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U2 - Moment of Surrender
 Album:
No Line On The Horizon (2009)
  1. Hmm i'm sorry but i don't see what you guys find so beautiful about this one


  2. it's all about Bono's delivery for me. Best vocal i've heard from him since Stay


  3. Hmm ok it's beautiful sung, with his heart, especially when you know it's recorded in 1take...
    But for me the song isn't "special", just "a tune"
    (Don't kill me for the sentence!)
  4. The best of the album...can't get it out of my head. Bono is great here and the overal mood of the song is the best I've heard from U2 in many, many years.
  5. it reminds me of Stuck in a moment, not musically but the feeling


  6. It is a bit like stuck in a moment, or some song from ATYCLB/HTDAAB.
    It has that contrived emotion feel to it. One on the other hand came from the heart, being based on the Edge's marriage breakup, the potential break up of the band and was heavily influenced by the atmosphere of a reunified Berlin where it was recorded, after the fall of the wall.

    The fact that One was written under these extraordinary circumstances is what made it the song it is, and therefore makes it very hard to emulate it's success.
  7. Originally posted by Ali709:What's wrong with this song's lyrics Lyndon? I get some incredible images and feelings out of it....


    and while we're at it, Remy,

    I was speeding on the subway
    Through the stations of the cross
    Every eye looking every other way
    Counting down ’til the pentecost < I believe it's actually "till the pain would stop"


    Good point, and correct pick up of the lyric btw. I shall now go through the song and explain what I like / don't like.

    The lyrics are quite good throughout the song. However they are not quite outstanding, unlike some of their earlier stuff. As I said earlier the lyrics feel rather contrived at times.

    For instance, he makes liberal use of lyric reversal trick eg. "Playing with the fire
    Until the fire played with me". Although the lyrics this method creates aren't bad, they don't have the same kind of artistic achievement behind them as some of their other lyrics do.

    Now let me get this straight, the songs intro is sparse and largely forgettable. But when the verses kick in, I like them and how they are sung mostly (ie. not the wedding day one).
    I like them, until the song reaches the second chorus after the 'black hole' verse. ( I particularly like how he sings 'yearns' for instance, has an Arabic feel to it)

    Now while the singing is good in the verses, the backing instrumentation is sparse and not interesting, it's just a backdrop. Say unlike So Cruel which has a cool piano line throughout the song.

    OK so what about the chorus?
    Unfortunately they made the massive mistake to sing it in unison, this robs the song of much of its seriousness and darkness (it reminds me of ATYCLB), notice that One, LIB, Acrobat, WOWY, AIWY etc. are similarily themed songs, but all don't have such poppy choruses.

    The fact that they sing the chorus in the most obvious way possible, ie. not doing anything interesting with rhythm etc. also makes me deduct marks. The chorus simply doesn't work for this type of song.

    The next chorus, is where it goes rather downhill. It begins with the lyric 'I was punching in the numbers at the ATM machine/ I could see in the reflection / A face staring back at me"

    Firstly 'ATM machine' means 'automatic teller machine machine' which is incredibly silly to be in a serious song like this, I wouldn't care if it was in Crazy Tonight or something.

    Secondly 'I could see in the reflection / A face staring back at me' - sigh- Oh, really Bono, you see a reflection do you, I wonder why? What a deep and meaningful lyric.

    Then there's a moderately interesting piano and guitar interlude, which is relaxing.
    Edge's guitar (which is absent for 90% of the song) solo is ok, but it doesn't sound like him, it's like an Eric Clapton solo as people have remarked, c'mon Edge you can do better than this.
    This also highlights a key point with the song - It doesn't sound like a U2 'dark' song.

    The next verse is hampered by the fact that they sing it like the chorus, I would much rather see it sung almost spoken word by Bono alone, would add more angst.

    Then is another chorus, which is exactly like the previous ones. The only interesting thing is the guitar 'drop' at 6.12, which I like.

    Then the song goes off into a minute long series of 'ohhhs', and they're not even interesting vocalisations, (unlike the end of One for example) just filler material.
    Thankfully the song stops soon after, and doesn't go into an extended, repetitive outro (Love Comes Tumbling style) which would make me hate the song.

    So I guess I have two major problems with the song (apart from certain lyrics):

    1. It doesn't really sound like a U2 ballad of old, it is almost like another band's song. I have a feeling that they can't do these kind of dark songs very well any more, post-2000s.

    The best recent example of this type of song, has been Mercy, which had a fantastic first half with great lyrics, and a bit lackluster second half . But I am sure that if they had spent the same amount of time on Mercy as they did with MoS and actually finish the song, it would be a better long song.

    2. It doesn't go anywhere, it doesn't build up to something awesome like One, WOWY, AIWY, LIB etc. Nor is it a plateau either like Being Born or something.
    It's more of a relaxing, adult contemporary song.

    So I would say overall this is a 6/7 out of 10 song, though it does grow on you.
    I am disappointed because I was expecting a grand U2 ballad in the old tradition.
  8. Originally posted by MWSAH:The best of the album...can't get it out of my head. Bono is great here and the overal mood of the song is the best I've heard from U2 in many, many years.


    Agreed. No song in NLOTH makes me feel so good when I hear it.
    It takes me to some other level, so peaceful
  10. Big call i know, but to me, this sits up there with One & With Or Without You, i really wanted Sometimes You Can;t Make It On Your Own up there as well, given the meaning of the song and being so personal to Bono, and whilst it's a very good song, it's not quite up there, but MOS is like WOW!

    Was the suprise packet of the 45 second clips,you just could not get a feel of how this track would pan out, from the first lyric, Bono just comes over wih emmence power.

    We are not going to really get the best of it until it's played live, it's going to be mind blowing.
  11. Originally posted by vanquish:[..]

    1. It doesn't really sound like a U2 ballad of old, it is almost like another band's song. I have a feeling that they can't do these kind of dark songs very well any more, post-2000s.




    That's what I meant with different opinions here. I love it..some say Magnificent is too U2-ish, you say Moment of Surrender lacks a U2-style. What someone will love, an other one will hate or dislike.

    I for instance completely disagree with you. This song is a different kind of U2 we haven't seen since Joshua Tree. I love it.
  12. This song grows on me more and more, it doesn't sound like it's as long as it really is. The lyrics are good, the singing is good/emotional and it's all perfect.
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