SOE
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U2 - Songs Of Experience (2017)
 Tracks: 14
  1. Originally posted by Pauln:Not a regular poster here, and I’ve read the positive and negative reviews with interest. My thoughts are U2 have written a nice melodic album, that has a contemporary feel but lacks something. My favorite U2 albums are where the edge stands out, AB is all about the edge but here he’s sometimes in the background. That’s what a band like Coldplay do but not u2. It’s inevitable when you’re around for 40 yrs other artists will copy your style but when U2 start copying those bands that copy them maybe it’s time to consider should we still do this. Part of me actually hopes this is their last album, they’ve done it all, wrote some fab stuff, but don’t ruin your legacy by keep going.

    I like this album it’s well produced, nice melodies and i’m sure live it’ll work well but I wouldn’t want another of these.

    Who was it that said taste is the enemy of art!
    Edge standing out:

    Little things final 90 seconds
    Red flag day vocals and solo
    Summer of loves riff melodic and simple but works all the more better for it
    Hold on brother John American Soul section
    You’re the best thing Solo
    The lights of home verses

    I could go on and on, yes he might appear in the background but he really isn’t. It’s his best album for 17 years in melody, backing vocals, riffs and grooves.

    The band are on fire.
  2. Originally posted by eddyjedi:[..]
    Edge standing out:

    Little things final 90 seconds
    Red flag day vocals and solo
    Summer of loves riff melodic and simple but works all the more better for it
    Hold on brother John American Soul section
    You’re the best thing Solo
    The lights of home verses

    I could go on and on, yes he might appear in the background but he really isn’t. It’s his best album for 17 years in melody, backing vocals, riffs and grooves.

    The band are on fire.
    Can’t the guy just have his own opinion?
  3. Of course I just think he stands out more than he has in a long time.
  4. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with debating an issue as long as the initial argument isn’t getting put down. This is just a case of someone showing they’re differing opinion, no harm done .
  5. I had time on my own, evetybody to bed. So listen at night. Twice the album. Could listen well. Bono is in shape, so is the rest of the band.Very good sound. GOOYOW, AS and LIBTAIIW are not my favorites. But BOOK OF YOUR HEART is the best, a classic for me. Why is it not on the first 13 songs? It's a treasure. Further on, my favorites are LOH, LITTLE THINGS, RED F D (could be on War), SUMMER, BLACKOUT, LANDLADY (what a start) SHOWMAN (next single?), they are all stuck in my head. After so many years making fantastic music, still delivering an exellent album. Well done boys.
  6. Don’t get me wrong I like this album it’s better than SOI but it’s along the same lines. I suppose I was hoping for a different type of Edge on this record. The lights of home riff is borrowed, the best thing and get out of your he’s done before. American Soul and summer of love I like but in the latter the style is more Ed Sheeran than the edge. The Landlady could be any guitarist playing on it. The little things is the highlight of the album and not just because it sounds like classic U2. Maybe it’s just a production thing to give the music a contemporary feel.

    As I said I’m enjoying it but I don’t think they should go down this road again, if there’s another album in them!
  7. I'm just thinking that tomorrow they play on Saturday Night Live... that seems like it'd be a pretty appropriate place to debut The Showman...
  8. Just finished my initial listen in sequence and wow, this album is incredible. Definitely worth the wait. The connections to SOI are quite obvious from a musical and lyrical standpoint. I know that will turn people off, but I enjoy the connection points. There were no songs that I felt immediately put off by, but the autotune did surprise me. Somehow I think it works since I keep going back to it over and over again.

    In terms of flow, the track order works like a charm. It doesn't feel like any song is somehow out of place, but I would have liked to see Book of Your Heart in there. Still glad to have it. I know I've been accused of being a yes-man when it comes to U2's more recent works, but to hell with that this album is a winner in my book.

    Lyrically, this album comes off as one of the most complex in U2's discography in terms of meaning and significance. I found myself wanted to chew on the lyrics much more than I have with previous albums.

    Musically, this album owes a lot to the mixing team. I'm listening through a pair of wired Sennheisers and I have to say the sound is a lot richer than SOI. Listening to Summer of Love for the first time was one of the most pleasing experiences I've had in a while. Seriously, get yourself a music system worthy of this mixing masterpiece.
  9. Alot of people have the same thought as i do
    Book Of Your Heart , on the album
  10. Let me start saying something: What an year has been for this U2 fan. Their music hit me like a f*ing train with the Joshua Tree Tour and the new album. Such a great feeling!

