Songs of Experience (U2 album)
Songs of Experience | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | 1 December 2017 | |||
Recorded | 2014–2017 | |||
Studio |
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Genre | Pop rock[1] | |||
Length | 51:07 | |||
Label | ||||
Producer |
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U2 chronology | ||||
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Singles from Songs of Experience | ||||
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Songs of Experience is the fourteenth studio album by Irish
Songs of Experience was first conceived during the Songs of Innocence sessions and initially started with Bono writing songs while recuperating from a serious November 2014 bicycle accident. U2 began work on the album in earnest during the 2015
Compared to Songs of Innocence's pervasive no-cost release through the iTunes Store, promotion for Songs of Experience was more traditional and understated. Several postal letters were mailed to fans to tease the album, while exclusive content was produced for digital platforms such as Amazon Music, Spotify, and Apple Music. Numerous promotional singles and remixes of tracks were released, including the lead single "You're the Best Thing About Me". The album received generally mixed reviews from critics, many of whom believed it trod old ground for the band. Due in part to bundling with ticket purchases for the 2018 Experience + Innocence Tour, the album debuted at number one in the United States, making U2 the first group to top the country's chart in four consecutive decades. In the United Kingdom, it peaked at number five. Songs of Experience was the sixth-best-selling album globally in 2017, selling 1.3 million copies. U2 supported the album with the Experience + Innocence Tour, a sequel to their 2015 tour.
Background
On 9 September 2014, U2 announced their thirteenth studio album,
U2 embarked on the Innocence + Experience Tour in May 2015,[18] visiting arenas in North America and Europe from May through December.[19] The band originally began the tour with the intent to stage it in two phases, one with material primarily taken from Songs of Innocence and one with material that would eventually be from Songs of Experience.[20] The group structured their concerts around a loose autobiographical narrative of "innocence" passing into "experience", with a fixed set of songs for the first half of each show and a varying second half, separated by an intermission—a first for U2 concerts.[21] The stage spanned the length of the venue floor and comprised three sections: a rectangular main stage, a smaller circular B-stage, and a connecting walkway.[21] The centerpiece of the set was a 96-foot-long (29 m) double-sided video screen that featured an interior catwalk, allowing the band members to perform amidst the video projections.[22][23] U2's sound system was moved to the venue ceilings and arranged in an oval array, in hopes of improving acoustics by evenly distributing sound throughout the arena.[21] In total, the tour grossed US$152.2 million from 1.29 million tickets sold.[24]
Writing and recording
According to guitarist the Edge, the band realised early during the Songs of Innocence sessions that they were working on what would become two separate albums.[25] In a 12 October 2014 interview with The Observer, Bono recited lyrics to an in-progress song called "The Morning After Innocence" (which later became "The Little Things That Give You Away"), in which the song's protagonist asks his younger self for help.[26][27]
On 16 November 2014, Bono was injured in a "high energy bicycle accident" in
While touring in Russia with his electronic music duo Lamb, musician Andy Barlow received an offer to produce for U2. The following week, he flew to Monaco to join the group for what he described as a "two-week tryout". Barlow was surprised by how receptive the band members were to his ideas and how quickly they trusted him, particularly Bono. One of the first tasks that Barlow was given was helping the band advance "The Little Things That You Give You Away" past the idea stage, something that numerous producers before him had failed to do.[30] After the session in Monaco, Barlow was asked to join the group in Vancouver for six weeks from April–May 2015 for another trial period as they rehearsed for the Innocence + Experience Tour at the Pacific Coliseum.[21][30] Producer Jolyon Thomas also joined them as the band used a mobile recording studio.[21][31] Among the in-progress songs previewed to The New York Times during rehearsals were "Red Flag Day", "Civilisation", and "Instrument Flying".[21] Prior to the tour's opening show on 14 May, the Edge speculated that the band could complete the album by the end of the year if they committed themselves during their limited downtime after the tour. Comparing the group's in-progress material to their 1993 album Zooropa, which was recorded between legs of their Zoo TV Tour, the Edge said the Songs of Experience songs were "a lot more developed".[32]
After his time with U2 in Vancouver, Barlow was officially given the job of producer.[30] The group continued to work on the album in their free time on the Innocence + Experience Tour.[33] Whereas Bono usually favoured waiting until the conclusion of a tour to work on an album, this time he wanted to write and record in small increments on the road; he theorised that by doing this, they would already have "the shape and feel" of the album when it came time to dedicate themselves to completing it, thereby reducing the pressure they faced.[30] Barlow mostly collaborated with the band members individually for minutes at a time due to their schedules and because the size of the dressing rooms on tour did not afford the band enough space to work together. The producer described the process as "piecing individual pieces of a jigsaw puzzle".[34] Ultimately, Barlow spent two years working with U2 in approximately ten countries, sometimes for months at a time. By his estimation, only 10 percent of his work took place in actual recording studios—most of it was done in dressing rooms, hotel rooms, and mansions.[30]
