U2's new album: Songs of Innocence

G-MAN2004

G-MAN2004

G-MAN2004

Caporegime
Joined
4 Jul 2004
Posts
30,780
So, they released this yesterday free to all iTunes users. Who's had a chance to listen?

Quite liking it after the first few plays, especially California (There Is No End to Love) and Sleep Like a Baby Tonight which are the stand out tracks for me, but it's definitely nowhere near the quality of their previous albums. Still, it's not bad for free though!
 
I think it's a pretty good fresh effort for them after their last album. It's also a much more up-to-date sound for them. Sounds like they've also broken out of their comfort zone and moved away from the traditional U2 sound.
 
It should be in the cloud, so make sure you're able to see music that is stored in the cloud and not directly on your device. If that makes sense :p.
 
Don't care if it makes me an old fart, I bloody love U2. Realistically their albums are never going to reach the heights of the Unforgettable Fire to Pop run but this is good! Much better than the dull MOR rock of the last couple of albums. There's a few fresh sounds on there, and some reminds me of Boy/October but brought up to date if that makes sense.

Bono's voice is great on this record as well. I know people love to **** them off but the fact he's actually made an effort to work on his vocals over the last five or so years says a lot. They could easily phone in a few gigs and keep raking in the millions. It's not studio trickery either because he was great live on the last tour (just can't remember the words, but that's nothing new).

California, Sleep Like a Baby Tonight stand out tracks for me too.
 
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Managed to listen to this yesterday evening and I quite liked it. Certainly a better first impression than No Line on the Horizen.

Never going to be as good as Achtung or Joshua, but as far as modern day U2 goes it might just be the best since 2000's All That You Can't Leave Behind.
 
I went to see U2 at the Millennium Stadium in 2009. I was so bored that I nearly fell asleep. It's probably more me than them, though - people around me seemed to be enjoying themselves.
 
Decent album, very good in fact... but, does anyone else hate the way the music industry has gone?... I quite enjoy the hype of waiting for a new release, just like waiting for a new game, or film... now things are often just sprung on us, with carp tie-ins with iTunes or some-such. It makes the music feel devalued, and simply a vehicle for something else.

Maybe I'm old, but I love the album format, and the reverence they used to be delivered with... And, was The Joshua Tree really released 27 years ago!!!?... that seems unbelievable to me.
 
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Upon further listening I think this is their best since Achtung Baby in 1991.

I'm pretty sure it's not going to win over many new fans, but for fans of old it definetly grows on you after a few listens.

Also definete hints of Unforgettable Fire in there too. A few tracks feels like they could have been taken directly from a follow up album in an alternative universe.
 
redline said:
Decent album, very good in fact... but, does anyone else hate the way the music industry has gone?... I quite enjoy the hype of waiting for a new release, just like waiting for a new game, or film... now things are often just sprung on us, with carp tie-ins with iTunes or some-such. It makes the music feel devalued, and simply a vehicle for something else.

Maybe I'm old, but I love the album format, and the reverence they used to be delivered with... And, was The Joshua Tree really released 27 years ago!!!?... that seems unbelievable to me.
Click to expand...

I totally agree. The recent change in the charts to allow streams of songs to count but classing listening as just 30 seconds pretty much shows how little attention span the average music listener has these days.

The problem is that traditional album releases don't work in today's world, yesterday's news is ancient and building any sort of hype is pretty much impossible because you can't hold people's interest. There's too much information out there and other stuff to distract people.

For bands like U2, releasing an album is usually just a signpost for a new tour but I do think they genuinely make an effort for each release rather than just phoning it in and going on tour. Sometimes they've tried too hard if anything.
 
Whats wrong with the booklet? Says it's unrecognisable. Even with adobe Reader and Preview.
 
I saw on Sky News earlier, whats her name with her entertainment show… Lucy Cotter. A lot complaining and getting bad PR for how this album was sent out.

One tweeted saying, Apple to Tim Cook how do I uninstall this U2 malware.
 
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