In unusual step, U2 reinterprets 40 of its best-known songs
CTV
In reimagining 40 of their best-known songs, U2 recognized that many fans would experience them through earphones connected to a device in their pockets -- rather than being belted out onstage. That was one thought behind 'Songs of Surrender,' coming out this week.
In reimagining 40 of their best-known songs, U2 recognized that many fans would experience them through earphones connected to a device in their pockets -- rather than being belted out onstage.
That was one thought behind "Songs of Surrender," coming out this week. The four men of U2, now either 61 or 62 years old, revisit material written in some cases when they were little more than kids out of Dublin.
Particularly in those days, U2 songs were written primarily with concerts in mind. The Edge told The Associated Press in an interview that U2 wanted to catch the attention of people seeing the band for the first time, perhaps in a festival or as an opening act.
"There's a sort of gladiatorial aspect to live performances when you're in that situation," he said. "The material has got to be pretty bold and even strident at times. With this reimagining, we thought it would be fun to see intimacy as a new approach, that intimacy would be the new punk rock, as it were."
The Edge was the driving force behind "Songs of Surrender," using pandemic down time to record much of the music at home.
Given that his electric guitar and Bono's voice are the musical signature of U2, there's a certain irony in the absence of that guitar being the most immediately noticeable feature of the new versions. He sticks primarily to keyboards, acoustic guitar and dulcimer.
The process began without a roadmap or commitment to see it through if it wasn't working.
