We thought that we had the answers - it was the questions we had wrong

Continuing my trip forward in time through the album charts

24/03/23 : Songs Of Surrender - U2

I don't mind a bit of U2 - but their last album I enjoyed (at least in places) was All That You Can't Leave Behind.  Which was, obviously, all the way back in 2000 - which was a LONG time ago.  I know this is them re-recording some of their older songs - and, to be honest, I'm not expecting it to be great.

And, well, I can assure you this isn't great.  It's not terrible either, but it REALLY isn't great.  The songs are in two categories (those I knew and those I didn't) and we really have to consider them seperately - but before then we need to discuss how many tracks there are.  FORTY!  (10 points if you can guess what the last track on the album is).  Yes, there's over 2.5 hours of the thing - I have to admit to not listening to all of the tracks all the way through.

So, of the forty tracks, I previously knew 25 of them and, of those 25, I think I would only say "Red Hill Mining Town" could even be considered as a potential improvement on the original version - the brass instruments really add something new to it.  To be fair, I'd also listen to arguments for "Vertigo" and "The Fly" but I don't really like the originals so I don't feel I can be entirely objective about them.  The rest of the tracks are at best interesting (and at worst, not in the slightest bit interesting) reimaginings, but they're most definitely not improvements - think Radio 1 Live Lounge efforts, which you'd listen to once and be done with.

Of the other 15 tracks, I can't definitely state whether they're improvements or not, but I'd be surprised if any tracks other than "Ordinary Love" and "Electrical Storm" come even close - it really doesn't feel like a load of effort went into them.  The whole album just feels like something they should have released online for fans - attempting to charge money for it feels like a bit of a rip-off.

We're at #1 in the charts this week with a new entry - I'll be amazed if it's still in the top ten next week (let's see if I remember to check it out).  The rest of the top five are The Weekend (this hasn't been out of the top five for 12 weeks, but it's still not made #1), Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift and P!nk (that's hanging around well) - that's a pleasantly female heavy top 5 for a change.  We've got another new entry in the top ten with Black Honey at #6 and I'm also going to mention All Time Low (#12) because they were really good when I saw them at Reading last year (and Black Honey played on the same day as well).

Wikipedia has more than we usually get for a new album (218 milliPeppers) and most of it can be safely ignored, but this is an interesting quote - "drummer Larry Mullen Jr. contributed percussion on the album but according to the Edge, "didn't want to, or wasn't ready to" play a full drum kit at the time of the recording sessions".   The critics were way nicer about the album than I was expecting, but the woman from The Independent nails it for me - "an album of shadow versions that leave you yearning for originals" and "we need the wide-horizon howl and electric ambition of U2's classic sound, not this sleepy faux-hipster slog".  It's done pretty well commercially though (to no-one's surprise).

"Customers also listened to" The National. Bryan Adams, Peter Gabriel and The Smashing Pumpkins - that's a slightly odd mix, isn't it?  I can't say I was impressed by this album in the slightest - it felt like a very U2esque way of showing off by pointlessly doing very little, but at the same time doing far too much of it.  The only good thing that came out of it was that it made me listen to some of their classic originals, which I very much enjoyed as a palate cleanser.

17/03/23 - A game of two halves
31/03/23 - Probably not as great as it thinks it is