PowerSurge
New Yorker
Well they got the job.
This is their performance review.
They better bring it or they'll be on an action plan.
Sorry, my corporate back ground squeeking out.
OFFICIAL - New Album Delayed Until 2009
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Well they got the job.
This is their performance review.
They better bring it or they'll be on an action plan.
Sorry, my corporate back ground squeeking out.
Bottle Bono
Acrobat
- Joined
- Aug 22, 2008
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- 472
I guess it is all just a musical journey.
I doubt that, a band that huge can't keep things hush hush that much.
I think they can. Radiohead did it and they are easily one of the biggest bands in the world.
Also, this is kind of random, but isn't the dichotomy of HTDAAB astounding? I'm not trying to make a point defending or attacking the record (I've probably done a fair share of both and have mostly stuck to the middle in the last 4 years). On the one hand you have absurd amounts of album sales and grammy wins, including album of the year. You even have pretty good, if not flat out great, reviews (see metacritic.com for the most balanced pictures). But there is also this sense of unease and at least partial failure, most notably in the fan community--but also within the band itself! The point I'm trying to make is this: I think U2 has finally gotten to the point where business interests and mainstream fervor, while still important, have left something of a bitter taste in their mouths (as well as in many fans'). I think they're taking a new approach, and I would argue that this has been apparent since Morocco and before. In terms of their approach to the album/music itself (back to the guys who can help them make it happen, a new place for inspiration--reminiscent of 1990 East German) as well as in their willingness to discuss the album in the media. All of these things would suggest that--even if they are releasing the album at the same time this year--they may be trying something a little different this fall. Something with a little more integrity, something a little fresher. More about the music and less about playing the game--or at least playing it in a new way.
Bottle Bono
Acrobat
- Joined
- Aug 22, 2008
- Messages
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All things being equal, whats a few more weeks of your life.
Relax and smell the Roses.
Relax and smell the Roses.
Radiohead is not nearly as big. And U2 operates differently. You seriously think there will not be the usual CD/limited edition with DVD and LP combo, just the download ?
Apple announces Sept 9 event, new products eyed - Yahoo! News They will use another Apple tie-in less than a week from now, and no news about it officially ? Totally.
Apple announces Sept 9 event, new products eyed - Yahoo! News They will use another Apple tie-in less than a week from now, and no news about it officially ? Totally.
Ah yes, the grand total of 4 times in their career.
powerhour24
ONE love, blood, life
RH is a critical darling, but they are not huge sellers, not on a large mainstream scale anyway, and that album wasn't completely under-wraps, fans new it was done just not how and when it would be released given the lack of a record contract.
BoyOnTheHorizon
Refugee
i think i get you point. So i post here what i said in the Slow Loris thread. I think is more relevant here.
Please, let's wait for fresh new sounds, not redone left overs like mercy. Good song, a little boring, but not fresh.
Just like City of Blinding Lights. Epic sound, so so vocals, big intro, good melody. Could be an all time classic if wasn't for the fact that sound like a recycled version of U2. And thats is the big difference between ATYCLB and HTDAAB: the later had good songs, was stronger as a whole, the band even looked more self confident. But ATYCLB was fresh. BD, Stuck, IALW presented us with a new aproach to music by the band, even if some people didn't like.
Is curious when we start to dig; i remember feeling like this with POP. Besides having weak songs, the whole album sounded forced compared to AB or Zooropa.
I don't like Zooropa, i think it was U2 worst moment, but at least sounded fresh, like if the concept just floated trough their minds, unlike POP. Anyway i'm glad that the tecno era ended.
So please, Leave Behind Atomic Bomb and give us something new, fresh. Don't have to be a groundbreaking sound album. Just a collection of good songs, with some acoustic guitars, good drumming sound and a pulsing bass underneath everything, all of this from a inspired, light touch mature band.
You see, when we all saw south of france, HQ and parties with clooney and pitt i think it became clear that the deep incoformism, the again deep anger are gone... sure they mantain their beliefs, but in a totally different way.
So i know i can never expect the anger of WAR, or the transcendent, racous and emotional tone of JT, or the super inspired, romantic-melancolic nunaces of AB.
All we can wait from them since ATYCLB is just an album with some good songs. Or very good songs. Not a earthshaking classic that will become a landmark for the music of this era. They have done this on few occasions, but it was a long long time ago.
