New U2 Album - given away free on iTunes. Discussion time!

[Blooby]

Ten things to do with an unwanted U2 album

Link: http://www.theguardian.com/music/shortcuts/2014/sep/10/ten-things-to-do-with-unwanted-u2-free-album-apple

1. Make it the basis of an ice bucket-style charity challenge, in which you film yourself having the songs unceremoniously dumped into your ears, to raise awareness of whatever Bono is bleating about at the moment.

2. Section off a room in your house and pipe the album into it, which you can probably do nowadays via Wi-Fi or something, on a continuous 24-hour-a-day loop. You can then use this as a sort of "sonic naughty step" for your children.

3. When you are feeling low or uninspired, simply take a moment to look at the Songs of Innocence icon and its play count of zero, and remind yourself that things could always be worse.

4. Use it as a legal justification to mercilessly troll Bono across all major social media platforms. He may not want to receive your annoying, offensive material, but, hey, he started it.

5. Use one of the standout songs, assuming there is one, as a custom ringtone for incoming calls from anyone you don't like.

6. Use it as a conversation starter with other iPhone 6 owners in social situations. If you have both heard it, you should be able to get a good half an hour to an hour about how ghastly it is and how it actually sounds nothing at all like Kraftwerk.

7. Suggest to Apple that if it can do this with a U2 album, then it should be able to provide exclusive access to things we actually need, such as Candy Crush Saga ripoffs and promotional codes for Millie's Cookies.

8. See if you can, via a Twitter campaign, persuade one of the other mobile phone giants to attempt a similar endeavour with someone actually half-decent.

9. Have the compositional notes to all the songs printed on rice paper, and then track down Apple CEO Tim Cook so you can literally forcefeed Songs of Innocence back to him.

10. Listen to it all the way through, several times, before forming a ... Ha ha ha! Only kidding!

[Greeny]

[peterp]

5 things apple won't tell you.

https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/video/playlist/technology-playlist---yahoo-finance-canada/five-things-apple-wont-tell-163303745.html

[Flash Harry]

Window shopping. I would have paid to see U2 back in the day, but not now. Having said that, if I was at glasto and they were playing I'd probably go see John, Paul, George and Ringo.

[Nelson]

Well Well... Not only are they giving the album away but I just saw a 30 second commercial spot while watching Thursday Night Football. It was a cheap fake performance spot, with lots of artistic edits and fades and filters and some older performances The Ramones fading in and out.
1.Intrusive? I don't know. I guess how we respond to this will determine, what they will arbitrarily add to our system the next go round.

2.I would imagine they get most of their money from touring and this way they can avoid some of the hassle of really promoting the album in TV and radio interviews, from country to country and city to city trying to boost CD sales. The deal may have covered projected CD sales, which may be a good business move. Corporate whores? maybe

3.Wouldn't put anything past... Jobs. I'm not quite sure what the whole story is here from apple's stand point but I'm sure they're not doing this out the kindness of their hearts. Something's coming down the pipeline. They have a new pay system in the works... could be part of it... don't know.

4.See no.2

5.They will always have relevancy. They are just one of those powerful bands, that when reeved up and pointed in the direction of a cause, they can suck you right in.

"stuck in a self-tribute act, recording-wise" well said.

I wonder if the deal was done before or after production of the album. If they knew they were guaranteed the money and didn't have to worry about record sales.  

Oh Yeah... Bono Passes on Twat Crown...   priceless

[FuzzFace]

1. Is it intrusive for Apple to add albums to your music library uninvited?
--- It's not like someone entered your house and slid a new CD into your shelf.  I guess the 20th century equivalent was when CD clubs like Columbia House would mail you something you didn't want... except if I didn't have to pay for it even that would not have bothered me...

2. Is this the ultimate sell-out? Are U2 just corporate whores now?
--- It's definitely 1 form of selling out.  Identifying the exact moment U2 became puppets is tricky... but for me it was post-Zooropa when they were paid in advance  for their next 6 albums.  They still made some good music, but then had to apologize for it.

