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  2. Originally posted by JuJuman:Nice article on U2 on the Sunday Independent, by Brendan o Connor. I couldn't find the original text, but here's an Italian translation:

    http://www.u2place.com/newsdett.asp?idN=5591

    The bottom line is: get back to the roots, and to Ireland and the Irish, if you don't want to end up doing another greatest hits tour, like the Stones... kind of agree!


    Interesting article - though I disagree with "a relatively lukewarm reaction from fans to their last album No Line on the Horizon" - most fans thought NLOTH was better than ATYCLB and HTDAAB.

    The major problem with NLOTH's reception was that parts of it were too 'artsy' for some listeners (mainly Americans) who preferred the rock & pop of their earlier 2000s albums.

    And the other problem with NLOTH was that it wasn't artsy enough with songs like Crazy Tonight, SUC, GOYB, Breath etc muddying the atmosphere and themes of the album.

    U2 tried to please everyone with NLOTH - both the critics and mainstream listeners which is pretty much impossible to do thesedays unlike with say the Joshua Tree due to the seismic shift in the music landscape and the tastes of listeners (and the paucity of artistry in much of today's music).

    I don't care too much about the Ireland patriotism thing - I hardly think it's likely that U2 are making 'poor' music because they've supposedly lost touch with their Irish roots.

    I also completely disagree with the U2 should return to a country-rock/blues/gospel direction - to me that would seem to be an artistic disaster - they can do the acoustic folk & blues album when they're in their 60s, the band should try to push new boundaries with their music while they still can.

    Plus a country rock/gospel direction just sounds like an invitation for Bono to write more excruciatingly hammy lyrics . And anyway their success during the JT/R&H era hard a lot to do with Bono's poetic lyrics and majestic vocals, Bono's voice is a shadow of its former self and the quality of his writing has taken a hit since Pop and doesn't look like it'll fully recover either (I blame middle age complacency and the lack of time due to his other activities).

    I think the Euro feel (recalling AB/Zooropa) blended with JT era cinematic sweep and grandeur that typified the best, most musically interesting songs on NLOTH - Moment of Surrender, Fez- Being Born, Winter (though unfinished) and most prominently Unknown Caller represent the best direction for the next album (in terms of artistic if not commercial success) and it's disappointing that they decided to shelve Songs of Ascent (which seemed to do this exactly) in favour of working with RedOne and Danger Mouse.

    IMO the only reason they didn't release SoA was because they knew it would be even less commercially successfull than NLOTH was.
    If only they returned to making albums for themselves rather than for the market.











  4. Originally posted by vanquish:[..]

    Interesting article - though I disagree with "a relatively lukewarm reaction from fans to their last album No Line on the Horizon" - most fans thought NLOTH was better than ATYCLB and HTDAAB.

    The major problem with NLOTH's reception was that parts of it were too 'artsy' for some listeners (mainly Americans) who preferred the rock & pop of their earlier 2000s albums.

    And the other problem with NLOTH was that it wasn't artsy enough with songs like Crazy Tonight, SUC, GOYB, Breath etc muddying the atmosphere and themes of the album.

    U2 tried to please everyone with NLOTH - both the critics and mainstream listeners which is pretty much impossible to do thesedays unlike with say the Joshua Tree due to the seismic shift in the music landscape and the tastes of listeners (and the paucity of artistry in much of today's music).

    I don't care too much about the Ireland patriotism thing - I hardly think it's likely that U2 are making 'poor' music because they've supposedly lost touch with their Irish roots.

    I also completely disagree with the U2 should return to a country-rock/blues/gospel direction - to me that would seem to be an artistic disaster - they can do the acoustic folk & blues album when they're in their 60s, the band should try to push new boundaries with their music while they still can.

    Plus a country rock/gospel direction just sounds like an invitation for Bono to write more excruciatingly hammy lyrics . And anyway their success during the JT/R&H era hard a lot to do with Bono's poetic lyrics and majestic vocals, Bono's voice is a shadow of its former self and the quality of his writing has taken a hit since Pop and doesn't look like it'll fully recover either (I blame middle age complacency and the lack of time due to his other activities).

    I think the Euro feel (recalling AB/Zooropa) blended with JT era cinematic sweep and grandeur that typified the best, most musically interesting songs on NLOTH - Moment of Surrender, Fez- Being Born, Winter (though unfinished) and most prominently Unknown Caller represent the best direction for the next album (in terms of artistic if not commercial success) and it's disappointing that they decided to shelve Songs of Ascent (which seemed to do this exactly) in favour of working with RedOne and Danger Mouse.

    IMO the only reason they didn't release SoA was because they knew it would be even less commercially successfull than NLOTH was.
    If only they returned to making albums for themselves rather than for the market.














    Very much agree with everything you said. Also, nice Star Wars reference there


  5. Thanks - I didn't even know it was a Star Wars reference, I've always thought it was just a common English expression
  7. One thing I didn't like was how the article talks about how they are opening the tour now with Achtung Baby songs and how they are 20 years old and how this is so bad because they don't have any new songs to open with. I feel to be a fair article they should have mentioned that a remaster is being released and they are obviously playing those songs to get fans excited for it. Also, there aren't many albums nowadays (or ever really) that gets promoted two years in. We haven't had a single from No Line since 2009 so why keep promoting the album because it's the newest release? (Though I would admit that they should have a new album out right now).
  8. haaaahahahhahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa that Bono / Bruno poster is EPIC !!!!!!!


  9. These are pretty good actually
  10. It's quite ironic that last week Music 'Critic' Jim Carroll writing in the Irish Times (the other major newspaper in Ireland) suggested the opposite to Brendan O'Connor, he reckoned that U2 should just accept that the creative well has dried up and become the new Rolling Stones and just do greatest hits tours or the festival circuit. That's the way it is here, everybody has an opinion on U2.

    Whatever your opinion on directions, etc. the bottom line is that U2 need to start recording and releasing music of a high calibre again. It's been too long. O'Connor is right in saying that the stakes have been raised for the next release. Also, in the meantime unless they are stockpiling songs or saving them for movies, they should set up a soundcloud account or whatever and make some tracks available to fans for download.


  11. Edge: "hey little fellow, whats your name?"
    Rat: "my name is Mouse, DangerMouse"
    Edge: "are you really going to help us in our studio-kitchen?"
    Rat: "that's what I'm here for.... I'm giving you the receipe for a tasty new album in 2013!"
    Edge: "I'm salivating already, can you help us back on our feet please, we want the Michelincritics to like our U2 dish.... we're pretty desperate..."
  12. Some decent Glastonbury merch





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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.