HansaTonImbiss
Acrobat
- Joined
- Jan 27, 2008
- Messages
- 401
Sorry, my initial reply was rather uncharitable - I will post my thoughts below.
I find it rather underwhelming so far. The guitar seems a bit "samey", but Bono's vocals seem technically pretty good. I hope he uses some lower register on this album though.
It makes me think of Achtung Baby & HTDAAB having a child. The song it reminds me most of is UTEOTW to be honest, though that might just be the guitar.
I was really hoping Edge would use some different guitar tones on this album, but if this song is any indication it seems straight from the HTDAAB play book.
I'll speak from a general standpoint, including what was heard in the Fez sessions in addition to the clip, and give my thoughts.
I think Bono is undoubtedly experimenting more with the range and pitch of his voice than he has in the past two albums. That, in my opinion, is a good sign.
The guitar parts also harken back to AB/Zooropa-era type cuts in a slight way, in that they are harder and darker than what was previously heard in ATYCLB/HTDAAB. But more than anything, I think the riffs thus far sound a little like things that would have been alternate cuts to what was heard on "Pop".
Too garbled and raw to hear much from bass/drums, but we'll see. The one element I think everyone is discounting is the amount of influence engineering and production will have on this album. Any weight that an "atmospheric" or "Moroccan" feel may have hinges on production and engineering. I hope that Flood has a big part in this (in terms of mixing and editing), and that U2 avoids making any allowances for a pop audience in diluting their sound.
So far, though, I'm a little encouraged by what I hear. I stopped playing HTDAAB after the first month or so I had it, and I'm a die hard fan.