Surprise EP Release - Days of Ash - All Discussion Here
- Thread starter Headache in a Suitcase
- Start date
The friendliest place on the web for anyone that follows U2.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
intedomine
Rock n' Roll Doggie FOB
Echo the love for Love is All We Have Left - one of U2’s best openers and one of Bono’s best post-2000 moments.
This above is such stellar list of songs. Love them all
super fly guy
New Yorker
They have not played here in Scotland since 2014, far far to long.
They’re open to ideas and America is an idea, sooo…
OP
OP
It was an idea.
Now it's dead.
Now it's dead.
Irvine511
Blue Crack Supplier
But just like refujesus, America shall rise from the dead …
lazarus
Blue Crack Supplier
Who gives a **** what the band thinks? These are the people who decided that Best Thing and Get Out were the best choices for singles from SOE, the absolute 2 worst songs on the album.
Also the same people who agreed to leave Mercy off the Bomb, moved This Is Where from the album opener to the back of that album, and then never played it live. Also took them until 2018 to play Acrobat.
Their opinions about their own work are useless.
ETA: since when is profanity censored on this forum? What a joke!
American Soul exists, unfortunately.
Can't remember the last time I chimed in here, maybe HTDAAB, lurking is sort of my thing...
Trying to organize my thoughts in some semblance of coherence. tldr; is I think I love it, but not in the way I love their other stuff, which is usually the best sign.
American Obituary
Apology #1 on the EP. To some extent the subtitle could be "We finally got it right!" I don't have to list all of them here, but the obvious ones are ABOY, Boots, Miracle, and Atomic City.
As many have already said, it's the loosest this "pop punk" vibe of theirs has felt in ages, and the song really benefits from it.
Listening on my good headphones setup, one thing I noticed -- and actually went back to compare it to the mix on Miracle, just to make sure I wasn't misremembering -- the primary fuzz/punk riff in Obituary is dead damn center, like nearly mono. Drums, bass and main vocals stack right on top of that. All the additional guitars, keyboards, and vocals fill out the stereo space. I think it gives a bit more coherence to the main music driving forces -- and even a bit of a semi-unconscious old-school feel to it -- compared to the broadly stereo mixes of their previous goes at a song like this.
And lyrically, I'm kinda surprised in a good way. There are some clunkers, and he's just never gonna stop trying to fit 23 syllables into a single measure, we gotta just let that one go...but as much as I love The Boss, "Renee Good born to die free/American mother of three/Seventh day January/A bullet for each child, you see" is exponentially better than anything in "Streets of Minneapolis". (Or "Refu-Jesus" for that matte, not that that's a high bar to reach.)
Tears of Things
Musically, I love it. It's got this easy inevitability that echoes some of our all-time favorites. I do, sadly, think the Edge could've done another couple of takes on the solo, but there's nothing wrong with it, it just doesn't surprise me as much as the rest of the song. Like, yup, that's the solo I would have expected to be there, played in the expected way.
Lyrically, this one is gonna unfold over time. There are two competing metaphors here -- a human being (Adam) being brought to life out of stone (dust), and the complex humanity of the warrior-poet David -- really showing Bono off at his best as a poet/lyricist, as in, I doubt even he knows exactly what he was going for with some of the lines, but they bubbled up truthfully from his unconscious.
Honestly feels like quite a while since his lyrics have sound as "un-composed" and natural as these.
Songs of the Future
Apology #2 on the EP. This one is for Staring at the Sun, Man and a Woman, Summer Rain, I'll Go Crazy, etc. Not that I don't love all of those for what they are (I'll Go Crazy...eh...), but this time around they managed to capture that bouncing, singalong, "shake your booty and forget your cares for 4 minutes" they've been striving for.
And I could say the same thing on all the rest of the tracks, but this one belongs to Adam and Larry. They are so in touch, so much vibing with each other, that Edge and Bono are sorta guest stars on their track.
Wildpeace
Really love this, though it is what it is. Meditative, giving another, lesser-known artist a turn at the mic and a large audience, some beautiful lines and imagery, and good to know Jackknife can do some ambient stuff too. When I listen to the album in the future it'll be a nice resting stop along the way, but isn't something I'd add to a playlist or eagerly rush to play for a friend.
