Songs of _________________; New album discussion #7

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Comments from Bono at tonight’s book appearance in London…

“We’ve got injuries to deal with some people are a bit broken. I’m not. But yes so the band really wanna go on tour and we just wanna find an original way of doing it”
 
https://www.u2songs.com/discography/u2_songs_of_surrender_album

Tonight while performing and discussing his book Surrender at the Cheltenham Literary Festival, Bono confirmed that the album Songs of Surrender is coming soon. It is the first official recognition of the album since Adam Clayton’s early interviews in 2021, and the first time that they have confirmed the Songs of Surrender title. Bono also mentioned that at least one of the covers would feature The Edge. He claimed he asked Edge to be on the cover since Bono is on the cover of the book, and The Edge only agreed if they let him use a fully bald photo of him. We have been told that there will be four covers, one featuring each band member, so it appears that a bald photo of The Edge, will make up one of these covers. Bono also stated that he wasn’t allowed to say much about it.
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ascender_RS said:
Comments from Bono at tonight’s book appearance in London…

“We’ve got injuries to deal with some people are a bit broken. I’m not. But yes so the band really wanna go on tour and we just wanna find an original way of doing it”
Click to expand...



Larry’s back not on board?
 
Few more titles confirmed:

11 O’Clock Tick Tock (Non-album)
Out of Control (Boy)
Stories for Boys (Boy)
Two Hearts Beat as One (War)
Bad (TUF)
Where the Streets Have No Name (TJT)
I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For (TJT)
With or Without You (TJT)
One (Achtung Baby)
Wake Up Dead Man (Pop)
Beautiful Day (ATYCLB)
Vertigo (HTDAAB)
City of Blinding Lights (HTDAAB)
Crumbs from Your Table (HTDAAB)
Moment of Surrender (NLOTH)
Breathe (NLOTH)
Invisible (Non-album)
Ordinary Love (Non-album)
Iris (Hold Me Close) (SOI)
Song for Someone (SOI)
The Showman (Much More Better) (SOE)

That’s 21

Sources for the remaining songs:

Boy - 1
October - 1
War - 1
TUF - 1
TJT - 1
R&H - 1
AB - 5
ATYCLB - 1
HTDAAB - 1
SOI/SOE - 6

Rumoured: October, Cedarwood Road.

I think considering these will mostly be safe options, and noting the need for some degree of personal affiliation, a final list could look something like:

1 - 11 O’Clock Tick Tock (Non-album)
2 - I Will Follow
3 - Out of Control (Boy)
4 - Stories for Boys (Boy)
5 - October
6 - Sunday Bloody Sunday
7 - Two Hearts Beat as One (War)
8 - A Sort of Homecoming/Pride
9 - Bad (TUF)
10 - Where the Streets Have No Name (TJT)
11 - I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For (TJT)
12 - With or Without You (TJT)
13 - Running to Stand Still/One Tree Hill
14 - Desire/All I Want Is You
15 - Even Better Than the Real Thing
16 - One (Achtung Baby)
17 - Who’s Gunna Ride Your Wild Horses
18 - Mysterious Ways
19 - Ultraviolet
20 - Love Is Blindness
21 - Wake Up Dead Man (Pop)
22 - Beautiful Day (ATYCLB)
23 - Kite/Stuck in a Moment
24 - Vertigo (HTDAAB)
25 - Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own
26 - City of Blinding Lights (HTDAAB)
27 - Crumbs from Your Table (HTDAAB)
28 - Moment of Surrender (NLOTH)
29 - Breathe (NLOTH)
30 - Invisible (Non-album)
31 - Ordinary Love (Non-album)
32 - Every Breaking Wave
33 - Song for Someone (SOI)
34 - Iris (Hold Me Close) (SOI)
35 - Cedarwood Road
36 - The Troubles
37 - Love is All We Have Left
38 - Landlady
39 - The Showman (Much More Better) (SOE)
40 - The Little Things That Give You Away
 
I thought to my self, breathe, that song sucks they could have picked something better and then I realized that whole album sucked, aside from maybe NLOTH and Magnificent
 
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Gonna Run 2 U said:
I thought to my self, breathe, that song sucks they could have picked something better and then I realized that whole album sucked, aside from maybe NLOTH and Magnificent
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Counterpoint: that whole album is quite good aside from the middle 3 but was the wrong type of music to launch a stadium tour with
 
The album is fine, and those three songs are fine - they are just wildly out of place. The flaws aren’t quality, they are fit and execution. The issue was committing to the concept. If boots/CT were some sort of one-off double a side thing in early 2008, and then the album itself was a tight ten tracks based on the actual concept we wouldn’t have any probs with it other than some people just not “liking” it (which is no problem at all - much better than it being flawed like it is now).
 
Gonna Run 2 U said:
I thought to my self, breathe, that song sucks they could have picked something better and then I realized that whole album sucked, aside from maybe NLOTH and Magnificent
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I'd add Fez, White As Snow, Cedars, MOS to that list. And Breathe is pretty cool. More interesting than half the songs on Bomb.
 
I like Breathe and really enjoyed the 360 tour when they opened with NLOTH.

Like Dan says, the flaw (appears to have been) a half-assed execution of a really interesting idea which they should have committed too.

That's an album calling out for a proper "alternate" version when they reissue it.
 
