Songs of Innocence
| U2
Songs of Innocence
Songs of Innocence is the 13th studio album by Irish rock band U2. Released on 9 September 2014, it was produced by Danger Mouse, with additional production from Paul Epworth, Ryan Tedder, Declan Gaffney, and Flood. The album was announced at an Apple Inc. product launch event and released the same day to all iTunes Store customers at no cost. It was exclusive to iTunes, iTunes Radio, and Beats Music until 13 October 2014, when it received a physical release on Island and Interscope Records. The digital release made the record available to more than 500 million iTunes customers, for what Apple CEO Tim Cook marketed as "the largest album release of all time". --Wikipedia
Critic Reviews
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Rolling Stone
A triumph of dynamic, focused renaissance: 11 tracks of straightforward rapture about the life-saving joys of music.
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Pitchfork
Bono may have self-deprecatingly described Songs of Innocence as “the blood, sweat and tears of some Irish guys...in your junk mail,” but it’s not even that interesting—it’s just a blank message.
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The Telegraph
It certainly does the job it apparently sets out to do, delivering addictive pop rock with hooks, energy, substance and ideas that linger in the mind after you’ve heard them.
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Mojo
Reconnects U2 with the strident, searching, wide awake band of their nascency, reminding not only us, but themselves, of their against-the-odds beginnings. The result is their best and most thematically complete album since Achtung Baby.
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WYEP 91.3
The album does hang together fairly well. The songs are catchy and more memorable on the whole than those on the band's previous pair of albums.
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Diffuser
The band bats eight for 11 on this album. Drop your guard and give it an honest listen.
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Stereo Embers
Despite what people think of Bono and U2, they’re still playing and still trying out new ideas. And this is all that matters.
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All Music
They want to be everything to everyone and, in attempting to do so, they've wound up with a record that appeals to a narrow audience.
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Pretty Much Amazing
This is no disaster, nor is it a masterpiece. Songs of Innocence is a competent U2 album, always a good thing.
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NME
The Irish titans take a serious mis-step that might win a week's worth of good publicity, but could foreshadow a year's worth of bad.
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Pop Matters
The album takes a decisive turn for the better when the skitter and skulk of "Raised By Wolves" is set in motion. These next four songs ... decisively save the career of U2.
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The Guardian
While Songs of Innocence is more succinct, glossy and nimble than recent U2 outings, there is very little of the rawness, directness or spontaneity of youth to it – and precious little innocence.
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Billboard
A colossal-sounding record from rock's ultimate stadium wreckers
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Spin
The U2 of 2014 come across improbably as underdogs. More startling yet, they've made a record that suits the role.
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Consequence of Sound
It’s a mixed bag, but an overall pleasant and inoffensive one. As both a defense and a criticism, there’s really nothing to get worked up about here at all.
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Hot Press
Well known Dublin band are back with a crash, bang and wallop...
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PPCORN
Took their sweet time walking down memory lane for this one, but it was oh-so worth it.
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Vintage Rock
The songs are predictably fresh, the playing is enigmatic, and the buzz behind it is bound to make others take notice.
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Joe
It is U2 back to their best and I am really excited to see these tunes performed live when they tour next year.
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Vulture
With few exceptions, it sounds exactly like you’d expect a U2 album to sound in 2014: expensively glistening, perpetually awestruck, and often (though not always!) bloodless.
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Paste Magazine
I’d say this bodes well for the future of a band that is closing in on its 40th birthday together. Other legacy acts of their ilk should be so lucky.
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The Music Universe
Bono and Co have succeeded the reinvention they were hoping which is sure to put them at the top of the charts — however that is handled with this unconventional release — and playing to stadiums full of fans who are ready to experience the new tunes live next summer.
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AXS
Showcases U2’s capacity for writing songs with universal appeal, and their knack for skyscraping choruses. But it feels like a safe album.
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NY Daily News
It's an album where the rich embroidery overshadows the essential garment. Details impress but the overall picture never quite comes together.