One Life at a Time
This is an odd duck. On one hand, Bono's elder-statesman vocal delivery clearly drops this in their modern era. As do some of the liberties he takes with more familiar lyrical structure and pacing. And the mix is very clear -- despite all the atmospherics, there's tons of empty aural space in here.
But the "we're gonna pull out a bit of the best part of the song, **** with it in a cool way and make it the intro" start to the song, Larry's downhill snare, the swirling vocal takes weaving in and out of each other, the tendency more towards atmospheric wailing and still-partly-Bongolese singing, the way the verses and pre-chorus and bridge and chorus all start to loop back on each other, building to a vast climax...all that's pure TUF.
I don't know what to make of this song. I don't like it like I like their older work. I think I may end up liking it as much or more. I am confused in a way that only U2 can make me.
Yours Eternally
Apology #3, this one for Stuck, Invisible, et al.
This song make me happy. I want to sing along to it with a lot of other people singing along to it by my side. I want to smile and feel like everything's going to be okay, even if just for 4:26.
When I say that this "upbeat pop-rock song featuring Ed Sheeran" does what it says on the tin, I am saying it with a stupid grin on my face and tears running down my cheeks.
Sometimes you just need a hug and a smile. Tell me the last time a song did it this well.
I have so many more thoughts, but there are two I haven't seen brought up that I wanted to add in.
One: these are songs of a band in conversation with themselves. I was being quite silly above with the whole "apology" thing above, but really, three of these songs feel like they finally hit the targets they've been aiming at for 20 years now. Does that make them all-time classics? Who knows? Not directly. But it does feel like they may have gotten a monkey off their backs, or figured out something that's been plaguing them for a while.
There are lyrical and musical echoes, often directly, to some of their earlier works. A particular wailed note sequence borrowed from Fast Cars. Some guitar riffs borrowed from others. The kinds of self-referential things they have been self-censoring since pretty much Achtung.
I mean, the lyrics on OLAAT's are Bono very sweetly talking to his past self and chastising him: "You say you wanna save the world/Well how you gonna get that right?...And perfect love drives out all fear/Well how's that gonna happen here?" Two lines the younger Bono hung his hat on, and two replies saying basically, "Sure, great, well, about that..."
There's a willingness and method to their engagement with their own past here that I find very potent.
And Two: you know what, these songs are really, really fun to sing along to. I'm a baritone, professionally trained, performed off and on over the last 40 years, and if there's one complaint I have about so much of their recent work, it's how staccato and plodding it can sometimes feel. There's a great song somewhere in Stuck in a Moment, for example, and I have a hard time listening to that song without crying, it means so much to me, but god help me, the chorus is unsingable, just a ****ing bunny rabbit hopping between notes and clefs like they were grabbed randomly out of a hat. See also Unknown Caller, Moment of Surrender (great performance, not one to sing along to for fun), Best thing About Me...
"Sarina Sarina/she's the song of the future" is the most fun I've had singing along to Bono in years. And once I get the lyrics down for One Life at a Time, that will for sure end up in my "sing loudly along in the car" playlist.
Maybe that kinda sums the whole thing up. None of these songs are Bad or Streets or One. None of them are Stand up Comedy.
What they are is loose, and flowing, and frankly more fun than anything they've done in a long, long time.
Trying to organize my thoughts in some semblance of coherence. tldr; is I think I love it, but not in the way I love their other stuff, which is usually the best sign.
American Obituary
Apology #1 on the EP. To some extent the subtitle could be "We finally got it right!" I don't have to list all of them here, but the obvious ones are ABOY, Boots, Miracle, and Atomic City.
As many have already said, it's the loosest this "pop punk" vibe of theirs has felt in ages, and the song really benefits from it.
Listening on my good headphones setup, one thing I noticed -- and actually went back to compare it to the mix on Miracle, just to make sure I wasn't misremembering -- the primary fuzz/punk riff in Obituary is dead damn center, like nearly mono. Drums, bass and main vocals stack right on top of that. All the additional guitars, keyboards, and vocals fill out the stereo space. I think it gives a bit more coherence to the main music driving forces -- and even a bit of a semi-unconscious old-school feel to it -- compared to the broadly stereo mixes of their previous goes at a song like this.
