U2 - Songs Of Experience (December 1, 2017) Album • Page 6

They're flirting with my top 10 right now.

 

U2 Scores Eighth No. 1 Album on Billboard 200 Chart With 'Songs of Experience'

#1 albums in 4 different decades. No matter how you slice it, that's pretty damn impressive.

(also wow nobody buys albums anymore)

 

It's number 5 in the UK charts in case any one from here is interested. Glad it got number 1 in the US.

 

Live studio version of Little Things and an amazing cover of What’s Going On... super cool to see them doing a Spotify Singles release.

 

U2 on 2017's 'Swing to Extremism' and Why Unity Is As Important As Resistance

And a great Billboard article as well.

 

We don't give Bono enough credit for his vocal performances because he's a rock star legend, but holy cow is his performance on this album incredible. The way he sings "the hunter now be-COMES the pray-ee" on "Little Things" is fucking unreal. Might be my favorite vocal moment of the year.

And also forget everyone who dismissed this album because it's one of my favorites of the year. Slotting it at #10 and it would be way higher if I wasn't afraid of recency bias.

 

I didn't realize Haim was officially credited with backing vocals on "Lights of Home". Wild.

 

There are a lot of vocal moments on this record that really stick out to me. He always sounds great, but he’s definitely very engaged on these songs.

 

I had another proper listen yesterday and I enjoy the album.

I love the opening track and the vibe it creates but it seems to just stop. Wish it transitioned a bit more into the next one to continue the atmosphere. I feel that would have created a greater impact. Still a fantastic opener and I’m a big fan of the autotune - I think it’s used effectively.

 

man, this album is super underrated. very enjoyable listen. come back to it a lot.

 

Yeah, I still play this all the time.

 

I also really enjoy this one. But especially that acoustic version of You’re the Best Thing About Me. Between that and the acoustic bonus tracks from Innocence I really wish the band would mix it up and make an intentionally smaller album instead of constantly going for the big one.

 

Bump because it’s cold out and this album sounds great in the cold.

 

I wish this album got bigger cause it’s so good

 

"The Little Things That Give You Away" is such a great song, even if the production kneecaps it a little (whole album has that problem). that buildup in the second half is still unreal

 

the way people breathlessly defend The 1975 online but attack this band is .... interesting, to say the least

 

Big fan of both but I gotta say Matty is probably just as annoying as Bono ever was, if not more at times haha

 

Bono's a far better lyricist though

 

I'm a fan of The 1975 (though, this new album is really testing me), but yeah, it's definitely bizarre. The 1975 do everything that people have claimed to hate about U2 for years.

 

the insane amount of vitriol Bono gets has always been bizarre to me. dude is self-righteous, sure. he also does a lot of net good, and he gets more hate than musicians on his level of fame who are actual, genuine pieces of shit. I have never really understood why

 

Ever since South Park did that episode mocking Bono it became almost like a meme, you couldn't even discuss U2 without someone bringing that up.

It's interesting to compare them though. In a lot of ways I feel like Matty has the opposite persona of Bono, in that Matty would never deliver any message in a sincere way, it's always half ironic or with a wink, like he's too self-aware of how someone like Bono is mocked for that. "Sincerity is Scary."

 

not to mention the actual music sounding very similar. like, they’re working with the achtung playbook

 

it genuinely seems like a lot of people hate them/him bc ... they put an album on your phone for free lol

 

it's been going on for so long though. like, go back to Rattle & Hum's release and there's a whole lot of the same complaints, obviously without the specific thing of putting the album on people's phones for free (which was an accidental side effect that was down to Apple and not U2, but I digress)

I realise any band 30 years deep with this any stylistic changes is gonna alienate people. but the level of flak they take for it in comparison to, say, Radiohead or R.E.M. is just insane. it's like "how the fuck dare they make an Americana-style album, do they think they're better than us" compared to "oh well freeform jazz is a bit outside of Radiohead's wheelhouse but I'm sure I'll be calling this groundbreaking in 5 years"