1. Gonna give this a spin now
  2. I would rather connect Red Flag Day to The Miracle (Of Joey Ramone)

    Spoiler (click to toggle)
    and perhaps not everything has to be connected...?
  3. Yeah, not necessarily they thought to connect everything, but in order to intertwine both albums, this makes it more interesting...
  4. Originally posted by Bloodraven:[..]
    Yeah, not necessarily they thought to connect everything, but in order to intertwine both albums, this makes it more interesting...
    O sure! And you are days ahead of me! I've only heard the album 2,5 times...
  5. OK, here's my first go at it it. Just sort of a first blush attempt (I'm cheating slightly and there are places where two Innocence or two Experience songs are back to back but the pairs are all one innocence/one experience)

    1. Love Is All We Have Left
    -
    2. Iris (Hold Me Close)
    3. Lights of Home
    -
    4. The Blackout
    5. Volcano
    -
    6. Song For Someone
    7. You're the Best Thing About Me
    -
    8. Every Breaking Wave
    9. Landlady
    -
    10. Cedarwood Road
    11. Love Is Bigger Than Anything In Its Way
    -
    12. Red Flag Day
    13. Raised By Wolves
    -
    14. The Troubles
    15. Get Out Of Your Own Way
    16. American Soul
    -
    17. California (There Is No End To Love)
    18. Summer of Love
    -
    19. The Miracle of Joey Ramone
    20. The Showman (Little More Better)
    -
    21. This Is Where You Can Reach Me Now
    22. The Little Things That Give You Away
    -
    23. Sleep Like a Baby Tonight
    24. 13 (There Is a Light)

    I'm not totally sold on it....

    Basically I think there's a sort of narrative - loss, grief/anger, and wanting to regain what was lost (2-5), love (6-9), going back to where you started and what learned/wished you'd learned (10-11), hold on... the world is a scary place, is love really bigger than anything in its way? (12-13/14), acknowledging that and moving on (14-16), even if you accept it there'll still be good and bad (17-18); then a little upbeat break, a 'behind the curtain' moment for the performer (19-20) and what the performer has learned and where it's taken them (21-22)... and ultimately, the world is still a scary place despite all that (23) but that doesn't define your existence (24).

    I didn't want all the really similar-lyric songs right together except Iris and Lights of Home. That one felt more like a continuation with a joyous refrain; the others (Volcano/AS, SFS/13) both felt more like they needed some distance so the refrains could have time and space to sink in and grow.
  6. I feel like because SOI is crap compared to SOE it'll always end up being a mixed bag no matter how it's combined. I tried listening to the one Bloodraven came up with -- hated it frankly. It didn't flow together at all.
  7. They should never have committed to these albums being a pair. They committed to the paired album thing and never executed. Nothing I’ve heard from this new album is suggestive of why it was delayed by two years. The fact they have reused a lot of SOI stuff makes me wonder further about why it was delayed.

    If they had delayed SOI and got one album out then I definitely think we could have ended up with something truly great. Or given more time we may still have got an excellent conceptual double album. I don’t think we’ve gotten either.
  8. Originally posted by germcevoy:They should never have committed to these albums being a pair. They committed to the paired album thing and never executed. Nothing I’ve heard from this new album is suggestive of why it was delayed by two years. The fact they have reused a lot of SOI stuff makes me wonder further about why it was delayed.

    If they had delayed SOI and got one album out then I definitely think we could have ended up with something truly great. Or given more time we may still have got an excellent conceptual double album. I don’t think we’ve gotten either.
    I never really got into SOI much and it has virtually disappeared from what I listen to these days, which allowed me to evaluate SOE purely on its own merits. Yes, it recycled some things from SOI, but it was the best parts of SOI that they recycled -- but only parts work well. Entire songs from SOI, not really.
  9. Originally posted by germcevoy:They should never have committed to these albums being a pair. They committed to the paired album thing and never executed. Nothing I’ve heard from this new album is suggestive of why it was delayed by two years. The fact they have reused a lot of SOI stuff makes me wonder further about why it was delayed.

    If they had delayed SOI and got one album out then I definitely think we could have ended up with something truly great. Or given more time we may still have got an excellent conceptual double album. I don’t think we’ve gotten either.
    I mean, we’ll never know what SOE sounded like before they delayed it and didn’t the JT tour. It may have sounded completely different. I wouldn’t say the reused a lot of SoI stuff either, it’s mainly one lyrical phrase, the volcano bridge and song for someone reworked. Otherwise, what else is there? 13 seems to be universally praised here for pulling that off too.

    I also thought SoI was pretty darn great, and this is even better while also making SoI better by nature. They compliment each other to my ears.

    Time will tell of course, but for now I’m basking in what I think is really U2’s best album in a while. And if we consider the two “Songs” albums one big album, it’s their best in a long time. A long time.
  10. Originally posted by RattleandHum1988:[..]
    I mean, we’ll never know what SOE sounded like before they delayed it and didn’t the JT tour. It may have sounded completely different. I wouldn’t say the reused a lot of SoI stuff either, it’s mainly one lyrical phrase, the volcano bridge and song for someone reworked. Otherwise, what else is there? 13 seems to be universally praised here for pulling that off too.

    I also thought SoI was pretty darn great, and this is even better while also making SoI better by nature. They compliment each other to my ears.

    Time will tell of course, but for now I’m basking in what I think is really U2’s best album in a while. And if we consider the two “Songs” albums one big album, it’s their best in a long time. A long time.
    This is pretty much where I am with it (although for me SOI is still ahead of SOE). These two records play off each other well, and I think work together brilliantly as a big double album. I think we might be looking at 'future classic' U2 here. Songs of Innocence and Experience, their late-career hurrah.
  11. Originally posted by germcevoy:They should never have committed to these albums being a pair. They committed to the paired album thing and never executed. Nothing I’ve heard from this new album is suggestive of why it was delayed by two years. The fact they have reused a lot of SOI stuff makes me wonder further about why it was delayed.

    If they had delayed SOI and got one album out then I definitely think we could have ended up with something truly great. Or given more time we may still have got an excellent conceptual double album. I don’t think we’ve gotten either.
    spot on