Column: off the record..., vol. 8-325 | U2 news article from @U2

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Column: off the record..., vol. 8-325

@U2, September 21, 2008

Well, like many others out there, I was hoping to be looking at an album title by now, maybe a tracklisting, or best of all, a new single. Of course, none of this is come to pass due to the band strip-mining songs and the Edge self-immolating or their not being happy with some of the tracks, whichever sounds more likely to you. It will be interesting to see what this does to the standard U2 schedule of fall single for Grammy consideration, followed by album release for holiday sales, followed by a Grammy win for the single, followed by a tour, followed by Grammys for the album itself, and then a tour wrap up.

They've been able to milk a few years of employment out of each album for about the past decade, and it's been because they stuck with the formula. I'm sure the next album will sell gang-busters and will receive all the critical acclaim that we've become used to, but I wonder if it will be viewed as quite the event it would be otherwise. I do love how so many voices, mine included, always ask U2 to shake up their normal plans on everything from setlists to music creation. Now they bump their album back three months, I technically get what I wanted, and I find myself thinking I should be more careful about what I wish for. Still, if it will help with the election, wait until 2009, heh.

On the bright side, this has been the year of the re-release and I've been enjoying them. The great-looking packaging, the nifty bonuses, and the superior audio quality and mixing have made me much more of a fan of them than I thought I'd be. I dig "Angels Too Tied to the Ground," "Saturday Night" (such a better song than "Fire"), the CDs with art on them, and I love that some of the gaps in my rarities collection have been filled in. Under a Blood Red Sky is coming up in a couple weeks with the nearly-full Red Rocks concert and it looks incredibly well-done too.

Seeing all the reworked art and packaging for the re-releases has been a really good reminder for just how stylistically impressive U2 has become as a band. I have a friend who has become a casual U2 fan thanks to my forcing them down her throat, and she has said that she thinks one of the biggest reasons U2 has been successful is that they're such a good-looking band. She didn't mean it in terms of their bodies but how they package themselves. I look at the booklets and designs for their CDs and DVDs, and although the basic details may be similar between their work and that of other artists, U2 always manages to make their releases shine in ways others don't. Of course, a big part of it is the sensibility of having associates like Four5One and Anton Corbjin, but as we've always been told, the band (and Larry in particular) always have to give the final thumbs up on ANYTHING released in their names.

Any band can use the same font on all the singles and releases related to an album, but when I look at all the CDs from the All That You Can't Leave Behind era, there is such a beautiful consistency in the simple designs, the understated font, the little icons for each song, and so on. Even when they branched out into more erratic visuals for releases such as the Elevation Live From Boston DVD or the "Beautiful Day"/"Elevation" vinyl single, they still brought back icons like the suitcase, the elevator, and the "Stuck in a Moment" arrows. I know there are much more important aspects to their appeal than just how good their album covers look, but they do release some truly beautiful work. I still get a kick out of reading the song titles yet to come in the purple static of the Zooropa cover.

I'm anticipating that The Unforgettable Fire will be re-released in 2009 and Rattle and Hum in 2010, leaving 2011 open for the 20th anniversary release of Achtung Baby. I am really pumped to see what they do for the upcoming remasters, Achtung Baby in particular.

I know the Kings of Leon were a bit of a polarizing tour opener for U2. Although I loathed them prior to the live shows, I found myself enjoying them more and more after the Vertigo shows I saw them at. My love of their music has continued to the point where I now consider them right behind U2 on my favorite bands list. Others hear Caleb Followill's voice and shudder, which tends to make them dismiss the rest of what the band is capable of. Their new album, Only By the Night, is coming out on Tuesday the 23rd here in the U.S. I believe it's already out elsewhere in the world. I would highly recommend giving them a chance. Their previous album, Because of the Times, was the best album of 2007 in my opinion, and it sounds like Only By the Night is going to be pretty incredible as well. The band consists of three brothers and their cousin, and they have the feeling of stability and long-term ambition that U2 has. They're not just people who make good music together, they have a genuine personal connection that reminds me a lot of the friendships of the members of U2. Give 'em a try. I think we'll be hearing from them for a long time to come. This is their song "Use Somebody" performed live for Jools Holland.

Lastly, I know I'm a bit late on discovering this one, but it's one of the most amazing/baffling/disturbing things I've come across on YouTube in ages. If you haven't heard it yet, please check out "Chocolate Rain."