Is There Still Any Point In U2 Making A New Album?

[imaginary friend]

No really - i bet if they could settle on a 'direction' right now, we'd get a 2012 album... if the larry rumours are true right now, i bet that disagreement is what delays it.

What Larry rumors?

this, apparently:    http://u2.interference.com/f196/u2-working-with-pop-songwriter-for-new-album-213794-55.html#post7509053

[Sugarcube]

I often get the sense Barry is the voice of reason in the band. Either way if these rumours of producers are true I worry for the next record. U2 seem totally directionless these days.

[xy]

I believe he's playing at least 6-7 songs from the new CD. He's also been opening with two tracks from his new CD.

Didn't Springsteen, quite recently in his touring, used to play Born to Run/Born in the USA in its entirety ? Playing full O L D albums is the definition of nostalgia act, not how much oldies/hits you play.

[jick]

I often get the sense Barry is the voice of reason in the band. Either way if these rumours of producers are true I worry for the next record. U2 seem totally directionless these days.

No Line On The Horizon was directionless.

Everything else over the past decade had direction and was planned well, except of course, for the fortuitous events that gave the past two tours some postponements.

Let's hope the new producers will change that and breathe some new life to the band.

Cheers,

J

[dirtdrybonesandstone]

It must be brutally difficult for them to release an album.    The timeframe itself has to make it nearly impossible to stay on one cohesive track.    I suspect that is what happened with No Line, and why we saw Boots, Crazy, etc. on it.    I think bringing in EBW as part of a trifecta that included Mags and MOS, immediately after the industrial sound of Fez-BB and NLOTH, would have been much better.   I dont necessarily care for Cedars or Breathe, but in the context of this concept, they worked.   I suspect later in the game, after hearing the breakout success of Viva La Vida, they panicked and brought on Boots, Crazy and SUC and hoped for the best.    While I agree they need a new, and younger, production team, the perceived failure of No Line likely rests squarely on the much-too-busy shoulders of Bono.

[tigerfan41]

I believe he's playing at least 6-7 songs from the new CD. He's also been opening with two tracks from his new CD.

Didn't Springsteen, quite recently in his touring, used to play Born to Run/Born in the USA in its entirety ? Playing full O L D albums is the definition of nostalgia act, not how much oldies/hits you play.

I don't know the complete touring history of Springsteen as I'm not an avid follower of his music--but from what my brother was telling me (he's a huge Springsteen fan and knows a lot about his music), Springsteen hasn't played Born in the USA live in quite some time (maybe 10 years? more or less?). Not sure why that is, but I'd presume it has something to do with politics or simply being tired of playing the same song thousands of times.

Playing old albums isn't the definition of nostalgia act. It's giving the fans what they want. Many fans want to hear the artist's best album, especially if it's one that is chock full of great songs. I know I'd love for U2 to play the entire Achtung Baby or Zooropa albums live. I wouldn't consider them a "nostalgia" act if they chose to do that.

As I said, Springsteen has been promoting his new album well at the live shows. Lots of tracks from that CD. So I don't think you can call him a nostalgia act by any stretch of the imagination.

REO Speedwagon, Styx and Foreigner, however.....those would meet the criteria for nostalgia acts.