So yes, if i were U2 i would try to do what Bram said.
buzzkill27
War Child
As much as I'd like and want to believe that this could be U2 related....I would think if any band is going to be tied into that event it might be Metallica,since their album drops Friday the 12th
LastNameonEarth
The Fly
BoTH - my reply to you on The Slow Loris thread was that whilst Zooropa isn't a great album, it contains a few very strong songs, a few of my favourites actually. If U2 can manage to produce a similar result with the new album, I'll be seriously pleased. They failed miserably on that front with the Bomb. So I agree with you, something new, and if it doesn't entirely work I'll forgive them, as long as there is the odd memorable moment.
buzzkill27
War Child
according to U2.com Edge is going to be in London next week! someone get there and ask him when the albums gonna be released!!!
He's going to be in Toronto this Friday walking the red carpet for the film he's in with Jimmy Page and Jack White...so why would you wait till next week
BoyOnTheHorizon
Refugee
Apart from Stay, i think Zooropa was whole world apart from U2 best material. I remember back in 93 when i thought "this is not the same band that made God Part II, SBS". These were visceral statements from a epic rock band. If Zooropa wasn't from U2 i wouldn't give any attention to that album. You see, i grew up listening to UABRS, Pride, WTHNN. Then there was other fabulous rock bands. Albums like Automatic, Ten, DM from Oasis, and whole bunch more totally eclipsed the 90's U2.
But then, Achtung Baby was the best album of the decade...
The_acrobat
Rock n' Roll Doggie VIP PASS
If they don't release it before Christmas, it won't come out until fall of 2009. You can bet your ass on that.
purpleoscar
Rock n' Roll Doggie ALL ACCESS
I remember a Muchmusic interview from 81 where the interviewer asked:
"Are you worried that success will spoil you?"
Bono: I hope it does.
Rollingstone magazine also mentioned in the review for their first album that they would have no problem in selling out.
Every band wants to have the biggest audience. It's partly the money but it's also partly the ego. It must be an awesome experience to have 50,000 fans singing your song back to you. U2 wants a BIG audience! Success is required to have a big audience.
purpleoscar
Rock n' Roll Doggie ALL ACCESS
Well isn't the new strategy to drop an album unexpectedly? Radiohead did that to great effect. It certainly surprised the hell out of me. The Raconteurs did it, NIN did it, Beck did it.
You can create a big buzz by saying "the album is out next week." We may have to wait awhile to hear that if it comes in November.
jon_lemire
Acrobat
I have a hard time believing the album won't come out in November or December of this year. As evidenced by their last two releases, I think the band sees the need to strike during the pre-Xmas rush. That is when a huge percentage of the year's albums are sold and U2 wants to be a part of that. Not just for purely financial reasons (though that is surely a factor) but for relevance.
If U2 wants to keep its standing as the biggest band in the world (which it clearly does), it NEEDS to have a big first week of sales. The music industry is like the movie business now, meaning that the opening week's "box office" is a huge part of measuring an album's success. And for U2 to keep its stature, it needs the album to sell. Part of the band's overall image/reputation is that it's the only group making fresh material 20 years into its career that is both a critical and commercial success. Hence, I think still think we're looking at a release this year and -- probably, but less certain -- a single out before the Grammy cut-off. That way they can clean up at two Grammys yet again and move a ton of albums this Xmas.
If U2 wants to keep its standing as the biggest band in the world (which it clearly does), it NEEDS to have a big first week of sales. The music industry is like the movie business now, meaning that the opening week's "box office" is a huge part of measuring an album's success. And for U2 to keep its stature, it needs the album to sell. Part of the band's overall image/reputation is that it's the only group making fresh material 20 years into its career that is both a critical and commercial success. Hence, I think still think we're looking at a release this year and -- probably, but less certain -- a single out before the Grammy cut-off. That way they can clean up at two Grammys yet again and move a ton of albums this Xmas.
LastNameonEarth
The Fly
Apart from Stay, i think Zooropa was whole world apart from U2 best material. I remember back in 93 when i thought "this is not the same band that made God Part II, SBS". These were visceral statements from a epic rock band. If Zooropa wasn't from U2 i wouldn't give any attention to that album. You see, i grew up listening to UABRS, Pride, WTHNN. Then there was other fabulous rock bands. Albums like Automatic, Ten, DM from Oasis, and whole bunch more totally eclipsed the 90's U2.
