Next Album Rumours Thread IV - 2 Sing 2 Furious

[womanfish]

I wonder if the re-recording is some effort at damage control, kind of like JT Tour post-iTunes, and best of 80-90 post-Pop.

That’s not all it is, I’m not that cynical, but success requires strategy.

I think you may be right. But unfortunately I think it would be a bad decision. And is there really "damage" to control? Unless they are still trying to dig out from Apple. But it's not like they didn't just have two really successful tours after the last two albums.

I'll be honest. Reading Adams comments scared the shit out of me. I have just been mulling over how to feel about it for a couple days now.

First the fact that Your Song... came out of actual album sessions... wooo. I mean, best case, Bono took some lyrical idea from there, or maybe there was a chorus that they sort of used to make this song, but it wasn't actually a song that they had come up with independently and then used it for the movie. Please God.

Second, the re-recording of past songs... ugh. I believe Adam a few months ago had mentioned it being acoustic re-interpretations or something. Listen. I am a die-hard fan of 35 years. I have stuck through thick and thin, been about as optimistic as I can each cycle, and always find some good and great things from their releases. But if they are going to go out as an acoustic cover band of themselves. I think it might be my wall.

I'm just imagining them doing an acoustic tour, with a bunch of people sitting in their seats with their hands folded in their laps.

So worst case for me would be they take up almost two years of redoing older songs, release it as an album, go on a full acoustic tour, and then put out an album of NEW shitty acoustic/piano songs.

Best case. They do this acoustic thing. Maybe an EP. Maybe just releasing a song every month or so on streaming platforms. They do a very limited tour of arenas in NY, Chi, LA, London, Paris, Rome, etc.. etc... maybe play with an orchestra each night like the BBC thing. Or, they don't tour it at all.
They get the low key acoustic thing out of their system and are hungry to get back to some rock and guitar greatness, and release one great last album, followed by a full tour.

Not sure how it will play out. But waiting to see over the next 3 years is gonna be brutal.

 

[DeVaul]

It would be cool if they just started releasing EPs. We definitely don't need an entire album (or... probably a fucking double album knowing our luck) of acoustic renditions of catalog songs. A few, though? Sure I don't see why not.

They've never really embraced the EP format, but I think they could benefit by releasing less music more often.

I’ve been crowing about digital singles for yearrrrs. Get all the “radio relevance” crap out and see if it sticks, try a 3-song set of less traditional stuff, etc. Not everything needs to be a grand statement. They want marketshare? Keep the content flowing.

 

[ascender_RS]

I'd kill for Miami right now.

at 2:26, this is a force of rock nature.

Miami and Bullet on that tour were the absolute definition of “swagger” with an amazing groove to them both.

 

[womanfish]

I’ve been crowing about digital singles for yearrrrs. Get all the “radio relevance” crap out and see if it sticks, try a 3-song set of less traditional stuff, etc. Not everything needs to be a grand statement. They want marketshare? Keep the content flowing.

Absolutely this is just how it's done now for the most part. If there is a full album, over half the songs have already been slowly released to streaming for 6 months or longer before it comes out.

 

[DaveC]

Fans commenting on U2's social media 30th Anniversary of Achtung Baby:

The greatest album in the history of rock
Life changing
Dark, beautiful, haunting, and light years ahead of its time
No album has moved me more deeply than this one
Absolute perfection


U2:

Let's do some acoustic ditties about love and happiness!

in their defense, i also wouldn't listen to anyone who called achtung baby "the greatest album in the history of rock".

 

[DeVaul]

Absolutely this is just how it's done now for the most part. If there is a full album, over half the songs have already been slowly released to streaming for 6 months or longer before it comes out.

That would require them having the songs finished months ahead of the official album release, which, uhh

 

[womanfish]

in their defense, i also wouldn't listen to anyone who called achtung baby "the greatest album in the history of rock".

Be that as it may. My point is, it would be nice for the band to look back and see that their greatest work has almost always seemed to come from loss, anger or anguish. And Achtung Baby was dripping with it.