Through October 2015, the band had written approximately 18 songs, from which they planned to select 12. Around this time, the Edge wrote a new song provisionally titled "Tightrope".[35] A cover story in Q that month also mentioned the tracks "Much More Better" and "The Little Things That Give You Away".[36] In November 2015, the Edge told Hot Press that the group hoped to complete the album in early 2016 and release it by the end of that year.[33]
After finishing the Innocence + Experience Tour in December 2015, the band dedicated themselves to working on Songs of Experience throughout 2016.[37] The group convened with Barlow in Los Angeles at the recording studio of producer Rick Rubin, marking their first opportunity to record together as a group for the album, aside from time spent together in Dublin during the tour.[34] In a February 2016 issue of Q, the Edge estimated that their existing songs could be completed in four-to-six weeks but said that they needed to write additional material. In the story, Bono discussed two new songs, "Landlady" and "Where the Shadows Fall".[20] In March, the group worked on the record with Thomas in a rented Victorian mansion in Killiney, an affluent seaside suburb of Dublin. They outfitted the house with a makeshift recording studio and jammed in the parlour overlooking the bay. Mullen used a second drum kit positioned in an echoing stairwell.[38]
However, while working on the album in Los Angeles late that month, the Edge indicated that it was not near completion: "It's really hard to say at this point when it will be done. We're definitely still in the weeds here. We're not booking the pressing plant, so to speak, just yet." He said that he had worked on 50 pieces of music individually, 20 of which the group were excited to pursue. He further added, "We are trying to really be brutal with the material and only focus on the things that we're really convinced are the best ideas. I would say we're now at the point of starting to really edit down to the core collection of songs that will make the record. Things are still in their rough state, but sounding really great."[39] The guitarist said that "80 percent of [the record] was started before 2016, but most of it was written in the early part of 2016".[40]
In May, musician Ryan Tedder, reprising his role as co-producer of Songs of Innocence, said, "I've never seen them this focused," while describing their in-progress material as their most exciting since 2000's All That You Can't Leave Behind.[41][42] Tedder also mentioned that the album was mostly new material and that only one or two songs from the Innocence sessions had survived.[42] The following month, the Edge said the band were "busting [their] ass" to release the album by the end of 2016.[43]
While attending a wedding in Valencia in August 2016, the band spoke to fans about the album's progress; bassist Adam Clayton told fans to expect something within six months, while Bono, when asked about the Innocence + Experience Tour, said, "the second part of the tour is for 2017. You might see a few things in September or October though."[44] The Irish Times picked up on these comments and reported that an album launch in September or October 2016 was possible to coincide with the band's 40th anniversary, and that the Innocence + Experience Tour would resume in March 2017.[45] At the end of August, a new U2 song, "You're the Best Thing About Me", debuted in the form of an electronic dance remix by Norwegian DJ Kygo during his performance at the Cloud 9 Festival.[46][47]
Delay and rework
The group had planned to release Songs of Experience in the fourth quarter of 2016, but they ultimately decided to delay it. After the shift of global politics in a conservative direction, highlighted by the UK's Brexit referendum and the 2016 US presidential election, the band wanted to reassess the tone of the album.[48][49] The Edge said, "we suddenly realized that the world we were about to release it into had changed. So we gave ourselves a moment to reflect if this was a good idea, and concluded it might be better to wait for a minute. To pause, see what was going on in the world, see if the album we had just finished was what we wanted to say."[48] Bono said, "It is a very personal album, and it's not gonna become a political album overnight. But it has to now go through the filter of what's happened in the rest of the world."[37] According to the Edge, most of the resulting changes to the songs were lyrical and some were very subtle, emphasising or better expressing an idea.[50] Barlow indicated that the band also dropped some songs from the album while writing a few new ones.[30]
U2 were interested in exploring different production techniques and arrangements for their songs.[50] Clayton said they wanted to tweak the mixes after the group's dissatisfaction with those from Songs of Innocence: "There wasn't clarity to some of the mixes and we needed to be a little bit more inventive sonically. I mean, that record, when we performed it live, the songs became very, very masculine and very tough and we didn't really capture that on the record."[37] Bono echoed these sentiments, saying that Songs of Innocence lacked "coherence in production".[51] As a result, in autumn 2016, the Edge, Clayton, and Mullen (and Bono for the final few days) convened in a rehearsal space to perform the songs together "with half an eye and ear to how they might be performed in a live concert setting". The group were hoping to find arrangements that would work live and on record, so as to avoid their habit of recording, releasing, and ultimately rearranging songs when preparing for a tour.[50]
In an interview with Charlie Rose in September, Bono affirmed a tour would take place in 2017 but was non-committal on a release date for the album.[27] In October 2016, Tedder mentioned that he had been working with U2 on the record for a year, and said that there would be "really good remixes that are going to kick an entirely new door wide open for U2 fans".[41] In a video released on Christmas in December, the band announced that Songs of Experience would be released in 2017.[52]
The Irish Times reported that sometime in late 2016 between Christmas and New Year's Day, Bono had a near-death experience.