3. Would Steve Jobs have resorted to a stunt like this? I doubt it somehow.
--- I can't say but didn't U2's "How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb" come pre-loaded on one of the versions of iPod?  This new stunt is not that much of a stretch.



4. Is this a good business model? i.e. get paid a lot of GUARANTEED money from Apple in exchange for losing album sales, and make even more money from touring. Is it just an advertising stunt?
--- It's a good business model if you are already a rich & famous artist.  Just like Radiohead's pay-what-you-feel online release of "In Rainbows"... people framed this as an experiment but IMO it's not a valid experiment given that it would not have worked the same for just any band.  I'm sure this deal worked out mutually... as far as Apple is concerned, I didn't have an Apple ID a week ago...

5. Are U2 even relevant anymore? Personally, they are still one of the best live bands I've ever seen. But they seem stuck in a self-tribute act, recording-wise.
--- Their music hasn't contained a shred of blues or punk or (ironically) any kind of Edge... since the 2000's... every one of their songs is either an anthem or a lullaby... "Beautiful Day" worked as a self-tribute as you put it... even the video had Edge using his old guitar from the eighties and Bono was dressing like his 90s persona... but 14 years later it feels like we have 4 albums of Beautiful Days.  That being said, if you took the most interesting couple of songs off each album for the last 14 years, you would have a pretty decent album:

Beautiful Day
Elevation
Walk On
In A Little While *
Vertigo
Love and Peace or Else *
All Because of You
No Line On The Horizon
Ordinary Love *
Sleep Like A Baby Tonight
The Troubles

*(my favourites)

I guess it's about time for a new greatest hits compilation...

[FuzzFace]

P.S. Regarding your poll/survey... My vote is ALL OF THE ABOVE!

[Tangled Wires]

14 years later it feels like we have 4 albums of Beautiful Days.  That being said, if you took the most interesting couple of songs off each album for the last 14 years, you would have a pretty decent album:

Beautiful Day
Elevation
Walk On
In A Little While *
Vertigo
Love and Peace or Else *
All Because of You
No Line On The Horizon
Ordinary Love *
Sleep Like A Baby Tonight
The Troubles

*(my favourites)

I guess it's about time for a new greatest hits compilation...

Very well said, although I think I would also put the following in there too...

Kite
Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own
Magnificent


All That You Can't Leave Behind is probably the most recent that ranks right up there as one of my favourite U2 albums, although it does tail off a bit after about the first half a dozen songs, which previous U2 albums didn't and even the "album tracks" on Zooropa, Achtung Baby, The Joshua Tree for example could have been singles in their own right.

Hope to have time over the weekend to given the new one a proper listen.

[FuzzFace]

I would also put the following in there too...

Kite
Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own
Magnificent

Agreed... esp "Magnificent"

Hope to have time over the weekend to given the new one a proper listen.

Likewise... I don't feel ready to form my opinion yet... but the 2 tracks I included in my list above stand out as being least like anything U2 has done before... and Bono manages to not break the mood in these songs.

Another thing on this album is there are a couple of songs with "sound effects" à la Pink Floyd (California, This Is Where You Can Reach Me Now)... which U2 has never done... doesn't mean much by itself except gives hope that U2 is ready to finally (stop apologizing for Pop and) break out of their tropes and explore new territory...

"Iris" features Bono singing low again... not done since Until The End Of The World... but he breaks the mood too soon with his trademark hammy vocals...

There are some good parts to every song, but the album is too glossy overall.

U2 is the Steven Spielberg of music... I just wish they would make a Schindler's List or Munich instead of another Jurassic Park or Indiana Jones...

[Nelson]

I really dig their sound. Small band - huge sound. Bono lays down awesome vocals.

I found this in Rolling Stone about the project and the release. http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/u2-surprise-album-songs-of-innocence-apple-itunes-free-20140909#ixzz3CqkQZySj