And lyrically, I'm kinda surprised in a good way. There are some clunkers, and he's just never gonna stop trying to fit 23 syllables into a single measure, we gotta just let that one go...but as much as I love The Boss, "Renee Good born to die free/American mother of three/Seventh day January/A bullet for each child, you see" is exponentially better than anything in "Streets of Minneapolis". (Or "Refu-Jesus" for that matte, not that that's a high bar to reach.)
Tears of Things
Musically, I love it. It's got this easy inevitability that echoes some of our all-time favorites. I do, sadly, think the Edge could've done another couple of takes on the solo, but there's nothing wrong with it, it just doesn't surprise me as much as the rest of the song. Like, yup, that's the solo I would have expected to be there, played in the expected way.
Lyrically, this one is gonna unfold over time. There are two competing metaphors here -- a human being (Adam) being brought to life out of stone (dust), and the complex humanity of the warrior-poet David -- really showing Bono off at his best as a poet/lyricist, as in, I doubt even he knows exactly what he was going for with some of the lines, but they bubbled up truthfully from his unconscious.
Honestly feels like quite a while since his lyrics have sound as "un-composed" and natural as these.
Songs of the Future
Apology #2 on the EP. This one is for Staring at the Sun, Man and a Woman, Summer Rain, I'll Go Crazy, etc. Not that I don't love all of those for what they are (I'll Go Crazy...eh...), but this time around they managed to capture that bouncing, singalong, "shake your booty and forget your cares for 4 minutes" they've been striving for.
And I could say the same thing on all the rest of the tracks, but this one belongs to Adam and Larry. They are so in touch, so much vibing with each other, that Edge and Bono are sorta guest stars on their track.
Wildpeace
Really love this, though it is what it is. Meditative, giving another, lesser-known artist a turn at the mic and a large audience, some beautiful lines and imagery, and good to know Jackknife can do some ambient stuff too. When I listen to the album in the future it'll be a nice resting stop along the way, but isn't something I'd add to a playlist or eagerly rush to play for a friend.
One Life at a Time
This is an odd duck. On one hand, Bono's elder-statesman vocal delivery clearly drops this in their modern era. As do some of the liberties he takes with more familiar lyrical structure and pacing. And the mix is very clear -- despite all the atmospherics, there's tons of empty aural space in here.
But the "we're gonna pull out a bit of the best part of the song, **** with it in a cool way and make it the intro" start to the song, Larry's downhill snare, the swirling vocal takes weaving in and out of each other, the tendency more towards atmospheric wailing and still-partly-Bongolese singing, the way the verses and pre-chorus and bridge and chorus all start to loop back on each other, building to a vast climax...all that's pure TUF.
I don't know what to make of this song. I don't like it like I like their older work. I think I may end up liking it as much or more. I am confused in a way that only U2 can make me.
Yours Eternally
Apology #3, this one for Stuck, Invisible, et al.
This song make me happy. I want to sing along to it with a lot of other people singing along to it by my side. I want to smile and feel like everything's going to be okay, even if just for 4:26.
When I say that this "upbeat pop-rock song featuring Ed Sheeran" does what it says on the tin, I am saying it with a stupid grin on my face and tears running down my cheeks.
Sometimes you just need a hug and a smile. Tell me the last time a song did it this well.
I have so many more thoughts, but there are two I haven't seen brought up that I wanted to add in.
One: these are songs of a band in conversation with themselves. I was being quite silly above with the whole "apology" thing above, but really, three of these songs feel like they finally hit the targets they've been aiming at for 20 years now. Does that make them all-time classics? Who knows? Not directly. But it does feel like they may have gotten a monkey off their backs, or figured out something that's been plaguing them for a while.
There are lyrical and musical echoes, often directly, to some of their earlier works. A particular wailed note sequence borrowed from Fast Cars. Some guitar riffs borrowed from others. The kinds of self-referential things they have been self-censoring since pretty much Achtung.