U2 felt that their chemistry was not adequately represented on the album's recordings to that point.[50] Many of the individual parts, particularly Mullen's drums and Clayton's bass parts, had been recorded separately, and in the band's opinion, they lacked the energy that could be captured from a single band take.[30] Having re-rehearsed the songs, in March 2017, U2 entered Electric Lady Studios in New York with their long-time producer Steve Lillywhite to re-record them as a group.[37] Bono called Lillywhite the "best guy for recording us in the studio with the band playing live".[51] The group were satisfied with the results, as they found a synthesis of their "raw band performances" with overdubs from previous recorded versions. The Edge called it "the best of the band chemistry mixed in with the best of the 21st-century production technology."[50]
In an April 2017 cover story for
In September 2017, the Edge said the band had agreed upon the album's track listing, running order, and mixes, indicating that it was "absolutely ready to go beside the last polish", such as small mixing tweaks or lyrical changes.
Composition
The lyrics of Songs of Experience reflect the "political and personal apocalypse" that Bono felt had occurred in his life in 2016, referring to his "brush with mortality" and the global events that occurred around the rise of conservatism.[59] After his near-death experience, he followed the advice of Irish poet Brendan Kennelly to write as if he were dead, which the Edge said "frees you of having to... be delicate or be anything other than a pure expression of your essence".[50] As a result, Bono wrote the lyrics as a series of letters to people and places closest to his heart. He said, "I know U2 go into every album like it's their last one but even more this time I wanted the people around me that I loved to know exactly how I felt." He also borrowed an idea from poet William Blake to compare oneself as an innocent person to who they become through experience.[60] Accordingly, many of the lyrics contain a dialogue between innocence and experience.[61] Musically, the band sought to use "joy as an act of defiance".[38]
The opening song, "Love Is All We Have Left", was described by Bono as "Sinatra singing on the moon, a sci-fi
"The Showman (Little More Better)" features a "jaunty" acoustic arrangement[76][77] that Bono described as "Beatles-in-Hamburg".[60] Written as a letter to the group's audience, the lyrics are self-deprecating and warn of the ridiculousness and untrustworthiness of performers.[78][60] "The Little Things That Give You Away" was described by Slant Magazine as a "sprawling slow burn that builds to a cascading eruption of guitar".[69] The song's lyrics are framed as a conversation between an innocent self and their experienced self, with the latter having a breakdown towards the end of the song and admitting their deepest fears.[60] "Landlady" is a tribute to Ali from Bono for supporting him during the group's early days and for being his motivation to return home.[56][79] On "The Blackout", the band combine distorted guitars with a bassy, danceable groove,[71][80] a result that The Telegraph said recalled the "audacious cyberpunk energy of Achtung Baby".[62] Ruminating on the state of democracy as well as Bono's mortality, the lyrics mention natural disasters and extinction events in lines such as "Dinosaur wonders why it still walks the earth / A meteor promises it's not gonna hurt".[60] "Love Is Bigger Than Anything in Its Way", described as "grandiose" by USA Today and as an "anthem" by Mojo,[81][63] features Andrew Taggart of the Chainsmokers on keyboards.[82][83] Bono wrote the lyrics as reassurance to his sons as if they were his last words to them.[63][79] His message was that love has the power to overcome any obstacles and can help them reach their full potential.[84] The closing song, "13 (There is a Light)", is a piano-based "lullaby" addressed to all of Bono's children, "urging them to summon the strength to face uncertain times".[62][63]
Songs of Experience, as a companion piece to Songs of Innocence, contains a number of callbacks to its predecessor:
- The "free yourself to be yourself" chant-along outro from Innocence's "Iris (Hold Me Close)" reappears in "Lights of Home".
