Originally posted by bpt3:I've said before, but still have this mad theory that NLOTH is actually the thematic centerpiece of their five 2000s-present day output of albums. I might need to quick set this out again to see if it still makes sense...
The outer "frames" are ATYCLB and SOE = albums dealing with hope, light, love, grace while dealing with moments of despair, death, and loss.
The inner "frames" are HTDAAB and SOI = albums wrestling with choosing "faith over fear", as innocence is lost and gives way to experience.
Which puts NLOTH right in the middle, an album exploring the spiritual life as a pilgrimage of sorts, involving worship, surrender, and yet also uncertainty...
Not what the band intended probably at all, but it works for me!
Originally posted by ASortOfDesire:Gave the Linear track listing a listen. Unknown Caller should have opened 360.
it's so obvious to me that they're not coming from the same headspace as those other ones.
Originally posted by thefly108:That's an interesting concept that may have some truth to it, but I'm not sure about this statement:
[..]
You aren't the only one who has said this about that particular set of songs, and I've always wondered why people are so sure of it. I personally feel like those songs were just as inspired as any of the others on the album. Who's to prevent U2 from pulling from their old influences and past in the midst of experimentation?
The only thing Boots has in common with Vertigo is that it's one of the faster/harder songs on its respective album. I never have found them to be similar. Stand Up Comedy has, in my opinion, one of Edge's most interesting riffs. They aren't as experimental because they weren't crafted to be. They probably came out of jams or rehearsal tapes.
In pre-release interviews, U2 compared the extent of their expected shift in musical style to that of Achtung Baby. The band scaled back these experimental pursuits, however; Mullen, Jr. noted,
"at a certain stage, reality hits, and you go, 'What are we gonna do with this stuff?' Are we going to release this sort of meandering experimentation, or are we gonna knock some songs out of this?"
Bono shared this opinion, stating,
"We went so far out on the Sufi singing and the sort of ecstatic-music front, that we had to ground it and find a counterpoint."
Eno commented that many of "the more contemplative and sonically adventurous songs" had been dropped, attributing the lack of African-inspired music to its sounding "synthetic" and unconvincing when paired with other songs.