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

[singnomore]

Didn't they say MOS was recorded in just one take vocally and musically? It shows....and I mean that in a good way. A very good way. Like you said, you can just feel the emotion coming from the band (not just Bono and his lyrics, which are top notch, btw). Every time I hear that song--and I've listened to it a lot--I can just feel the emotion. And the band--every single member--just sounds fantastic. From the bass to the guitar to the drums to the vocals, it's just perfect.

I'm really beginning to believe there's something to the theory that overproduction has hurt the past several U2 albums. While they're all good CDs, I can only imagine how great they would have been with a little less polish. It seems like U2 is one of those few bands that produces better material at first than after lots of takes/editing.

In U2 by U2 Adam states a few times during the HTDAAB section that there is sometimes a point during their jam sessions(which is how the band creates new music) when you can capture a magic sound and/or vocal, but that you can also work it to the point that it falls apart and you have to start all over.
I think that's what happened with all the Lillywhite stuff from their last 3 albums. Too much thinking and not enough raw power and presence t just let the songs breathe by themselves. Hammered with production.

In future, will you please quote chapter and verse.

Your forgetting page number as well 

[mattressjedi]

Didn't they say MOS was recorded in just one take vocally and musically? It shows....and I mean that in a good way. A very good way. Like you said, you can just feel the emotion coming from the band (not just Bono and his lyrics, which are top notch, btw). Every time I hear that song--and I've listened to it a lot--I can just feel the emotion. And the band--every single member--just sounds fantastic. From the bass to the guitar to the drums to the vocals, it's just perfect.

I'm really beginning to believe there's something to the theory that overproduction has hurt the past several U2 albums. While they're all good CDs, I can only imagine how great they would have been with a little less polish. It seems like U2 is one of those few bands that produces better material at first than after lots of takes/editing.

In U2 by U2 Adam states a few times during the HTDAAB section that there is sometimes a point during their jam sessions(which is how the band creates new music) when you can capture a magic sound and/or vocal, but that you can also work it to the point that it falls apart and you have to start all over.
I think that's what happened with all the Lillywhite stuff from their last 3 albums. Too much thinking and not enough raw power and presence t just let the songs breathe by themselves. Hammered with production.

In future, will you please quote chapter and verse.

Your forgetting page number as well 

I'm working on it.

[tigerfan41]

Didn't they say MOS was recorded in just one take vocally and musically? It shows....and I mean that in a good way. A very good way. Like you said, you can just feel the emotion coming from the band (not just Bono and his lyrics, which are top notch, btw). Every time I hear that song--and I've listened to it a lot--I can just feel the emotion. And the band--every single member--just sounds fantastic. From the bass to the guitar to the drums to the vocals, it's just perfect.

I'm really beginning to believe there's something to the theory that overproduction has hurt the past several U2 albums. While they're all good CDs, I can only imagine how great they would have been with a little less polish. It seems like U2 is one of those few bands that produces better material at first than after lots of takes/editing.

In U2 by U2 Adam states a few times during the HTDAAB section that there is sometimes a point during their jam sessions(which is how the band creates new music) when you can capture a magic sound and/or vocal, but that you can also work it to the point that it falls apart and you have to start all over.
I think that's what happened with all the Lillywhite stuff from their last 3 albums. Too much thinking and not enough raw power and presence t just let the songs breathe by themselves. Hammered with production.

I've never read that book, so it's funny that Adam and I seem to have the same view on that. Like I said, there's only so many times you can work something before the return only diminishes with each new revision. U2 had a good grasp of this for the first 20 or so years of their career; I hope it's something they figure out again.

Again, not to say that the last few CDs were bad or anything. I love'em, but I'm sure with a little less production the CDs could have been even better.

[mattressjedi]

Didn't they say MOS was recorded in just one take vocally and musically? It shows....and I mean that in a good way. A very good way. Like you said, you can just feel the emotion coming from the band (not just Bono and his lyrics, which are top notch, btw). Every time I hear that song--and I've listened to it a lot--I can just feel the emotion. And the band--every single member--just sounds fantastic. From the bass to the guitar to the drums to the vocals, it's just perfect.

I'm really beginning to believe there's something to the theory that overproduction has hurt the past several U2 albums. While they're all good CDs, I can only imagine how great they would have been with a little less polish. It seems like U2 is one of those few bands that produces better material at first than after lots of takes/editing.

In U2 by U2 Adam states a few times during the HTDAAB section that there is sometimes a point during their jam sessions(which is how the band creates new music) when you can capture a magic sound and/or vocal, but that you can also work it to the point that it falls apart and you have to start all over.
I think that's what happened with all the Lillywhite stuff from their last 3 albums. Too much thinking and not enough raw power and presence t just let the songs breathe by themselves. Hammered with production.

I've never read that book, so it's funny that Adam and I seem to have the same view on that. Like I said, there's only so many times you can work something before the return only diminishes with each new revision. U2 had a good grasp of this for the first 20 or so years of their career; I hope it's something they figure out again.

Again, not to say that the last few CDs were bad or anything. I love'em, but I'm sure with a little less production the CDs could have been even better.

Well, when I see things like Native Son turned into Vertigo, then it proves your point. They second-guessed their original instinct and went with something less biting(still good song but).