    It's 4:30 am here and I'm listening to the Experience for the 6th time I guess.

    Right to the subject here. I think the new album is good and I'd probably give it a 3.5 or 4 out of 5 stars review right now. I also think it'll grow up on my heart after I emotionally and musically connect with some other songs.

    Now, since U2 made me love music and I've been listening to a lot of good albums recently, I don't think this album is an excellent album for some particular reasons.

    First and most important one: some melodies sound so different from other tunes from the album. It's seems to me that this album has melodies from different periods or years. It sounds almost like a "best of" album. Probably the work of so many producers or the lack of confidence of the boys in their own work led to this. Some songs are really overproduced and full of effects and autotune and others are so clean and sound so organic.

    Second thought: I don't think the album works quite well as a sequence to Songs of Innocence. I do see some connections and references to some Innocence songs, but lyrically, I was expecting something little different like songs about that period of time when U2 became huge and the boys had to deal with this and with themselves. This could be a subject to another topic, but for me, the lyrics on this album would fit quite well in a "Songs of Ascent" theme. I do think they're amazing and they're probably the best lines Bono wrote in a long time, but the fact he approached the lyrics like he was not here makes me think that there's a kind of gap between them and the lyrics from SoI.

    Third thought (and this is really particular and related with the first topic): some of the songs are not the kind of songs I wanted or wished U2 to do. Some of them are. Explaining myself, as an U2 fan since mid-90s, I'd love to see U2 creating the sound they want to create. What I see here is a band trying to incorporate a certain type of sound that it's being used now in order to keep their sound fresh or modern. To be fair, I love the approach in some songs (Landlady and Little Things specially). It's a prove that U2 can create new material without being stick with trends and still sound great (and relevant).

    On to the bright side...

    I do think Bono's lyrics are amazing here. I just don't see them as a sequel from their last work. Despite of that, some of them really made me cry and I could feel that Bono was really being honest and talking from the bottom of his heart in the biggest part of them, which is incredible. From an outsider (a non U2 fan), they may sound too empty or like they're not attached to some specific feeling, but for us who understand U2's head, heart and ideals, they're really touching and make me feel incredibly optimistic and joyful. To resume, the lyrics from the biggest part of the songs are something I can really connect into right now.

    Larry and Edge...Their approach in some songs is also some of their best in a long time. I always felt connected with Larry's characteristic sound since the first U2 song I've heard, and I can find this sound here. Don't get me wrong, I love the fact U2 is always trying to reinvent theirselves. As I said above, sometimes it just don't work quite well, but the fact they're always trying is probably one of the things I most love in this band. That said, to be able to listen to a classic Larry's drumming while listening to Edge doing something incredibly fresh and powerful at the same time is really great. And it's exactly what Edge's doing in at least half of the songs in this album (when he's not trying to do another version of Beautiful Day, Vertigo or Volcano ). His work sounds really distinctive and new at some songs. Summer of Love's guitar work is one great exemple here.

    Third point: Adam's bass is always great.

    Finally, I have to talk specifically about Little Things and Landlady. Those two songs had an instantaneous and huge impact on me. The lyrics are great, the melodies are great, the vocals are great. The work is so incredibly well done. They have the classic U2 sound and the U2 reinventing itself as a band sound in just one hit (or two). It's pure vanguard of music using the right amount of trending stuff, classic sounds and probably sounds that other artist or bands will try to recreate. They're absolutely mindblowing.

    Favorite ones: Little Things, Landlady, Love Is Bigger Than Anything In Its Way
    Low points: Blackout, Love Is All We Have Left, this already known version of Ordinary Love
  11. Low points: Love is Bigger (it is epic, yes, but it could be a Coldplay song), 13 (OK, but meh), Landlady to a lesser extent (although it is a nice song).
    High points: everything else, to various degrees. And the B-side, BOYH: I really like it.
  12. I can really recommend to listen to the album with a bit more expensive surface headphones, there are alot of details in the songs that you dont hear withcommon speakers/headphones.
    And the already great atmosphere in the songs gets better, a lot more emotional also.
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