U2: Songs of Surrender - A cynical cash grab? Put your preconceptions aside

[demmiblue]

U2: Songs of Surrender – A cynical cash grab? Put your preconceptions aside

On paper this album of rerecordings seems like nothing but a cynical cash grab – something to release to fill a gap, bolster sales of Bono’s memoir and act as a nice lead-in for U2?s big-bucks Las Vegas residency this autumn. If the unasked-for arrival of Songs of Innocence on your iPhone made you blaze with the fury of a thousand suns, Songs of Surrender may not be for you. This album is best enjoyed when you put your preconceptions aside and simply enjoy its 40 songs, recorded between lockdowns, for what they are.

The new approach doesn’t work on every track. Some of these songs lack the vision and firepower of the originals. Pride (In the Name of Love) sounds exactly as you might expect an acoustic version to sound; the softened edges of Beautiful Day make it a pleasant if forgettable number; the spacey, slo-mo tilt of The Fly lacks oomph.

More often than not, however, these tracks will surprise you. Bono’s haggard rumble on the twangy strum of I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For suggests that Johnny Cash might have made a fair fist of the song; the magnificent new version of Stuck in a Moment You Can’t Get Out Of is unquestionably better than the original, stripping the bells and whistles away to expose an aching vulnerability.

Stay is superb too, its piano and murmured vocals staying true to the spirit of the song without being precious about it.

https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/music/review/2023/03/10/u2-songs-of-surrender-a-cynical-cash-grab-put-your-preconceptions-aside/

* I'll add a few videos below...

[demmiblue]

1. ...

[highplainsdem]

2. Thanks, demmiblue, for the OP and the videos in reply 1.

I need to listen more, and to check out more from the album later. I want to be very clear that this is just an immediate reaction, and in part a reaction to the review you posted, which brings up the question of whether the new versions work.

I love U2, as is pretty obvious from my other posts here. Love their rock anthems.

But I love their sound in its entirety, so these stripped-down versions just don't sound right to me. Too much Bono, too little band. They make me think more of demos that need a lot of work, rather than anything finished or reimagined.

Anyway, the reviews seem to be mixed:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/music/2023/03/07/u-2-rerecord-songs-surrender-album-review/11393501002/

This review seems most favorable:

https://atthebarrier.com/2023/03/07/u2-songs-of-surrender-album-review/

Based on those reviews, there are three songs I'm especially curious to hear the new versions of (Bad, Where The Streets Have No Name, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For), but they haven't been released yet.

The second and third of those are two of the three opening tracks of The Joshua Tree, which I posted in another thread tonight, since it's the anniversary of the album's release. Those three tracks from that brilliant album are probably my favorite U2 songs.

The videos you posted included one of the opening tracks - With Or Without You - and I don't care for the new version. I suppose I'd think it was OK if Bono was singing drunk at a party. Or if someone imitating him was covering the song for a competition.

After watching the Kennedy Center Honors in late December, hearing all those attempts to cover U2 classics, I just wanted to hear the originals instead, as I posted in the Lounge:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10181754744

That's the way I feel after hearing these reimagined songs.

As for whether it's a cynical cash grab - I don't think so, but some people might. Just as some are very unhappy about U2 doing a Vegas residency without Larry. Like Rick Beato:

I'll be curious to hear other opinions of this new album.

And again, I might feel differently later. Though I wouldn't bet on it...

Btw, the two reviews I linked to both mention Stories For Boys, but disagree on whether Bono or the Edge does the lead vocal.


EDITING to add - lest anyone think Rick Beato isn't really a U2 fan - that he is:

[highplainsdem]

3. Btw, the second Rick Beato video in my reply above, the

one in which he spends 25 minutes analyzing what makes "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" so great, helps explain why stripped-down versions really can't compete with the original hits.

Just realized I didn't explain why I don't think the album is a cynical cash grab. The songs are U2's, and they're free to do whatever they want with them. And Bono has every right to change some lyrics and how he interprets them vocally. He might even have felt that his vocals deserved more prominence than they had on the original recording.

And fans have every right to disagree with his choices.

I did try to find a Rick Beato video on "With Or Without You" but unfortunately couldn't. I did stumble across an instrumental cover I'm going to post, though. YouTube can be a very rewarding rabbit hole, even if you don't find the rabbit you'd been looking for.