Surrender to the past

Irish band U2 have announced that they will release a new album, “Songs Of Surrender”, in March. Fans of the quartet, who have been waiting for new material for their favorites for almost six years, have no particular illusions about this album. It will be a collection of 40 already familiar songs of the group, created over more than 40 years of its existence. The album will become a weapon in the fight for the return of U2 to the status of the main stadium group of the planet. Igor Gavrilov talks about the prospects of this venture.

In the history of U2 there were both best of compilations and brilliant live albums, but the musicians present “Songs Of Surrender” as part of the group’s studio discography. What the album will be like can be judged by the song “Beautiful Day”. With it, U2 began introducing new versions of songs to the public, as stated in the album announcements, re-imagined and re-recorded, “rethought and re-recorded.”

The collection of re-recorded songs was produced by U2 guitarist The Edge. In a letter to fans announcing the album’s release, he writes: “The thing is, most of our work was written and recorded when we were a bunch of very young people. These songs now mean something completely different to us. Some have grown up with us. Some of us have outgrown. But we haven’t lost sight of what inspired us to write these songs in the first place. The essence of these songs is still with us, but how to reconnect with this essence when we have moved forward and grown so much?” According to the guitarist, intimacy has replaced post-punk edginess in the new versions. There are new chords, a new tempo and even new lyrics.

Loyal fans of the new version of “Beautiful Day” alerted rather than intrigued. How much is this insinuating chorus and soft opening chords needed for a song that, in the original version, put stadiums on the ears, backhanded and remained in memory as one of the climaxes of any U2 ​​concert?

The same goes for “Pride (In The Name Of Love)”. It was released as the second single from “Songs Of Surrender”. The song with which, thanks to the collection “Greenpeace. Breakthrough” (1989) began acquaintance with U2 of most domestic music lovers, in the album “Songs Of Surrender” sounds like it was recorded at an acoustic concert for MTV in the 1990s, albeit with additional vocal production.

In fact, the unplugged format, like the “the best with an orchestra” or “Christmas album” format, is a completely normal commercial practice for rock bands, many have gone through this and once again earned money. But there was none of that in U2’s discography. For the first 25 years of the band’s history, U2 had enough creative potential to regularly release one hundred percent hits and not engage in “rethinking”. Listening to the new version of “Pride (In The Name Of Love)”, you understand that this is, in fact, unplugged, it’s just that U2 considers it beneath their dignity to call this material that way. No, this is not “acoustics”, this is precisely “rethinking”.

So far, only two adaptations from the “Songs Of Surrender” compilation have been published, and if U2 had something broader in mind than “intimacy instead of post-punk”, then at least one of the published songs hinted at it. The Edge says, “Those songs mean something different to us now.” Judging by the two released tracks, U2’s “Songs Of Surrender” won’t earn new audiences, the musical form is firmly tied to the band’s glorious past. And loyal fans of U2 still need to be convinced that such a form is necessary for them. Classical versions sit too firmly in the subconscious.

Fans have already understood that the new collection should be taken “in a set” with the book of memoirs of U2 leader Bono “Surrender” (“Surrender”), which was released in November 2022. It’s a two-finger-thick volume, with chapters named after U2 songs, and the audiobook that followed the paper version includes each chapter with a snippet of a track from the forthcoming album. Bono even managed to travel the world with a small solo tour in support of the book. It was the first experience of this kind in his life. For the tour, a separate group was assembled, which rehearsed the “chamber” versions of the songs.

If anyone had doubts that something powerful and historic was being prepared, they disappeared when, at the end of the year, U2 was awarded the prestigious Kennedy Center Award, which had previously been awarded to Chuck Berry, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Bruce Springsteen, Andrew Lloyd Webber and others. representatives of the performing arts. In honor of the laureates, a big concert is traditionally held, which is always attended by the American president. Fragments of the concert circulate well on social networks, and many music lovers have probably already come across touching moments from ceremonies dedicated to Paul McCartney, Led Zeppelin or Sting in their tapes. The heroes of the occasion sit in a special box and secretly wipe away tears when another colleague gives touching and heartfelt versions of their songs on stage.

During the celebration of U2 at the Kennedy Center, Beyoncé, Harry Styles, Sean Penn and Sacha Baron Cohen addressed the audience, and the group’s songs were presented by Eddie Vedder, Hozier, Brandi Carlisle and Ukrainian singer Jamala. In the audience sat George Clooney, Gladys Knight, Tanya Leon and Amy Grant, who also received awards in 2022. But everyone’s attention was riveted on U2.

The directors of these ceremonies, which have been held since 1978, are able to emphasize the monumental grandeur of the celebration and its perpetrators. Sometimes the emotions of the characters look too feigned. But, combined with Bono’s memoirs and the announcement of the upcoming CD, the homage, which has gone viral on the internet, has become an important part of a new phase in U2’s career. Based on the album, a documentary film will also be created, as without it. The band has only to announce a new world tour, and, presumably, the announcement is not far off. Tickets will probably sell out at once, as it already happened after the announcements of new tours by Depeche Mode and Madonna. All these maneuvers will, of course, overshadow the unfortunate fact that U2 has not released new songs worthy of their golden catalog for a long time. It’s not that the world couldn’t do without them, but once upon a time U2 songs about freedom, equality and justice really helped to live and resonated in the hearts. And now the world is in a state where one would like to hear from U2 not “rethought” songs, but new ones, such as they once did best.