One Bad Mofo ([email protected])
Sun, 31 Jan 1999 08:35:56 -0800 (PST)
it was the intention of the band and/or polygram to release pop by
christmas of 96 and that didn't happen until march of 97 -- i believe.
i'm trying to recall a chronology of certain events to give me an
idea of time, correct me where I'm wrong as i'm not pulling out
flannigan's book and other resources.
late 94 or early 95 - zoomerang tour ends
jan, feb, or mar 96 - bono and edge perform two shots of happy one
shot of sad for frank sinatra's birthday via satellite from dublin to
NY(?). it was announced (i believe) that bono and edge couldn't be
there because they were up late working on the new album.
summer/early fall 96 - martyn posts on wire the finding of snippets of
discotheque and wake up dead man
which did not change AFAIK from their final form.
end of 96 - u2 were unable to complete pop for the holliday season as
they planned.
fall 96 - early 97 - u2 puts a web cam in their studio for all of wire
to catch glimpses of really nothing much while recording pop. in
early 97 (feb?) there's an indication on the web cam that pop is done.
the most important dates here are the performance of two shots of
happy and when martyn came across the tracks for discotheque and wake
up dead man. i wouldn't doubt that bono and edge being in the
recording studio was not actually for their new album but a chance for
bono to perform and perfect the song for frank. but that's how i
remember them saying why they couldn't be there. with the leaked
tracks sounding complete in their short snippet, it would seem that 2
of the 12, 17% of the album was done over 6 months prior to the march
release date of pop.
so if 2 shots of happy is an accurate start date, it would seem to me
that the band had over a year of recording studio time, with some time
elapsing after their tour for the band to do whatever (tongue one of
the guys from oasis) prior to returning to the recording studio.
add to that the comment I seem to recall bono making upon pop's
completion that they had enough material to release a double album
and/or a lot of new b-sides and the new stuff was "holy joe" and
"north and south of the river" and rough stuff from melbourne
rehearsals. were they rushed if they had enough material to release
two albums and/or a bunch of b-sides? maybe there's a huge repository
of unreleased stuff yet to hear...and the album that bono was helping
al green produce in the early 90s will be out soon as well.
obviously i have no right to judge the merits of u2 with regards to
how long it takes to develop an album, i just don't buy them saying
pop wasn't rushed. my guess is the band finds that argument as an
excuse for whatever negative feelings they have towards the album,
(which i think is a pretty darn good album.)
Marc
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2.0b2 on Sun Jan 31 1999 - 08:37:11 PST