I mean, the lyrics on OLAAT's are Bono very sweetly talking to his past self and chastising him: "You say you wanna save the world/Well how you gonna get that right?...And perfect love drives out all fear/Well how's that gonna happen here?" Two lines the younger Bono hung his hat on, and two replies saying basically, "Sure, great, well, about that..."
There's a willingness and method to their engagement with their own past here that I find very potent.
And Two: you know what, these songs are really, really fun to sing along to. I'm a baritone, professionally trained, performed off and on over the last 40 years, and if there's one complaint I have about so much of their recent work, it's how staccato and plodding it can sometimes feel. There's a great song somewhere in Stuck in a Moment, for example, and I have a hard time listening to that song without crying, it means so much to me, but god help me, the chorus is unsingable, just a ****ing bunny rabbit hopping between notes and clefs like they were grabbed randomly out of a hat. See also Unknown Caller, Moment of Surrender (great performance, not one to sing along to for fun), Best thing About Me...
"Sarina Sarina/she's the song of the future" is the most fun I've had singing along to Bono in years. And once I get the lyrics down for One Life at a Time, that will for sure end up in my "sing loudly along in the car" playlist.
Maybe that kinda sums the whole thing up. None of these songs are Bad or Streets or One. None of them are Stand up Comedy.
What they are is loose, and flowing, and frankly more fun than anything they've done in a long, long time.
Maroon Bells
The Fly
And they were right about that. Best Thing, especially the Kygo remix, is one of my faves. I've tried really hard, but just never heard in Mercy what others did. But hey, it's good to hear your opinion on their work, especially if their opinions about their work are useless.
MrPryck2U
ONE love, blood, life
It's good to see folks who haven't posted in a while. I found out about the new EP from our beloved Corianderstem on Facebook in the early evening of 2/18/26. I've listened to it about 6 times already. It's a grower for me. It's good to see positive comments about the EP. I've actually been waiting a long time for U2 to address what's been happening in the US as well as the rest of the world and they have finally chosen the time. If their fans have a fraction of a brain, they know where U2 stands politically. Of course, they've addressed world issues before in their music, but it seems now more than ever we need to hear what they think.
By the way, Laz, they've been blocking profanity for several months. Where have you been?
By the way, Laz, they've been blocking profanity for several months. Where have you been?
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lazarus
Blue Crack Supplier
Isn’t the average age here like 40? Who exactly is this filter supposed to be coddling?
dan_smee
ONE love, blood, life
I love how Americans institutionally have such a problem with words and swearing, yet apparently no issue with murdering their own citizens. They are just ****ing words, ya cunts.
dan_smee
ONE love, blood, life
Huh. **** is ok? As an Australian I feel seen.
Hewson
Blue Crack Supplier
Cobbler
OP
OP
I can't turn it off. I've tried. And I've asked. We're lucky the lights are still on.
Work around it. Or don't.
I don't give a shít.
lazarus
Blue Crack Supplier
Friggin' Coddler
lazarus
Blue Crack Supplier
I'm not usually one to crunch numbers, but here are the current YouTube views for anyone who's interested:
Obituary: 521K
TTOT: 222K
SOTF: 171K
Wildpeace: 84K
OLAAT: 157K
Eternally: 229K
I don't know enough about YT trends to say if those numbers are good or not but I'm assuming half a million in 2 days for the lead track is very good, especially for a band celebrating its 50-year anniversary.
Do we think that Eternally has more views than the previous 4 tracks because of the Ed Sheeran feature? Ukrainian viewers? There are a lot of comments from the latter.
Obituary: 521K
TTOT: 222K
SOTF: 171K
Wildpeace: 84K
OLAAT: 157K
Eternally: 229K
I don't know enough about YT trends to say if those numbers are good or not but I'm assuming half a million in 2 days for the lead track is very good, especially for a band celebrating its 50-year anniversary.
