dan_smee
ONE love, blood, life
Little Things is their best song since One. Yes I am serious.
Little Things is their best song since One. Yes I am serious.
Yes. All they had to do was make it a free download to all. Give people the choice vs what happened.
It really did cause a stir with “non fans” because when I’ve brought up U2 with strangers, new friends, etc this is what is discussed. It’s not even “their best music was in the 80s!!”, but now “fucking downloaded an album into my library!!!”
i don't want anything at all auto-downloading itself onto my phone. i don't care what it is, ask me first. i don't even let apps update without asking me.
i can almost guarantee the release would have been a PR success if they had done the same thing but just offered it as a surprise free download and advertised the shit out of that.
Oh I think the bottom line is don’t invade someone’s privacy or choice. They should’ve never auto downloaded it period. Maybe autodownloaded it For anyone who has previously downloaded a U2 album? And otherwise made it free for those who hadn’t.
The saddest and most overlooked shit of the entire damn thing - which i still contend did incredible damage to their legacy - was that just 8 months earlier they did offered Invisible as a free song through iTunes, just like they did with Innocence - but you had to go download it.I hate even talking about the Apple debacle, mostly because it was ALMOST brilliant. The error occurred on the technical end, and part of me wonders if the band even knew that if someone had ticked on "Automatic Downloads of Purchases" in their settings, that they'd never be able to delete it.
They may have gotten a little bad press if the album downloaded to their phones but they could quickly delete it. Takes 1 second to delete an album off your library. But it never would have gotten so bad if it weren't for that technical error.
Again, I put this more on Apple than U2 because I have always speculated that this whole technical hiccup was never discussed when the idea formalized.
Ok, so I just recently got around to joining this forum after lurking for many years..
I just wanted to start off by saying, I've been really impressed with the level of insightful discussion from U2 fans on here and I've found many of the opinions shared from certain posters on here resonated with me to such a degree that I had to make an account & interact for myself.
I believe that SOE & SOE are respectable, solid albums for a band into the 4th decade of their career. Nothing ground-breaking that's for sure, but some excellent songwriting nonetheless.
But honestly, after tuning out from this band for almost 2 decades, SOI is the album that recaptured this U2 fan's interest. I haven't felt this strongly about any U2 album since the nineties.
As a life-long fan who came back and revisited this 2014-2015 period, as a statement, it honestly feels levels above anything else the band has done since the late-1990's.
Now that I've gone back and watched the live performances of those album tracks (Iris, Cedarwood Road, Raised by Wolves, etc..) my feelings about this particular record are well and truly confirmed. There's so much potency and power behind these songs.
I sincerely believe SOI and it's corresponding tour was probably the most coherent statement from the band in well over 20 years..
I genuinely don't think the band have the focus (nor the commitment) to produce another record as consistent and cohesive (from back to front) as SOI again.
They toiled away for five excruciating years.. and the result was the most complete, fully-realized, and 'finished' sounding record since Achtung Baby.
SOI is easily my favorite of the 5 albums from the last twenty years. Songs like The Miracle, EBW, California, Iris, Volcano, Cedarwood Road, Raised By Wolves, Sleep Like a Baby Tonight, This Is Where You Can Reach Me Now, The Troubles, Lucifer's Hands & the Crystal Ballroom are as energetic, melodic, and interesting as the band have been in decades. They also followed it up with a tour that was, I think, a far more coherent production than 360.
I personally thought that it was a genuinely unique and innovative tour that accompanied SOI and they seemed to be hungrier than ever after their 5 year hiatus.
They just seemed really determined & focused with SOI and it's narrative - and it showed. There was an enthusiasm and drive emanating from the band that we hadn't seen in decades. They were well & truly back.
Apple launch drama aside.. this is easily their best (post-1997) late-career work. Thematically and sonically tight/cohesive, and bringing new blood in producers - notably (Burton, Epworth & Gaffney) helped I think. It's a really great example of how much a difference an engaged & inspired Bono brings to U2 albums, since the Edge just stopped trying for the most part.
I think Innocence features excellent songwriting and wonderful reflection on youth; strong melodies and great lyrical content as well. A solid, respectable (4/5 star), late-career effort from the band, in my opinion. From this record tracks 5-11 and 2-3 lay claim to some of the strongest songwriting in U2's catalog. Iris through to the finish is the best 2nd half of any U2 album ever made, hands down. Cedarwood Road is one of their top 10 ever for me, and Sleep and The Troubles would be near or at the top of the next 10.
In my opinion, SOI is the band's most complete and fully-realized record since Achtung Baby.
And probably their 4th best album overall - The sum truly is greater than the parts...
1. Achtung Baby, 2. Joshua Tree, 3. POP, 4. SOI/Zooropa.
Ok, so I just recently got around to joining this forum after lurking for many years..
SOI is easily my favorite of the 5 albums from the last twenty years.
I still remember the day of that first U2 tour show in 4 years like it was yesterday. I've never been so excited for a show I wasn't anywhere near physically. I work overnight, so I remember arrving to work and having a surprising emotional reaction to seeing my first picture of the band on stage under that big light bulb.
When I saw the show in person for the first time in Boston on 07/10/2015, it was an out of body experience! I expected it to be amazing, but NOTHING COULD'VE PREPARED ME for how they knocked me over that night. It is still the single best show I've seen U2 or any act put on, and if you read the fan reviews of that show here, many people felt the same way.
Anyway, as I approach 40 I guess I'm now in a position to drop $400+ on nosebleeds for Genesis (though will be reimbursed for 3/4 of that ) so the next time U2 tickets go on sale? I'm pulling out all the stops.
The Genesis ticket prices are nuts. Suddenly they became The Rolling Stones?
Agreed
Of course the SOI album thing was overblown, but it was like crack for an entire generation of keyboard warriors who will take any opportunity to slag off Apple or Bono no matter what they do. It was a perfect storm of over-reaction.
It wasn't overblown. It was a giant fuck up and invasion of privacy