New U2 album

ICBM

Cirrus said:

Never really get the criticism that they're rehashing old material - I don't know many bands that have had a more varied sound over their career. I don't often hear people complaining that tool or incubus or brmc are always rehashing old stuff. Bands just have a sound, based on their influences and talents and the things that inspire them. And vocalists are always going to sound like themselves.

There are a couple of really good tracks on this album too. Every breaking wave is brilliant, and some of the stuff near the end is dead raw sounding. I'd say tracks one and three are the ones that sound a bit shallow to me.

Over their career, yes - but I don't hear much on this that isn't similar to something on the previous two albums, although some of the sounds are definitely refreshing.

Every Breaking Wave is good, and Cedarwood Road - but I didn't really hear anything else that struck me as great, even on the second listen.

On the other hand when I heard ATYCLB for the very first time I was blown away by almost every track.

Hootsmon

I can't stand this bunch of fuckin' tits...the only one who does not set my remaining teeth on edge  is the drummer cat.

so don't get me started.

downloaded it yesterday

RocknRollDave

A few listens in and I'm starting to quite like it ">

stickyfiddle

RocknRollDave said:

A few listens in and I'm starting to quite like it ">

I hope I go the same way. I think I need to listen in the car. That's always the best place to digest new music

RocknRollDave

stickyfiddle said:

RocknRollDave said:

A few listens in and I'm starting to quite like it ">

I hope I go the same way. I think I need to listen in the car. That's always the best place to digest new music

The main stumbling block for me has been Bono's voice, which has never sounded so shot on record. I also think Larry and Adam sound particularly uninspired on this album

breakstuff

/\ they've still got a monk on cos they weren't invited on the Fender board.

Cirrus

RocknRollDave said:

The main stumbling block for me has been Bono's voice, which has never sounded so shot on record. I also think Larry and Adam sound particularly uninspired on this album

I think that's fair. There's so many layers of production - crazy ratty/ fuzzed out guitars, walls of synths, dozens of tracks of backing vocals - that the drums and bass have been reduced to purely supporting elements... which Larry and Adam were already kinda good at before.

That said I really like some of the drum sounds on a number of the tracks, like the kit has been treated as a single element to be sat in the mix rather than the usual "Here is a bass drum, it must be deep and command the low end of the track. Here is the snare, it must be forward and have its own reverb" approach. I think that's more interesting because it leaves space for other things, and is an approach that's kind of reminiscent of Pop, even if Pop was possibly the most deep and dark record they ever did and this one is, well, pop.

fretmeister

So U2 are now Junk Mail.

And just as valuable.

ICBM

RocknRollDave said:

The main stumbling block for me has been Bono's voice, which has never sounded so shot on record. I also think Larry and Adam sound particularly uninspired on this album

Agreed. I think Edge does too. Some new(ish) sounds, but most of what he's playing has been on the last couple of albums. I keep getting bits where I 'hear' one of the older songs in my head when he plays something.

Bono's voice has really gone.

marktheharp

certainly 2nd half of the album is more interesting ?
lifelong fan here.being ex-army took lot of stick for that ha!
(was actually in Sarajevo November 1995-December 1996.and bloody missed him,my mate drove him to holiday inn...... )
seen them on 6 different tours !
Bono voice is shot and waiting for Edge big multi delay sound..........
no doubt they will tour next year !
might go if I can. ;-)

chillidoggy

The worst bunch of hypocrites that ever walked the face of the earth have just had their album deleted off my phone. I'm not sure who the biggest bell-ends are, them or Apple for polluting my music library with a total pile of shite that I never wanted to listen to in the first place.

Seriously, Bonio, you and the other three cock-badgers have excelled yourselves this time. What is it? Giving something up for free after all this time? Conscience finally bothering you, is it?

It's sickening.

richardhomer

^ Take it you had no 'Desire' to give it a listen then?

richardhomer

Actually I've just listened to it while doing the ironing (rock 'n' roll life of a single-parent!). On first hearing it sounds like an odd cross between very early (ie pre-Unforgettable Fire) U2 and radio-friendly The Killers/Coldplay.

I'll give it another go before dismissing it. As I said in an earlier post, I'd really like to be able to say its great....

chillidoggy

richardhomer said:

^ Take it you had no 'Desire' to give it a listen then?

Pass me a bucket.

stickyfiddle

It's still no Joshua Baby but it's growing.

Sleep Like a Baby Tonight grabs me most so far. Reminds of ..Velvet Dress from Pop; particularly the Popmart live version.

