Originally posted by JuJuman:Nice review here:
http://www.thespectrum.com/story/life/things-to-do/2014/09/15/surprise-u-album-bands-best-decades/15692347/
Originally posted by MWSAH:[..]
Pretty much sums up my thoughts. I'm in love with Song for Someone, Cedarwood Road and This Is Where You Can Reach Me and consider Volcano as the weakest. Could have been mine review.
U2 “Songs Of Innocence”
After the hubbub and palaver of getting the album to millions of people whether they wanted it or not, U2′s return is a case of business as usual on every level
There’s a scene in Rob Doyle’s excellent debut novel Here Are the Young Men which came to mind a few times in the last couple of days. Set in the summer of 2003, the main characters dwell in that twilight world between finishing their Leaving Cert exams and moving into the adult world. One day, after another round of drinking cans and smoking hash, they decide to pay a visit to Bono’s gaff in Killiney. It ends, predictably enough, in the lads roaring dogs’ abuse at one of the the singer’s emissaries via an entry phone at the gate. It’s 2003 and nobody likes Bono.
It seems nobody likes Bono or U2 in 2014 either. Since the band released their new album “Songs Of Innocence” last week in conjunction with Apple launching a few new phones, a watch and an online payment system, the backlash has been something else to behold. While I wish it had solely to do with the music (and we’ll come to the music presently), it’s more to do with the high-handed, obnoxious, ill-considered manner of the release. Sticking your unwanted and unbidden album into the digital domains of 500 million customers is the kind of thing which people don’t like. It’s also the kind of thing spammers and hackers can only dream about. Getting paid for it – and Bono and Team U2 keep insisting that they’ve been paid – and not allowing users to delete the damn thing makes that spam and hacking dream even sweeter.
It’s telling that Apple have now provided users with a tool to remove the album from their libraries. Apple know which side their bread is buttered on. The money they’ve spent on this fandango may seem huge to us – an $100 million campaign on a new album is definitely beyond the means of most music companies – but it’s a spit in the ocean to a company with $160 billion in cash reserves the last time they counted. Apple didn’t get to be a business with that sort of wedge without taking notice of what their customers were saying so they were quick enough to provide fans with a way to delete the album if they wanted to.
The band, on the other hand, keep bleating and blathering as if they’re right and everyone else is wrong. Their manager Guy Oseary keeps talking about gifts, while Bono keeps talking about getting paid. You keep seeing news reports and press releases about how well their other albums are now selling*. The machine is at full pelt.
But in all of this, Team U2 fail to recognise that there’s a much greater world out there who have absolutely no interest whatsoever in this band singing about their old Dublin haunts or anything else. They’ve also failed to recognise that these kind of release campaigns are relics of a long, lost age. No-one beyond the pre-converted and the street teams and the reviewers who have to listen to it give a damn about a new U2 album. At least, that said, there will be a physical release for the lads to turn up outside HMV on Grafton Street at midnight when it goes on sale. At least, there’s still a HMV on Grafton Street for them to queue outside. Uhm, there’s still a HMV on Grafon Street, isn’t there?
Just how did it come to this? Not the lads outside HMV, but the band and all those bum notes. Once upon a time, U2 astutely and instinctively knew which way the wind was blowing. They knew when to hold them and when to fold them. They knew the right things to say, the right people to nod at, the right cultural totems to endorse. Regardless of how you viewed their music, you had to admire their gumption when it came to being at the right part of the curve. They rarely put a foot wrong.
But in recent years, U2′s dancing has been all the wrong steps. Be it the band’s collective culpability when it comes to the messy tax thing to the singer’s doubtless good intentions when it comes to campaigning and activism overshadowed by who he had to hobnob with to achieve anything, U2 have become the band we love to loath. The goodwill which used to be extended towards them has completely dissipated and they’ve become the punchline to all manner of japes and jokes.
Of course, much of this is down to cultural changes and the like – rock and pop stars are no longer viewed in the same respectful light as was the case in the 1980s and 1990s and we know that they’ve foibles like everyone else – but it is still remarkable to see so many spanners in an once mighty machine. When you’ve people like Paul Brady – Paul fecking Brady (sorry Paul) – coming out to give them a dig in the mush, you know things are bad. This kind of carry-on didn’t happen at Self Aid, you know.
If you’re a bunch of musicians like U2, though, you have a chance to redeem yourself through your music. This ties into something I’ve started banging on about in the last year or so to anyone who’s unfortunate enough to be within earshot. Musicians have this incredible talent to write songs and make music which will stand to them until the day they kick the bucket. They have an ability to do something which most of us just cannot do. They can make music, they can write songs, they can entertain, they can create. They can put it all their feelings and emotions and beliefs and thoughts into a form which can resonate with listeners for life. Regardless of what stage of engagement they’re in with the music industrial complex, that ability is always there.