NLOTH has aged really poorly for me. Beyond just "the middle three," I think Breathe and Moment of Surrender are the only standout tracks for me, and even those two I wouldn't consider top-tier U2 songs.

I feel like there's a great song within Magnificent that hasn't been found yet. My favourite version is actually that brief snippet from the 2010 World Cup ad, with the tribal singing incorporated into the rhythms.
 
ascender_RS said:
Who do we think is struggling with injury at the moment, Larry and his problematic back?
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Has to be. He was pictured posing with a doctor at some clinic a few weeks ago.

The only thing Adam could’ve broken…. I don’t dare consider it.
 
Bob Dylan and Donald Fagen are the only singers who could conceivably pull off using those words. Bono has no business even thinking them when in the same building as a musical instrument.
 
Will be disappointed if Drowning Man isn’t on SOS. Even thought it’d be a no-brainer chapter title in the book. Plus IIRC it was rehearsed for possible inclusion in one of the recent tours.
 
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There are clips of Bono's performances cropping up on YouTube sporadically before disappearing (presumably being taken down by U2's label or whatever).

In spite of just being accompanied by the cellist and Jacknife Lee, the songs seem pretty 'full band' (e.g. with drums, albeit electronic or pre-recorded).

Just saw the end of with or without you, and thought it sounded great (admittedly it's through a tinny phone recording). Some lush synths, including emulating Edge's guitar riff, and quite dancey, albeit gentle drums.

If this is what WoWY sounds like on SoS, I wouldn't be surprised if it was the lead single; sounds very contemporary, definitely seems to have that electronic-dance vibe that modern music often has, but without sacrificing the lush atmosphere and gentle, restrained feel of the original. It sounds modern, but not cynically (I e. Ryan Tedder) so. Bono's vocals also sounded great.

Seems like a pretty successful blend of classic and modern; shows the song in a fun, new light without erasing the feel of the original. If SoS has more of this then I'm very excited.
 
dan_smee said:
SUC is not fine - BTW - throw it away as a b side to the Boots/CT single to laugh at like big girls are best.
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There is a feeling (one that I share) that NLOTH is maybe the biggest "one that got away" that the band has. Part of that stems from the hype the band themselves pumped out, some of it was the buzz around the raw, thematic quality of the beach clips and the Lanois video tease. I agree with these comments, and think that if they had bit off fully on Eno's "do a weird, world music album/hymns" idea they probably would have stumbled on a radio track eventually. And even if they didn't, who cares? They earned the right. But they'll never understand that, I feel.

In the decade and a half+ since the release I've turned that album into a moody, 10 song, short album a la Zooropa:

1. Fez/Being Born
2. NLOTH 2
3. Magnificent
4. Unknown Caller
5. Kingdom
6. Breathe
7. Moment of Surrender
8. White as Snow
9. Winter
10. Cedars of Lebanon

The worst part for me is that everything a out the album is artful and interesting EXCEPT the music. They just didn't commit. In 1991 they did and found magic, this time they waffled and missed big. It's been their recipe since.
 
^^^ Good post. :up:

I do the same thing, cutting my tracklist to 10 songs. I replace NLOTH with the alternate version. I get rid of Boots and WAS (which I don't care for), as well as SUC and Crazy (even though I don't hate either of those). I add Soon, Winter, and Window In The Skies (just because I'm a sucker for it, and it's a fun lighthearted song in the midst of some darker songs). But overall, I find it's a much more moody and atmospheric experience.

1. Soon
2. Breathe
3. Magnificent
4. Fez-Being Born
5. Winter
6. No Line On The Horizon version 2
7. Moment Of Surrender
8. Window In The Skies
9. Unknown Caller
10. Cedars Of Lebanon

But yeah... while I do like the album as is, and it's in the top half of their catalogue for me, it's simultaneously their biggest "what could have been" moment.
 
I did find a really good remix of Boots a while back and I'm not sure of the name. Maybe Fish Out of Water... Anyway. I took it and layered in some of the original song in certain places, giving it a little of the guitar and backing vocal and things.

It is the same tempo as the original, but feels 10 times slower and calmer, instead of the frenetic feel of the original. And because of this and the other instrumentation, the vocals don't sound stupid. It's magic.

I put it here if you want to listen to it, or put it on your reworked No Line tracklisting.

https://spectrio.egnyte.com/fl/BUT8B5um0m
 
womanfish said:
I did find a really good remix of Boots a while back and I'm not sure of the name. Maybe Fish Out of Water... Anyway. I took it and layered in some of the original song in certain places, giving it a little of the guitar and backing vocal and things.

It is the same tempo as the original, but feels 10 times slower and calmer, instead of the frenetic feel of the original. And because of this and the other instrumentation, the vocals don't sound stupid. It's magic.

I put it here if you want to listen to it, or put it on your reworked No Line tracklisting.

https://spectrio.egnyte.com/fl/BUT8B5um0m
Click to expand...

Very well done, bravo. The whole thing holds together 1,000x better without the mailed-in "You don't know..." dross. For me in my lineup I see that an awesome side 2 complement and mirror to Fez, I'd probably put it after Unknown Caller or Kingdom. I can take or leave Winter, it kind of works, it kind of doesn't. What I like about your version is that it hides a lot of Bono's lyrical missteps, no small feat.
 
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