Shuttlecock XXV: Cool Hats Club

[U2inUtah]

Do you guys like Coldplay? I wonder when the next Coldplay album will come out?

 

[DeVaul]

Do you guys like Coldplay? I wonder when the next Coldplay album will come out?

Next album? That band died after the release of, ironically, Viva La Vida. Not sure who you’re talking about.

 

[cobl04]

I hear Wilco are selling strands of hair and vials of semen at a pop-up shop just outside of Pioneertown.

 

[DeVaul]

I hear Wilco are selling strands of hair and vials of semen at a pop-up shop just outside of Pioneertown.

Side with the Seed…

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

I was today years old when I found out that U2 are just a Bono cover band

 

[DeVaul]

I was today years old when I found out that U2 are just a Bono cover band

Duh

 

[LuckyNumber7]

Do you guys like Coldplay? I wonder when the next Coldplay album will come out?

Do they formally have two in them? Or just one and an unclear intention until that one?

 

[david]

The Songs of Surrender Beautiful Day sample on iTunes is really nice.

 

[GirlsAloudFan]

The new lyrics to Beautiful Day in the "see the world in green and blue" section are absolutely fucking atrocious

 

[clerks]

The new lyrics to Beautiful Day in the "see the world in green and blue" section are absolutely fucking atrocious

Bono here are the lyrics.

Bono “I said your damn words.”

 

[david]

All the individual track previews are now on iTunes and I’m excited for this project.

 

[Jerry Dunk]

This is well over a decade now that U2 has been responding to the panicked idea that their songs are too hard for people to cover. I really hate this.

 

[david]

This new album is so good.

 

[u2popmofo]

https://youtu.be/oxo-loXdcH0

 

[Dalton]

A couple of thoughts:

1. I'm pleasantly surprised by how much I like this album.

2. I'm disappointed no songs for NLOTH made it.

3. Holy hell Bono looks old here.

https://youtu.be/oxo-loXdcH0

 

[Hewson]

3. Holy hell Bono looks old here.

The color of the hair dye is doing him no favors. Needs to go to something closer to his natural brown. And of course, terrible sunglasses choice.
At least he's slimmed down a bit.

 

[david]

The Disney special was really good.

 

[phanan]

I just watched. It’s excellent.

It also proves how false the BS narrative of Bono’s voice is. He sounds fucking phenomenal.

 

[cobl04]

I'm going to do a full, 2006-style COBL_04 review of Songs of Surrender tomorrow (going through each track and giving it a score out of 10), but I'd like to get everyone excited ahead of that review by saying holy fucking shit this is comfortably the worst thing U2 have ever released. Can't wait to spend like $5,000 flying out to Vegas only for them to play all the songs in this style.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Hard disagree on the album being the worst thing they've ever released.

And while I can see them doing a song or two in this style in Vegas, I'd be stunned if they did more than that. Why get a drummer to play a shit ton of songs that don't need a drummer?

 

[Hewson]

Yeah, we already know Vegas shows are going to be Achtung Baby themed. They won't be acoustic shows. There may (likely will) be a small B stage style interlude with a few songs in SOS style but that's it.

 

[david]

The musical foundation of the reworked Stories for Boys evokes that early mysterious era of 1980-81 U2.

 

[iron yuppie]

20 songs in and I'm enjoying it quite a bit. There are some very inspired moments throughout - the outro to Invisible comes to mind, as well as the arrangement on 11 O'Clock.

The standout for me so far is absolutely Dirty Day, though. I love the sparse arrangement, and the guitar tone on the main riff is intoxicating. It really goes to show how effective Bono can be using his voice as an accompaniment rather than the main draw - I really, really wish he would take that approach more frequently.

The straight acoustic versions are just kind of there. The guitar on Wild Horses sounds great, but not great enough to justify an un-embellished 5 minutes. Edge is generally more effective painting with atmospherics than he is as a riffer, which I guess is a consensus view anyways.

 

[DaveC]

the tiny desk concert is fantastic, but it would have been even way better if they hadn't just played the first half of ATYCLB. what a weird choice of setlist.

 

[DeVaul]

The musical foundation of the reworked Stories for Boys evokes that early mysterious era of 1980-81 U2.

They definitely need to bring back more glockenspiel, weird pipes and the occasional trumpet

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

the tiny desk concert is fantastic, but it would have been even way better if they hadn't just played the first half of ATYCLB. what a weird choice of setlist.

It was really odd that they chose In A Little While, considering that it's not on SOS.

 

[DaveC]

also, bono trying to give live directions to the choir when they clearly already had pre-rehearsed everything was awkward as hell.

 

[phanan]

Just seeing this. Pretty cool cover.

 

[cobl04]

I've not watched it yet, but what do people think of this new track that's in the doco?



I quite like it actually, it's understated, the guitar and treated piano is really nice, the drums support them well. I'd love to hear more stuff in this direction. I love the title. Only real downfall to me are the opening lines, when Bono tries to rhyme "man" with "island", far worse than ATM machine or PIN number.

 

[Hewson]

Guitar has a "Walk to the Water" feel to it.
It's pretty good.