SOE
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U2 - Songs Of Experience (2017)
 Tracks: 14
  1. I think the reason why some songs on this album, like American Soul, fall flat imo, is because they're a bit too specific to a time/place. Songs like Please and Bullet The Blue Sky are more timeless, in that they don't have lyrics name-dropping the troubles and specifics of U.S. involvement in El Salvador... Even Sunday Bloody Sunday, despite its revealing name, could still be applied to many different conflicts!

    I just get pulled out of the music with lines like "Refujesus" and "Lincoln's ghost" (other cringy parts, like the name-rhyming in the Blackout contribute to this)... It's especially disappointing when songs like the aforementioned Please have so much depth and power, when considering what they were written about. Even Raised By Wolves, despite being more overt about its subject matter, makes for a very compelling song.

    The above has probably been talked to death about... It just really hit me after listening through the album again.

    I'm hopeful that, after six-and-half years, this next album's going to be like night and day, when compared with Experience... Even if they try to fit it into the "Songs of..." canon... Also, Little Things is some of the best post-2K U2 content; so they clearly still have it.
  2. Looking at Atomic City… it doesn’t seem like Bono is moving towards more subtlety in his lyrics.

    I’m ok with his style as a lyricist evolving over time. His approach in the 80s was also very different than later on, much more impressionistic, sometimes even frustratingly so. If he wants to be more literal, sometimes even cringy in his later years, that’s fine, what bothers me more is changing the lyrics of older songs in the same vein („one boy / never will be kissed” in Pride for example).
  3. Originally posted by SlightedRadio91:I think the reason why some songs on this album, like American Soul, fall flat imo, is because they're a bit too specific to a time/place. Songs like Please and Bullet The Blue Sky are more timeless, in that they don't have lyrics name-dropping the troubles and specifics of U.S. involvement in El Salvador... Even Sunday Bloody Sunday, despite its revealing name, could still be applied to many different conflicts!

    I just get pulled out of the music with lines like "Refujesus" and "Lincoln's ghost" (other cringy parts, like the name-rhyming in the Blackout contribute to this)... It's especially disappointing when songs like the aforementioned Please have so much depth and power, when considering what they were written about. Even Raised By Wolves, despite being more overt about its subject matter, makes for a very compelling song.

    The above has probably been talked to death about... It just really hit me after listening through the album again.

    I'm hopeful that, after six-and-half years, this next album's going to be like night and day, when compared with Experience... Even if they try to fit it into the "Songs of..." canon... Also, Little Things is some of the best post-2K U2 content; so they clearly still have it.
    I’m pretty sure the name rhyming in The Blackout is a reference to the poem “The Chimney Sweeper” in William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Experience, where the album title comes from… never been confirmed to my knowledge but a theory of mine…
  4. Originally posted by nberrys:[..]
    I’m pretty sure the name rhyming in The Blackout is a reference to the poem “The Chimney Sweeper” in William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Experience, where the album title comes from… never been confirmed to my knowledge but a theory of mine…
    If it is a reference, that makes it a bit better in my eyes... That's really interesting; I'll have to do some reading.
  5. Originally posted by Hansav:Looking at Atomic City… it doesn’t seem like Bono is moving towards more subtlety in his lyrics.

    I’m ok with his style as a lyricist evolving over time. His approach in the 80s was also very different than later on, much more impressionistic, sometimes even frustratingly so. If he wants to be more literal, sometimes even cringy in his later years, that’s fine, what bothers me more is changing the lyrics of older songs in the same vein („one boy / never will be kissed” in Pride for example).
    I'm hopeful that the new album isn't full of Atomic Cities... Don't get me wrong, it's a fun one-off; but it's by no means "balls-to-the-wall rock". Then again, I wouldn't put it past them.... If anything, they need to have a good fire suppression system in-place if Edge catches fire as often as reports indicate.

    I completely agree with you stance on changed lyrics... It was funny seeing others' faces during Streets at the Sphere; with the new-ish lyrics... But I still don't understand what the need to change it was... Even if it's supposedly an artistic move, to make the song 'grow'; it just seems insecure, especially with how timeless most of those songs are. The Playboy Mansion is one thing, but Bad, Streets, Pride?
  6. I also hope it's not an album of Atomic Cities.. otherwise it will sound like other bands and have their credits as well LOL.. and looking back on SoS, at first I was enjoying the new takes on some of the songs, but I honestly don't recall the last time I played any of those songs.. and the lyric changes- 🤷‍♂️ whatever floats their boat
  7. there's a Ned and Jack mentioned, but no Fred and Zac