The second guessing really started during POP. They were halfway into the record and then discarded all of these tunes they had made with Howie B. using Larry Mullen drum loops and samples.
The Edge later admitted that there's was more rawness and magic in those earlier tracks but that they were obsessed with working the rhythm section into the record so it sounded more like U2.
In other words, they backed off their earlier experiments and made a compromise album.

[tigerfan41]

Regarding Native Son: I'm not so sure it was a mistake to re-work that. I was just listening to it again and really, the lyrics of Native Son are just too weirdly phrased to really fit the beat of the song. However, I think changing it to Vertigo was a step too far. Some sort of compromise probably would have been better than to sort of "dumb" it down the way it was, although I do really like Vertigo.

Not surprisingly, Lillywhite was behind that change.

However, I think Xanax and Wine should have been kept as it was. Again, I like Fast Cars (or at least the version on the Artificial Horizon CD) but the original is superior. More of a raw sound, slightly changed lyrics and vocally, it's better, imo. Another one is the alternate version of "Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own." A less polished, but better version of that song in many ways.

That's an interesting point about Pop, and it makes a lot of sense. What's a shame is the damage that Pop seemed to have had on U2 (and still has today, I think). The CD itself is solid and even great in some areas. But because it wasn't the smash hit and as beloved as Achtung and JT, it felt like a failure to them. Still does, I think. It's made them more cautious about every new CD they make and consequently, it's resulted in a lot of changes to the music that haven't all been positive.

Like I said, I hope they can get out of that mentality and realize that they don't have to overwork things.

[The Exile]

If the band bashes Pop the way they do, I shudder to think of how they will pan NLOTH in a few years. I mean, it's Pop-on-steroids with respect to cultural and commercial failure.

[jick]

If the band has about 3 albums worth of material right now, they certainly could do a series of EPs.

I just have a hard time seeing that band doing it though.

Hey, surprise me.

If they have 3 albums worth of materials, they don't need to record anything new. Just compile the best of those things, periodically release them just to remind fans they still exist. Let the studio producers work their magic, and just watch profits grow from the sideline.

Maybe that is why U2 worked with 3 different producers and have a lot of extra material of different styles.  So they have something for their "stock inventory" of songs wherein they don't need to record anymore.  Maybe they saw this day coming where they would have lost the drive to record.

Cheers,

J

[The Exile]

If the band has about 3 albums worth of material right now, they certainly could do a series of EPs.

I just have a hard time seeing that band doing it though.

Hey, surprise me.

If they have 3 albums worth of materials, they don't need to record anything new. Just compile the best of those things, periodically release them just to remind fans they still exist. Let the studio producers work their magic, and just watch profits grow from the sideline.

Maybe that is why U2 worked with 3 different producers and have a lot of extra material of different styles.  So they have something for their "stock inventory" of songs wherein they don't need to record anymore.  Maybe they saw this day coming where they would have lost the drive to record.

Cheers,

J

While I admire your cynicism, I just don't see it. Even if U2 has a fully recorded song from a previous album's sessions, they still redo it if they release it later on. For example, even though they have already recorded Every Breaking Wave, the version we will eventually hear--assuming we hear one--will be newly done.

[MLP Midnight]

I'd like to hear more of a cohesive unit this time around, not a complication of a bunch of tracks from half a dozen sessions or so that seem to be the best.

NLOTH had no structure at all to it, and I blame Bono mostly for it, as he wanted to put more songs that would attempt to appeal to a more broad radio audience.

[Tumbling Dice]

I'd like to hear more of a cohesive unit this time around, not a complication of a bunch of tracks from half a dozen sessions or so that seem to be the best.

NLOTH had no structure at all to it, and I blame Bono mostly for it, as he wanted to put more songs that would attempt to appeal to a more broad radio audience.

All albums should have a cohesive sound, IMHO, unless it's a compilation album.

[MLP Midnight]

I'd like to hear more of a cohesive unit this time around, not a complication of a bunch of tracks from half a dozen sessions or so that seem to be the best.

NLOTH had no structure at all to it, and I blame Bono mostly for it, as he wanted to put more songs that would attempt to appeal to a more broad radio audience.

All albums should have a cohesive sound, IMHO, unless it's a compilation album.

Then I guess I saw NLOTH as a "compilation" album.

I just never really got a good flow from the album.

[mattressjedi]

I'd like to hear more of a cohesive unit this time around, not a complication of a bunch of tracks from half a dozen sessions or so that seem to be the best.

NLOTH had no structure at all to it, and I blame Bono mostly for it, as he wanted to put more songs that would attempt to appeal to a more broad radio audience.

All albums should have a cohesive sound, IMHO, unless it's a compilation album.

And that's what NLOTH sounded like in the end. A compilation of Eno and Lillywhite sessions.

[Mercurial]

I agree, AB and JT have a flow, NLOTH and HTDAAB really don't, IMHO.

[mattressjedi]

I agree, AB and JT have a flow, NLOTH and HTDAAB really don't, IMHO.

Especially not HTDAAB in my view. Some great tunes. But it doesn't really work as a cohesive album.

NLOTH would've worked with just the Lanois/Eno material and a better placement for MOS in the running order.

[xy]

Yes.  Listen to R.E.M's and Springsteen's latest albums.

I enjoyed Springsteen's latest, though, like U2, it could be said his last major commercial/critical hurrah came with 9/11 (The Rising is as much a comeback as ATYCLB was). REM broke up so don't see what U2 should be following there...and they stopped touring new albums.

U2 making singles/EPs only ? They believe too much in the album form.