Music Worth Buying: U2's 'Songs of Innocence' - time to rediscover the album again?

Now that U2 is underway with its acclaimed Innocence & Experience Tour it is the perfect time to check in with our in-depth review of Songs of Innocence that we posted when the album was released last year:





And if you want to here our review of the deluxe edition's (disc 2) tracks, watch the episode below:

U2 Announce The iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE Tour 2015

Here is the news of the day...

LOS ANGELES , Dec. 3, 2014 /CNW/ -- The dates for U2's upcoming iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE Tour 2015 have been announced today by Live Nation. The iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE Tour, which begins in 2015, will see U2 play indoor arenas for the first time in a decade and will visit 19 cities worldwide during its first year with pairs of shows in each city. A complete tour itinerary is below. Tickets for all shows will go on general sale on Monday, Dec. 8 . In addition, special shows are being planned for Dublin for the end of next year – to benefit the U2-initiated Music Generation project - details of which will be announced as soon as they are finalized.

The tour follows the recent release of U2's thirteenth studio album Songs Of Innocence by Island Records, which was given to U2.com subscribers and gifted by Apple to over half a billion iTunes Music Store customers worldwide. To date, Songs of Innocence has been streamed 81 million times and has been downloaded by 30 million fans.

"We are going to try to have a completely different feeling from night one to night two," said Bono, "and have some fun playing with the idea of innocence and experience. More to be revealed!"

"The anticipation for a U2 tour is always extraordinary, as it should be," said Arthur Fogel , President - Global Touring and Chairman - Global Music. "Following the record-setting 360 Tour, I'm amazed that they still want to be ground-breaking, this time on a more intimate scale."

Tickets for the U2 iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE Tour 2015 go on general sale beginning Monday, Dec. 8 . As usual, there is an exclusive priority presale for U2 Fan Club subscribers at U2.com, from Thursday, Dec. 4 at 10 a.m. through Saturday, Dec. 6 at noon (all times local). Tickets will be general admission on the floor and reserved seating in the stands.

UPS is the logistics supplier to the tour. Ron Rogowski , UPS Vice President, Global Brand and Sponsorships said - "We're excited to work closely with U2 and Live Nation on this amazing tour in the most sustainable and environmentally responsible manner while providing them speed, efficiency and reliability."

iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE
TOUR ITINERARY
DATE	CITY	VENUE	ON-SALE
NORTH AMERICA 2015
May 14	Vancouver, BC	Rogers Arena	Dec. 8
May 15	Vancouver, BC	Rogers Arena	Dec. 8
May 18	San Jose, CA	SAP Center at San Jose	Dec. 8
May 19	San Jose, CA	SAP Center at San Jose	Dec. 8
May 22	Phoenix, AZ	US Airways Center	Dec. 8
May 23	Phoenix, AZ	US Airways Center	Dec. 8
May 26	Los Angeles, CA	Forum	Dec. 8
May 27	Los Angeles, CA	Forum	Dec. 8
May 30	Los Angeles, CA	Forum	Dec. 8
May 31	Los Angeles, CA	Forum	Dec. 8
June 12	Montreal, QC	Bell Centre	Dec. 8
June 13	Montreal, QC	Bell Centre	Dec. 8
June 24	Chicago, IL	United Center	Dec. 8
June 25	Chicago, IL	United Center	Dec. 8
July 6	Toronto, ON	Air Canada Centre	Dec. 8
July 7	Toronto, ON	Air Canada Centre	Dec. 8
July 10	Boston, MA	TD Garden	Dec. 8
July 11	Boston, MA	TD Garden	Dec. 8
July 18	New York, NY	Madison Square Garden	Dec. 8
July 19	New York, NY	Madison Square Garden	Dec. 8
July 22	New York, NY	Madison Square Garden	Dec. 8
July 23	New York, NY	Madison Square Garden	Dec. 8
EUROPE / UK 2015
Sept. 4	Turin, Italy	Pala Alpitour	Dec. 8
Sept. 5	Turin, Italy	Pala Alpitour	Dec. 8
Sept. 8	Amsterdam, The Netherlands	Ziggo Dome	Dec. 8
Sept. 9	Amsterdam, The Netherlands	Ziggo Dome	Dec. 8
Sept. 16	Stockholm, Sweden	Globe	Dec. 8
Sept. 17	Stockholm, Sweden	Globe	Dec. 8
Sept. 24	Berlin, Germany	O2 World	Dec. 8
Sept. 25	Berlin, Germany	O2 World	Dec. 8
Oct. 5	Barcelona, Spain	Palau Sant Jordi	Dec. 9
Oct. 6	Barcelona, Spain	Palau Sant Jordi	Dec. 9
Oct. 13	Antwerp, Belgium	Sportpaleis	Dec. 8
Oct. 14	Antwerp, Belgium	Sportpaleis	Dec. 8
Oct. 17	Koln, Germany	Lanxess Arena	Dec. 8
Oct. 18	Koln, Germany	Lanxess Arena	Dec. 8
Oct. 25	London, UK	O2	Dec. 8
Oct. 26	London, UK	O2	Dec. 8
Oct. 29	London, UK	O2	Dec. 8
Oct. 30	London, UK	O2	Dec. 8
Nov. 6	Glasgow, UK	The SSE Hydro	Dec. 8
Nov. 7	Glasgow, UK	The SSE Hydro	Dec. 8
Nov. 10	Paris, France	Bercy	Dec. 8
Nov. 11	Paris, France	Bercy	Dec. 8

Music Worth Buying: Deluxe Edition of U2's 'Songs of Innocence'

Listen to our comprehensive roundtable review of the Deluxe Edition of U2's Songs of Innocence.






Buy Deluxed Edition of 'Songs of Innocence' here

Billboard: U2's 'Songs' Arrives, But Giveaway Model Will Push Back Its Billboard 200 Debut

I received this update in my inbox from Billboard and it's definitely worth reviewing. I've been listening to the new U2 album since yesterday, but my full-length review won't run until next week. My initial reaction is the album is very strong...

According to Billboard, while U2 surprised the music world by releasing its new album, Songs of Innocence, yesterday (Sept. 9, 2014) as a free download to iTunes Store account holders and for streaming on Beats Music, you won't see it on the Billboard 200 albums chart for another month and a half.

Free or giveaway albums are not eligible for inclusion on Billboard's album charts and do not count toward sales tracked by Nielsen SoundScan (which supplies data for Billboard's sales-driven charts). 

Once Songs of Innocence goes on sale beginning Oct. 14, it will then set its sights on Billboard's sales charts. On that date, the album will be available in both standard and deluxe editions to physical and digital retailers, as well as on streaming services other than Beats.

​Full article: 

http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/chart-beat/6244160/u2-songs-of-innocence-free-charts

On a related note, check out the New York Times' in-depth and mostly positive assessment of Songs of Innocence from writer Joe Pareles here. For a different take on the album, check out Lindsay Zoladz's negative review on the Vulture site. I am always cautious to dive in and write an album review with only a few listens/ less than a day to live with the music, but both writers seem pretty sure of all things related to the disc. I always figure if an artist is going to spend months or years working on an album, I owe it to them to listen to the album at least 3 or 4 times, and do it over a few different days to "live with the music" for a bit before writing my full review.

Photo of U2 courtesy of Interscope Records