Songs of Experience - Part 2
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superchuk5
Refugee
New Tour in the Fall implies a late summer release date. I can't imagine they'll want to tour when fans are still getting into the album, nor will they run up against a firm deadline quite like they did with Pop and PopMart. Curious that they talk all about "no more five year gaps" yet one of their biggest mistakes was finishing an album on an actual deadline...
Yeah, the album needs to be out at least 2 months before the tour restart, not only for fans to know the album, but also for the band to nail any new songs that will be in the set. You would imagine there would be maybe 4 or 5 of the SOE songs thrown into the new set at least I would think, and this would entail additional rehearsal time over an ordinary tour reboot. So if the tour is set to restart in say late Sept or early October (to allow one leg before Christmas?) then that will dictate an album release around July or early August I would have thought. Which means it will need to be finished a bit before that time as well.
Desert Dog
War Child
I am less concerned at this point with the timing of the album release vs. kick off of the tour. I am more concerned with their creative process and how SOE will turn out. I want another masterpiece and I thought SOI was close but overcooked in a few places. They just need to put out a cohesive song cycle and forget about radio hits or the big music as Edge stated. I am probably hoping for too much at this stage of their career and given their track record since 2000. But relevancy to me is about art and influence and not about commerce or being the biggest band.
Registered Dude
Rock n' Roll Doggie Band-aid
The band (or at least Bono and Edge) seem to be as concerned with U2 The Business as they are the music of U2.
Call it audacious or atrocious, but I'd wager this concern has strongly informed every decision they've made as a band since the perceived failure of Pop and Popmart.
Call it audacious or atrocious, but I'd wager this concern has strongly informed every decision they've made as a band since the perceived failure of Pop and Popmart.
Desert Dog
War Child
absolutely agree......and the timing of the release of the best of 80-90 was to stop the bleeding from the Pop/Popmart fallout. And to release the Sweetest Thing as the first single after Pop??
The transition from Rattle and Hum to Acthung Baby was based around concern over U2 The Business.
That's never changed. They were better, and people cared more.
Now that people don't care as much about new material, which is the natural progression of an aging rock band, they can't quite figure it out.
That's their issue. They're trying to fight against an immovable object; time.
That's never changed. They were better, and people cared more.
Now that people don't care as much about new material, which is the natural progression of an aging rock band, they can't quite figure it out.
That's their issue. They're trying to fight against an immovable object; time.
aMansAman
War Child
Bono even admits in post SOI Interviews that parts of SOI are too polished/overcooked...but his musings change daily, so that does not tell us anything...
The songs they are working on for SOE are ... all.. hold your breath... MALLEABLE... that is U2 vocabulary... so the songs could be Zooropa'esque yesterday but turn into a country Wild Honey Song tomorrow.
Regarding the musical quality of any new U2 album: I gave up expecting ANYTHING a long time ago. "I love the element of surprise"... SOI did a quite OK Job here (seeing how well the new songs developed during the tour is a good sign of confidence in their new material)
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Registered Dude
Rock n' Roll Doggie Band-aid
absolutely
I think the difference is that the idea/concept/music behind Achtung Baby informed their business strategy, whereas I suspect things are now the other way around. Or at least more hand in hand..
I think they've always had the thought to try and tap into "what's next" when they got to the end of the line in one particular style... it served them beautifully through a solid 25 years. But eventually they get to a point where they simply can't bring in younger/new audiences at a high rate anymore, and continuing to try to do so only makes things worse.
Its shaped every decision they have ever made since forming in March 1978 after the break up of The Hype.
No U2 fan should be surprised by this.
aMansAman
War Child
But they don't see it... at least not in public.... they say how amazed they are about so many young people going to their concerts... but they must know better.
Are they really continuing to try to reach a younger audience? With "Singles" like piano EBW/Song for Someone? That selection is adult 30+ music at best.
They could have done a really cool music video of The Troubles feat. Lykke Li. They might even have This Is Where You Can Reach Me Now put out as a Single.
Would they be accused of trying too hard? (Mando Diao - Dance With Somebody vibe)
Alll the SOI Singles were U2 signature sound. So, basically tailored for the average U2 fan. Nothing for new fans...