In the case of U2, we know from their interview with The Irish Times and the song titles that it was all back to the northside for this album. If you’ve ever read an interview with any band seeking inspiration for a new album, you’ll recognise where Bono is coming from with this quote: “it’s us trying to figure out why we wanted to be in a band in the first place, the relationships around the band and our first journeys – geographically, spiritually and sexually. It was tough and it took years. Put it this way: a lot of shit got dragged up”.
But all that shit and all the highly paid producers on hand to help co-parent the album didn’t result in any great songs. This has been U2′s failing for many years now. Every one of their albums in recent years has failed to ignite in the same way as the great albums in their canon because the band have lost the ability to write a whole bunch of such songs which zing and excite. Yes, sure, the street teams will be losing the run of themselves in the comments below to tell me that “The Miracle (of Joey Ramone)” sounds amazing and that I’m overlooking the emotion of “Iris” or how “Cedarwood Road” rolls. That’s fine, that’s the job of a street team or fanboys with typewriters or the kind of unctuous hack who wants to keep favour with the band.
The job of a fair, unbiased and uncompromised reviewer is surely to point out that these songs and others are merely average and that average just does not cut it. This is not the work of a great band, but rather an once great band now so constrained and constipated that they’re unable to find a way through the morass without resorting to cliche and another muddy riff from the guitarist. Instead of using their talent, U2 have squandered it.
The Dublin which informs “Songs Of Innocence” no longer exists so it’s a world created in a fog of nostalgia, like one of Roddy Doyle’s Barrytown novels. You can understand why going back to their sepia-tinged world of much more innocent days would appeal to the band, a band so out of ideas and inspiration in the modern world. Yet you can be sure that the U2 who really did live in and around Cedarwood Road would sneer loudly at what the U2 of the multi-millionaire class have produced.
It’s interesting too that one of the things which informed the band back then is lacking from “Songs Of Innocence”. U2′s spirituality, religious beliefs and membership of the Shalom prayer group were a huge part of the band’s make-up back then. A few years ago, Michael Ross wrote a fascinating piece about the band’s early days for The Sunday Times which covers this ground very well. Yet you’ll be looking long and hard to find any of that seam in the wash here. There are some things the band are prepared to leave behind.
It’s quite painful and frustrating to have to spend so much time listening to such sub-standard fare when there’s new music from the likes of Caribou, SBTRKT, Aphex Twin, FKA twigs, Benjamin Booker, Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh, Sinkane, Call Super, Mirel Wagner, Odesza, Girl Band, Fat White Family, Slaves, All Tvvins and Moiré waiting to be heard or explored further. U2 fans may grumble that they don’t know any of those bands so perhaps they should toddle off and check them out. Be a much better use of their time. In a world full of musicians who really have their mojo calibrated correctly and who still know what it takes to make sounds which tingle and tease and thrill, it’s hugely disappointing to hear a band merely go through the motions.
This has been U2′s tack for a decade or more. They have lost their way as a band and as a musical going concern. They’re all about the money, as Bono keeps reminding us, and have become a story which now seems to belong more on the business pages than the music or arts pages. They will always command much more attention and profile than their mediocre new albums warrant because, sadly, this is the way of the world and U2 can trade off the audience they had when they actually worth listening to. Apple have tapped the band because of that old audience and not because they think “Songs Of Innocence” is an album which needs to be heard by millions. U2 will keep producing new music because that’s what is required to keep the machine spinning, to keep their name in the headlines, to enable the band to keep selling tickets for the lucrative live tours.
The sad fact of the matter is that U2 are not producing new music because they really want to. They are not producing music because you have four men looking at each other and seeing a hunger for creation and expression and artistic satisfaction in each others’ eyes. That’s the difference between the U2 who produced “Songs Of Innocence” and the U2 who inspired “Songs of Innocence”. The old band really, really, really, really wanted to make music because that was all they knew what to do and could think of no other way to make their mark in the world and they were bursting to have a go and leave drab, grey Dublin behind. The new band? The new band just want to get paid.
(* an earlier version of this post mixed up the timeline between the news story linked to above and the press release about how well U2′s other albums are selling – the news story came before the press release was issued)
Originally posted by fastcars:CUP OF JOE7
I LOVE U2 Haters!
