Songs of Surrender - Discussion, reviews, impressions

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Headache in a Suitcase said:
my entire thought process with this thing was that it would provide me with some songs that i could toss on when i want something quiet and chill - which i still think is true. i just haven't had said quiet and chill moments just yet. tends to be few and far between when you have an 8 and 5 year old screaming at each other from the moment they wake up until the moment they go to bed.
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That's exactly how I've been listening to it since - its perfect chill or background music for me which is kind of what I expected it would be. The familiarity with all of the original songs mean that like instrumental or ambient music I can have it on in the background without being distracted by it if I'm working or writing.
 
As someone who is much more interested in new metal and hard rock offerings, SOS isn't something that's ever going to be on rotation very much. But I definitely appreciated that first listen on release day. Great nostalgia!
 
Headache in a Suitcase said:
my entire thought process with this thing was that it would provide me with some songs that i could toss on when i want something quiet and chill - which i still think is true. i just haven't had said quiet and chill moments just yet. tends to be few and far between when you have an 8 and 5 year old screaming at each other from the moment they wake up until the moment they go to bed.
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“Hello hello”
“Shut up!”
 
I’m still listening, although Lana is taking up my “quiet time” listening a lot, but I’ve got my favs and my skips at this point. A smattering in no order:


Favs:
Bad
Walk On
Pride
Stuck
Invisible
Dirty Day
ES
End of the World
Stay
LOH
Little Things
40


Skips:
One
GOOYOW
Sometimes
Miracle
COBL — sorry, he sounds like John Legend
SFS
Peace on Earth
SBS
WOWY
Miracle Drug
 
I think Stories for Boys is good on SOS. The album is a miss for me though. First U2 release I've not had any excitement/interest for. That's ok, it was bound to happen eventually.

I'm more interested in a new material album. Always have been, regardless of how it may have turned out.

I've been a fan since when The Fly came out. Dizzy times.

I think they've got more belters in them. I'm not interested in them becoming a nostalgia act.

When Bono recently said something along the lines of he'd focussed too much on the 'pop' charts on the last 2 Experience albums, song writing was excellent but U2 might be passed succeeding that way and was keen to make this unreasonable guitar record I was intrigued.

I think lifting the pressure and letting them just focus on this record for their own purposes will allow them to make a brilliant album.

Not pastiche, but something contemporary that blows away the whippersnappers.

I live in hope.
 
I wonder what they could have done with a track like 'Love Is Blindness'. I know we've had Edge's accoustic version already, but hearing this almost Bond-esque cover recently I kinda wanted to hear what it'd sound like in the vein of 'Two Shots of Happy, One Shot of Sad'.


 
For me, the standouts are THBAO, Streets, UTEOTW & Invisible. Dissapointed wit the the fly, when i heard edge talk aboiut dual basses , i was thinking,,,oooh this could be good, instead it was a bit limp sounding.

Also theh SOI songs, we already had acoustic interpretations on the bonus disc when SOI came out, why do them again ? What about gems such as Heartland, Original of the Species, indian summer sky, a man and a woman among many others. With EBW< they are just trying too hard to force it down fans liking i think. surely SOI would've got to number 1 on merit if they didn't do that apple thing

still its a pleasant interlude for U2 fans starved of product since 2017. Hopefully Larry will recover and we'll see a new album next year...
 
Yeah I don't understand the large number of Songs of Innocence tracks here. Not sure what the band's obsession with the risible Song For Someone is. Nothings going to make that song even half decent.

Love Is Blindness would have been a great choice, and one of the deeper cuts from All That You Can't Leave Behind like When I Look At The World. The latter songs of Pop would have sounded great too, a lot of potential in If You Wear That Velvet Dress or Please.'
 
The "Tim's Listening Party" episode with Edge is now available on the Absolute Radio app and I think their website too.
 
This part of the forum is pretty dead right now with all the Vegas stuff etc - how have your feelings about the album evolved since it was released? Here’s mine:

- as expected, some have well and truly slid out of rotation.
- Bono’s voice is much better than people were saying. There’s a tone and theme here that works as a collective.
- I’m still listening to the tracks I really like.
- overall, the care and effort that went into this shouldn’t be under-appreciated. 40 tracks, all recorded properly and rethought in some ways. I’m quite happy with this release on the whole.
 
dan_smee said:
This part of the forum is pretty dead right now with all the Vegas stuff etc - how have your feelings about the album evolved since it was released? Here’s mine:

- as expected, some have well and truly slid out of rotation.
- Bono’s voice is much better than people were saying. There’s a tone and theme here that works as a collective.
- I’m still listening to the tracks I really like.
- overall, the care and effort that went into this shouldn’t be under-appreciated. 40 tracks, all recorded properly and rethought in some ways. I’m quite happy with this release on the whole.
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Sorry to say I haven't listened to it since about March 18th other than a song here or there popping up on my daily Spotify playlist.

Not saying it's bad, just not really my jam right now.
 
There’s some gems on there such as Bad and Dirty Day IMO and they’ve intermingled the new versions with the originals on the Sirius U2 X Rqdio Shows, but like you said we are all hyper fixated on LV right now. :)
 
Most of it is forgettable.

Handful of songs I'll repeat listen if I'm in the mood
 
I like a lot of it.

Some I don’t.

I also don’t know why some songs, which we already have strong acoustic versions of (Horses, Stuck), are here and not others where no such comparable versions exist.
 
I liked it a lot, but rarely listen to it.

I've returned to Dirty Day and Invisible. I randomly put on Still Haven't Found on a bar jukebox the other day and it sounded fucking great.

I do think a lot of these tracks will make my summer late night on the porch drinking playlist, which trends more acoustic and chill. And that's really all I want from this collection. They aren't meant to be replacements, only alternatives
 
I finally read Surrender over the last couple of weeks, and one line that stood out to me was him acknowledging he is only 1/4 a musician and he needs his 3 band mates to be a complete musician.

After listening to Pride, I’m not interested in 2/4 of a musician when I could be listening to a version of anything by a complete musician.

Nothing against these new versions existing, I’m just going to stick with the OGs and decades worth of live performances. Looks like Taylor Swift is the musician currently showing how to properly revisit past material.
 
Headache in a Suitcase said:
I liked it a lot, but rarely listen to it.

I've returned to Dirty Day and Invisible. I randomly put on Still Haven't Found on a bar jukebox the other day and it sounded fucking great.

I do think a lot of these tracks will make my summer late night on the porch drinking playlist, which trends more acoustic and chill. And that's really all I want from this collection. They aren't meant to be replacements, only alternatives
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To follow up - they did, indeed, and it was nice to have mellow versions of U2 songs for early mornings on the porch.
 
I'm a big fan of Red Hill Mining Town - still carries much of the force of the original. So good I can forgive the lyric choice around 4:15 - "looooove, slowly slips aaway.. loooooove that's seen it's better da-LIGHTS go down on red hill"
 
Watched some of the “live stream”. Chuckled when Bono said let’s hope this shit works…the irony.

I’d love for more live streams like this of some shows that were never released from UF era and so on. That would be worth a subscription for me!
 
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