- The "you are rock and roll" middle eight from Innocence's "Volcano" is reused as the chorus for "American Soul".[62]
- The chorus from Innocence's "Song for Someone" is reprised in "13 (There Is a Light)".[85] "13" had originally been in consideration to close Songs of Innocence, but was ultimately dropped.[61]
Packaging and title
The album's packaging was designed by Shaughn McGrath,[86] with the firm AMP Visual handling the album's design, art direction, and marketing.[87] The photo on the album cover, taken by the band's long-time photographer Anton Corbijn, depicts Bono's son Eli and the Edge's daughter Sian holding hands.[88] The Edge said that it was difficult to find a cover idea that could represent an album they consider to be both very personal and very universal. They ultimately decided to focus it on something other than the band members and to continue the family theme from the cover of Songs of Innocence, which depicted Mullen with his son, Elvis.[89] Eli and Sian are barefoot in the photo, which was meant to signify "youthful innocence". Contrasting with this, Sian is wearing a US M1 military helmet, which was meant to symbolise the harsh realities of the world they must face. The album art was first shown in May 2017 during the opening concert of the Joshua Tree Tour 2017, when it was displayed on the stage's video screen after a performance of "The Little Things That Give You Away".[90] The silhouette of Eli and Sian was subsequently used as a logo in promotional materials and on the band's merchandising.[87]
The album's title, along with that of Songs of Innocence, are taken from William Blake's collection of poems Songs of Innocence and of Experience.[91] In lieu of using a graphic framework or printing the album title on the cover, the designers represented the album's themes through the typography, Corbijn's photography, and the use of cyan in the packaging.[87]
Release and promotion
U2 collaborated with their label Island Records for the release of Songs of Experience, marking the first time since How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb in 2004 that the label contributed to one of the band's albums. Island managing director Jon Turner said the label worked towards the album release for an estimated 18 months. After the no-cost iTunes release of Songs of Innocence that generated negative press, promotion of Songs of Experience was more traditional, with an emphasis on "embracing all digital platforms".[92]
On 23 May 2017, U2 appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and performed "The Little Things That Give You Away".[93] At stops across the Joshua Tree Tour 2017, the band previewed the album for music and radio industry journalists and insiders with backstage listening sessions.[94]
On 21 August 2017, several U2 fans in the United States received cryptic letters via
The following week, on 6 September, "You're the Best Thing About Me" was released as the album's lead single,[98] and The New York Times published an article on the album, stating it would be released on 1 December.[38] On 7 September, the band performed "You're the Best Thing About Me" on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon[99] before debuting it live at a concert in Indianapolis three days later on the Joshua Tree Tour 2017.[100] Island said that performances of the new single during the tour generated excitement for the album among commercial and media partners in attendance.[92]
In late October, fans once again received mysterious postal mail letters, this time containing the Songs of Experience track listing blacked out except for one song.
Songs of Experience was released on 1 December on several formats: compact disc, vinyl record, digital download, and streaming.[91] Deluxe editions include up to four bonus tracks.[106] The Extra Deluxe edition contains the album pressed on two 180-gram translucent cyan-coloured vinyl LPs along with a CD copy of the album with four bonus tracks.[107] Also included are a digital download card, a fold-out poster, and a 16-page newspaper-style lyric sheet.[87][107] The album was promoted in several ways upon release. Amazon Music produced online radio programming about the band called The U2 Experience. The content, which was available for the two days prior to the album's release date, included songs from across the band's career, interviews, and live recordings from the Joshua Tree Tour 2017.[108] Spotify produced a mini-documentary about the group called U2 in America that was made available as part of a playlist of their songs,[109] while the band also recorded a "Spotify Singles" session.[92] Apple Music subscribers were given access to an eight-minute video of Bono narrating the album's liner notes.[92] On the day of release, Bono made an appearance on the American football television program Good Morning Football,[110] and the band briefly performed on a sidewalk underneath the High Line in New York City.[111] U2 was the musical guest on the 2 December episode of American comedy television series Saturday Night Live; fellow countryperson Saoirse Ronan hosted the episode.[112] Five days after the album's release, Bono and the Edge rode the Berlin subway line sharing the band's namesake and gave a short performance on a station platform.[113] On 19 December, BBC One aired U2 at the BBC, an hour-long television special that featured performances by the band and interview segments with Cat Deeley.[114]
"Get Out of Your Own Way" was released as the album's second single on 16 January 2018,
Promotional releases and remixes
Several promotional singles and remixes of the album's songs were released.
