SOE
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U2 - Songs Of Experience (2017)
 Tracks: 14
  1. Originally posted by electricwar1:I deliberately put off buying this album for a while as the singles were doing nothing for me, i finally caved in to my own pressure and went ahead and bought it, TBH im still not sure, there is some ok songs but they are far from brilliant. Would i put this in my top 5 albums? No, i just think the material they are producing these days is not up to scratch. My personal view would be to see them do the decent thing and call it a day and quit while they are ahead. It would be sad to see, as i have been a fan for over 30yrs and seen them live many times, but i just feel the passion isnt there anymore to make good music.
    I would rather have crap album after crap album, and still have them around. I hope they never EVER EVER again fall prey to the stupid useless PANDERING TO YOUNG PEOPLE with Auto-Tune, as that is so silly. "Love Is All We Have Left" might have been a good song without the stupid ridiculous sound effect. Still, I think of how much I miss R.E.M. most of the last half of their career was sub par, but other than Around The Sun, there were nice songs sprinkled here and there. I know R.E.M. was taking the high road with all their high and mighty talk about how respected their decision would be and all...but really? Music makes people happy, and by them not touring, nobody can be Shiny, or Happy...I hope U2 never stops, but for Pizza's sake, give up the chase for relevance. It is simply a damn Pop Music Album, it is not the Space Shuttle, or the cure for sarcasm. SOE has "Little Things," and I love that so much, the rest doesn't matter, but "Showman" is also awesome...So There lol.
  2. Originally posted by pleasegone:[..]
    I would rather have crap album after crap album, and still have them around. I hope they never EVER EVER again fall prey to the stupid useless PANDERING TO YOUNG PEOPLE with Auto-Tune, as that is so silly. "Love Is All We Have Left" might have been a good song without the stupid ridiculous sound effect. Still, I think of how much I miss R.E.M. most of the last half of their career was sub par, but other than Around The Sun, there were nice songs sprinkled here and there. I know R.E.M. was taking the high road with all their high and mighty talk about how respected their decision would be and all...but really? Music makes people happy, and by them not touring, nobody can be Shiny, or Happy...I hope U2 never stops, but for Pizza's sake, give up the chase for relevance. It is simply a damn Pop Music Album, it is not the Space Shuttle, or the cure for sarcasm. SOE has "Little Things," and I love that so much, the rest doesn't matter, but "Showman" is also awesome...So There lol.
    The auto tune is cool and fits the song from the way Bono describes it as Sinatra on the moon or whatever.

    Also you go on about it being a pop album but love The Showman (which I do as well) but that is straight up pop!

    I know we have beaten the relevance argument to death but I sill don’t get why anyone faults he band for wanting to appeal to everyone.

    As I get older I realize there is no chance of appealing to everyone in this day and age. I read an article from Noisey today which declared Justin Timberlake was no longer cool and they gave the dumbest reasons for it.

    Everyone has something to bitch about these days and no matter what you do there will be some corner of the Internet that will mock your every move.
  3. Originally posted by kris_smith87:[..]
    The auto tune is cool and fits the song from the way Bono describes it as Sinatra on the moon or whatever.

    Also you go on about it being a pop album but love The Showman (which I do as well) but that is straight up pop!

    I know we have beaten the relevance argument to death but I sill don’t get why anyone faults he band for wanting to appeal to everyone.

    As I get older I realize there is no chance of appealing to everyone in this day and age. I read an article from Noisey today which declared Justin Timberlake was no longer cool and they gave the dumbest reasons for it.

    Everyone has something to bitch about these days and no matter what you do there will be some corner of the Internet that will mock your every move.
    +1!
  4. Just listening to the album again, amazing but it does feel like the Bono Solo Album... I recks the band thought ‘fuck it, our man nearly died so let him have control of this’ and this is the result. Just tied it in with the full Abbey Road gig, 2017 U2 are brill so looking forward to 2018.
  5. Originally posted by bpt3:Just to keep the discussion going from both points of view...I've already said that I get where people are coming from with not seeing SOE as truly a "companion" to SOI, and that I do have other criticisms of the album, too. Yes, they could have done a better job of connecting the two instead of being hampered by their desire to make SOE "relevant" after the 2016 election, but still - here's my attempt!

    1. SOI opens up joyfully enough...but then turns pretty dark and grim from about Iris (Hold Me Close) onward...from Bono's mom dying, to his rage over the ordeal, to a car bombing that wrecked lives, to the difficulty of growing up on Cedarwood Road as a teenager, to priests who abuse their authority, to the "old man saying he never listens", all the way to the attempt to hang on to innocence with the "will to survival" and being "naked and not afraid".

    2. As a follow-up to an album that (to me) seems to be ultimately about LOSING innocence, SOE opens up in a pretty stark place, lyrically and sonically, with Love Is All We Have Left: looking back at what has been lost along the way. Lights of Home is the desperate cry for help. Along the way are the "letters" written to people/places and from other people/places' points of view dealing with mortality and "defiant joy", ending with both the big anthem of Love is Bigger and then the glimmer of hope on 13 (There is a Light). Innocence regained through Experience!