But then, Achtung Baby was the best album of the decade...
(Today's) top five '90's, IMO: 1)Achtung Baby - UKnowWho, 2)Radiohead - The Bends, 3) Oasis - Definitely Maybe 4) G 'n' R - Use Your Illusion I 5) REM - AFTP / Pulp - Different Class
That's what I loved at the time. Now I'd have albums like Time Out of Mind or Bone Machine in there, but I wouldn't class them in my list, since I'm into them now and in a sense they weren't "of the time" anyway.
I'm not putting Zooropa up there alongside U2's best material, but it's 40% success rate (of producing U2 songs which rank up there with my favourites) beats HTDAAB's 0% hands down. Thus, I'd be well pleased if they achieve a similar success on the new album.
Go on then, here's my U2 album list too:
1)AB, 2)TJT, 3)R&H, 4)TUF, 5)POP, 6)War, 7)Zooropa, 8) Boy, 9)ATYCLB 10)HTDAAB, 11)October
Reggie Thee Dog
Blue Crack Addict
So this story on U2.com pretty much closes the case for a new album this year:
U2.com | Official News
Read the second to last paragraph...
But while Bono is itching to get the music out he says it’s going to be early 2009 when we first get to hear the songs.
U2.com | Official News
Read the second to last paragraph...
But while Bono is itching to get the music out he says it’s going to be early 2009 when we first get to hear the songs.
blindinglights
War Child
- Joined
- Sep 2, 2004
- Messages
- 552
damnit - 09 it is..
don't kill the messenger please.
U2.com | Official News
'We want 2009 to be our year'
'We’ve hit a rich songwriting vein and we don’t want to stop.' Bono has been talking to U2.Com about how the songs are shaping up for the new record and plans for 2009 to be their year.
‘This is our chance for us to defy gravity once again, ‘ explains Bono, calling in from a break in recording sessions in the south of France. ‘ We have what it takes, we have the songs, new rhythms and a guitar player who is not ready to re-enter earth's atmosphere until he's taken a slice of the moon!
'It's been fun, it's been maddening... there have been injuries and recoveries, no babies born that I know of, but this one is nearly ready for the new year of 2009.'
The band have been writing and recording the follow-up to ‘How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb’ since last year, and the feeling is that they’ve hit a creative groove so there are no plans to stop. Everyone, he says, is excited about where the recording is taking them.
‘When we set out on this record it was Larry who came up with the plan not to have a plan. He put up this idea that wouldn’t it be great just to make music for its own sake, not for the purpose of a live show or on album but just to see what we’re capable of…’
It’s an idea that’s paid off. Following sessions in Morocco, in Dublin and through the summer in France, the band have written ‘fifty or sixty’ tracks. And counting.
‘We’ve hit a rich songwriting vein,’ he explains. ‘It gets a bit dark down here but looks like we've found diamonds not coal. I thought a while back we might have the album wrapped by now, but why come up above ground now if there's more priceless stuff to be found?
For now, they’re keeping a promise they made to themselves when they started writing: ‘We said to each other that if we got to the great place then we wouldn’t stop…’
So the writing and recording continues and while they now know what shape most of the album will take, they're not leaving the studio just yet.
‘We know we have to emerge soon but we also know that people don’t want another U2 album unless it is our best ever album. It has to be our most innovative, our most challenging … or what’s the point ?’
They have no doubts that it will be as important a release for U2 as any. ‘It’s a brand new chapter for us, and everyone we’ve played the tracks to has said that musically it feels like another departure.
‘The last two records were very personal, with a kind of three piece at their heart, the primary colours of rock - bass, guitars and drum. But what we’re about now is of the same order as the transition that took us from The Joshua Tree to Achtung Baby.’
He also mentions that the recording in Morocco was the first time the band have worked in a studio open to the sky: ‘On that track you can hear the sound of a swallows nest close to the building - it’s beautiful.’
Longtime collaborators Danny Lanois and Brian Eno have joined the band at different times, and, more recently, Steve Lillywhite – usually a tell-tale sign that a record is nearly done. ‘Steve has that ear for a top line melody and a good hook.’
But while Bono is itching to get the music out he says it’s going to be early 2009 when we first get to hear the songs.