I'd love to see U2 come back with a risk taking first SOE Single. I doubt that will happen though.
Let's hope it's better than the previous singles. Miracle was just meh. 2nd least fav off the album for me.
Just seemed dad rock even tho I know what they were trying to do/capture
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Just seemed dad rock even tho I know what they were trying to do/capture
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Hollow Island
New Yorker
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Exactly - the art used to inform the business, now it seems to be the other way around.
They should check out what their old idol Bowie is doing - he's not trying to get younger fans or appeal to pop radio, but his new 10 minute long video of a song with no chorus has over five million youtube hits, and he's getting the best reviews since I don't know when. I've been a fan for 20 years, and he's never received reviews like this during that time.
He realized in the 90s that his biggest mistake was in trying to please an audience. It lead to substandard music. I hope that U2 realize that too. They'll always work with pop song structures, but not being sonically adventurous does not serve them well.
I love SOI, but I doubt they could make an album that good from such a boring sound palette again.
Mrs. Garrison
Rock n' Roll Doggie ALL ACCESS
This from EW, probably just more of the same, though i am too lazy to remember or look if this has been posted before. So shoot me if it has.
U2 new album update: Bono, The Edge update fans on Songs of Experience | EW.com
U2 new album update: Bono, The Edge update fans on Songs of Experience | EW.com
"You know what? We’re not going to second-guess any of this. Let’s just go for it." Edge, on SOE.
Best thing I've heard in years. This is what has always pissed me off about U2. The greatest band in the world, but could be so, so much better if they would stop overworking and overthinking their songs. It started around the time when they "reapplied for the greatest band in the world." But since that time there have been probably 30 songs that were just so mangled and convoluted (Origin of the Species, Breathe and Winter are just a few). These were absolutely GORGEOUS songs at their core but ended up being overplayed, over-sung, and overproduced. Drives me crazy!
You're a great fucking band, U2. You need to let go again.
Best thing I've heard in years. This is what has always pissed me off about U2. The greatest band in the world, but could be so, so much better if they would stop overworking and overthinking their songs. It started around the time when they "reapplied for the greatest band in the world." But since that time there have been probably 30 songs that were just so mangled and convoluted (Origin of the Species, Breathe and Winter are just a few). These were absolutely GORGEOUS songs at their core but ended up being overplayed, over-sung, and overproduced. Drives me crazy!
You're a great fucking band, U2. You need to let go again.
RoKKeR
Refugee
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Another promising article about the album, hope they stick to their guns here. Seeing Edge name-check Zooropa again after bringing it up in the UTU2TM podcast is great, I do hope they "go for it". Everything that could possibly said about U2, from praise to hatred, has been said at this point... no harm in throwing something out there to see if it sticks.
superchuk5
Refugee
Love the reference to the Zooropa process, but note that Edge's reference was to the PROCESS, not the album's actual sound. Misleading headline / sentence, so don't get your hopes up about getting weird electro stuff (but their initial sensibilities for the last two albums have been experimental before veering mainstream, so who knows?).
Registered Dude
Rock n' Roll Doggie Band-aid
stirring up some quotes that got lost in the fervor last fall. let's dissect to death!
Bono: We pull into a lay-by so he can play tracks from the next album, Songs of Experience. His voice comes through his phone singing about “the dying of the light”. He harmonises with himself as the album continues and gives every song an introduction: “On this one we were going after a broken cassette recorder type of sound”; “This has got a really crunchy beat”; “You have to hear Edge’s guitar work on this”; “Just wait until you hear the drum break on this one.” He’s lost in his music, staring out the window as he sings along. The Italian prime minister is waiting but it seems that cat can chill. Bono keeps scrolling and playing. “We’re going to get this album out next year; unusually for us, a lot of the songs are done already,” (Sept 2015)
Also, here are some lyrics to Morning After Innocence
The morning after Innocence
I was living a lie, I was calling it a compromise.
I was making bad deals in front of everyone's eyes.
Deals now everyone denies.
