New U2 album "Songs of Innocence" available free on iTunes

[Atticus]

Sharon Osbourne has had some thoughts on U2's latest move.

[lamradio]

Yeah and its pretty awesome..

 

http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/17/showbiz/celebrity-news-gossip/sharon-osbourne-u2-rant-free-album/

[Vacant Horizon]

Bad is great but the "recorded version" only shows a start of how great it could be....see live version on some 4 song cd they had after initial release. 

Not sure of name but it had 4 songs and Bad live was on it.....that was epic...and of course the Live Aid Version.

 

Wide Awake In America.  The version on Rattle and hum is great too.

[The Inside of Outside]

I have not liked an entire album of U2's since The Joshua Tree. There have been some great songs since, but not a great record, to these ears. All the albums up to The Joshua Tree were top-notch (though October had its misses). Boy blew mymind back in 1980. The Unforgettable Fire is truly unforgettable. Love that record. And I give them credit for continuing to attempt to make great records.

[Sweet Papa Crimbo]

Sharon Osbourne has had some thoughts on U2's latest move.

 

 

Sweet Fancy Moses. If U2 is irrelevant, what the fuck is Sharon Osbourne?

[Winston Legthigh]

I have not liked an entire album of U2's since The Joshua Tree. There have been some great songs since, but not a great record, to these ears. All the albums up to The Joshua Tree were top-notch (though October had its misses). Boy blew mymind back in 1980. The Unforgettable Fire is truly unforgettable. Love that record. And I give them credit for continuing to attempt to make great records.

 

Mostly agreed. I think Unforgettable Fire is my nostalgic favorite. I was 14 or so when I saw that tour, and it knocked me on my ass.

 

I'm not a fan of most of the newer stuff, but I did enjoy reading the liner notes for the new Apple album.

 

IMHO, the last "great" songs they wrote are both from Zooropa: Zooropa, and Stay (Faraway so Close!)

[remphish1]

Sweet Fancy Moses. If U2 is irrelevant, what the fuck is Sharon Osbourne?

Yeah..what albums has she made

[bjorn_skurj]

Sweet Fancy Moses. If U2 is irrelevant, what the fuck is Sharon Osbourne?

Snort.

[Clayton Kershaw]

This was a pleasant surprise. For me the weakest track is The Miracle of Joey Ramone. Do you folks hear R.E.M.'s Driver 8 in Volcano around the minute mark? My favorite song about a volcano is Crowded House's When You Come. Cedarwood Road sounds like it will be a beast live. Iris is slowly growing on me, however when I was told that Chris Martin provides backing vocals for this track I began to lose some sleep. It's ok though. Every Breaking Wave is a classic U2 song. At times, it does remind me of something off of The Killers' last record. California sounds like being on a rollercoaster of pop bliss. I can't say enough about The Troubles because I just started talking about it right now. Lyykke Li adds so much to the song that I hope they bring her out to tour with them. Raised By Wolves sounds like a War outtake and I mean that in a positive way. Sleep Like A Baby Tonight is rather interesting, but I prefer the groove on This Is Where You Can Reach Me Now. 

 

If this helps people out there now know who The Ramones and The Clash are then they've done their job. I just don't see any Bob Dylan influence on this one. He is name dropped in the liner notes. 

[bigideas]

Didn't Jay Z's last album come with phones or something?

Did it have the same reaction?

 

I haven't heard the U2 album. I haven't bought anything from iTunes in over 5 years and never downloaded it to my latest laptop. I was able to sign in on my phone and the U2 album was there along with the few songs I downloaded all those years ago.

 

My main listen is via CD, so I will probably just wait until the physical release comes out and see the options then. I wonder if the plain CD without bonus tracks will be sold super cheap since most people got it free anyway.

 

On the other hand, I guess that can be said for most music anyway since people illegally download so much.

 

Is this that much different from pre-album streaming that is done a lot now? Instead of just streaming, they let you download and keep it if you want.

 

I never bothered downloading the single from earlier this year since I figured it would be on the album anyway, but they left it off.

 

I'm not reading much about Danger Mouse, so he must not have done much to change their sound.

[redpillbox]

Sorry, I'm just a casual listener who happens to like a couple of albums while those two albums you mention, from what I know, are considered doctrinal by diehard fans.

 

I must confess that I'm a bit perplexed by the "who the heck is U2?" campaign started by teenagers on "social networks". It's hard to believe given that at various points in the past decade, and in the 90s, U2 have been omnipresent and have been considered by everyone "the biggest band on the planet". And yet it's another clear sign that the band is becoming more and more irrelevant and their future legacy is compromised as they fall into the collective oblivion.

 

For some reason this reminded me of this: https://twitter.com/WhoIsBonnieBear - and I had a good chuckle.

