Did Bono just pull a Beyoncé? Kinda. In an event held yesterday in Cupertino, California, Apple unveiled the latest iPhone models and the eagerly anticipated Apple Watch. Yet, the biggest surprise of the day came from U2, who not only announced its first new LP in five years, but that it was already available and waiting for us to download for free exclusively on iTunes. The album, Songs Of Innocence, was immediately offered via iTunes to over 500 million customers, across 119 countries worldwide.
The band also performed the first track, "The Miracle (of Joey Ramone)" for the live audience and viewers streaming the event.
While the record is free until its physical sales release on Oct. 13, Bono clarified that Apple paid U2 an undisclosed sum for the music.
"Because if no one's paying anything for it, we’re not sure 'free' music is really that free," Bono wrote on U2's website. "It usually comes at a cost to the art form and the artist… which has big implications, not for us in U2, but for future musicians and their music... all the songs that have yet to be written by the talents of the future… who need to make a living to write them."
While the album's unprecedented release came as something of a surprise for many (persistent rumors aside), the previously-assumed delayed record has been in the works for at least four years. It's not even the first time U2 has offered its music for free on iTunes: Earlier this year, the band debuted its single "Invisible" during the Super Bowl, and offered the song for 24 hours to help raise money for the (RED) organization. Recorded in Dublin, Los Angeles and New York, Songs Of Innocence's 11 tracks were produced by Danger Mouse, with contributions from Paul Epworth (Adele, Coldplay, FKA twigs), Ryan Tedder, Declan Gaffney and Flood. In addition, Lykke Li guests on the album's closing song "The Troubles."
But is the music itself actually any good? When confronted with the sudden arrival of new music from U2 appearing in our iTunes library, team Soundcheck took the record out for a first spin and have these knee-jerk reactions.
For a record that literally just appeared in my iTunes library out of the blue, Songs Of Innocence feels anything but immediate. First, look at that "minimalist," "hand-stamped" album cover, with its chicken-scratch scrawl on a plain white LP sleeve, which mimics a bootleg album. It's not lost on me that that retro aesthetic is tied to a release that was ported out digitally to half a billion people's earbuds. So as much as U2 and Bono and Apple try to make it seem carelessly tossed-off two minutes before it went live (not unlike Kanye's Yeezus CD-R cover art), it was likely a meticulously plotted, intentional decision made in a boardroom. But beyond the visual design, Songs Of Innocence has the sound of songwriting by committee, a long-delayed collection chasing the raw and fresh a few years too late.
There's nothing inherently bad about any of these songs, or the glossy, sometimes excellent production from Danger Mouse and hit-maker Paul Epworth. But you cannot help but hear the influences from U2's arena-sized disciples seeping in: Some Coldplay grandiosity in "Every Breaking Wave"; maybe a touch of Bon Iver's falsetto in "Iris (Hold Me Close)"; a little One Republic dance pop in "This Is Where You Can Reach Me Now." None of that is necessarily U2's fault, but any record assembled and fussed-over for this long as this can fall short of intended epic-ness from a band known for transcendent moments. All that said, there are moments that 100% work for me, like the celebratory "California (There Is No End To Love)," a film montage-ready song with a chorus I'd love to hear fans sing along with in a giant football stadium someday.
Standout Track: "The Troubles." Sure, there's a little Edge guitar soloing that the end that recalls a hazy sex scene in an '80s action movie. But this mellow album closer features an exquisite, memorable hook from Lykke Li that gracefully intertwines with Bono's voice and some swooning strings that feels the most like Danger Mouse's trademark thumbprint shining through. (Michael Katzif)
The opening tracks of this album didn’t do much for me, they seemed on the verge of that over-processed, soldout Coldplay sound. But almost every song after “Volcano” has a satisfying simplicity. Perhaps that’s what U2 was going for with the Songs of Innocence album title. They mix lullaby-like melodies with a bare, strong guitar presence. I really love the simplicity and build up of “Raised By Wolves.” The distant piano halfway through the song allows for the other instruments to really shine through. The range Bono sings in this song also works for me, sometimes when he gets into the higher notes my ears don’t take to them kindly. This album is filled with subtle, delicate melodies that stick around. Sort of like a food you don’t think you’ll like but then appreciate the after-taste so much you want more.
Standout Track: ”Cedarwood Road”. The way that Bono sings, “still standing on the street” lingers throughout the rest of the song. It’s haunting and powerful and uncluttered. (Bailey Constas)
The first U2 record I owned was the much-reviled Pop. At the time (and still today), the criticism of that album was that it was bloated and derivative of the mid-'90s electronic music apotheosis, showing a middle-aged band’s unseemly grasping at a relevance it had appeared to molt some time after Zooropa. Songs Of Innocence makes Pop sound like a mid-career masterpiece. There’s nothing innocent or immediate about the layers on layers of slick production butter that grease the tracks. Pop was released with a self-deprecating promotional concert at the Astor Place K-mart. Songs Of Innocence was released via the world’s biggest hype machine. It’s always seemed to me that U2 is, contra-Bono, at its very best when at its quietest. Witness the creeping moonlit beauty of Pop’s “If You Wear That Velvet Dress” or the demolishing sadness of “Running To Stand Still” from The Joshua Tree. That’s why the end of this record contains glimpses of a U2 that still has more to offer than stadium-filling, sunglass-wearing pop bromides about chasing waves and falling stars.
Standout Track (s): “Sleep Like A Baby Tonight”, “The Troubles” (Dan O'Donnell)
U2 of the modern era makes the kind of anthemic and earnest pop that would perfectly accompany a momentous reunion scene in a major motion picture, or a shot-from-above car whizzing down a scenic highway in a commercial for a well-known automobile brand. (Or perhaps even the release of an exciting and much-anticipated new tech product!) It's safe. But it still has the power to elicit an emotional response -- and if you listen past the pounding drums and polished production on Songs Of Innocence, there's a lot of heart on this new album. "Iris playing on the strand / She buries the boy beneath the sand," Bono sings in the song "Iris (Hold Me Close)" -- a song about his mother Iris, who died when he was 14. And in the opening track, "The Miracle (Of Joey Ramone)," Bono pens a lyrical thank you note to one of his musical heroes: "I woke up at the moment when the miracle occurred / Heard a song that made some sense out of the world." I wouldn't purchase this album, but if it pops up on shuffle in my iTunes library from time to time, I'll won't mind.
Standout Track: "Iris (Hold Me Close)", "The Miracle (Of Joey Ramone)" (Katie Bishop)
Songs Of Innocence is a good album. Not a great one, though -- I get a sense of a band trying to do something different and only partially succeeding. Big points for the attempt and not so many for the execution. “The Miracle (of Joey Ramone)” is the opener and a good example: This tribute to The Ramones and how that sound spoke to a confused teenager not yet named Bono rings true. Lots of us had that experience with The Ramones. And The Edge lays off the layered jangly guitars that made him so distinctive a player in the great U2 songs of the '80s. Instead, he offers a punk, scuzzy series of chords. But this is a Ramones tribute, right? So shouldn’t those chords be played in a frenetic series of downstrokes? Maybe they didn’t want to literally ape the sound of the earlier band but the direction they chose seems a slightly uncomfortable fit with the story.
Standout Track: "The Troubles". The deep cut, with its atmospheric string background and small female chorus, is a different sound for sure. It's soulful in a kind of Al Green way (big compliment intended there) even though Bono’s vocals ground it firmly in U2-Land. (John Schaefer)