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Post by carlober on Jul 31, 2017 8:32:16 GMT -5
According to U2Songs a music video for a song apparently named 'Best Thing' was filmed in Amsterdam in the past couple of days. The single release date for early September seems to be pretty much confirmed at this point. Oh God, the Kygo song from last year! Precisely. I do hope that the U2 version sounds a bit different from that. |
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Post by matt on Jul 31, 2017 14:12:37 GMT -5
According to U2Songs a music video for a song apparently named 'Best Thing' was filmed in Amsterdam in the past couple of days. The single release date for early September seems to be pretty much confirmed at this point. Even without Kygo's remix, I think the melody is dreadfully dull and generic for Bono. A song beyond redemption? Probably. However, the video that was being filmed was apparently for a song called 'Blackout'. Rumours are that that is the lead single, and Best Thing will be a quicker follow up, akin to how Coldplay released Ghost Stories (the more ambient and experimental Midnight and then the radio friendly Magic - not to get sidetracked but I really like both those songs and they got me unnecessarily hyped for Ghost Stories). I hope to god it's not another cheesy rocker. A dirty rocker like The Fly would be great. Though if the song is part of this clip that Adam released, then that would be really cool - that buzzsaw guitar is somewhat like The Fly. Here's hoping it doesn't get watered down in production. I also wonder what the song at 4.45 is. Sounds pretty decent. Nothing groundbreaking as expected from them these days, but the vocal melody and guitar sounds like very early U2 from the first three albums. |
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Post by matt on Jul 31, 2017 14:41:34 GMT -5
I was reading a U2 forum, where a couple of trusted members heard the apparent new single in Amsterdam. Not really arsed about what it sounds like, because we've been here before, but it just struck me how desperately poor U2s lead singles have been post-All That You Can't Leave Behind. Vertigo, Get On Your Boots and The Miracle all have a worrying trend whereby every subsequent release is worse than its predecessor. I realise Vertigo is marmite, some love it and some hate it, but I listened to it a few days ago, and I just didn't get it. It really is U2 on autopilot and the Spanish jargon in it is cringe worthy. Get On Your Boots is a downright mess of a song, while The Miracle is probably the blandest song they've ever released. Contrived and boring melody, can't remember what the drums and bass line sounds like as it's that uninteresting, while The Edge is deeply unimpressive with his most insipid uninspired playing ever. All he does is play chords with a little distortion. They'd really have to buck the trend to have just a decent lead single. They haven't had a good one since Beautiful Day (which I think is a great great record) - that's 17 years ago now, the same time between the release of War and All That You Can't Leave Behind...... Totally agreed. Gone are the days where U2 took risks with their lead single to try and push those songs into the mainstream as a part of the album and first single hype, like The Fly, Numb, and Discotheque. Now it's a desperate attempt to pull people in with a rawk song that started to sound the same after Vertigo's success. It started with Elevation, which wasn't the first single so there's an exception there but it was a pretty good tune musically (especially the riff), then moved on to Vertigo which is alright & a solid rock tune that does have some kick to it, and then the other two you mentioned which, I completely agree, are two messes and a half. Out of those, I think Vertigo was the only right choice for lead single. Otherwise, GOYB and The Miracle were two crappy choices. Magnificent and Every Breaking Wave or California should've been the first single for their respective albums, without a doubt imo. You could add Miss Sarajevo to that list if we count Passengers as a U2 album (which it was going to be, before Island Records got cold feet over it). It's amazing considering what largely generic music they release now just how much they would put their balls on the line 20 years ago. And at a time when they were the biggest band in the world. The unfortunate poor reception to Pop really killed their creative instincts. I think the surprise success of Numb, which was only meant to be a quiet release, made them think they were untouchable. You don't make a video like Discotheque without being confident! In an ideal world, All That You Can't Leave Behind would have been the final album from them. It's not up to the unbelievably high songwriting quality of everything before but it's still an excellent record. It's an amalgamation of their 80s and 90s work, and it seems like a fitting end. For many fans, this is the bookend to what started with Boy. Brilliant tours aside, everything else is just a postscript in the career of U2. It doesn't descend to the farcical levels of Oasis or Coldplay with Heathen Chemistry or A Head Full Of Dreams, it's just pleasant at best, and forgettable at worst. And 'pleasant' would have been a major insult to U2 in the mid 90s. Naturally though, when you devour all 20 years of top quality albums from Boy to All That You Can't Leave Behind (20 fucking years, Oasis only managed a few!), that super fan inside me is always going to have that smidgen of hope that they will pull something out of the bag and I'll no doubt buy the new album immediately! |
