U2:
Songs Of Innocence:
Universal/iTunes:
Free Download (ltd period):
Out Now:
★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆
No, it's not on vinyl so stop asking your local record-store 'when is it out?'. Such is the effect of iTunes inserting an avatar of a mocked-up white-label for this, U2's first freebie giveaway album - there are people expecting to find it on 'promo' wax. Well, it may well happen at some point but until then it's freebie time, not £50 on eBay. Frankly, on occasion while listening to Songs Of Innocence, you'd quibble about paying 50 pence let along 50 quid.
Songs Of Innocence is to All That You Can't Leave Behind and Pop what Zooropa was to Achtung Baby - a sort of companion collection of, what sounds like, out-takes and afterthoughts from sessions that may not have gone as well as first planned. For a start, lead-off track and single The Miracle (Of Joey Ramone) is a horrid muddle of clumsy riffs and dreadful lyrics. "I was chasing down the days of fear/chasing down a dream before it disappeared" is by no means the worst couplet in rock 'n' roll but it certainly sucks. "We were pilgrims on our way...". What, to Primark to buy a Ramones shirt? Pfft.
To be fair to U2, a band from the midst of times when singles ruled, there's nowhere to place those potential b-sides anymore so why not glue them together and offer them gratis? Perhaps its the forcing it down people's playlists that's causing hackles to rise and knives to be sharpened. There is such a thing as 'delete', you know.
Not all of SOI stinks, just most of it, with the exceptions of the slightly mawkish, but pleasant enough, Every Breaking Wave which manages to resemble The Script or The Wanted with its epic chorus and big-hearted cheery vocals (something you wouldn't want too much of, to be honest) and stadium-filler Song For Someone which goes all Florence or Jessie J in places, shouting for attention when it doesn't need it. There's a potential hit with that last track but it needs cleaning up considerably.
So with a head-scratching start, let's vault over the fence to the field marked 'decent U2 songs' and discover the genuinely strident but still over-bearing Iris (nice grumbling bassline), Raised By Wolves (more grim lyrics, it has to be said), the slightly sad-face Sleep Like A Baby Tonight (a genuinely contender for inclusion on Achtung Baby) and the closing Lykke Li-aided The Troubles which sports a decent hook with Bono thankfully in restrained mode - he should do this more often. Bono's strength is also his weakness - fire him up and histrionics take over, calm him down, beauty prevails. Ah well.
In what many will view as a cynical and desperate move to garner attention and reaction to what is clearly a sub-standard batch of U2 songs (much like those Prince giveaways), Songs Of Innocence is by turns a troubled, turbulent and rarely triumphant experiment that will either backfire or back fill the fortunes of a band so previously brilliant (Unforgettable Fire, October, Achtung Baby), they've now forgotten how to be that brilliant again. Reeling in guest producers such as Dangermouse, Epworth et al hasn't completely aided their cause either - much of SOI sounds lacklustre.
But, it's free.
Once you've figured out the silly misinforming instructions on how to get the darned thing, you'll cherry-pick the best, ditch the worst and end up with a half-decent EP of new U2 music. For nowt.
Maybe that's the exercise, the point, the goal, before the next album proper arrives in 2015? For now, Songs Of Innocence has persuaded many to convert to iTunes and revisit U2's catalogue. Job Done.
Songs Of Innocence:
Universal/iTunes:
Free Download (ltd period):
Out Now:
★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆
No, it's not on vinyl so stop asking your local record-store 'when is it out?'. Such is the effect of iTunes inserting an avatar of a mocked-up white-label for this, U2's first freebie giveaway album - there are people expecting to find it on 'promo' wax. Well, it may well happen at some point but until then it's freebie time, not £50 on eBay. Frankly, on occasion while listening to Songs Of Innocence, you'd quibble about paying 50 pence let along 50 quid.
Songs Of Innocence is to All That You Can't Leave Behind and Pop what Zooropa was to Achtung Baby - a sort of companion collection of, what sounds like, out-takes and afterthoughts from sessions that may not have gone as well as first planned. For a start, lead-off track and single The Miracle (Of Joey Ramone) is a horrid muddle of clumsy riffs and dreadful lyrics. "I was chasing down the days of fear/chasing down a dream before it disappeared" is by no means the worst couplet in rock 'n' roll but it certainly sucks. "We were pilgrims on our way...". What, to Primark to buy a Ramones shirt? Pfft.
To be fair to U2, a band from the midst of times when singles ruled, there's nowhere to place those potential b-sides anymore so why not glue them together and offer them gratis? Perhaps its the forcing it down people's playlists that's causing hackles to rise and knives to be sharpened. There is such a thing as 'delete', you know.
Not all of SOI stinks, just most of it, with the exceptions of the slightly mawkish, but pleasant enough, Every Breaking Wave which manages to resemble The Script or The Wanted with its epic chorus and big-hearted cheery vocals (something you wouldn't want too much of, to be honest) and stadium-filler Song For Someone which goes all Florence or Jessie J in places, shouting for attention when it doesn't need it. There's a potential hit with that last track but it needs cleaning up considerably.
So with a head-scratching start, let's vault over the fence to the field marked 'decent U2 songs' and discover the genuinely strident but still over-bearing Iris (nice grumbling bassline), Raised By Wolves (more grim lyrics, it has to be said), the slightly sad-face Sleep Like A Baby Tonight (a genuinely contender for inclusion on Achtung Baby) and the closing Lykke Li-aided The Troubles which sports a decent hook with Bono thankfully in restrained mode - he should do this more often. Bono's strength is also his weakness - fire him up and histrionics take over, calm him down, beauty prevails. Ah well.
In what many will view as a cynical and desperate move to garner attention and reaction to what is clearly a sub-standard batch of U2 songs (much like those Prince giveaways), Songs Of Innocence is by turns a troubled, turbulent and rarely triumphant experiment that will either backfire or back fill the fortunes of a band so previously brilliant (Unforgettable Fire, October, Achtung Baby), they've now forgotten how to be that brilliant again. Reeling in guest producers such as Dangermouse, Epworth et al hasn't completely aided their cause either - much of SOI sounds lacklustre.
But, it's free.
Once you've figured out the silly misinforming instructions on how to get the darned thing, you'll cherry-pick the best, ditch the worst and end up with a half-decent EP of new U2 music. For nowt.
Maybe that's the exercise, the point, the goal, before the next album proper arrives in 2015? For now, Songs Of Innocence has persuaded many to convert to iTunes and revisit U2's catalogue. Job Done.