SOE
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  1. It's all a matter of opinion of course....NLOTH is not such a low bar at all. SOI is very weak so it's bound to be better than that or Atomic Bomb.
  3. I don't think this is a make or break album. For better or worse U2's career is where it is. They have accomplished everything any band could dream of. This is all gravy.

    SOI mostly got crushed in the court of public opinion because of the Apple debacle, the music on the album was lost in the noise. IMO SOI was easily the most solid album they have released since ATYCLB. SOI did not have the peaks that that album did, but top to bottom I actually like the album as a whole better - no songs I skip.

    U2 will never be the band of the moment with SOE. I just hope it matches up to SOI. I'm optimistic.
  4. Yeah i agree SOI is a good album,and if SOE is about the same level then i'll be happy.
    Chart relevance has gone for U2,these are different times anyway even from a decade ago when a U2 single would storm the charts,to be honest a number 1 single doesnt hold the same acheivement as it used to,here in the UK any old crap that wins the X Factor gets a number one guarantee with it.
    The I+E Tour that went with the last album was superb and surely the band know live is where its at for U2.
    I see no reason why they havent 3 or more albums left in them.
  5. I think this is the hurtle album for them. If it goes down reasonably well (and the lead single has done better than any U2 single in quite some time, so that's promising) they may well decide they've done what they set out to, relax a bit, and churn out more stuff that's perhaps geared more towards their fanbase and experimenting with new stuff. On the other hand, if it gets a lot of hate or vanishes without a trace, they'll get burned, lose faith in the product, take too long to make the next one and probably overthink it to some extent, and try to 'prove themselves' again.
  6. The Apple debacle has probably tainted SOI for good, but one thing they escaped from is any real truth to how it actually did. SOE is going to be their first traditional release since NLOTH and I think if it released with little to no fanfare they are going to have a ego freak-out on the level of POP.

    For me personally this is a make or break album as a waning fan. SOI is my least favorite U2 album...if SOE is the same as SOI...I know i won't be seeing them this next tour. And from what I've heard from SOE so far I think it sounds worse then SOI. I downright loathe "Best Thing" which isn't a good sign...so I don't know about the world, but this is a make or break album for me as a fan.
  7. Originally posted by robotsandmonkeys:The Apple debacle has probably tainted SOI for good, but one thing they escaped from is any real truth to how it actually did. SOE is going to be their first traditional release since NLOTH and I think if it released with little to no fanfare they are going to have a ego freak-out on the level of POP.

    For me personally this is a make or break album as a waning fan. SOI is my least favorite U2 album...if SOE is the same as SOI...I know i won't be seeing them this next tour. And from what I've heard from SOE so far I think it sounds worse then SOI. I downright loathe "Best Thing" which isn't a good sign...so I don't know about the world, but this is a make or break album for me as a fan.
    It's a shame to hear, but that's fair.
  8. Songs of Innocence had to exist so we could hear Iris, Song for someone, The Troubles, Every Breaking Wave.
  9. Honestly. I don’t think it is fair at all. SOI is perhaps U2’s most personal album. I really loved that about it. If you can’t get excited by those songs why do you even care about that band? I mean to hear what it was that made them want to be in a band is amazing to me. And that album really captures an innocence and really has a theme. It is a great body of work.
  10. Originally posted by kris_smith87:[..]
    Honestly. I don’t think it is fair at all. SOI is perhaps U2’s most personal album. I really loved that about it. If you can’t get excited by those songs why do you even care about that band? I mean to hear what it was that made them want to be in a band is amazing to me. And that album really captures an innocence and really has a theme. It is a great body of work.
    I agree about SOI being ‘a great body of work’ as you put it. I think it’s a seriously underrated album. Whilst I wouldn’t like to question fans taste or judgement I find it hard to believe the ones that don’t take to it. As I like to say each to there own but SOI is right up there for me. If we take the additional songs into account invisible, Lucifers hands and crystal ballroom then it only strengthens it further. I would love for SOE to be as good as SOI, exciting to find out if it will be soon.
  11. Songs of innocence only means anything to the dedicated fans of the band, who know about their history and where they came from. For anyone else, the songs have no real meaning and frankly, the album got the reviews and attention it deserved. It had a few good moments but was ordinary.

    I don't hold out any hope for this album to be any different. Seems like bono has changed his writing style yet again to try make songs of people conversing back and forth through time and when he changes it away from his usual styles, it doesn't hold up. But in saying that, this band has a recent track record of releasing poorly judged singles so I assume all the best songs will again be album tracks or bonus material
  12. Originally posted by kris_smith87:[..]
    Honestly. I don’t think it is fair at all. SOI is perhaps U2’s most personal album. I really loved that about it. If you can’t get excited by those songs why do you even care about that band? I mean to hear what it was that made them want to be in a band is amazing to me. And that album really captures an innocence and really has a theme. It is a great body of work.
    Let me be clear - Songs of Innocence is, hands down, my favourite album. I can hope other people - fans or casual listeners - like it, I can encourage them to give it another try, I can perhaps offer different ideas about what the songs mean, etc that could perhaps lead to them appreciating them more.

    But I can't MAKE somebody like it, and I can't really fault somebody for not liking. I can disagree, wholeheartedly - which I do. I can be hurt to hear that someone doesn't like something that is so important to me - although it doesn't diminish the quality for me, it still makes me feel bad that something special to me isn't appreciated. But I also have to face the fact that sometimes... some things just don't do it for people. And that's their business. As long as they aren't being disrespectful or intentionally inflammatory with their dislike of something, that's their decision and emotional relation to that thing and I can't really say that they're right or wrong for it. At the end of the day, I'll still know that, for me at least, SOI is a really pinnacle of U2's career. And that's something very special indeed.