U2 – Songs of Innocence and pseudo shock
It is 5 or 6 weeks no since the new U2 album appeared magically in my iTunes account. I have never actually bought music from iTunes (who wants to pay the same amount for shitty lossy music files as you would for the CD), so it was a bit of a new experience for me. I was and am delighted. It was fascinating to read and listen to all of the contrived pseudo shock from various commentators about the “publicity stunt” or Apple gift or whatever you want to call it. There were two distinct groups: 1. artists who complained that, by giving their music away on iTunes (Apple technically paid for it), U2 were devaluing music; 2. The non fans who complained that U2 were spamming their iTunes account. Both are nonsense arguements.
Regarding the first point – virtually every band actually gives music away free – by streaming their album on their website, by allowing free mp3 downloads, by allowing Uncut or Mojo magazine to license tracks to be given away in sampler CDs each month. Moreover, virtually ANY album can be listened to/streamed for free* on Spotify or Deezer or You-Tube. Artists make virtually no money from recorded music anymore. U2 – irrespective of what Apple paid for the album – almost certainly did make money. More importantly, they have made their new album widely available to fans who may wish to pay exorbitant amounts of money to go to their concerts.
On point 2 – welcome to the modern world folks – the same people who post all kinds of private personal stuff on facebook and twitter, have GPS tracking on their cellphones, delete masses of spam from their email (on a daily basis), are exposed to masses of advertisements on every conceivable medium constantly, likely download movies and music illegally etc. etc. complain that they were given a new album, for free, no strings attached. This contrived pseudo shock is pure bullshit and the media, who are in the business of inventing news, need to give the story a rest – and Bono needs to stop apologising.
So what about the album. 1. Virtually every U2 album has had a lousy cover (“No Line” being an exception, probably also “The Unforgettable Fire”) – this one is no better. In fact it is beyond crap: Larry Mullen cuddling his boxer shorted teenage son (I much preferred Adam Clayton’s shlong on Achtung Baby). 2. Virtually every U2 album has had a lousy title – this one is actually quite good (in other words – not awful – like How to Dismantle…(pure shite). The music…..I streamed the album from my iPhone to the bluetooth in my car for about a week, and listened to it at home as background music intermittently. I must say – I found it pretty inoffensive – the production was bright, not loud (maybe a little glossy – compared with the Steve Lillywhite productions), I sounds like the missing album betwen “War” and “The Unforgettable Fire”. The music any lyrics are significantly less sophisticated than the peak period (Joshua-Achtung), and despite the band taking 6 years over the album – a little bit of extra finessing would have helped (“we were young not dumb” – sounds like something my toddler could come up with). In fact – the lead off single “..Joey Ramone” is remarkably similar to their previous one “Get off your boots” in that it is one of the weaker songs on the album, sounds a little derivative (of themselves?) and the production is a little shiny. I could go on and criticize every song on the album. After a week or two of listening to U2 (some commentators suggested that the album sounded too much like U2 – Miles Davis sounds a lot like Miles Davis – utter horseshit) – I got bored. Then, of course, the album came out, and, of course, I bought it on vinyl and CD (deluxe edition – of course). Strangely, I put on CD2 (the bonus disc), and have not listened to the original album since. Why? Aside from containg a few extra, pretty good songs, CD2 features most of the songs from the album in a single 28 minute track – performed acoustically. And frankly, to me – at least, it is far superior. Taking away the studio and Pro Tools gloss – the songs now jump out as if they were being busked by the band on Grafton street. Suddenly, the songs become songs not tracks. I even enjoy the acoustic Joey Ramone (buried where it belongs towards the end). I would urge anyone who likes U2 to listen to the acoustic versions of the songs before they cast judgement on the album (Cederwood Avenue, Iris and all).
I have bought a lot of records this year – and listened to a whole lot more. Most of these will be consigned to my listening history and forgotten. Somehow, in the acoustic form at least, Songs of Innocence will linger longer (it would be nice if the band would release the acoustic versions on vinyl – perhaps at bargain price for Record Store Day). How many artists that have been around for 35 years have released anything as good as Songs of Innocence (Springsteen, Dylan – no bands)? The Stones last album was ok – but really nothing decent since Tattoo You (1981 – their 20 year anniversary). The latest Neil Young earth loving orchestral work is absolutely brutal – my son thought “Driving in My Car” was a Monty Python joke track. “No son – he really loves cars, his toy trains and his pono.” And he dumped his wife of 36 years for Daryl Hannah (let’s hope that she wasn’t the muse for this stinky piece of crap). Actually it kind of annoys me that this god-awful Neil Young album is getting better reviews than U2. I am a huge Neil fan – but I have yet to manage 1 complete play of the album without switching it off to listen to news about the recession…….At any second I can imaging Neil segueing over to “Somewhere over the rainbow, I skype Darryl.” Maybe the acoustic version on CD2 is better also.
For those who hate U2 and their music and all that goes with it – be aware – the era of monster bands is effectively over – and that includes U2. I was in Walmart, Target & Best Buy last week – and there was not a single copy of Songs of Innocence (or any other U2 album) in sight. Tayor Swift was everywhere – even peeking out at me in Starbucks. Now that the only place that you can buy records in New York is in Urban Outfitters – the future is not great for hard copy rock ‘n’ roll. U2’s use of Apple to release their last hurrah (surely not their last album) appears inspired in that setting.
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