    Feel free to disagree completely just for the sake of enjoyable discussions with multiple viewpoints.


    Agree that SOI is more about Loss of Innocence. SOE is learning how to use your wisdom to rediscover innocence after experience. The emotions of anxiety, fear, anger, and hedonistic love all erode innocence. The secret to recapturing innocence is learning to see in the dark and using agape and ordinary love to build lasting relationships with friends, family, and loved ones. Bono specifically talks about this "ordinary love" being so extraordinary in the Rolling Stone interview when he describes his relationship with Ali. It's the same reason why book of your heart describes the beauty of the scar - ordinary love can survive trauma/tribulations - passionate love is less likely to do so.
  6. Originally posted by kobrien:[..]


    Agree that SOI is more about Loss of Innocence. SOE is learning how to use your wisdom to rediscover innocence after experience. The emotions of anxiety, fear, anger, and hedonistic love all erode innocence. The secret to recapturing innocence is learning to see in the dark and using agape and ordinary love to build lasting relationships with friends, family, and loved ones. Bono specifically talks about this "ordinary love" being so extraordinary in the Rolling Stone interview when he describes his relationship with Ali. It's the same reason why book of your heart describes the beauty of the scar - ordinary love can survive trauma/tribulations - passionate love is less likely to do so.
    Yes, indeed. SOI is about looking at a younger you, and dealing with the world. And than seeing that some things have changed you.
    SOE is about the changed you and excepting you and your relationships in all forms. And with that lots of emotions come looking. Both theme's are interesting.
  7. I was scared about them using the auto-tune when we first learned they used it in this album, but I was pleasantly surprised on the end result, I think it was used in a very clever (and limited) way.

    Also I see several people since some time ago mentioning the "Bono solo" album idea, but I don't get it... the lyrics have always been very Bono-focused, and musically... maybe there's a couple of songs (All We Have Left and There Is A Light) where sounds like is just Bono, but I don't get that from the rest of the album... the SOL-RFD-ShM-LL sounds a bit indie, but I don't feel it like a soloist album... is this the part that makes people feel like it is?
  8. Originally posted by Bloodraven:I was scared about them using the auto-tune when we first learned they used it in this album, but I was pleasantly surprised on the end result, I think it was used in a very clever (and limited) way.

    Also I see several people since some time ago mentioning the "Bono solo" album idea, but I don't get it... the lyrics have always been very Bono-focused, and musically... maybe there's a couple of songs (All We Have Left and There Is A Light) where sounds like is just Bono, but I don't get that from the rest of the album... the SOL-RFD-ShM-LL sounds a bit indie, but I don't feel it like a soloist album... is this the part that makes people feel like it is?
    I don't feel it's a 'Bono solo album' at all. If anything, there are a lot of places on this album where Adam and Larry come through spectacularly well. I think what prompts people to say that is that Edge is a lot more understated here than he is on almost all their other albums - not a necessarily a bad thing, just a different thing. I think it works brilliantly. SOE is still going strong for me, and I think it works beautifully together with SOI.
  9. I'm reading again the Flanagan book, and one thing that caught my attention was that in Zooropa Edge was given producer credits part because he spend a lot of time on the mixing desk, but also because they thought that people would question "where is Edge on this album?"
  10. Originally posted by Bloodraven:I was scared about them using the auto-tune when we first learned they used it in this album, but I was pleasantly surprised on the end result, I think it was used in a very clever (and limited) way.

    Also I see several people since some time ago mentioning the "Bono solo" album idea, but I don't get it... the lyrics have always been very Bono-focused, and musically... maybe there's a couple of songs (All We Have Left and There Is A Light) where sounds like is just Bono, but I don't get that from the rest of the album... the SOL-RFD-ShM-LL sounds a bit indie, but I don't feel it like a soloist album... is this the part that makes people feel like it is?
    +1
  11. Originally posted by pleasegone:[..]
    I would rather have crap album after crap album, and still have them around. I hope they never EVER EVER again fall prey to the stupid useless PANDERING TO YOUNG PEOPLE with Auto-Tune, as that is so silly. "Love Is All We Have Left" might have been a good song without the stupid ridiculous sound effect. Still, I think of how much I miss R.E.M. most of the last half of their career was sub par, but other than Around The Sun, there were nice songs sprinkled here and there. I know R.E.M. was taking the high road with all their high and mighty talk about how respected their decision would be and all...but really? Music makes people happy, and by them not touring, nobody can be Shiny, or Happy...I hope U2 never stops, but for Pizza's sake, give up the chase for relevance. It is simply a damn Pop Music Album, it is not the Space Shuttle, or the cure for sarcasm. SOE has "Little Things," and I love that so much, the rest doesn't matter, but "Showman" is also awesome...So There lol.
    I agree with the auto tune thing wholeheartedly. It makes me quite neutral towards Love Is All We Have Left.
  12. Originally posted by Bloodraven:I'm reading again the Flanagan book, and one thing that caught my attention was that in Zooropa Edge was given producer credits part because he spend a lot of time on the mixing desk, but also because they thought that people would question "where is Edge on this album?"
    Interesting comparison...and fantastic book.