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Post by Lennon2217 on Jul 31, 2017 14:50:42 GMT -5
U2.......ehhhhhhhhhh......ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.............huhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.............mehhhhhhhhhhh
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Post by Lennon2217 on Jul 31, 2017 14:54:28 GMT -5
Totally agreed. Gone are the days where U2 took risks with their lead single to try and push those songs into the mainstream as a part of the album and first single hype, like The Fly, Numb, and Discotheque. Now it's a desperate attempt to pull people in with a rawk song that started to sound the same after Vertigo's success. It started with Elevation, which wasn't the first single so there's an exception there but it was a pretty good tune musically (especially the riff), then moved on to Vertigo which is alright & a solid rock tune that does have some kick to it, and then the other two you mentioned which, I completely agree, are two messes and a half. Out of those, I think Vertigo was the only right choice for lead single. Otherwise, GOYB and The Miracle were two crappy choices. Magnificent and Every Breaking Wave or California should've been the first single for their respective albums, without a doubt imo. You could add Miss Sarajevo to that list if we count Passengers as a U2 album (which it was going to be, before Island Records got cold feet over it). It's amazing considering what largely generic music they release now just how much they would put their balls on the line 20 years ago. And at a time when they were the biggest band in the world. The unfortunate poor reception to Pop really killed their creative instincts. I think the surprise success of Numb, which was only meant to be a quiet release, made them think they were untouchable. You don't make a video like Discotheque without being confident! In an ideal world, All That You Can't Leave Behind would have been the final album from them. It's not up to the unbelievably high songwriting quality of everything before but it's still an excellent record. It's an amalgamation of their 80s and 90s work, and it seems like a fitting end. For many fans, this is the bookend to what started with Boy. Brilliant tours aside, everything else is just a postscript in the career of U2. It doesn't descend to the farcical levels of Oasis or Coldplay with Heathen Chemistry or A Head Full Of Dreams, it's just pleasant at best, and forgettable at worst. And 'pleasant' would have been a major insult to U2 in the mid 90s. Naturally though, when you devour all 20 years of top quality albums from Boy to All That You Can't Leave Behind (20 fucking years, Oasis only managed a few!), that super fan inside me is always going to have that smidgen of hope that they will pull something out of the bag and I'll no doubt buy the new album immediately! Id have been ok if All That You Can't Leave Behind was their final album. Extremely strong. Amazing tour. Everything after is too engineered for the masses in a constant popularity battle against age and changing music trends. It's sad to see U2 try and keep up. They were in their 40s. Damn near 60 now. |
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Post by matt on Jul 31, 2017 14:58:47 GMT -5
You could add Miss Sarajevo to that list if we count Passengers as a U2 album (which it was going to be, before Island Records got cold feet over it). It's amazing considering what largely generic music they release now just how much they would put their balls on the line 20 years ago. And at a time when they were the biggest band in the world. The unfortunate poor reception to Pop really killed their creative instincts. I think the surprise success of Numb, which was only meant to be a quiet release, made them think they were untouchable. You don't make a video like Discotheque without being confident! In an ideal world, All That You Can't Leave Behind would have been the final album from them. It's not up to the unbelievably high songwriting quality of everything before but it's still an excellent record. It's an amalgamation of their 80s and 90s work, and it seems like a fitting end. For many fans, this is the bookend to what started with Boy. Brilliant tours aside, everything else is just a postscript in the career of U2. It doesn't descend to the farcical levels of Oasis or Coldplay with Heathen Chemistry or A Head Full Of Dreams, it's just pleasant at best, and forgettable at worst. And 'pleasant' would have been a major insult to U2 in the mid 90s. Naturally though, when you devour all 20 years of top quality albums from Boy to All That You Can't Leave Behind (20 fucking years, Oasis only managed a few!), that super fan inside me is always going to