Critical reception
Aggregate scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
Consequence of Sound | C−[130] |
The Daily Telegraph | [62] |
The Guardian | [78] |
The Independent | [131] |
Mojo | [63] |
NME | [132] |
Pitchfork | 5.3/10[75] |
Q | [72] |
Rolling Stone | [133] |
Songs of Experience received generally mixed reviews from critics.
James McNair of Mojo called Songs of Experience an "infinitely more satisfying beast than its patchy predecessor" and "U2's strongest album this century". He praised the record for its hooks and for its final songs, on which he felt Bono was at his most vulnerable.[63] Andrew Perry of Q said the album "will likely go down as a late-career classic". The review lauded the group for their ability to evoke a range of moods and sounds: "U2 have dug deep, yet they remain both postmodern and unpredictable. Able to assume many sounds and voices; to invoke their early-'80s innocence, but also none-more-experienced, masters of every inch of their game".[72] Neil McCormick of The Daily Telegraph said that the album is filled with "big meaty hooks matched by singalong aphorisms". He was complimentary of the group for melding their personal conflict with the positivity of their music, saying the album demonstrates them at "their most mature and assured, playing songs of passion and purpose, shot through and enlivened with a piercing bolt of desperation".[62] David Fricke of Rolling Stone said the group's reflection on their mortality provides an "urgency [that] binds and propels the mosaic jump of Experience". Fricke praised the group for offering glimpses of their past work, saying, "The mounting effect is a charge of dynamic moods and a still-certain mission".[133] Alexis Petridis of The Guardian said that despite some awkward attempts to sound contemporaneous, the album was better than either of its predecessors and was "frequently fantastic". He singled out the moments dealing with Bono's "brush with mortality" as highlights, calling them the "most natural and enjoyable, as if concerns about their frontman's potential demise caused everyone to stop worrying about U2's place within the contemporary scheme of things and focus on the music".[78]
In their end-of-year rankings, Rolling Stone named Songs of Experience the third-best album and "Lights of Home" the fifth-best song of 2017.[135][136] "The Blackout" appeared on The New York Times' list of the 54 best songs of the year.[80] For the 2017 Pazz & Jop end-of-year critics poll compiled by The Village Voice, Songs of Experience tied for 98th place on the list of best albums.[137] For the 2018 Billboard Music Awards, it was nominated for Top Rock Album.[138]
Commercial performance
Songs of Experience debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 with 186,000 album-equivalent units earned in its first week, 180,000 of which were sales. The record's debut benefited from the bundling promotion that included copies with tickets purchased for the Experience + Innocence Tour. Songs of Experience was the band's eighth number-one album in the US, the third-most of any group, and made them the first group to attain number-one albums in the US in the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s. It was the largest sales week of any rock album in the US in 2017.[139] The album charted for nine weeks on the Billboard 200.[140]
The record entered the
Track listing
All lyrics are written by Bono; all music is composed by U2, except where noted
No. | Title | Music | Producer | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | "Love Is All We Have Left" | Andy Barlow | 2:41 | |
2. | "Lights of Home" |
| 4:16 | |
3. | "You're the Best Thing About Me" |
| 3:45 | |
4. | "Get Out of Your Own Way" |
| 3:58 | |
5. | "American Soul" | 4:21 | ||
6. | "Summer of Love" |
| 3:24 | |
7. | "Red Flag Day" |
| 3:19 | |
8. | "The Showman (Little More Better)" |
| 3:23 | |
9. | "The Little Things That Give You Away" |
| 4:55 | |
10. | "Landlady" | 4:01 | ||
11. | "The Blackout" | 4:45 | ||
