U2 – Songs of Innocence Record Label: Island Release Date: September 9 2014 For the longest time, the music industry was against piracy, and still is, to some degree. If someone uploads a leak of a record online, and it could even be that someone just got their pre-order early and put it online for other people to hear, but even so, thats still a no-no (for good reasons, might I add) to the music industry. I mean, if you were a band who was stoked about releasing a new record, wouldnt you want people not to leak it? Some bands do take the high road and try not to let it bug them, but others have gotten upset about it. Regardless, piracy is still certainly frowned upon in the music industry, but its fascinating that some bands and artists are releasing their albums for free. Websites like Noisetrade and Bandcamp are great for finding new bands and artists who do have their albums up for either a very low price or nothing at all, sometimes with the option to donate, but what happens when a very influential and important band releases an album for free? And to add icing on the cake, they release the album out of nowhere? Well, Irish rock/arena-rock band U2 released their thirteenth studio record, Songs of Innocence, on September 9th 2014, which was a standard album release date, anyway. The thing is, it came out of nowhere during Apples keynote event, in which they talk about their new devices and technology, and it was totally free. Anyone with an iTunes account already had the record in their library. Ive seen reactions from, Awesome, I cant wait to hear this to Get this off my f*cking iPod before I murder someone. Its quite clear to see that reactions are quite mixed on the way the band released this album, but was it a good idea on U2s part to release the album for completely nothing and already giving it to iTunes customers? It doesn’t quite matter if the album came out completely out of nowhere; in late 2013, Beyonce did the same thing with her self-titled LP, which this critic liked a nice amount, minus a few duds. And that was an also iTunes exclusive for a few days. Granted, Songs of Innocence is getting a physical release in October, but its worth talking about now. And honestly, its a great idea that they released it for free. I will say, however, maybe they should have just let people download it. Its not a difficult thing to delete it from your iTunes, but people who dont like U2 and/or that kind of music are getting pretty upset about it. Sure, its a stupid reason, because who wouldnt want free music, but I can see why people would be upset, nonetheless. I still believe that its a great idea they released it for free, especially digitally, so that way, anyone who wanted it could have it. And for a band like U2, they dont need to worry about losing fans and/or money because theyve been around for decades and already have the fans and money they need. So in a business sense, along with a musical sense, theres nothing wrong with this idea at all. If youre a huge enough band, releasing your album digitally wont cost you a thing, and since theyre going to release the album physically, they can easily make a profit off of it, anyway. I can spend a lot more time dissecting the bands business motives, but there is a record to talk about, isnt there? Well, my experiences with this band are slim. Earlier this year, I got a copy of the bands last album, 2009s No Line On the Horizon, and to be completely blunt, I didnt care for it much. Sorry, U2 fans, I just wasnt a huge fan of that album. I did like it, but it never kept my interest. The album was a bit too long, and meandering, minus a couple of songs. But those songs werent great enough to really keep me coming back to it. The thing is, I did like it enough to want to hear the bands other albums, so Songs of Innocence coming out is pretty surprising. I instantly listened to it when I saw that it was downloaded, so whatd I think? Well, honestly, Songs of Innocence is a bit more interesting than No Line On the Horizon, but unfortunately, its not by much. Ive given two albums by this band a try, and they just dont do a lot for me. Dont get me wrong, this album is certainly good, and if youre a fan of U2/arena rock, youll probably like this fine. But if youre not into that stuff, this might not be for you. You never know, however, so its worth a listen at least. Theres nothing bad on this album, but the biggest problem is, well, this album is just kind of boring. Its only 48 minutes, but when most of the tracks sound exactly the same, minus a few, it can get ridiculous. And most of the songs are just mid-tempo arena rock songs. Thats really it. Theres not much to this album, but a few songs do work very well, and my favorites of the album are Raised By Wolves, Volcano, and Iris (Hold Me Close). The first two songs are more upbeat, jaunty numbers, and thats when the band is a bit more memorable and interesting. These songs stick out a bit more, but the latter song is one of the slower songs, and its a very sentimental track about lead vocalist Bonos mother. And speaking of which, Bono is a pretty nice singer. I like his vocals a lot, and they are my favorite thing of the bands sound. They match the instrumentation perfectly – very epic sounding, and his vocals sour to new heights. Other than that, however, I dont find much to really love here. The album does get my attention, but after multiple listens, it doesnt quite keep it. Im glad that I listened to it, however, and it certainly kept me busy for a few days, but its not an album that Id say is great, or one that I love. Im glad it came out, and Im glad I listened to it, but its just a record that ultimately doesnt quite do a lot for me. Overall rating: 8.3/10 -Bradley
Posted on: Tue, 07 Oct 2014 02:30:00 +0000