"Invisible" song discussion thread

Originally posted by RattleandHum1988:[..]
Most respectfully disagree, my friend.

I think Invisible was a good single, but nothing more than that - and the key word is "good", not "great". It sort of came and went for me, it's a standard U2 hit that soars and does what it's supposed to, but at no point does it really hit a home run for me. Not like those types of singles in the past have. I'd compare it to COBL off the top of my head and say it's not nearly as good as far as hitting that sweet spot of being catchy and having emotion. Invisible is catchy, but for me it doesn't have staying power.

Regarding Breathe, I'm still trying to pretend NLOTH never happened. Compared to SOI which has such a direct theme that each song follows (most if not all happen to be great in my opinion), NLOTH to me was a mixed up mess full of sub-par U2 try-hard singles. I maintain that Being Born and Cedars of Lebanon are the only shreds of intrigue on there, but hey that's just me.

Wow that sounds sort of harsh. Definitely respect your opinion Harry, I dig Invisible, I just disagree!

Originally posted by WojBhoy:[..]


the beauty of opinion, good sir.

I think the upshot for me is that Invisible's the only song (bar a couple from SOI) that's really stuck with me since it came out. Definitely get what you mean with the COBL comparison, and I would agree that COBL hits the mark much better than Invisible. The things that take Invisible down a notch for me are the outro ('There is no them/there's only us' - bit of an inane platitude for me) and Edge's defaulting to chiming arpeggios - I love the Fallon performance where he just rips into meaty power chords instead of the arps (granted, that xylophone does the arpeggiating). Without doubt, Edge is one of my musical heroes, but I find myself less and less drawn to the chimey-ness when it feels like it's just filling a gap, rather than actually driving an idea, i.e. Streets, Bad, COBL - delay being used as a leading element. Despite that, Invisible's an 8/10 for me.

Don't want to drift off-thread too much re. your other points, will try and sum up general thoughts!

I like NLOTH and SOI, but I hardly ever give them a spin at home or when I'm commuting to work. I remember the hype when both came out and feeling drawn to them then (and indeed I think I probably expressed a certain amount of love for them at the time), but unlike anything pre-Bomb, they don't rope me in anywhere near as much. NLOTH is a weird one as for me, its highs are sky high (Breathe - hear what you say but for me it's one of their best things in the last 15 years) yet its lows are 6 feet under (Boots, Crazy etc., just argh). SOI definitely has a thread but there's just something about it that doesn't. Would hang it well above NLOTH as a cohesive piece of work, but for me a number of the songs either feels too shiny or they feel a bit scrapped together.

There are some gems lying around (imperfections aside, e.g. EBW and the final 3, plus Ballroom and Lucifer), but... hmm.

There's a quote that comes up on the site (think it's from U2 by U2) which has Edge saying something about pop music being throwaway, bubblegum etc., and how U2 always wanted to steer clear of that; looking back on it, I sort of feel that SOI is the nearest thing they've got to that kind of pop since ATYCLB. Invisible is certainly in that bracket, but it sits much more comfortably in the U2 chunk of my brain and has much resonance. Having said that, I may well have changed my mind completely in a year's time! Life is change and all that.

I do like most of the new stuff (like, not love) and can't wait for the tour to get going, BUT I'm not really that fussed by the new material as much as I am by getting to see what old stuff they keep - not to mention just getting to see the gang on stage again, because whatever they play, it'll be bloody good fun.

Originally posted by RattleandHum1988:Actually very surprised so many around here like(d) Breathe. I always thought it was a pretty sub-par rock song. I hated Bono's talk-singing in it. I totally dig the pre-chorus and chorus, but everything else to me is just sort of colourless if that makes any sense. There's no tone to the song, it's just a straight up rock tune, and U2 has better songs like this IMO. That being said, I'm not saying I think it's a BAD song. I'm only comparing it to the rest of U2's catalogue when I call it "sub-par".

Getting back to Invisible, I think it's really interesting how that song came out not long before SOI and was probably worked on at the same time, but to me has an overall very different feel. Do you guys think the band released it the way they did because they knew it wasn't going to fit with their album campaign? It's sort of a U2 standard, it can stand on its own. I feel as though many of the songs on SOI are best played with each other rather than alone. There isn't really a huge stand-out single to me, but that's not to say the songs aren't strong. Before they released it as a bonus track (sort of) I was sure we'd see it on SOE (if that ever comes to fruition) but now I suppose that's somewhat ruled out.

Originally posted by djrlewis:[..]
I disagree about SOI Harry, but I agree with everything else you said, especially Invisible and Breathe.

Originally posted by RattleandHum1988:Actually very surprised so many around here like(d) Breathe. I always thought it was a pretty sub-par rock song. I hated Bono's talk-singing in it. I totally dig the pre-chorus and chorus, but everything else to me is just sort of colourless if that makes any sense. There's no tone to the song, it's just a straight up rock tune, and U2 has better songs like this IMO. That being said, I'm not saying I think it's a BAD song. I'm only comparing it to the rest of U2's catalogue when I call it "sub-par".

Getting back to Invisible, I think it's really interesting how that song came out not long before SOI and was probably worked on at the same time, but to me has an overall very different feel. Do you guys think the band released it the way they did because they knew it wasn't going to fit with their album campaign? It's sort of a U2 standard, it can stand on its own. I feel as though many of the songs on SOI are best played with each other rather than alone. There isn't really a huge stand-out single to me, but that's not to say the songs aren't strong. Before they released it as a bonus track (sort of) I was sure we'd see it on SOE (if that ever comes to fruition) but now I suppose that's somewhat ruled out.

Originally posted by kris_smith87:[..]
I think they released it because they thought the album was coming. It doesn't really SOUND like the music on the album but it definitely has the same theme. I'd love to hear the original lyrics as well.

Originally posted by RattleandHum1988:Harry, understand what you're saying - and it would be cool to see U2 do a straight up rock album. That being said, as you said, I think that'd be simplifying U2 too much. I think my favourite "rock" song U2 has ever done has to be Last Night on Earth. It has just that right amount of weirdness but at the same time kicks ass as a rock song. I wish they'd pull it back out, crossing my fingers for this tour. Bono could definitely match The Edge in the chorus these days.

Originally posted by bpt3:[..]
I would love to see Last Night On Earth and Invisible together in some sort of encore on the I & E Tour!

With Invisible, though, does the fact that it was only a stand-alone single that later got relegated to a hidden track on a bonus disc bode well for its live performance future? (I suppose HTMTKMKM still was a PopMart encore regular?)