Cirrus

One week review;

I think there are some great songs and some poor ones. The Miracle's melodies sound a bit too derivative of general Radio 1 fodder, though it's nice to hear Larry swinging a bit and the guitar sounds like a d.i.'d distorted guitar or maybe an axe with the cab sim turned off, which is cool. Conversely, Every Breaking Wave is to me proof that if U2 could write consistently good songs, no one would care if they were re-treading past ground. With or Without You mixed with Beautiful Day? Who cares, I love that melody!

California is kind of catchy, but the massive polyphonic square wave/ white noise synth in the chorus seems kinda gratuitous, just there to make it "accessible" in the eyes of a bunch of people in their 50s. Also I'm expecting a lawsuit from RHCP because I'm pretty sure they hold the patent on singing about that state.

Song for Someone goes with California nicely because both (along with the Miracle) feel like coldly crafted attempts for radio play and "relevance". Kind of vacuous, say-nothing lyrics, nice melodies and well produced but safe arrangements.

Then things get more interesting. Iris has a cool bass sound, and feels like a more emotionally authentic song. Less catchy and more of a grower, this is probably the first song on the disk where I actually feel like Bono means what he's saying. And you'd hope so, since it's about his mum who died when he was 14. The next song, Volcano, moves things back onto more lighthearted ground but it's a really cool groove, bass driven for the most part and probably the only track on the album that I wouldn't call overproduced.

Raised by Wolves is an infuriating track. Ear-grabbing intro, a bit of tension in the verses, and all they had to do was NOT write the biggest pile of shit chorus the world has ever heard. BONO YOU DONE FUCKED UP. Luckily Cedarwood Road follows the biggest catastrophe the world has seen since an IRA car-bomb and puts things back on track with a mid tempo blues rock number that has some great riffs and really drags you along into the chorus. Probably the second track on the album where Bono isn't making at least some small part of you wince a little.

I really like Sleep Like a Baby Tonight. It's got a lilting lulliby feel but the vocal somehow has an air of menace that puts me in mind of some Zooropa-era tracks - Babyface, Daddy's Gonna Pay for your Crashed Car etc. And when that fuzz guitar crashes in it's just awesome. I do wish the actual guitar part went somewhere more interesting though, by the end of the song you feel like the Edge was too restrained.

This is Where You Can Reach me Now is a massive pile of shit. Nothing can save it and if you like it you're probably a murderer or at best a pervert. It's got nice elements but Bono can't help but sing confused words about soldiers and war and peace and love. It's like he had a stroke and we're listening to his long drawn out recovery as he strives to become the empty shell of the lyricist he once was.

The Troubles is saved by that refrain by the girl - Lykke Li. Her melody is haunting and powerful and I feel without it the track would be totally average and forgettable. Luckily she IS there so it's a nice closer.

A word about the album's production. As a rule, I find the songs overly busy to the point of burying good ideas and obscuring the magic that might be in several of the tracks. Where the arrangements are lean things hit home that much better. The drums are for the most part buried, and when they're not they're usually doing some no-brainer beat which is right for the song without adding much flair or character. Same goes for the bass. There's only a couple of moments where it comes to the fore in the whole album and makes me long for the good old days when the bass really drove the songs.

The edge is playing with some cool tones but his solos are increasingly repetative in recent years. He plays some really cool riffs though.

Bonos voice isn't very good. Apparently he lost his high end some time around 1989, yet managed to partake in four great albums the following decade without it being a problem in the slightest - Just Sing Lower is a strategy he successfully adopted. Alas, about 10 years ago he went insane and believes his high end is something other than the raspy crackly breaking mess it clearly is today. In nearly every track there are moments where he hits certain notes that'll have your ears crawling deep into your skull, whimpering and bleating that they just can't hack it any more. And for some insane reason, the production team have EQ'd his voice to be EVEN MORE bright and cutting than I've ever heard it before, probably chasing the aforementioned radio friendly sound. It just really doesn't suit his voice.

I feel like U2 can still write really good songs and play, but their production really lets them down and I think by kicking ideas round for so long they forget what makes them good and the result is bloated tracks that seem to miss the mark and lack three vital components; vision, integrity and intent.

If they could get those things back, they could release a great album again.

marktheharp

great indepth review ,Cirrus
couldn't of put it better myself ,am sure these songs live will fly.....
Jeff Lynne was asked by Chris Evans '
last week ,what he thought of u2
album ?
Jeff ' words were on the lines of 'lot of compression and a bit overproduced for my liking'....

harpo

Yeah but Chris Evans IS a twat tbf

richardhomer

Apple have announced a tool to forcibly evict it from your iPhone, should you wish to get rid of their free gift.

Bod

itunes.com/soi-remove 

I imagine traffic to that link will be similar to that of a DDOS attack.