U2 Announce Songs Of Ascent LP

March 4, 2009

U2 Announce Songs Of Ascent LP • Bono & the boys have announced that their next studio album Songs Of Ascent, a "sister release" to No Line, will indeed be out before the end of '09 with a lead single called "Every Breaking Wave." Bono called the collection "Zooropa to its Achtung Baby" among other things you can read at Rolling Stone while you take in their performance of "Magnificent" on day two of their Late Night stand.

Posted at 1:07 PM
Tags: David Letterman | U2

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13 Comments

It's not obvious that you are being paid to cover the Irish lads, not obvious at all.
I love how this site is full of wankers that cry "Sell out" any time an artist gets popular but they forget their so called indie morals when cash is waved in front of them.
Is the economy that bad Stereogum?
Maybe you guys are growing up and realizing that you can be a big successful artist and make a lot of money and it's ok.

Posted by: Iskra at 03/04/09 1:44 PM | Reply
Score = -10

Have you read the other posts and comments? Stereogum are assholes to U2, the comments are mostly by rage-loving zombies out to destroy anything that isn't five minutes from now.

Posted by: Dan in reply to Iskra's comment at 03/04/09 3:44 PM | Reply
Score = 2

You obviously didn't read their premature evaluation. But good job on diagnosing the problem of hypocritical "indie" world.

Posted by: biasedbulldog

in reply to Iskra's comment at 03/04/09 5:36 PM | Reply
Score = 1

Bono sounds like POOMP in this clip, gang. Do never listen.

Hopefully they give up and do classics for rest of week.

thanks for the time gang

-PUP

Posted by: Pup Caplan at 03/04/09 2:07 PM | Reply
Score = -3

I think you're seeing conspiracies where there aren't any. And when's the last time you actually heard anyone complain about a band selling out? I think that concept's been dead for a few years now.

Posted by: Zipzapzopzoup at 03/04/09 2:59 PM | Reply
Score = 2

Love makes you feel 10 ft tall!...

Posted by: Max's Kansas City at 03/04/09 3:57 PM | Reply
Score = 1

did they compare "no line..." to "achtung baby"?
hardly. "achtung" was their only good album. in fact, it was great! this new one just sounds like the rest of the mediocre tripe they've been putting out since.

fail.

Posted by: massromantic at 03/04/09 7:53 PM | Reply
Score = -2

Who gives a shit?

Posted by: Lou Reed

at 03/04/09 9:59 PM | Reply
Score = -1

Well, No Line On The Horizon has gotten pretty old pretty quickly for me so I'm hoping this is the real 'departure' no line was suppsed to be. There reall yis nothing innovative or particualry new for the band on the new album - the pre-release hype has worked on some publications though, namely Rolling Stone, Q & Mojo all giving the album 5 stars, what a lark!

My only hope is that they decided to play it safer on No Line and leave the innovation for 'songs of ascent'. This will inevitably not be the case however - these guys just wnt to be so HUGE all the time that it gets in the way of the songs. Stop being so grand and poptastic guys and go back to your Village People meets the devil in a blue dress hey days please.

K bye!

Posted by: WaltDisney at 03/04/09 10:10 PM | Reply
Score = -2

To me, the best indicator of what this next LP will sound like is probably FEZ (shudder).

On an old topic (because I've just heard the album), I think "Get On Your Boots" sounds more like "Pump it Up" than "Wild Wild West". Which also means I don't think it's as terrible as most people on this site.

My biggest complaint about the new record is the drum sounds. They are almost always too far in back in the mix and frequently the high hat and snare are unnaturally out of balance (e.g. the snare is really quiet for most of Get On Your Boots, but occasionally there is a loud snare fill that sounds great. Wish they used that drum sound the whole song). This was also done a fair bit on Achtung and Zooropa, but to better effect than on this new one.

Posted by: Peter at 03/05/09 6:01 AM | Reply
Score = -1

Whatever . . . I like the new album. Why do people who obviously don't like U2 read things that are clearly about U2. Go listen to Dan Deacon or something.

Posted by: E at 03/05/09 1:14 PM | Reply
Score = 1

This doesn't surprise me at all. They're gonna need a third album to pad out their 2000-2010 album. I imagine they'll have some crap soundtrack single to throw in as well.

Posted by: Shea at 03/05/09 3:49 PM | Reply
Score = -2

I think NLOTH is a great album, alot better than the previous two (especially the whiny churchy boring ATYCLB) and a real return to the sound that made them famous in the 80s. It's not a "5 star album" as Rolling Stone would have it (I think the reviewer was wanting it to be one so badly that he overrated it), but its definitely a solid 4 star one -- no album containing the insipid "Get On Your Boots" could be 5 stars.

As for the comments by "Peter" that "Songs of Ascent" will sound like "Fez Being Born" (sarcastically as if that's a bad thing), I sure hope it does sound like it, as I love that beautifully eerie song. It was originally supposed to be the album's opening track, and I wish they had left it that way. If you hated "Fez" but liked "Boots" ... well, let's just say politely that we have very profound differences in our musical tastes (or lack thereof). And to anyone who hates NLOTH but loves ATYCLB, might I suggest you stick with Coldplay and the Killers, theyll have plenty of whine to go with your cheese. ;)

Posted by: Saint Subversive at 06/17/09 1:50 PM | Reply
Score = 1