have that smidgen of hope that they will pull something out of the bag and I'll no doubt buy the new album immediately! Id have been ok if All That You Can't Leave Behind was their final album. Extremely strong. Amazing tour. Everything after is too engineered for the masses in a constant popularity battle against age and changing music trends. It's sad to see U2 try and keep up. They were in their 40s. Damn near 60 now. Exactly. They were in the 40s when they were having smash hits all over the place with All That You Can't Leave Behind. Balanced a classic sound that appealed to all fans while allowing casual listeners on board. So many bands would kill to have that level of chart appeal at that age. That was against the convention then - remarkable achievement but to expect to be able to do that in your 50s? Come off it Bono, there comes a time when you have to accept these things are over. The sooner he does that, the better his music might be. |
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Post by Lennon2217 on Jul 31, 2017 15:04:55 GMT -5
Id have been ok if All That You Can't Leave Behind was their final album. Extremely strong. Amazing tour. Everything after is too engineered for the masses in a constant popularity battle against age and changing music trends. It's sad to see U2 try and keep up. They were in their 40s. Damn near 60 now. Exactly. They were in the 40s when they were having smash hits all over the place with All That You Can't Leave Behind. Balanced a classic sound that appealed to all fans while allowing casual listeners on board. So many bands would kill to have that level of chart appeal at that age. That was against the convention then - remarkable achievement but to expect to be able to do that in your 50s? Come off it Bono, there comes a time when you have to accept these things are over. The sooner he does that, the better his music might be. I love going back and reading Bono's quotes about Magnificent and Moment of Surrender How he thought they were no doubt world wide smash anthems. Well that didn't happen. Nice songs. I like them but he shouldn't feel devestated they weren't all timers. You already have dozens of those. Just appreciate your art. I know it killed them to have that album fall way short of sales extractions. It led them to that horrible Apple Music immediate download idea like everyone cares about U2. Way too pompous of a move. |
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Post by matt on Jul 31, 2017 15:13:19 GMT -5
Exactly. They were in the 40s when they were having smash hits all over the place with All That You Can't Leave Behind. Balanced a classic sound that appealed to all fans while allowing casual listeners on board. So many bands would kill to have that level of chart appeal at that age. That was against the convention then - remarkable achievement but to expect to be able to do that in your 50s? Come off it Bono, there comes a time when you have to accept these things are over. The sooner he does that, the better his music might be. I love going back and reading Bono's quotes about Magnificent and Moment of Surrendef. How he thought they were no doubt world wide smash anthems. Well that didn't happen. Nice songs. I like them but he shouldn't feel devestated they weren't all timers. You already have dozens of those. Just appreciate your art. I know it killed them to have that album fall way short of sales extractions. It led them to that horrible Apple Music immediate download idea like everyone cares about U2. Way too pompous of a move. I don't think it was pompous personally as a fan, I think it was just very very desperate - it was one small step away from the band turning up at your doorstep in tears and begging on their knees to listen to it. One thing I find is that Bono is very self conscious of his band and he will do anything to try and make people listen. But the best way to make people listen is to throw off your inhibitions and make another great album! |
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Post by Lennon2217 on Jul 31, 2017 15:30:39 GMT -5
I love going back and reading Bono's quotes about Magnificent and Moment of Surrendef. How he thought they were no doubt world wide smash anthems. Well that didn't happen. Nice songs. I like them but he shouldn't feel devestated they weren't all timers. You already have dozens of those. Just appreciate your art. I know it killed them to have that album fall way short of sales extractions. It led them to that horrible Apple Music immediate download idea like everyone cares about U2. Way too pompous of a move. I don't think it was pompous personally as a fan, I think it was just very very desperate - it was one small step away from the band turning up at your doorstep in tears and begging on their knees to listen to it. One thing I find is that Bono is very self conscious of his band and he will do anything to try and make people listen. But the best way to make people listen is to throw off your inhibitions and make another great album! Why would you just assume the entire Apple world wanted your new average album?  There are plenty of huge acts i don't give a shit about. I certainly don't want it automatically downloaded on my computer. |