Do we think that Eternally has more views than the previous 4 tracks because of the Ed Sheeran feature? Ukrainian viewers? There are a lot of comments from the latter.
dan_smee
ONE love, blood, life
Apple Music after two days:
- Days of Ash EP - 10(-1)
- American Obituary - 120 (NEW) noting 1 day late with song streaming data
- Song of the Future - 170 (NEW)
- Tears of Things - 188 (NEW)
iTunes:
- Days of Ash EP- 1 (-) beating out new album from Mumford & Sons
- Yours Eternally - 15 (+10)
- American Obituary - 23 (+4)
- Song of the Future - 28 (+15)
- Tears of Things - 40 (+7)
- One Life At a Time - 61 (+27)
Global Artist chart (aggregated performance across all platforms)
- U2 - 22 (+3)
There seems to be a day lag with Apple Music songs so given the positive trends across the board I wouldn’t be surprised if American Obituary and Yours Eternally (ironically the two fans seem least impressed with) could have a little moment here…
- Days of Ash EP - 10(-1)
- American Obituary - 120 (NEW) noting 1 day late with song streaming data
- Song of the Future - 170 (NEW)
- Tears of Things - 188 (NEW)
iTunes:
- Days of Ash EP- 1 (-) beating out new album from Mumford & Sons
- Yours Eternally - 15 (+10)
- American Obituary - 23 (+4)
- Song of the Future - 28 (+15)
- Tears of Things - 40 (+7)
- One Life At a Time - 61 (+27)
Global Artist chart (aggregated performance across all platforms)
- U2 - 22 (+3)
There seems to be a day lag with Apple Music songs so given the positive trends across the board I wouldn’t be surprised if American Obituary and Yours Eternally (ironically the two fans seem least impressed with) could have a little moment here…
super fly guy
New Yorker
With being scottish,**** is used on a daily basis meaning various things!
RUBIKSCUBE
Babyface
- Joined
- Mar 16, 2022
- Messages
- 13
More often than not, a term of endearment.
PookaMacP
War Child
Four quick thoughts after a few days of listening:
1) These songs - particularly the middle four - are surprisingly enduring. They're unfolding and revealing hidden corners of magic in a way I haven't experienced from U2 for a long time. It's all a matter of taste, of course, but that dark, brooding, but melodically interesting feel is something we've had only in fits and starts since 1997. In fact, what it most reminds me of is the sound of the Million Dollar Hotel soundtrack.
2) Part of that is down to the melodies, but it's also because Bono has moved away from the uber-direct writing that dogged much of the last two decades. I didn't think much of his book, but writing it and touring it seems to have toned up his lyrical muscles too. He's always been better when coming at a subject from an oblique angle, of which there are plenty of examples on this EP. This is just one example, from the superb One Life: "Time doesn't pass, it waits in place until it meets you face-to-face."
3) Bono has also leaned fully into his natural voice again - which is still incredible for his age; sometimes we forget that. The delivery on Tears of Things is a very good example of that. I had the song on last night and my better half said immediately, "that sounds like Leonard Cohen" - and it does, circa I'm Your Man, in a very good way.
4) Part of me wonders what influence a new generation of politicised Irish bands has had on U2. There's Kneecap, of course, but also CMAT and Fontaines DC, who are writing about politics in ways U2 used to do. I particularly wonder about Fontaines, because Grian Chatten was involved with the Netflix documentary, but also because that band has proven that you can write about politics from an indirect angle, while also making popular guitar-based records. When I saw them in Dublin a couple of years ago, I was astounded by the energy with which a mainly early-20s crowd sang the words back at them. I wonder if Bono, Edge, et al saw it too and decided to lean back into that side of their personalities.
1) These songs - particularly the middle four - are surprisingly enduring. They're unfolding and revealing hidden corners of magic in a way I haven't experienced from U2 for a long time. It's all a matter of taste, of course, but that dark, brooding, but melodically interesting feel is something we've had only in fits and starts since 1997. In fact, what it most reminds me of is the sound of the Million Dollar Hotel soundtrack.
2) Part of that is down to the melodies, but it's also because Bono has moved away from the uber-direct writing that dogged much of the last two decades. I didn't think much of his book, but writing it and touring it seems to have toned up his lyrical muscles too. He's always been better when coming at a subject from an oblique angle, of which there are plenty of examples on this EP. This is just one example, from the superb One Life: "Time doesn't pass, it waits in place until it meets you face-to-face."
3) Bono has also leaned fully into his natural voice again - which is still incredible for his age; sometimes we forget that. The delivery on Tears of Things is a very good example of that. I had the song on last night and my better half said immediately, "that sounds like Leonard Cohen" - and it does, circa I'm Your Man, in a very good way.