BY JOEPIT · SEPTEMBER 17, 2014
We all have horrific character traits that lie deep within our souls that we are not proud to show to the world. Feelings that are best kept deep within, never to see the light of day. Well my friends, today is not that day. I cannot begin to express the joy my heart feels knowing that the way Apple/U2 released their new CD automatically into the world’s iTunes account has caused so much grief, anger and disgust amongst the U2 haters worldwide. The ten seconds it takes for them to delete one song adds an hour’s worth of smile to my face. The look of disgust when they first discovered that U2 infiltrated their iPods has easily added five years onto my life. With every tweet, Facebook post and article written about how the haters were “wronged” last week added so much light to my heart that it would keep the new Apple watch charged for at least a decade.
As we all know, U2 haters know no limits or geographic borders, and now we can add: that they don’t know how to read the terms of agreement of their Apple/iTunes account. Lawsuits have to be in the works, right? This move has to be a civil rights violation, no? Can congress declare war on Apple/U2 under the Articles of Confederation? Has Interpol been notified? Should the world go on official lockdown, code red, double secret probation due to this obvious act of terrorism? Forget about Kony – Africa’s most ruthless and maniacal rebel leader – get me Apple/U2! The World Court in The Hague awaits you! It’s clear that this move has sent the world spiraling off its axis and down a slippery slope that leads directly into a pool filled with Songs of a Innocence. Make no mistake about it my friends, Armageddon is upon us.
Just as fun as watching the haters froth at the mouth every time the new U2/Apple commercial plays are the intellectual tortoises that have publicly claimed not to know who U2 even is while shuffling through their minutia of one hit wonders. Really? You have an iPod, which U2 helped launch, and you’re claiming publicly not to know who U2 is? I can envision those ISIS nuts hiding in some Iraqi cave right now reading these tweets and posts by the haters thinking to themselves; “Overtaking the world will not be as hard as we thought.” I’m sure some people are just pretending to be too school for cool and say they never heard of U2, which is actually backfiring by illustrating just how f*cking stupid they truly are. I can’t name you one Justin Bieber song title, but I know who he is. Didn’t reading that your boy, Ryan Tedder from One Direction was called in to help U2 iron out a few songs add some street cred to U2? Do you even read?
Now, Apple has even created a tool for the haters to remove the automatic U2 download from their iTunes account. One has to wonder if Apple plans on creating a tool to show the haters how to use the tool? I mean, if they’re too lazy to read their terms of agreement or ignorant of what a TOA even is, how certain can Apple be about them using the tool properly? Instead, Apple should be sending the haters a different tool, such as a crowbar, so that the haters can pry their heads out of their asses.
I am begging for the hate to continue. I’m addicted to it now, like a needle to the spoon, and I can’t get enough of it. I hope somewhere deep in the bowels of Apple headquarters that the tech geeks are dreaming out loud and figuring out a way of getting U2’s next CD to automatically download to our phones and to play with every text message, ring tone, tweet, selfie, snapchat and Instagram and Facebook post. It’s 1984 all over again and Apple & U2 are the new Big Brothers! George Orwell is smiling somewhere right now. Fact!
Originally posted by ahn1991:A lot of people are seem to be reviewing U2's method of release from the wrong perspective. They see U2's free release as a sign that they are not confident that people are willing to purchase the album, but if you think about it, U2 is making the smart call based on statistics and current trends.
If you ask teenagers and young adults, the largest market demographic out there, how much music they have actually paid for, you'll get a lot of shifty eyes and people responding "just enough." The fact of the matter is that college age people are just not buying music and the internet is helping out with that. In my undergrad, I presented a persuasive speech advocating that free distribution of music helps out artists in the end by opening their product to those who view money as a barrier. In this economy, that's just about everyone. Even though people are calling U2's free release as the end of the music industry as we know it, the rising prominence of free music streaming services such as spotify signaled the end of the old industry a long time ago. Ironically, when U2 released their album for free, they beat all the people who were hoping to leak the album.
U2 is smart. They have been musically relevant for the past 30 years because they are smart and understand how the industry changes. Artists and reviewers who don't see that will just get left behind.
YES! Very well said!Originally posted by kris_smith87:[..]
LOVED this! Where can I find the link?
Minus one point for saying Ryan Tedder is from One Direction and not One Republic though...
U2 are giving us free music. So what’s with the ungrateful masses?
A a child I was taught by my mother to say thank you upon receiving a gift, whether I wanted it or not. She always advised that to show disapproval would be rude and hurtful, especially considering how much time, money and thought might have gone into said gift. So when U2′s long awaited thirteenth studio album “Songs Of Innocence” popped up in my iTunes account free of charge last week, my immediate reaction was of gratitude. This wasn’t the result of my childhood conditioning in good manners, but rather my appreciation of being on the receiving end of free music from a rock band with such a grand pedigree.