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Post by matt on Jul 31, 2017 15:39:27 GMT -5
I don't think it was pompous personally as a fan, I think it was just very very desperate - it was one small step away from the band turning up at your doorstep in tears and begging on their knees to listen to it. One thing I find is that Bono is very self conscious of his band and he will do anything to try and make people listen. But the best way to make people listen is to throw off your inhibitions and make another great album! Why would you just assume the entire Apple world wanted your new average album? There are plenty of huge acts i don't give a shit about. I certainly don't want it automatically downloaded on my computer. See I'm not arsed about free music, because I can simply just delete it! One of my iPods came with an already stored album on it (not a U2 one!), can't remember who it was, some singer like Kesha, but I just immediately deleted it. The issue for me wasn't that they did that, but the fact they felt compelled to do it. Offering free music that way, in my opinion, cheapens it and instead makes the release and availability the main concern rather than the actual music. |
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Post by carlober on Jul 31, 2017 16:03:52 GMT -5
Songs of Innocence was a decent album in my opinion.
It doesn't come even close to U2's best work of course, but I believe it's an improvement the previous two, No Line on the Horizon and HTDAAB.
The last four songs - namely Cedarwood Road, Sleep Like a Baby Tonight, This Is Where You Can Reach Me Now and The Troubles - are a strong set of tracks.
Iris and Every Breaking Wave are little more than early-'00s U2 on autopilot: ok songs although not really memorable. The rest is average or slightly below average... but there's nothing on Songs of Innocence which is as bad as Get on Your Boots, for instance.
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Post by Manualex on Jul 31, 2017 17:49:51 GMT -5
It sounds like blow your house down or salome matt |
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Post by The Escapist on Jul 31, 2017 19:18:11 GMT -5
I completely forgot about that track The Troubles, really liked that. Gonna go listen again.
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Post by matt on Aug 3, 2017 15:20:48 GMT -5
Songs of Innocence was a decent album in my opinion. It doesn't come even close to U2's best work of course, but I believe it's an improvement the previous two, No Line on the Horizon and HTDAAB. The last four songs - namely Cedarwood Road, Sleep Like a Baby Tonight, This Is Where You Can Reach Me Now and The Troubles - are a strong set of tracks. Iris and Every Breaking Wave are little more than early-'00s U2 on autopilot: ok songs although not really memorable. The rest is average or slightly below average... but there's nothing on Songs of Innocence which is as bad as Get on Your Boots, for instance. Those last four songs are very good. Not bonafide great songs, but properly solid songwriting. Not inventive by any means but at least it doesn't sound like U2 trying to latch onto contemporary sounds 'to get down with the kids'. One highlight for me is the last minute of Sleep Like A Baby Tonight - I like that dissonant guitar solo from The Edge and the glockenspiel at the end. Quite unsettling tune overall, and proof that U2 are better at understated tunes as opposed to anthemic numbers these days. Every Breaking Wave has a nice melody and hook, but I agree about the second half. Raised By Wolves is a good track too but is ruined by tinny production (something the band themselves have major issues with, especially the standard dour Larry, who claims the overproduction sucked the raw feel from it). The rest is very disposable. Even the generally liked Iris I don't care for; might sound harsh as its about Bono's mother, but considering his previous songs like Mofo, Lemon and Tomorrow, it just lacks the introspection and anguish of those songs, and just comes off as too sentimental. |
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Post by World71R on Aug 3, 2017 23:25:03 GMT -5
I completely forgot about that track The Troubles, really liked that. Gonna go listen again. That, and Sleep Like a Baby Tonight and Cedarwood Road are great tracks from the second half of the album. This is Where You Can Reach Me Now and Raised by Wolves are very good songs as well, even with the production being a little too polished and Larry mixed too low. I dare say it, as well, California is a guilty pleasure. It's a solid pop song and is better than Song for Someone, Iris, and The Miracle, three pop-oriented songs which seem to fall flat. Every Breaking Wave's another solid track; good melody, good hook, like others have mentioned, and is honestly a strong track all-around imo. The only one not mentioned, Volcano, could be taken or left tbh  |
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Post by Lennon2217 on Aug 7, 2017 23:07:52 GMT -5
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Post by The Escapist on Aug 7, 2017 23:18:29 GMT -5
Holy shit, Zooropa...what a track.