 

In today's world, with the shifting landscape of the music business, I just don't think you'll see another band the size of U2. It's impossible for a band to get that big. With old models and non-digital music-delivery systems dying and the explosion of choice/methods of consumption, it's impossible for someone to command the attention in a way that transcends their genre. Even the biggest bands will be big in their niché, but probably largely unknown outside. Like someone mentioned, hip-hop fans aren't going to hear U2 because they'll just not be exposed to it. In the '80s, there was basically MTV and radio. You could explode by hitting on one or both. Think of what it would take to do the same thing now and multiple that by just how much more content is out there to wade through.

 

Sharon Osbourne has had some thoughts on U2's latest move.

 

U2 is absolutely not above criticism. They are huge targets and a lot of time (not always) they bring it on themselves and deserve it, but it drives me crazy when people mis-frame arguments because they are either 1) Too intellectually lazy to parse truth from fiction or, 2) Don't really care, but express hyperbolic opinions just to be sensationalistic and controversial in order to shine a light on themselves for a few seconds. Bono was the first person to say this wasn't a free album, they were paid and they disagreed with the whole notion of "free music." There are certainly valid arguments to be laid at U2's feet here, but I don't here them coming from Sharon.

 

Agreed, but I still find it hard to believe, this irrelevancy. This has always been the "one-size-fits-all" band...

 

Just out of curiosity, how do you define "one-size-fits-all" band? Not trying to stoke an argument, just curious.

[Kim Bodnia]

 

Just out of curiosity, how do you define "one-size-fits-all" band? Not trying to stoke an argument, just curious.

 

It's the one music band that everyone thinks everybody likes.

 

Think of pop soda? The first product that comes to mind is Coca-Cola. Think of jeans, pizza or shampoo? Levi's, Domino's and Head and Shoulders. Remember what they said of computer professionals, that nobody will ever be criticised for purchasing IBM computers or software? 

 

So, I think very much the general sentiment is that everyone likes U2 and is more or less the favourite band of almost every regular person out there. That's why Apple felt it correct to put the album in people's download libraries without asking.

[bleedorange]

It's the one music band that everyone thinks everybody likes.

 

Think of pop soda? The first product that comes to mind is Coca-Cola. Think of jeans, pizza or shampoo? Levi's, Domino's and Head and Shoulders. Remember what they said of computer professionals, that nobody will ever be criticised for purchasing IBM computers or software? 

 

So, I think very much the general sentiment is that everyone likes U2 and is more or less the favourite band of almost every regular person out there. That's why Apple felt it correct to put the album in people's download libraries without asking.

 

I welcome Apple to do this to my library a lot more often.

[calvino]

My wife and I just entered the Apple family 4 days ago with a purchase of a MacBook Pro - with all the talk, I was expecting the new U2 record to be playing when we turned it on - but nothing.

(I haven't gotten around to mess with the music side of things, yet)

 

It is a nice machine.

[Azzurri]

It's the one music band that everyone thinks everybody likes.

 

Think of pop soda? The first product that comes to mind is Coca-Cola. Think of jeans, pizza or shampoo? Levi's, Domino's and Head and Shoulders. Remember what they said of computer professionals, that nobody will ever be criticised for purchasing IBM computers or software? 

 

So, I think very much the general sentiment is that everyone likes U2 and is more or less the favourite band of almost every regular person out there. That's why Apple felt it correct to put the album in people's download libraries without asking.

while I agree with the mass appeal of U2, you can't really equate the actual music with generic or ubiquitous brands...it's far from the Top 40 pop music variety.  They are probably one of the few bands of real quality that have achieved widespread commercial success like the Stones or Beatles, for example.  While the albums of the 2000's are not at the level of the classics like Achtung Baby, the new one is very good and the method of distribution has taken over the narrative and prevented it from receiving a fair assessment.  And they are still taking risks artistically, with several songs on the new one unlike anything they've ever done.  Certainly more out there than the newer, mainstream indie artists like The Black Keys, The Killers, etc.

 

Anyway, as you can see, I am a fan of the band.  I know I shouldn't let the band-bashing get to me, but it just seems the attacks are so scripted and uninspired, with absolutely no attention given to the music anymore.  It's all about Bono being a dick, the tax dodging, the Africa charity thing.  I agree Bono can get extremely annoying but you won't see a frontman like him again in this modern era.

[bjorn_skurj]

Y'know, I *would* listen to this record and probably *should* listen to this record, but I feel so snookered by the last several U2 offerings that I'm in full "don't get fooled again" mode.

[Winston Legthigh]

Y'know, I *would* listen to this record and probably *should* listen to this record, but I feel so snookered by the last several U2 offerings that I'm in full "don't get fooled again" mode.

It's not bad. But, I wouldn't have purchased it.

[suites]

U2 on HBO. looks like a pretty cool show. Did not come to Florida yet. So this is the first I'm seeing it. A lot of backing tracks buts sounds good.