SOE
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  1. Originally posted by LikeASong:On a related note, I wonder, I really wonder what their workflow between tours/albums is like. Do they really save all of the tiny ideas and half-songs and then resume work on them at any future point? Who and how keeps track of these song sketches, and who and when proposes to come back to them? What if they "finalize" a song but they are in the middle of a tour and can't (or don't want to) go into the studio to record and mix it? As a songwriter myself I find it quite hard to keep track of the sketches I produce, and even harder to come back to an unfinished song x months or years later and get it properly done - and I know I'm not alone in this. You just don't feel the songs the same way as you did when you wrote them.
    They went into studio mid-tour in 1993....I'd say that worked out all right
  2. Originally posted by LikeASong:On a related note, I wonder, I really wonder what their workflow between tours/albums is like. Do they really save all of the tiny ideas and half-songs and then resume work on them at any future point? Who and how keeps track of these song sketches, and who and when proposes to come back to them? What if they "finalize" a song but they are in the middle of a tour and can't (or don't want to) go into the studio to record and mix it? As a songwriter myself I find it quite hard to keep track of the sketches I produce, and even harder to come back to an unfinished song x months or years later and get it properly done - and I know I'm not alone in this. You just don't feel the songs the same way as you did when you wrote them.
    I imagine you don't have the same sort of mixing desks and recording equipment they have or have 20 or 30 people working for you in the studio who keep track of everything they do and label songs and ideas in order of potential or suitability, a lot of Zooropa were ideas and sketches they had done during Achtung baby also straight after a tour they usually go into a studio and lay down a few tracks that get used for the next album .Edge mentioned that they can record up to 50 songs while making an album and some that don't make it can be revisited for other projects .
  3. Thank you 3 for the feedback - it was more of an open reflection, mere speculation, nothing concrete. I'd just love to ask Edge about it sometime
  4. Originally posted by LikeASong:On a related note, I wonder, I really wonder what their workflow between tours/albums is like. Do they really save all of the tiny ideas and half-songs and then resume work on them at any future point? Who and how keeps track of these song sketches, and who and when proposes to come back to them? What if they "finalize" a song but they are in the middle of a tour and can't (or don't want to) go into the studio to record and mix it? As a songwriter myself I find it quite hard to keep track of the sketches I produce, and even harder to come back to an unfinished song x months or years later and get it properly done - and I know I'm not alone in this. You just don't feel the songs the same way as you did when you wrote them.


    As far as during tour they have Joe O'Herlihy mark all jams, sketches and new songs during soundchecks as he records and archives all of them. Bono will sometimes name the song and tell Joe to mark it as that title. So on the road, it's archived by Joe for the most part. I would imagine it is similiar in the studio. I believe Edge has a lap top type of mixing console he uses as well to save ideas and jams on that is obviously mobile.
  5. Originally posted by LikeASong:On a related note, I wonder, I really wonder what their workflow between tours/albums is like. Do they really save all of the tiny ideas and half-songs and then resume work on them at any future point? Who and how keeps track of these song sketches, and who and when proposes to come back to them? What if they "finalize" a song but they are in the middle of a tour and can't (or don't want to) go into the studio to record and mix it? As a songwriter myself I find it quite hard to keep track of the sketches I produce, and even harder to come back to an unfinished song x months or years later and get it properly done - and I know I'm not alone in this. You just don't feel the songs the same way as you did when you wrote them.

    It's definitely not U2 who keeps track of them - well, MAYBE Edge.

    But we know for sure that If God Will Send His Angels was around in the Zooropa sessions, at least the conception of the original idea, and I know I've read one of them say here or there that City of Blinding Lights was actually originally conceived during the Pop sessions, which is kinda crazy.

    But yeah - who knows. I'm pretty certain that the way they start their album cycles is that Edge will bring in like 50 demos he's worked on and present them to the band, and they'll pick and choose the ones they like to start working on. Maybe he also brings in older stuff that they socked away at some point? Or Joe does as someone said?
  6. As for "all my life" & co. - these actually happened in the aftermath of the Bomb era, so we might find some of these on an anniversary edition of that album? Mercy even was originally on that album, that's how we do got that version once into our hands and ears. So hopefully these will see the light of day at some point. I would really die for an early studio version of All my Life, similar to the beachy one.

    Like for North Star....that's hard, where to put it? Maybe onto a rerelease of NLOTH? Or they finally work out a next Best Of (deluxe)? It at least got released in a certain way in a movie, so there IS a finalized studio version.

    Or we get SOA as a "collection of BSides and Unreleased tracks" or so.

    I could imagine Edge is very exact in tracking their ideas and half songs or whatever. He's probably also the one that remembers one particular old piece, if someone says "we need something like..." and then he pulls it out of his (highly likely digital) vault. In pretty much think he is that kind of worker who doesn't want to throw away anything he put efforts in.
    Maybe Edge brings up tunes - or Bono brings in some of his lyrics and Edge gets an idea what might fit the words. Not that unlikely, I guess.

    For the upcoming album - they say they wanna be different than SOI and SOE - I would like that, as I didn't like either of these, SOE in particular is still not listenable in any way for me. It's just sooooo badly mixed and recorded, it just sucks. These songs are not that bad actually, the ones presented live were alright (no real live bombs, but anyway), - but then they again work with Ryan Tedder. How does that go along?
    My gut tells me, I will not like what they come up with, if it's again Tedder putting his hands in.
    Of course they are free to prove otherwise
  7. AGREED
    THE LAST 2 ALBUMS WERE LACKING THE U2 SOUND THE LONG TIME FANS ARE MISSING
    DUMP TEDDER
    GET LANOIS AND ENO BACK
    PLEASE
    PLEASE
    PLEASE
  8. Lanois is 68. Eno is 71. The band members will be rounding 60 in the next couple years. It’s really time to stop chasing the pop charts. I would love to hear what these Fab 6 could come up with, were they not burdened by their own need to conform to what their version of relevant is.
  9. Whatever we get in terms of music from here on out will be a bonus.
  10. And we could be sure it will be overproduced as always
  12. U2 album releases have loosely formed a triptych, e.g.(Boy + October + War) or (TUF + JT + R&H) and the best (AB + Zooropa + Pop). Not completing the "Songs" trilogy and taking another sharp turn musically would be a first.
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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.