I was giving evidence in the court of the hearts desire,
falsifying documents, virtue thrown in the fire.
Sometimes I wish that I was stupid and you were not so smart.
Overcome the head will always overcome the heart.
I'm running out of chance to blow
That's what you told me and you should know
Lead me in the way I should go
Unravel the mystery of the heart and its defence
The morning after innocence
Is that your fountain pen? Navy with a nib of gold.
Could you write your name again and do anything you were told, in 10 Cedarwood Road.
I'm your older self, the song of experience.
I've come to ask for help from your song of innocence.
Lead me in the way I should go.
I'm running out of chances to blow.
That's what you told me and you should know.
Bono: We pull into a lay-by so he can play tracks from the next album, Songs of Experience. His voice comes through his phone singing about “the dying of the light”. He harmonises with himself as the album continues and gives every song an introduction: “On this one we were going after a broken cassette recorder type of sound”; “This has got a really crunchy beat”; “You have to hear Edge’s guitar work on this”; “Just wait until you hear the drum break on this one.” He’s lost in his music, staring out the window as he sings along. The Italian prime minister is waiting but it seems that cat can chill. Bono keeps scrolling and playing. “We’re going to get this album out next year; unusually for us, a lot of the songs are done already,” (Sept 2015)
Also, here are some lyrics to Morning After Innocence
The morning after Innocence
I was living a lie, I was calling it a compromise.
I was making bad deals in front of everyone's eyes.
Deals now everyone denies.
I was giving evidence in the court of the hearts desire,
falsifying documents, virtue thrown in the fire.
Sometimes I wish that I was stupid and you were not so smart.
Overcome the head will always overcome the heart.
I'm running out of chance to blow
That's what you told me and you should know
Lead me in the way I should go
Unravel the mystery of the heart and its defence
The morning after innocence
Is that your fountain pen? Navy with a nib of gold.
Could you write your name again and do anything you were told, in 10 Cedarwood Road.
I'm your older self, the song of experience.
I've come to ask for help from your song of innocence.
Lead me in the way I should go.
I'm running out of chances to blow.
That's what you told me and you should know.
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The Panther
Refugee
Yes.
JamietheEdgefan
Refugee
Damn straight!
I like the descriptions of songs sounding like a "broken cassette recorder" with "crunchy beats", sounds in keeping with a rougher, less polished album. Though as someone else pointed out, u2 songs in the studio are malleable; it may sound like an electro-hip hop song at one point, then end up as a country acoustic tune. So what Bono played in september isn't necessarily indicative of the end result.
The Morning after Innocence lyrics strike me as pretty good, but i wonder how Bono is gonna cram that many syllables into one song (i say this as a songwriter - I always end up reducing the amount of lyrics just to make them easier to sing).
Registered Dude
Rock n' Roll Doggie Band-aid
I'm guessing he'll deliver with some Dylan-ish phrasing..?
ozeeko
Refugee
Morning after Innocence lyrics, start off decently enough until he drops the dreaded H word....HEART! He just can't help himself.
hasin73
Refugee
The more EDGE, the better U2.
JamietheEdgefan
Refugee
Yeah could work. If SoE (and this song) really is released, i'll be curious to see if those lyrics survive, and to what extent - could give an indication of how pre-planned the album was vs how much they worked on it after SoI was released.
Registered Dude
Rock n' Roll Doggie Band-aid
here's my sleuthing on this song..
U2Dublin posted this craptastic "cover" of Morning After Innocence (MAI) about six months after SOI was released:
sounds like a crap, right? surely just someone screwing around...
or, have they heard something?
have they heard the full version of the song U2 are playing around 1:22, which seems to feature the same chord progression/lead guitar around 1:32?
note the lyrics also seem to match the lyrics of MAI, which Bono has quoted in interviews
a puzzle, I say!
EDIT: my tongue is firmly in cheek here, of course it could all be crap..
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Hollow Island
New Yorker
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Broken cassette recorder sound...U2 using Boards of Canada sounds would be amazing.
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mikal
Blue Crack Addict
I prefer a morning after experience if you know what I mean. 
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