New Album Discussion 1 - Songs of..... - Unreasonable guitar album

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Edge is on fire with the unreasonable punk rock on Venus and they are firmly locked in the tower of song and working away on a bunch of new things.

Larry is sitting at home recovering while monitoring his Bono bullshit meter.
 
Headache in a Suitcase said:
well - to be fair, this time there is a legitimate concern about the future of a band member.

i think they're facing the end times as a band - they know it - and are trying to figure out how to proceed.

playing Sphere, or even touring, without Larry is one thing.

recording new music without Larry is a horse of a different color.

they likely want to continue to tour - would prefer to do it with new music - but can't figure that part out until they know what's going on with Larry.

so they're stuck.
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Agreed. As long as things remain unclear on the Larry front, they're probably not even sure what's coming up or how exactly they're going to go about it. So I can understand the lack of firm timetables or touring/residency situations for awhile yet.

BEAL said:
This sounds more like how things work with Bono. He hears some rough drafts or outlines that Edge has created and calls them songs.
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That's pretty much par for the course with most songwriters, actually. It doesn't mean they're anywhere close to done, but it's not hard to put down a 3-4 minute instrumental down over the course of an afternoon, with a general verse-chorus-bridge and so forth. Even more faster if you work with an engineer who can put that together on a DAW while you continue churning out new ideas.

When you start calling them "songs" or not is another thing. But hey, if I'm writing new stuff and get naturally excited over it, or my songwriting partner has some fully-fleshed ideas for me to start toplining over, I'm probably just calling them that too.
 
The band are a bit perfectionist (or, depending on how you look at it, over-tinkerers).

Based on past quotes and U2songs reports, I fully believe that they actually do have a lot of material that they've recorded. But the way they "write" is unusual. Messing around in the studio is their way of writing, they make a song by pooling through the various ideas generated and structuring them and producing them into something they believe is fit for release.

When they say they haven't recorded anything for the rock album, I believe that means that they're planning on essentially rerecording their disparate ideas that they combined into songs with more coherent performances, this time aiming for the rawer live recording feel that they're going for on this album. I certainly don't think they have all their songs ready and are just waiting for Larry to be ready to jump in the studio, but I strongly suspect they have a lot more than just some Bono notebook scribbles and Edge home demos.
 
Headache in a Suitcase said:
well - to be fair, this time there is a legitimate concern about the future of a band member.

i think they're facing the end times as a band - they know it - and are trying to figure out how to proceed.

playing Sphere, or even touring, without Larry is one thing.

recording new music without Larry is a horse of a different color.

they likely want to continue to tour - would prefer to do it with new music - but can't figure that part out until they know what's going on with Larry.

so they're stuck.
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This exactly!

Yes, this approach is necessary for them due to Larry's health. But I'm looking at the up side.

I'm just trying to enjoy the ride as much as possible without being overly concerned with what comes next. It's been liberating for me as a fan. I'll never forget late 2008/early 2009 my every move and mood was dictated by whether or not there was news or leaks of NLOTH. Then the album and tour came and I was disappointed. Wasn't a big 360 fan until they started focusing more on the back catalog and put on some truly amazing shows in 2011.

I've been happy with the back catalog focus of JT and now AB at the Sphere!

It's now safe to say this Sphere endeavor has been their best move in many, many years and I'd actually like to see it extended again! Absolutely loved my show. Exceeded very high expectations.

You're so right! It's the end or close to it however you slice it.

I truly believe they'll get this rock album out (whatever that Bono speak looks like in final form), and I believe Larry will be back for a tour as well. I just don't see any benefit whatsoever in rushing either moment. First and foremost, it would actually shorten whatever time they have left if Larry comes back less than 100% and gets hurt again. Second, I just think there's zero downside in extending the Sphere or otherwise doing something that leans into their legacy.

I'd love to see Larry back, but Bram is unreal- injects energy into the songs, plays them straight for the most part but isn't afraid to add his own twist where he can! Keep playing the Sphere, go to a few smaller venues in select cities after a break. Would be great by me! If there's a future where they've decided, as you point out, that recording without Larry isn't a line they'd cross but touring is, I'd be perfectly fine with them keeping Bram on speed dial!


DomCobb said:
The band are a bit perfectionist (or, depending on how you look at it, over-tinkerers).

Based on past quotes and U2songs reports, I fully believe that they actually do have a lot of material that they've recorded. But the way they "write" is unusual. Messing around in the studio is their way of writing, they make a song by pooling through the various ideas generated and structuring them and producing them into something they believe is fit for release.

