternate track list with it on there. I’ll have to dig it up.

Kygo remix actually utilized a guitar hook at the end that should’ve been all over the album version but they’re so adrift they ignored it

 

[JamietheEdgefan]

Kygo remix actually utilized a guitar hook at the end that should’ve been all over the album version but they’re so adrift they ignored it

That hook (that ended up being relegated to the solo of the final mix) was one of the best guitar riffs Edge had done in a while. A great shame they didn't use it more.

Again, I don't think they would have gotten another 'beautiful day', but if they had emphasised that hook around a dancier version of the song, I think it would've done a lot better.

 

[lazarus]

Love Is Bigger seemed like the closest thing to a crossover anthem, might have been a better choice for an earlier single, like instead of that dumpster fire Get Out.

 

[AndrewCowley]

Kygo remix actually utilized a guitar hook at the end that should’ve been all over the album version but they’re so adrift they ignored it

Do we know for sure it’s Edge playing it though?

 

[DeVaul]

Love Is Bigger seemed like the closest thing to a crossover anthem, might have been a better choice for an earlier single, like instead of that dumpster fire Get Out.

GOOYOW chorus is the dumbest shit

 

[Hewson]

GOOYOW chorus is the dumbest shit

I bet you wouldn't say that to Lincoln's ghost's face.

 

[DeVaul]

I bet you wouldn't say that to Lincoln's ghost's face.

I could say it to him it all night, all night

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

I thiiiiink so. Let me add Always Suffering, Already Over Me and Too Tight were more in the classic Stones vein and worked great.

Can we talk about this Bleachers-Springsteen thing?

This is something that I definitely did not see coming

 

[LuckyNumber7]

I’ve been saying it for a while... if U2 wants “cool” on their next record where young people might actually like the music, work with Jack. He knows how to music.

 

[DeVaul]

I’ve been saying it for a while... if U2 wants “cool” on their next record where young people might actually like the music, work with Jack. He knows how to music.

Nah this crap is generic AF, just a flip side to Tedder. They’d be better served by a Shawn Everett or Adam Granduciel digging into their sound instead of ignoring it and turning up the keyboards to “radio friendly.” Andy Barlow as singular producer is another one that’d be cool.

 

[mikal]

Dare I say it’s less about the producer and more about writing a BIG song? They need something natural and simple.

Call it “Stop (The Pandemic)”

 

[DeVaul]

Sure but a good producer would ideally steer them away from crap and towards their stronger material. They’re not getting a mainstream pop hit again. Better to aim for the middle-aged & old rock/alt/indie listeners.

 

[LuckyNumber7]

Nah this crap is generic AF, just a flip side to Tedder. They’d be better served by a Shawn Everett or Adam Granduciel digging into their sound instead of ignoring it and turning up the keyboards to “radio friendly.” Andy Barlow as singular producer is another one that’d be cool.

Well my point was clearly “if they wanted to continue down that path” so I’m not really sure what you’re refuting.

I wouldn’t call Jack Antonoff “generic AF” though. He has an incredible resume of indie-meets-the-mainstream working with artists of multiple generations. His song featuring Yoko Ono is a beautiful way to revisit a theme that the album started and is both poppy and thought provoking.

 

[DeVaul]

Oh, I’m not saying that he wouldn’t be an option for continuing the chase for the yoots (to diminishing returns). I’m just saying it wouldn’t work. They’ve been trying to force a hit for over a decade now by ignoring their strengths. And yeah, the whole Bleachers sound strikes me as very generic. Different strokes. ::

 

[pacemaker]

Maybe with the new decade they'll flip the script on production teams again. Save those Tedder and pop dudes for single mixes or one-offs or whatever.

I'd love any combo of Lanois/Flood/Barlow, no one else. Maybe Edge. Focus on the songs sounding as sonically dark and/or angry as their subject matter often is. Learn to let songs breath again. No more Zep riffs.

 

[LuckyNumber7]

Oh, I’m not saying that he wouldn’t be an option for continuing the chase for the yoots (to diminishing returns). I’m just saying it wouldn’t work. They’ve been trying to force a hit for over a decade now by ignoring their strengths. And yeah, the whole Bleachers sound strikes me as very generic. Different strokes. ::

I agree it would fail to make a hit, but similar to “if you just stuck with Danger Mouse the whole way thru” it would make a creative piece.

The issue is that they’re in fact too hyper focused on getting a hit which is why nothing will be a hit. They can still get a non mainstream “hit” per say. The Troubles is well respected. They should hope for content like that.

 

[DeVaul]

Agreed.

 

[ascender_RS]

I agree it would fail to make a hit, but similar to “if you just stuck with Danger Mouse the whole way thru” it would make a creative piece.

That's all I want them to do now and you'd hope they'd be at the stage in their career where they'd all be feeling the same. Although I think I've said that before every album of theirs in the last x number of years tbh.