The album was released last week during a promotional event in California as part of a joint effort from Apple – who are showcasing a new Smart Watch, iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 plus – and U2. The band surprised the attendees by performing the new tracks but not as much as Apple surprised it’s 500 million iTunes account holders when they placed it in their accounts. Furthermore, it seems not all iTunes users are keen on having music thrust upon them. In fact, such has been the high level of complaints from users about the free album, Apple have had to supply a one-click removal app as many people were finding they couldn’t simply delete the album by using the slide and delete method on their devices, instead having to visit the iTunes “purchased” screen on their desktops to hide it from their collections.
It’s not just the non-fans who are voicing their anger about this unusual method of album release, music critics and musical artists alike are having a dig.
U2′s manager Guy Oseary rebuffed the complaints in an interview with Mashable saying “It’s a gift from Apple. If someone doesn’t like the gift, they should delete it”. Fair point, and with the aid of the new one-click removal app there should be no need to complain too much, surely? Well, unless you’re a U2 fan who doesn’t own an Apple product (they have to wait until October 14th when the album goes on general public sale). Then there are the musical peers who fear this is the end of the rock music industry because in their eyes, selling your album to a brand like Apple for a period of time, and for a fee in the region of $100 million, is akin to selling out.
But, while both Apple and U2 are receiving a lot of negative attention surrounding this promotion, something interesting has happened on the iTunes charts in the US. Since the launch of the album on September 10th, twenty six of U2′s old hits have made a reappearance in the US iTunes top 200 chart, suggesting that the free album has whetted the appetite of a new generation of potential fans who’re seeking out the band’s old music. Not only that, Apple claim 33 million account holders have already accessed the album.
When you consider the high cost and exhausting process of promoting a new album worldwide, let alone trying to reach potential new fans, what U2 have achieved through Apple in such a short space of time, is quite frankly, astonishing. Everyone is talking about it, on the radio, in the newspapers, on the social networking sites, in the street. What I can’t understand is, why has nobody thought of it sooner? It’s genius.
Furthermore, having listened to “Songs of Innocence” on a loop since it arrived in my account, I’ve become enamored with the refreshed direction U2 have taken with it. Possibly thanks to the inclusion of Danger Mouse (Brian Burton) as one of the five producers involved in the making of the album. His 70′s-infused influence is apparent on many of the tracks, but none more so than on the nostalgic “This Is Where You Can Reach me” – U2′s sonic trip back in time to honour the band that ultimately shaped their career; The Clash. The track is a perfect mix of The Clash’s sound and U2′s early sound.
It’s a concept album, filled with Bono’s memories of tragedy and love, it’s his youth revisited, but it’s certainly not a solo effort. All the band members are here in their full glory; guitarist The Edge, bassist Adam Clayton and drummer Larry Mullen Jr. All continue to provide a classic sonic ensemble. Fans of the familiar U2 sound will adore “The Miracle (Of Joey Ramone)” an epic chunk of redolent U2 power balladry which remains distant enough from their original material through the use of a folksy inflection, to prove the band are open to try a new direction.
There are two very emotional tracks in the middle of the album. “Song For Someone” is thought to be for Bono’s wife and is a beautiful love song in which Bono frequently exercises his outstanding vocals while a gently picked guitar flows on to become a sentimental and tender ballad. “Iris (Hold Me Close)” – said to be for Bono’s mother who died when he was just 14 – is another heartfelt song with a pounding bassline at its heart, intent on urging the track along, despite it’s tragic subject matter. Much like Bono has had to push himself forward since that tragic day.
However, my absolute favourite has to the hauntingly atmospheric “Raised By Wolves” – a song about a fatal Dublin car bombing that took place around the corner from where Bono was riding his bike home from school. The Edge’s intensive tempo furiously symbolises the images of a bomb suddenly exploding on a peaceful street “Blood in the house / Blood on the street / The worst things in the world are justified by belief”.
“Songs Of Innocence” might be a hot topic of discussion for other reasons at this point, but it’s an astonishing collection of well-made songs which manages to deliver emotional substance, whilst simultaneously remaining true to the band’s roots and experimenting with a new direction in sound.
So I say thank you for the free music U2 – and I’m not just saying that to be polite.
-Lucy Jenkins.
@LUCYJENKlNS
Originally posted by Remy:Not sure where to post it since it isn't really a review but here you go anyway.. Irish Times.
[..]
Originally posted by iTim:About 7%, suddenly it doesn't sound so great.