SOE
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U2 - Songs Of Experience (2017)
 Tracks: 14
  1. Some more pics of the deluxe box though, it looks good other than the lame cover. Courtesy of our U2tour friends




  2. I'm finally hearing the album!!! YAY!!!!
  5. Hmmmm, I took one listen so far..... there are some very good song on this album, however I'm not sure if I'm loving it as a whole. I feel that SOI was a bit more focused in it's theme then this one is.... of course my least favorite on the last album was SOS and of course 13 is a big throw back to that one.... although I find it excuted better here. I don't know I know I'm all over the place here.... and I guess that's how I feel the album is, just all over the place..... scattered songs with a few interesting ideas..I'll listen to this all day tomorrow and try to put more of a focus on my thoughts as well....
  6. Originally posted by Document:Hmmmm, I took one listen so far..... there are some very good song on this album, however I'm not sure if I'm loving it as a whole. I feel that SOI was a bit more focused in it's theme then this one is.... of course my least favorite on the last album was SOS and of course 13 is a big throw back to that one.... although I find it excuted better here. I don't know I know I'm all over the place here.... and I guess that's how I feel the album is, just all over the place..... scattered songs with a few interesting ideas..I'll listen to this all day tomorrow and try to put more of a focus on my thoughts as well....
    Agreed, SOI was more consistent with its innocence theme than SOE is with the experience (?) one.
  7. I've come to the conclussion that this is actually my biggest bug with SOE. It's a good collection of many good songs, but a poor album (considering an album as something that tells a story as a whole, not neccesarely a concept album but something along those lines).

    In fact... It shouldn't be called Songs Of Experience because it's not a theme sequel to Songs Of Innocence. It's just another album that has nothing to do with SOI besides the -quite forced- lyrical references to some of its songs. This is a recurrent problem in U2's catalogue, so nothing new. I still love most of the albums regardless their thematic coherence, and SOE is no exception. It just bothers me. Maybe I was expecting a more straightforward follow up to SOI or maybe I'm just picky... oh well.
  8. Yeah, but SOI has arguably the even larger sin of having extremely inconsistent production. If U2 is writing good pop hooks then im fine with lyrics being about whatever. What gets me is when the album doesn't feel like an album, but rather a cobbled together mess of different ideas you've been kicking around for 5+ years. SOE is unified in its complete character portrayal of Bono through the variety of topics that he personally cares about and appear on the album. The world's poor, his family, his personal battles, near death experiences, and ideas on what it's like to be a frontman in a huge band. It's not distilled down into universal themes that anyone can relate to and I would admit that's at least a bit of a problem. But it's not any less relatable than the series of incredibly specific vignettes that appear in SOI. Bono doesn't break down why I should connect Cedarwood Road with my own childhood for instance.
  9. Reviewers should stick to describing the album and the songs, and leave the rating to the audience. What is the worth in the reviewer putting their opinion into the matter? It's guaranteed not to be the opinion of every reader, perhaps not even that of the majority of the readers.
    RTE review is a good example...audience score 4.5 at around 50 votes so far...reviewer score 3 at 1 vote.
  10. I still think SOE is a cracking album. I can accept that not everyone can relate to every song but I can relate to a lot of it. I think the lyrics and music are excellent. I also think it’s very possible to get emotionally involved with a song without it having any familiarities with your own circumstances. The same way we see things going on in the world that we’ve had no first hand experience of yet still make us feels sad and sympathetic towards others or whatever other emotions that can be stirred by things that don’t directly effect our lives. In other words a song that’s not directly relatable can still be related to. I think that’s down to the listeners choice whether they want to ‘go there’ and put yourself in Bono’s shoes. Probably the reason some reviews have been negative is because people couldn’t care less about Bono’s life story, but I love the way he’s poured everything into the songs on these last 2 albums. Anyway that’s only my opinion and some of my reasoning behind why I think it’s such a great album. I completely accept others who see it a different way, especially fans on here who I’m sure wanted to like the album.
  11. Originally posted by deanallison:I still think SOE is a cracking album. I can accept that not everyone can relate to every song but I can relate to a lot of it. I think the lyrics and music are excellent. I also think it’s very possible to get emotionally involved with a song without it having any familiarities with your own circumstances. The same way we see things going on in the world that we’ve had no first hand experience of yet still make us feels sad and sympathetic towards others or whatever other emotions that can be stirred by things that don’t directly effect our lives. In other words a song that’s not directly relatable can still be related to. I think that’s down to the listeners choice whether they want to ‘go there’ and put yourself in Bono’s shoes. Probably the reason some reviews have been negative is because people couldn’t care less about Bono’s life story, but I love the way he’s poured everything into the songs on these last 2 albums. Anyway that’s only my opinion and some of my reasoning behind why I think it’s such a great album. I completely accept others who see it a different way, especially fans on here who I’m sure wanted to like the album.
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Contribute to the U2 community with uploading photos or by telling us which shows you have visited.
Contribute to the U2 community with uploading photos or by telling us which shows you have visited.