 

[womanfish]

That would require them having the songs finished months ahead of the official album release, which, uhh
View attachment 13039

yeah, that occurred to me as I was typing. If they had it "done" but knew that it wasn't all actually going to be fully released for six months. God knows they would be monkeying with each track until it was time for it to go out the door.

 

[DaveC]

Be that as it may. My point is, it would be nice for the band to look back and see that their greatest work has almost always seemed to come from loss, anger or anguish. And Achtung Baby was dripping with it.

SOE was written as if bono was dead and writing to the family he left behind, is that not an attempt to write from a place of loss or anguish?

 

[womanfish]

SOE was written as if bono was dead and writing to the family he left behind, is that not an attempt to write from a place of loss or anguish?

I like SOE a lot. Listening to American Soul is also anguish,
most of the rest is quite good, some great. My faves being the darker ones. I guess I was speaking more about Ordinary Love, Bono's Covid song, the Euro2021 song, Sing 2 song, etc... I just don't want them to wander further down that road, or it's really over.

And that brings up a better point. Actually living through and experiencing the loss, anger or anguish is what seems to be the key. Trying to imagine it... It can be good, but often is missing the genuine feeling

 

[Irvine511]

Be that as it may. My point is, it would be nice for the band to look back and see that their greatest work has almost always seemed to come from loss, anger or anguish. And Achtung Baby was dripping with it.

It’s interesting … they are all unthinkably wealthy, they all seem to have nice, large families and have maintained marriages and relationships older than the band. Most healthy adults really do outgrow by 40 the stuff that tortured you at 27. It might seem to make sense that they are four happy guys, and their music suffers because of it. Why else dig into an objectively miserable time and place — Dublin in the 70s — in order to find inspiration for SOI?

But if you listen to SOE, there’s a lot on there that sounds like clinical depression, and certainly there’s a lot about the state of the world to be upset about.

So there is loss, anger and anguish … but I agree we’re not getting any AB’s out of it.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

I'm okay with a wait. There are already so many shows I'm looking in forward to next year - I'm okay with a delay to 2023.

Would be nice if we heard something by end of 2022 though.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Did you get to the Cutting Room too?

I, uh, may have been there

 

[pacemaker]

They want marketshare? Keep the content flowing.

It's so frustrating. Obviously one of the most embarrassing things about being a (active) U2 fan is their thirst for relevance, but it's even worse because they only pop out of hibernation every 3-7 years expecting people to still give a shit.

The hi-def video refresh is nice but doesn't count. Reissues are brief blips on the radar. All of that (plus maybe technically Ahimsa), the soccer song and YSSML might feel like a busy off-season for them, but disparate nets cast in different directions aren't going to keep the machine oiled until whatever their next release is.

SOE is almost 4 years old. I know, I know... they're lazy, bored and probably don't actually care anymore, but whatever this acoustic project should probably be out already and a new album should be a year or so away.

 

[mikal]

It's so frustrating. Obviously one of the most embarrassing things about being a (active) U2 fan is their thirst for relevance, but it's even worse because they only pop out of hibernation every 3-7 years expecting people to still give a shit.

The hi-def video refresh is nice but doesn't count. Reissues are brief blips on the radar. All of that (plus maybe technically Ahimsa), the soccer song and YSSML might feel like a busy off-season for them, but disparate nets cast in different directions aren't going to keep the machine oiled until whatever their next release is.

SOE is almost 4 years old. I know, I know... they're lazy, bored and probably don't actually care anymore, but whatever this acoustic project should probably be out already and a new album should be a year or so away.

Just throwing this out there. They’re in their early 60’s and filthy rich. Most people in that same situation don’t live by deadlines or have a ton of youthful ambition anymore.

Just gotta enjoy the catalog they put out. Find new, young ambitious bands as there are plenty of them.