When they say they haven't recorded anything for the rock album, I believe that means that they're planning on essentially rerecording their disparate ideas that they combined into songs with more coherent performances, this time aiming for the rawer live recording feel that they're going for on this album. I certainly don't think they have all their songs ready and are just waiting for Larry to be ready to jump in the studio, but I strongly suspect they have a lot more than just some Bono notebook scribbles and Edge home demos.
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Very well said!:up:

This is exactly where they've indicated they are at for some time now. Not just Bono. Adam, people around them, etc, etc. Anyone familiar with how they work would assess it the same way.
 
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DomCobb said:
The band are a bit perfectionist (or, depending on how you look at it, over-tinkerers).
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Not wrong, but again - from a songwriter's perspective, that's basically something all the others go through. "Overtinkering" gets thrown around like it's a bad thing by some people. But the song isn't really finished until it's released and put out there. Every time you come back to a song with fresh ears after awhile of waiting, you'll almost always find something to be improved or changed. That one lyric isn't up to par, or the rhythm guitar sounds off with the new drum sound, and so forth. And sometimes you end up hating songs that you liked up until a certain point in time! It does happen and U2 certainly isn't the only one that goes through such a thing.

Like you said, it's not a position where the band doesn't have enough material to work with. Almost all of them do. It's just finishing off 10-12 ideas into a somewhat coherent idea and then saying you're done with them. And even as all musicians can be perfectionists (and rightfully so, since we'd be horrified to put anything out there that wasn't our best ability), they'll probably still nitpick the product once it's out there. No one is ever 100 percent happy with it, but they'll try to get it close, haha.

And if you're not a young band starting out without kids/grandkids and other adult commitments, odds are probably higher you're more prone to a due date with the songs you mostly already have. This might take awhile and ideas for songs or album genres will involve and, honestly, I'm okay with that now. They've made us wait before, but not in Chinese Democracy ways yet, thankfully.
 
I'm still surprised by how well-received Atomic City has been outside of U2 fans - its still getting decent airplay on digital radio stations in the UK and friends who have no interest in U2 have commented how much they like it.

It's a real shame Larry isn't fit & healthy enough to have been recording with the band because the 1-2 of the Sphere and Atomic City, as well as the (almost) unanimous positive praise & press they've had would mean its the perfect time to announce a new album and tour.

Unfortunately, if he still has surgeries to do and recover-from, along with the comments which are typical U2 - they have a load of song ideas, but haven't recorded any - then I guess we'll be doing well to hear anything new from them until 2025? Or tail-end of 2024?

Unless of course when Larry is fit they do commit to recording and releasing something within a shorter-than-normal time?

Just a shame is all.

(I think they should just get in the studio with Bram at this point...)
 
I sense they're closer to being ready than their comments would suggest. I think the days of spending months if not years jamming in the studio, finding songs, are long past. I'd hazard they know the songs they want on the next record(s) and it's a combo of stuff from the vault from the last 10 years, and stuff Edge/Bono came up with during covid.

We're hearing the plan is to get together and record or re-record the stuff with Lillywhite. As they did for Atomic City.

But, as others have pointed out there's no sense in promising anything or letting us know things are this far along, given Larry's health and the relative uncertainty associated with that
 
I'd still like one more record with Brain and Danny. I think SOA would be their kind of jam. Meditative. Dark. Introspective/Reflective.

Nothing big or bombastic. Keeping the mood in a Your Blue Room, Stateless, Dancing at Your Feet, Velvet Dress.
 
Registered Dude said:
I sense they're closer to being ready than their comments would suggest. I think the days of spending months if not years jamming in the studio, finding songs, are long past. I'd hazard they know the songs they want on the next record(s) and it's a combo of stuff from the vault from the last 10 years, and stuff Edge/Bono came up with during covid.

We're hearing the plan is to get together and record or re-record the stuff with Lillywhite. As they did for Atomic City.

But, as others have pointed out there's no sense in promising anything or letting us know things are this far along, given Larry's health and the relative uncertainty associated with that
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I second this. I think one of the earliest comments on the guitar record was that they had a bunch of songs they had started recording, but needed to get back in the studio (in NY I believe) and finish them up.

So I think with the Larry situation, they are now making it sound like they don't have much together at all.
 
Innocent question: why does Larry have to drum? Or, at least, why should he have to do such sustained drumming? The technology has existed for a long time (Howie B used it on Pop) to loop and to rebuild a rhythmic track from the shortest fragments of a beat. Why shouldn't Larry's limitations be a moment of creative liberation for the band?

To take just a recent example, Book of Your Heart was built on a brilliant electronic rhythm track. From the 90s, too, a song like I'm Not Your Baby owed everything to Howie B's ability to stitch sounds together.

I know they won't do it, but rather than break up the unit for the sake of a bland rock sound, I'd love if they used the restrictions imposed on them to do something innovative with their sound.
 
