U2 new release(s) and Letterman

I saw U2 for the first time at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago, Illinois in 1984. It was the 2nd time they had played there and was after MTV had the videos from Red Rocks playing in heavy rotation. Looking back, I feel blessed to have seen them in such an intimate setting at that time in their career.

Over the years I saw them again as their venues needed to be bigger and bigger and I do remain a fan although not as crazed as I had been in the past.

With their last couple albums I didn't even download them on the release day, but I did for their latest effort "No Line On the Horizon". Had a full listen the other day and although it's solid, I couldn't help but sit there and think with each song that I could see it on a soundtrack of a Hollywood flick. Several of the songs have over 60 second intros which had me scratching my head. Talk about any of the remaining deejays in the world having to "hit the post", well, you better have a lot to say to hit it.

Then I saw this article and it sort of confirmed my thoughts about what's going on with the group and their efforts. They are at that point of their life where they're getting almost orchestral or operatic. The albums are about painting a much broader picture and feeling which at the core of creativity makes perfect sense but as a consumer, starts losing it's appeal for me. So an almost ready 2nd album is going to be released AND it basically follows on from the themes of the newest one.

And the music industry gets angry at iTunes because they feel it has turned the industry back into a world of "singles only".... So hit me up for TWICE the cost in a month or so.....

I'm not going to sit here and say that they need to be hammering out full albums of anthems like they used to, that's just foolish. Artists must create and change and evolve, but since they detoured a bit in the 90's and didn't really hit it out of the park, I just hope that after the successes of the last two albums, they aren't reverting back.

Still a fan, still supporting the boys. Edge's slam at Sting at last night was fun as that's following up from Bono's slam at Chris Martin recently.