 

[pacemaker]

Yea for sure, I definitely feel lucky that they're still going and that I still enjoy a lot of what they put out. I was framing this in the context of them seemingly always hoping/expecting relevance, despite not really working towards it.

 

[lazarus]

i also wouldn't listen to anyone who called achtung baby "the greatest album in the history of rock".

Why, exactly? It's definitely up there, unless you're being really conservative about your definition of "rock".

 

[womanfish]

Why, exactly? It's definitely up there, unless you're being really conservative about your definition of "rock".

Totally agree. I mean, people say this about the Joshua Tree and no one really blinks an eye. But IMO (and I would say most fans), Achtung Baby is better, not just musically, but the album was more than that. groundbreaking for the band and just as a transformation that is rarely seen in rock.
Also, I'd say that it was more influential to bands that followed than U2's earlier material (other than people trying to have Edge's chimey guitar sound)

 

[womanfish]

Just throwing this out there. They’re in their early 60’s and filthy rich. Most people in that same situation don’t live by deadlines or have a ton of youthful ambition anymore.

Just gotta enjoy the catalog they put out. Find new, young ambitious bands as there are plenty of them.

Yep. This is the tough part to come to terms with. I mean if you are 61 and you're taking possibly 6 years between albums... And your next big project is just fiddling with songs you've already written? You gotta know the drive just isn't there anymore.

It has given me time to appreciate the entire catalog again. Still really enjoying listening to my altered No Line tracklisting. I had not listened to it in so long, it was a little like getting a new album from them.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

My drive isn't there and I'm only 40

 

[pacemaker]

I'm currently re-downloading The Complete U2 so I can start mucking with alternate tracklists. I'm so ambivalent towards the 2000s albums that I'm due for a revisit/revision, and whenever I've wanted to try someone else's out it's usually impossible with just Apple Music.

I'm particularly looking forward to NLOTH resequences.

 

[womanfish]

I'm currently re-downloading The Complete U2 so I can start mucking with alternate tracklists. I'm so ambivalent towards the 2000s albums that I'm due for a revisit/revision, and whenever I've wanted to try someone else's out it's usually impossible with just Apple Music.

I'm particularly looking forward to NLOTH resequences.

I think there could be an interesting album made from an SOI/SOE combo... I'll have to give it a shot.

 

[DaveC]

Why, exactly? It's definitely up there, unless you're being really conservative about your definition of "rock".

it's unquestionably a great album. top 50 albums in the history of rock? sure. top 25? you could make a solid case.

but THE number one greatest album in the history of rock? achtung baby is greater than anything the beatles or the rolling stones ever put out, greater than dark side of the moon, wish you were here, and the wall, and greater than every single album ever made by the who, black sabbath, jimi hendrix, the doors, the stooges, guns n roses, prince, van halen, and queen? lmao

if anyone earnestly told me that they felt achtung baby was the greatest rock album of all time i'd honestly be wondering if they had actually listened to much rock at all other than U2.

for the record i'm separating "favourite" from "greatest". if achtung baby is your number one favourite album of all time, that's totally cool and you're entitled to that opinion. but stacking it up against the legends of rock and claiming that it is superior to all of them is daft. the verve is my favourite artist of all time but i'm not ever going to claim that a storm in heaven is somehow greater than are you experienced.

 

[LuckyNumber7]

My drive isn't there and I'm only 40

You’re younger than I thought, gramps

 

[LuckyNumber7]

it's unquestionably a great album. top 50 albums in the history of rock? sure. top 25? you could make a solid case.

but THE number one greatest album in the history of rock? achtung baby is greater than anything the beatles or the rolling stones ever put out, greater than dark side of the moon, wish you were here, and the wall, and greater than every single album ever made by the who, black sabbath, jimi hendrix, the doors, the stooges, guns n roses, prince, van halen, and queen? lmao

if anyone earnestly told me that they felt achtung baby was the greatest rock album of all time i'd honestly be wondering if they had actually listened to much rock at all other than U2.

for the record i'm separating "favourite" from "greatest". if achtung baby is your number one favourite album of all time, that's totally cool and you're entitled to that opinion. but stacking it up against the legends of rock and claiming that it is superior to all of them is daft. the verve is my favourite artist of all time but i'm not ever going to claim that a storm in heaven is somehow greater than are you experienced.