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Post by matt on Aug 22, 2017 15:59:04 GMT -5
Some U2 fans have been randomly receiving what appear to be promotional letters for a new single 'Blackout'. The silhouettes hint at what is probably the album cover (Bono's son and The Edge's daughter). Purely speculating on the lead single title, I'm cautiously optimistic it will be better than the past couple of clusterfuck lead singles. Hopefully a harsher sound to it, rockier and more downbeat as opposed to cheesy rocker anthem like Vertigo (The Fly is the high watermark here).  Surprisingly subtle promotion, as opposed to the sledgehammer approach they usually take to promotion. Half expected them to write the album name and release date on the moon for all of us to see... god knows they've probably got the money for it! |
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Post by Lennon2217 on Aug 22, 2017 16:01:27 GMT -5
Some U2 fans have been randomly receiving what appear to be promotional letters for a new single 'Blackout'. The silhouettes hint at what is probably the album cover (Bono's son and The Edge's daughter). I just can't. I just can't anymore. Just release it. Stop playing games and being mysterious like Radiohead did last year with mailers. |
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Post by carlober on Aug 22, 2017 16:04:18 GMT -5
Yes, this should be the album cover (thanks to U2songs.com): EDIT: never mind, matt beat me to it   |
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Post by matt on Aug 22, 2017 16:09:03 GMT -5
Some U2 fans have been randomly receiving what appear to be promotional letters for a new single 'Blackout'. The silhouettes hint at what is probably the album cover (Bono's son and The Edge's daughter). I just can't. I just can't anymore. Just release it. Stop playing games and being mysterious like Radiohead did last year with mailers. Nothing wrong with this at all! Also, Radiohead were nowhere near the first with this strategy. |
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Post by Lennon2217 on Aug 22, 2017 16:15:26 GMT -5
I just can't. I just can't anymore. Just release it. Stop playing games and being mysterious like Radiohead did last year with mailers. Nothing wrong with this at all! Also, Radiohead were nowhere near the first with this strategy. Oh I'm aware but they did it so recently. As has Brand New and some others. |
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Post by batfink30 on Aug 29, 2017 17:04:34 GMT -5
Here we go, Blackout, out tomorrow!
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Post by matt on Aug 29, 2017 17:35:01 GMT -5
Fucking hell, that clip sounds bland. Sounds like landfill indie tripe like Kasabian or Catfish.  As ever with modern U2 and their albums of late, I think we're gonna have to wait until the album comes out in December to find the more interesting album cuts. They can't do singles anymore, problem is they try to write singles for half of their albums now. Give it up and stop trying to pursue the mainstream. |
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Post by batfink30 on Aug 29, 2017 17:55:50 GMT -5
Fucking hell, that clip sounds bland. Sounds like landfill indie tripe like Kasabian or Catfish. As ever with modern U2 and their albums of late, I think we're gonna have to wait until the album comes out in December to find the more interesting album cuts. They can't do singles anymore, problem is they try to write singles for half of their albums now. Give it up and stop trying to pursue the mainstream. Yep. |
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There are plenty of huge acts i don't give a shit about. I certainly don't want it automatically downloaded on my computer. 
Nov 4, 2024 5:04:30 GMT -5
Nov 4, 2024 5:04:30 GMT -5