Ok I decided not to go to work and listen to the album instead
This is my FIRST IMPRESSION. I just finished my first listen. This is therefore by no means a proper review, but I thought I'd write my immediate feelings for posterity. I have also not read any of the reviews on this thread so no idea what the general feeling is.
Overall impressions:
-Wow this is a DENSE album. I can't say anything definitive about it, I need more time to dig in for sure.
-To me there is a strong unifying 'feel' to this album. There is a specific sound and atmosphere all the way through and, at least on first listen, it seems very cohesive to me.
-There are some familiar sounds and melodies for sure, but right away it sounds quite different to me. It really does not sound like any other U2 albums at all. This is very good
-I get a bit of a 'weird' feeling out of it, not sure how to describe, what it means, of if it's positive or negative. Time will tell, but it sounds quite deep and slightly strange to me. This is definetely not a feeling I got on first listen of the last 2 albums (also the only 'new' U2 albums I got to discover since I became a fan in 1997).
Songs: (again, this is after ONE listen)
-Immediate stand-outs: Magnificient and Crazy Tonight
. You can tell why these are the next singles.
-Not so sure, but I could change my mind: Stand Up and Moment of Surrender. MOS is the one song that I am a bit taken aback by, and possibly dissapointed with. It could be because I was expecting something else, but I'm really not sure about the melody and Bono's way of signing, particularly in the chorus
Really like the music though. But I'm not passing a final judgment or anything, this is just my gut feeling and I'd be happy to change my mind,
-Quite positive impression but need more listens to have a clear idea: all the other songs, can't rank them or anything after only once. In fact they all sound equally good to me, in different ways.
Ok, next listen I'm going to take a walk and listen on my iPod
(today really lol)