Not to go poo poo on your opinion, but once things are great enough objectively, isn’t the rest literally just opinion?

For example, personally I don’t think Guns N’ Roses and Black Sabbath have anything that can touch AB.

 

[DaveC]

this is already giving me flashbacks to the kyle lowry "discussions" lol. i guess it depends on one's definition of "greatest" versus "best" versus "favourite" and how we each treat those words. we're arguing semantics here.

for me "greatest" is a broader term than just a personal opinion, the "greatest" of something means to me that it is not only a masterpiece of art, but it also had enormous influence on the future of the artform and on the societal zeitgeist in general. it must also have stood the test of time and still be appreciated today no matter how long since it was released. in this light, for me a statement like "revolver is a greater album than obscured by clouds" is an objective fact, even though i may personally like those albums nearly equally and i certainly listen to the latter a lot more often than the former.

"favourite" is the way that i mark personal opinions, in a discussion like this. as i noted above my personal favourite artist is the verve. i adore them and listen to them weekly and never get tired of hearing the same songs over and over. but i know they don't hold a candle to the iconic legends of rock, and i would never presume to put them anywhere near a list of "greatest" artists, unless it was something specific like "greatest 90s english rock bands". and even then i would put several other bands above them.

i'm realizing more and more that others here consider these terms differently than i do.

anyways, 4 dollars a pound.

 

[LuckyNumber7]

4 dollars a pound? You got a bad rate.
I agree it’s semantics, and obviously if we are talking most influential and impactful, those are more direct descriptions, and more objective.

 

[The_acrobat]

I believe lately I have been "Glorifying the past when the future dries up" with U2. I pretty much didn't listen to U2 at all in 2020 or 2021, for whatever reason. Now that I know there is nothing on the horizon, I've really been going back and listening to the older albums in a way I haven't for a long time.

I have been connecting hardcore with UF recently. I almost forgot the subtle beauty of Promenade, the menace of Wire, or the rambling tranquility of EP&A.

Yesterday I listened to HTDAAB in whole for the first time in years, and was overwhelmed with nostalgia. I'm not usually nostalgic for that album. But I remember it like yesterday, the week of Thanksgiving 2004. SNL appearance. Hearing reports on the radio about U2 driving around NYC playing mini concerts on a flatbed truck. Going to Walmart with my friends at midnight to buy the album, and listening to it all night long... that was one hell of a week! Maybe I'm feeling nostalgic because once again it's Thanksgiving week, but I am really enjoying HTDAAB in a way I haven't for years.

The 30th anniversary of AB hasn't escaped me either. It may not be the greatest rock album of all time. But for me... it is tied for my favorite album of all time with Tom Petty's "Wildflowers". AB is just such a big part of my life. I could listen to it over and over and never get bored with it.

After Adam's comments, the future of U2 looks pretty bleak to me. Glorify the past when the future dries up... and what a past it was!!

 

[DaveC]

4 dollars a pound? You got a bad rate.

that's what lance's mom charges for a pound.

Spoiler

it's actually a sopranos reference lol.

 

[MattD]

After Ahimsa, that shit football song they did, and that shit kids film song they did - dud after dud after dud, it's looking pretty bleak I'd say.

With Adam's comments, it seems as if the well of inspiration has run well and truly dry.

There's literally no hope of a late career blossoming or revival anymore which is a great shame. But it'll never spoil the greatness of everything from 1980-2000, and the smattering of great tracks from the albums 2004 onwards.

If I was them, I would call a day. Don't do what REM did and just churn out uninspired albums - but the great worry I have is that, with the three recent songs mentioned above, it's far worse than anything from latter REM.