‘I’m always the one who underestimates how easy it is to simply 'put out the songs now', if it was just up to me they’d be out already! But early next year people will be able to start hearing what we’ve been doing. We want 2009 to be our year, so we’re going to start making an impression very early on …’
don't kill the messenger please.
U2.com | Official News
'We want 2009 to be our year'
'We’ve hit a rich songwriting vein and we don’t want to stop.' Bono has been talking to U2.Com about how the songs are shaping up for the new record and plans for 2009 to be their year.
‘This is our chance for us to defy gravity once again, ‘ explains Bono, calling in from a break in recording sessions in the south of France. ‘ We have what it takes, we have the songs, new rhythms and a guitar player who is not ready to re-enter earth's atmosphere until he's taken a slice of the moon!
'It's been fun, it's been maddening... there have been injuries and recoveries, no babies born that I know of, but this one is nearly ready for the new year of 2009.'
The band have been writing and recording the follow-up to ‘How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb’ since last year, and the feeling is that they’ve hit a creative groove so there are no plans to stop. Everyone, he says, is excited about where the recording is taking them.
‘When we set out on this record it was Larry who came up with the plan not to have a plan. He put up this idea that wouldn’t it be great just to make music for its own sake, not for the purpose of a live show or on album but just to see what we’re capable of…’
It’s an idea that’s paid off. Following sessions in Morocco, in Dublin and through the summer in France, the band have written ‘fifty or sixty’ tracks. And counting.
‘We’ve hit a rich songwriting vein,’ he explains. ‘It gets a bit dark down here but looks like we've found diamonds not coal. I thought a while back we might have the album wrapped by now, but why come up above ground now if there's more priceless stuff to be found?
For now, they’re keeping a promise they made to themselves when they started writing: ‘We said to each other that if we got to the great place then we wouldn’t stop…’
So the writing and recording continues and while they now know what shape most of the album will take, they're not leaving the studio just yet.
‘We know we have to emerge soon but we also know that people don’t want another U2 album unless it is our best ever album. It has to be our most innovative, our most challenging … or what’s the point ?’
They have no doubts that it will be as important a release for U2 as any. ‘It’s a brand new chapter for us, and everyone we’ve played the tracks to has said that musically it feels like another departure.
‘The last two records were very personal, with a kind of three piece at their heart, the primary colours of rock - bass, guitars and drum. But what we’re about now is of the same order as the transition that took us from The Joshua Tree to Achtung Baby.’
He also mentions that the recording in Morocco was the first time the band have worked in a studio open to the sky: ‘On that track you can hear the sound of a swallows nest close to the building - it’s beautiful.’
Longtime collaborators Danny Lanois and Brian Eno have joined the band at different times, and, more recently, Steve Lillywhite – usually a tell-tale sign that a record is nearly done. ‘Steve has that ear for a top line melody and a good hook.’
But while Bono is itching to get the music out he says it’s going to be early 2009 when we first get to hear the songs.
‘I’m always the one who underestimates how easy it is to simply 'put out the songs now', if it was just up to me they’d be out already! But early next year people will be able to start hearing what we’ve been doing. We want 2009 to be our year, so we’re going to start making an impression very early on …’
vaz02
Rock n' Roll Doggie ALL ACCESS
That performance was done a few months ago, a lot can change from then.
Reggie Thee Dog
Blue Crack Addict
No Album in 2008...OFFICIAL
See this story on U2.com
U2.com | Official News
The key paragraph:
But while Bono is itching to get the music out he says it’s going to be early 2009 when we first get to hear the songs.
See this story on U2.com
U2.com | Official News
The key paragraph:
But while Bono is itching to get the music out he says it’s going to be early 2009 when we first get to hear the songs.
vaz02
Rock n' Roll Doggie ALL ACCESS
There gonna butcher the album again.
bathiu
Refugee
elevated_u2_fan
Blue Crack Supplier
BOOOOOO!
LarryMullen's POPAngel
Blue Crack Distributor
Cool. We can all relax now.
ndmaxfield
War Child
just saw this...knot in stomach...a little heartbroken...but at least we know something...and we know we'll all be waiting with excitement
AtomicBono
ONE love, blood, life
Sucks that they're delaying it, but what if we get two albums in 2009? Wouldn't that be crazy?
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