I think if AI were to replicate Larry, we'd get a mix of every song sounding like Sunday Bloody Sunday & Beautiful Day
 
PookaMacP said:
Innocent question: why does Larry have to drum? Or, at least, why should he have to do such sustained drumming? The technology has existed for a long time (Howie B used it on Pop) to loop and to rebuild a rhythmic track from the shortest fragments of a beat. Why shouldn't Larry's limitations be a moment of creative liberation for the band?

To take just a recent example, Book of Your Heart was built on a brilliant electronic rhythm track. From the 90s, too, a song like I'm Not Your Baby owed everything to Howie B's ability to stitch sounds together.

I know they won't do it, but rather than break up the unit for the sake of a bland rock sound, I'd love if they used the restrictions imposed on them to do something innovative with their sound.
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I really like this post :up:
 
PookaMacP said:
Innocent question: why does Larry have to drum? Or, at least, why should he have to do such sustained drumming? The technology has existed for a long time (Howie B used it on Pop) to loop and to rebuild a rhythmic track from the shortest fragments of a beat. Why shouldn't Larry's limitations be a moment of creative liberation for the band?

To take just a recent example, Book of Your Heart was built on a brilliant electronic rhythm track. From the 90s, too, a song like I'm Not Your Baby owed everything to Howie B's ability to stitch sounds together.

I know they won't do it, but rather than break up the unit for the sake of a bland rock sound, I'd love if they used the restrictions imposed on them to do something innovative with their sound.
Click to expand...

well - since they're all equal partners in the business, i would imagine it's not quite as simple as saying "well we'll just move on without Larry."

The Sphere shows are a bit different as there was a contract and/or were far down the road of negotiations - but anything new clearly would require Larry's blessings to move forward.
 
Headache in a Suitcase said:
well - since they're all equal partners in the business, i would imagine it's not quite as simple as saying "well we'll just move on without Larry."

The Sphere shows are a bit different as there was a contract and/or were far down the road of negotiations - but anything new clearly would require Larry's blessings to move forward.
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Yeah, I agree.

Was just suggesting that getting him to use his experience and abilities in a different direction, rather than waiting till he's fully up for the job, might be a useful experiment in creativity.

See also: the electronic drums on Moment of Surrender, which make an incredible sound. I'd love to hear more of that kind of experimentation.
 
https://www.nme.com/news/music/bono...nable-guitar-record-with-big-choruses-3545635

"I think we have to give them a reason to be interested in it. I just want to write great tunes, because that’s where U2 started – with big choruses, clear ideas. And let’s go back there, but do it with some petrol and some matches.”

Sorry Bono, but have we not heard this quote for the last 20 years? More importantly, have you not been releasing that kind of music ad nauseum for that 20 years too? They've been writing songs with 'big choruses' and 'clear ideas' for an age now. It's nothing new, more importantly it doesn't make it necessarily good or interesting.

If Atomic City is anything to go by, it's hardly 'unreasonable', more 'placid and polite' rock. This isn't raw Steve Albini produced heaviness. If they want to make a statement they really need to take it far.

They've got nothing to lose and everything to gain.
 
MattD said:
https://www.nme.com/news/music/bono...nable-guitar-record-with-big-choruses-3545635

"I think we have to give them a reason to be interested in it. I just want to write great tunes, because that’s where U2 started – with big choruses, clear ideas. And let’s go back there, but do it with some petrol and some matches.”

Sorry Bono, but have we not heard this quote for the last 20 years? More importantly, have you not been releasing that kind of music ad nauseum for that 20 years too? They've been writing songs with 'big choruses' and 'clear ideas' for an age now. It's nothing new, more importantly it doesn't make it necessarily good or interesting.

If Atomic City is anything to go by, it's hardly 'unreasonable', more 'placid and polite' rock. This isn't raw Steve Albini produced heaviness. If they want to make a statement they really need to take it far.

They've got nothing to lose and everything to gain.
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Agreed. There's no better time to push into actual unreasonableness than when no one is waiting for anything special.
 
If we’re to have learned anything these last 20 years, it should be “Don’t believe the hype.” Or the Bono

The album is never going to sound we want it to in our heads. Let’s just hope for tunes with a bit of life to them. Atomic City had a pulse. If we get an album of songs of consistent a calibre, I’ll be happy
 
2027 it is!!!

Really does sounds like the health of Larry is the biggest unknown for timelines. Imagine they want him to heal before going back into the studio to record. If his recovery is quicker than expected, an album can come out sooner than 2024. If not, ....then who knows
 
Good stuff, thanks for sharing RD :up:

Sounds like its a waiting game (as always, I guess).

If they really are expected to get back into the studio in March, it sure would be nice if they put out some videos from recording sessions, with little snippets of what's to come.
 
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