U2's new album released for FREE on iTunes, the largest release ever!

[TheOriginalOne 8,208]

OMfG! It just appeared in my purchased list. I'm downloading it to my phone rn. Is it good?!

[TimisaMonster 31,073]

This is free.  They are giving it away for over a month.

 

Just saw....I "purchased" it and I don't even like them....

[Morphine Prince 96,178]

Music not the bling!

 

The true meaning of ARTPOP is finally coming to light! :cry: 

[TimisaMonster 31,073]

The thing is...people who aren't even subscribed to them have the album....are they just giving it to ANYONE who has an Apple account and assuming they all want it?

 

Don't tally numbers as if all these people personally downloaded the free album....I respect that they are one of the biggest bands WW, but I don't like their music or want this album....

[PopBitch 1,218]

This is above in the rollingstone article, but this really is a reflection of the concept of the album.  I repasted it below because it really helps to appreciate what they were going for with this album in what they are saying and musically and the influences.

 

 It is a band revitalized but paying homage to their past and  some great genres and doesn't sound like a retread of U2.  Using Adele's producers and using Danger Mouse, oh, yeah, and bringing back Flood, has breathed new life into this band.  It almost feels like a concept album when you read their journey below on making it.  U2 was devastated by their last album's reception and had lost their confidence.  I was worried, but not now.  There are some true gems and great sounds on this album and it just feels fresh.  If you're not a U2 fan, you probably won't like the whole album, but I love it.  I also love 11 songs only.  I've been saying forever, stop with the bloated albums.

 

"Let's try to figure out why we wanted to be in a band, the relationships around the band, our friendships, our lovers, our family. The whole album is first journeys  first journeys geographically, spiritually, s-xually. And that's hard. But we went there."

The band worked on Innocence for two years with producer Danger Mouse (a.k.a. Brian Burton), then brought in additional help: Flood, their collaborator since 1987's The Joshua Tree, plus Adele producers Paul Epworth and Ryan Tedder. "I think having them around really helped," says Bono, "Some of the music out there now that people call pop, it's not pop – it's just truly great. And we wanted to have the discipline of the Beatles or the Stones in the Sixties, when you had real songs. There's nowhere to hide in them: clear thoughts, clear melodies."

To begin, the band went back to its roots: Bono says the group listened to the music they loved in the Seventies, from punk rock to Bowie, glam rock, early electronica and Joy Division. The album kicks off with "The Miracle (of Joey Ramone)," a loping pop song laced with distinctly punk-ish power chords. "I found my voice through Joey Ramone," says Bono, "because I wasn't the obvious punk-rock singer, or even rock singer. I sang like a girl  which I'm into now, but when I was 17 or 18, I wasn't sure. And I heard Joey Ramone, who sang like a girl, and that was my way in."

The driving, reggae-tinged "This Is Where You Can Reach Me Now," is a tribute to the Clash, with slinky guitars from the Edge that nod to Sandinista!. "After we saw the Clash, it was a sort of blueprint for U2," says Bono. "We knew we couldn't possibly hope to be as cool, and that's proven to be true, but we did think we could get behind a sort of social justice agenda."

There is also an intensely personal song about Bono's mother, Iris Hewson, who died when he was 14. "Forty years ago, my mother fell at her own father's funeral, and I never spoke with her again," he says. "Rage always follows grief, and I had a lot of it, and I still have, but I channeled it into music and I still do. I have very few memories of my mother, and I put a few of them in a song called 'Iris.'"

The most joyous track on Songs of Innocence is "California (There Is No End to Love)," which unexpectedly nods to the Beach Boys in its intro. "It's like the sun itself," says Bono. "It's about our first trip to Los Angeles." The darkest track, meanwhile, is "Raised by Wolves," which tells of a deadly car bombing in Dublin. "It was a real incident that happened in our country where three car bombs were set to go off at the same time in Dublin on a Friday night, 5:30," says Bono, "On any other Friday I would have been at this record shop, just down the corner, but I cycled to school that day."

At times Songs of Innocence feels almost like a concept album about Bono's early years – there's even a track named after the street where the singer grew up, "Cedarwood Road." "It has a lyrical cohesion that I think is unique amongst U2 albums," says Bono, "I don't want it to be a concept album, but the songs come from a place. Edge laughed and said this is our Quadrophenia. We could be so lucky."

[PinkBalloons 0]

WOOAH U2 surprised me with that :))

[juicyjuicy 1,229]

Just downloaded it. Was never a fan of U2 before but I have a feeling this will be my favourite album of the year. :/

[craig 680]

Apple will spend millions of ads promoting the project.

This is much like the BTW-Amazon deal. It's cross-promo.

http://www.billboard.com/biz/articles/6244169/u2-songs-of-innocence-excluded-from-next-grammys?utm_source=twitter

[Morphine Prince 96,178]

Just downloaded it! I'll delete if later if I don't like it. (Well, not really. Everything goes to the cloud when you delete something). 

[ryhanna 3,507]

Aww, thanks U2! I like free stuff! Downloading now.  

[PopBitch 1,218]

Just downloaded it. Was never a fan of U2 before but I have a feeling this will be my favourite album of the year. :/

People think they can never be a U2 fan, but they really have a lot of diversity in their catalogue before they went safe and overthought themselves as they got older and trying to stay big. I think people are surprised when they hear certain albums and the experimentation in them.

[juicyjuicy 1,229]

Holy. Crap. it IS FLAWLESS

[PopBitch 1,218]

Holy. Crap. it IS FLAWLESS

It is, isn't it?  I'm on my second listen, and I am blown away by it.  I think I just want to cry.  U2 is back with brilliance, and they are in their f'cking 50s.  

[RAMROD 96,462]

I got it as soon as it was announced

Happy puppy here tbh.

Since I originally wanna buy it either way but now I don't even spend a dime.

But, one thibg tho,

The booklet pdf seems error on me

Tried 5 times, all the same result.

Anyone experience the same?

[Michelle 2,056]

I was so excited when I heard the news today. I love them.