4) Part of me wonders what influence a new generation of politicised Irish bands has had on U2. There's Kneecap, of course, but also CMAT and Fontaines DC, who are writing about politics in ways U2 used to do. I particularly wonder about Fontaines, because Grian Chatten was involved with the Netflix documentary, but also because that band has proven that you can write about politics from an indirect angle, while also making popular guitar-based records. When I saw them in Dublin a couple of years ago, I was astounded by the energy with which a mainly early-20s crowd sang the words back at them. I wonder if Bono, Edge, et al saw it too and decided to lean back into that side of their personalities.
dan_smee
ONE love, blood, life
All this positive press will do one of two things:
- give them energy to finish the album, the confidence to be raw and fresh, get it out, capitalise on the momentum and have a truely unprecedented 4th act in their 5th and 6th decade
- make then panic about the unexpected limelight, search for a hit, hire a pop producer and release your song saved my life 2.
The EP gives me hope for the first option, but history tells us otherwise
- give them energy to finish the album, the confidence to be raw and fresh, get it out, capitalise on the momentum and have a truely unprecedented 4th act in their 5th and 6th decade
- make then panic about the unexpected limelight, search for a hit, hire a pop producer and release your song saved my life 2.
The EP gives me hope for the first option, but history tells us otherwise
OP
OP
I think the album's done or close to done. I think they know exactly what they want to do and when they want to do it. This was the opening salvo in a multi-year plan for one (possibly final) go that'll take us through the end of 2027/ early 2028.
After that? All bets are off.
After that? All bets are off.
super fly guy
New Yorker
After that,hopefully the vaults are flung open.
PookaMacP
War Child
That would be good. I do wonder, however, how fresh this music actually is - apart from American Obituary.
My reasons for thinking this:
- In press for the Reassemble album, Edge hinted at a surprise release to come. That would fit with a planned 2025 release that didn't come off.
- How quickly could any of the additional elements really have been put together? The lyric videos were all by the same artist and must have taken a good bit of time, for example. Same goes for the Propaganda ezine.
- Yours Eternally must date at least back to working with Martin Garrix - maybe even earlier, with Avincii et al?
Having said all that, the cover art is so terrible it *must* have been knocked out in a few hours.
Adam recently cancelled a NYC appearance in March due to a recording session. Only question is - is it for the album or one of the other projects in the pipeline?
On the one hand, I’m glad they’re still glad they are there making music. On the other hand, this is pretty abysmal.
Many post-2000s problems remain and the tepid nature of the the band’s politics come through. Bono’s wishy washy Palestine takes are depressing. The guy is just too connected to the elite that he can’t take a more biting stance here (not to mention their financial ties, they have some investment deal with a hotel or something).
Oh and don’t remind me about Jonny Greenwood’s pathetic defenses these days. Being a U2 fan can be tough, but Radiohead has proudly joined them (though their music at least has been more consistent and interesting to me).
It took them well into a year to comment on this despite their immediate support for Ukraine.
But onto the music, it’s just…boring. I mean, I can hear Edge and he sounds fine. Also, nice to hear drums on a U2 track. But the melodies don’t resonate really. It’s just an EP, so hopefully not a major indication of what the album will sound like.
Will the new album be the one with Eno? I’m cautiously optimistic on that.
Many post-2000s problems remain and the tepid nature of the the band’s politics come through. Bono’s wishy washy Palestine takes are depressing. The guy is just too connected to the elite that he can’t take a more biting stance here (not to mention their financial ties, they have some investment deal with a hotel or something).
Oh and don’t remind me about Jonny Greenwood’s pathetic defenses these days. Being a U2 fan can be tough, but Radiohead has proudly joined them (though their music at least has been more consistent and interesting to me).
It took them well into a year to comment on this despite their immediate support for Ukraine.
But onto the music, it’s just…boring. I mean, I can hear Edge and he sounds fine. Also, nice to hear drums on a U2 track. But the melodies don’t resonate really. It’s just an EP, so hopefully not a major indication of what the album will sound like.
Will the new album be the one with Eno? I’m cautiously optimistic on that.
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