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NBHAP
Despite being a well planned marketing stunt U2’s surprise LP ‘Songs Of Innocence’ is a satisfying piece of pop/rock that shows the Irish superstars in playfulness and with exciting ambitions to stay around just a bit longer.
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Metro
In its quieter moments, when they’re not desperately trying to recapture that youthful over-ambitious zest that became their trademark, U2 show they are still a musical force to be reckoned with.
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Icon Fetch
We tend to devalue things that we get for free. But, don’t let the lack of a price fool you – Songs of Innocence is one of U2’s finest albums of the last twenty years.
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Music OMH
Much of the music seems desperate to soar but never really seems to take flight. Every Breaking Wave merely plods mundanely along.
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Bearded Gentlemen Music
What should be surprising is how consistent this record is: it’s been a while since U2 had an album that held together so well, since they had a handful of strong new songs. It’s not quite a return to form, but it’s a welcome return.
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All Things Loud
Although there are some predictably cheesy lyrics, this is an album which has shown U2 starting to look backwards, as opposed to constantly looking forward.
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Entertainment IE
It all feels a bit too tight, a bit too restrained and constricting.
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Under The Radar
It's not that the songs on here are necessarily terrible; certainly there's nothing to plumb the depths of "Elevation" or "Get on your Boots," but rather that Songs of Innocence is a soulless and unwanted lump of shiny plastic.
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Empty Lighthouse Magazine
They sound like they are comfortable with their sound, in their skin.
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The Edge
Aside from the release method and the gimmicky vinyl inner sleeve artwork on an exclusively digital release, there is almost nothing that makes Songs Of Innocence relevant, or even interesting.
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Punk News
While U2 remains one of the biggest bands on earth, they don't feel very important any more. This record is not bad, but it will never generate the sense of awe that inspires a song like "The Miracle (of Joey Ramone)."
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Cryptic Rock
It is U2 knowing what they do best, and following the blueprint to a tee.
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UPROXX
Bono”s vocals sound fresh and invigorated and the production sparkles. It”s a lovely album that is sentimental without ever losing its edge.
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Something Awful
May this forever taint the career of every single person involved in this soulless assemblage of big-budget mediocrity.
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Digital Spy
It's better than their last few albums by virtue of being less "ambitious" and, despite the occasional flashes of portentousness, much less self-important.
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The Lantern
This album might just be the one that will help U2 to break through to a millennial generation that thinks of them as the ultimate “dad rock” band.
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Tape Op
This record has some excellent songs that contain authentic feelings and emotions from Bono and the rest of the band.
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Seattle Music Insider
U2 has delivered a cohesive collection of solid songs. No, they’re not creating the new Joshua Tree or Achtung Baby. They probably never will. But it’s a relief to know they still have something to give the world
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Time Out
Bono, the Edge, Adam and Larry stick to the template in a desperate attempt to regain their status as the biggest band in the world—as if that can even be a thing anymore
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Metal Wani
It does definitely have the uniqueness of sound, strong lyrical content and general overproduction that is so prevalent in U2’s discography.
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Glide Magazine
A tidy eleven-track affair that has a few interesting moments but certainly won’t have anyone lining it up alongside the band’s classic body of work.
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New Life Presbyterian Church
There are singable hooks galore on the record ... the album is impressively consistent from start to finish, as repeated listenings reveal the melodic staying power of almost every one of these songs.
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Bass Player
With all of the attention surrounding the free distribution of U2’s 13th album, it’s easy to overlook the solid playing of veteran Adam Clayton.
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Guitar Planet
U2 have served up masterfully recorded mediocrity - pleasant, but not necessarily pleasing.
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Blinded By Sound
A good album enhanced by the bonus material but only the diehards will need it. Oh, and what's up with that cover?
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A Trip to Ireland
Songs of Innocence is fabulous, a joyous return to the classic U2 of my, and the band’s, youth.
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Smells Like Infinite Sadness
Anthemic Irish foursome fail to roar back to life on latest release.
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Entertainment Monthly
Each song stands alone as a piece of art, but when put together on an album, they cohesively convey true and genuine emotion that any audience can connect to.
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Red Dirt Report
Lacks the power and steam of previous albums. There is very little on it to capture the listener’s attention.
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Golden Plec
It is fresh, energetic and above all else, it has heart. It is U2 being U2.
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Gigslutz
May not carry the weight and attitude U2 have previously managed through songs such as ‘Desire’ and ‘Vertigo’ and it may not have the groove of the likes of ‘Get On Your Boots’ but it definitely does have some worth.
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Panther Print
None of the songs are awful, and the album is better than many recent releases, but it doesn’t carry on the U2 legacy.
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Rob's Wall of Music
Underneath the internet drama and the waves of haters that just needed to have something to complain about, there’s a damn good album here.
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Low End Mac
If you are a fan of U2 I am sure you will be pleased. When it comes to trimming music from my phone I will probably keep ‘The Miracle’, ‘Volcano’, ‘Raised by Wolves’, and ‘Sleep Like a Baby Tonight’, but the rest will go.
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The Solute
Although the experimentations with new indie rock sounds do produce great tracks, this record is at its best when it takes its old Boy sound and blesses it with hindsight and adulthood. It’s a great way to end this run.
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Pop Culture Beast
This is another U2 album, noble, layered, passionate, and uninterested in what you think of it.
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Ask Men
They took off their shades, looked us in the eyes and gave us an album about the way a band or a song can come into your life like a bolt from the blue and then boom! You’re changed for forever — and for the better.
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Renowned For Sound
As well as being a nostalgic tribute to their mentors, Songs Of Innocence is U2’s most personal record yet.
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Straight
The album may be called Songs of Innocence, a title borrowed without permission from William Blake, but it might as well be Signs of Desperation.
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West Side Story
“Songs of Innocence” is a success. The marketing is genius and I’m sure those who were skeptical about U2 before this release and gave the album a listen have changed their minds.
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Music Waffle
It would be a shame if the manner of introduction to this album put people off giving it an open ear.
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The Galleon
Like a mixture of Muse at their flimsiest, a watered-down Kasabian and Coldplay at their most uninteresting. Even after several listens, it remains about as memorable and exciting as a day at a loft insulation convention.
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The Linc
New or old fans of U2, there is definitely a song to suit everyone on the album.
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The Austin Chronicle
Another five years in the studio didn't prove long enough, obviously, for Bono to cobble together any cohesion from his lyric notebooks.
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The National Student
U2 have created an ‘average-est hits’, a collection of songs that probably won’t be remembered after the inevitable accompanying tour.
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qmunicate
U2 at their blandest.
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Pop Matters
Despite the band's best efforts, it's hard to fault a lot of young people for are asking the question of "Who is U2?", because after listening to Songs of Innocence, this is a question that not even the band
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HITC
This album sees the band not so much still looking for something that they haven’t yet found, but rather treading old ground without much of a sense of how to move forward.
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Sputnik Music
A heart that is broken is a heart that is open.
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The Fire Note
I really would like to hear a truly raw U2 that is filled with energy, guitar, and a little sweat. Songs of Innocence is not that record as it swings for the big fences but falls a bit short of giving an honest effort.
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Wall Street Journal
Catnip for the band’s fans and a worthy, if conservative, addition to its catalogue.
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Backseat Mafia
An album that will linger long in the memory for a lot of people for exactly the wrong reasons. Perhaps if it hadn’t been foisted upon us via iTunes, it would have found a more sympathetic audience, but as it is, it has so far created more negative feeling towards U2 than positive.
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Grantland
It justifies its own existence, but just barely.
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Pop Dose
An album I could listen to again, and more than a couple of times. I did not really need to get past the controversy to arrive at that point. There are some good songs to be had here.
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Standard
They are good songs, for the most part, treading a careful line between nostalgia and innovation.
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Brent Music Reviews
U2 Lack Vintage Magic on ‘Songs of Innocence’
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The Bulletin
While it continues the group’s general musical trend of the last 15 years, there’s no question there’s more energy here, more inspiration and more to be excited about than anything since “Beautiful Day.”
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About 300 Words About
The music will probably grow on you, and anybody would do well to give it a listen and allow the lyrics to wash over them.
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