12. | "Love Is Bigger Than Anything in Its Way" | Lee | 4:00 | |
13. | "13 (There Is a Light)" |
| 4:19 | |
Total length: | 51:07 |
No. | Title | Music | Producer | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
14. | "Ordinary Love" (Extraordinary Mix) |
| 3:47 | |
15. | "Book of Your Heart" | Barlow | 3:55 | |
16. | "Lights of Home" (St Peter's String Version) |
|
| 4:33 |
Total length: | 63:22 |
No. | Title | Producer | Length |
---|---|---|---|
17. | "You're the Best Thing About Me" (U2 vs. Kygo) | 4:16 | |
Total length: | 67:38 |
No. | Title | Producer | Length |
---|---|---|---|
18. | "The Blackout" (Jacknife Lee Remix) | Lee[c] | 7:18 |
Total length: | 74:57 |
Notes
Personnel
Adapted from the liner notes.[83]
U2
- Bono – vocals
- The Edge – guitars, vocals, keyboards
- Adam Clayton – bass guitar
- Larry Mullen Jr. – drums, percussion
Additional performers
- Andy Barlow – additional keyboards (tracks 1, 9), programming (1), sound design (1)
- Jacknife Lee – additional keyboards (2–3, 5, 11–12), additional guitar (2, 5, 10–12), programming (2–3, 5, 11–12), keyboards (6), additional backing vocals (12)
- Haim – additional backing vocals (2)
- Ryan Tedder – programming/additional programming (3, 6–7), additional backing/background vocals (4, 6–8), keyboards (6), additional guitar (8)
- Brent Kutzle – programming/additional programming (3, 6–7), keyboards/additional keyboards (4, 6), additional guitar/acoustic guitar (6–7)
- Davide Rossi – strings (3, 10)
- Kendrick Lamar – outro (4), intro (5)
- Goshua Usov – additional keyboards (4)
- Jolyon Thomas – additional guitar (4, 9), additional keyboards (4, 9)
- Brandon Collins – string arrangement (6)
- Amy Helman – violins (6)
- Avery Bright – violins (6)
- Betsy Lamb – viola (6)
- Paul Nelson – cello (6)
- Noel Zancanella – additional programming (6)
- Nate Lotz – additional percussion (6)
- Lady Gaga – background vocals (6)
- Steve Wilmot – additional percussion (7)
- Declan Gaffney – additional keyboards (7)
- Julian Lennon – additional background vocals (7)
- Andrew Taggart – additional keyboards (12)
- Paul Epworth – programming (13), additional keyboards (13)
- Dawn Kenny – additional credit (1)
Technical
- Andy Barlow – production (tracks 1, 7), engineering (1), mixing (1), additional production (9–10)
- Jacknife Lee – production (2–3, 5, 10–12), additional production (4, 6, 8), mixing (2, 5, 11–12), engineering (3)
- Ryan Tedder – production (2–4, 6–8, 13), original production (10–11)
- Brent Kutzle – production (2–4, 6–7), additional production (11)
- Steve Lillywhite – production (3–4, 7–8), mixing (3, 8)
- Jolyon Thomas – production (4, 9), additional production (2, 5)
- Alex Bailey – mixing assistance (1), engineering assistance (7, 9)
- Matt Bishop – engineering (2–3, 6, 12), additional engineering (4), mixing assistance (5, 11–12)
- Tyler Spry – engineering (2–4, 6–7, 11)
- Drew Bang – additional engineering (2, 4–5), engineering (9)
- Dave "Squirrel" Covell – engineering assistance/additional engineering assistance (2, 5, 9–12)
- Barry McCready – engineering assistance (2–3, 5, 10–12)
- Matt Bishop – mixing assistance (2), engineering (5, 8, 10–11)
- Rich Rich – engineering (3–4, 6–8, 11, 13)
- Matty Green – engineering (3–4, 7–8), mixing assistance (8)
- Christopher Henry – additional engineering (3, 6–7), engineering assistance (4, 8, 11)
- Richard Rainey – additional engineering (3)
- Greg Clooney – additional engineering (3)
- Gosha Usov – engineering assistance (3–4, 7–8)
- Alan Kelly – engineering assistance (3)
- Kelana – mixing (3)
- Tom Elmhirst – additional mixing (3), mixing (4, 6–7, 9–10, 13)
- Brandon Bost – mixing assistance (3–4, 6, 9–10, 13), engineering (6, 9, 13), additional mixing assistance (7)
- Declan Gaffney – additional engineering (4, 10, 13), additional production (5), engineering (7, 11), additional mixing (7)
- Doug Sarrett – additional engineering (6)
- Aleks Von Korff – engineering assistance (7–8, 10)
- Paul Epworth – production (13)
- Matt Wiggins – engineering (13)
Charts
Weekly charts
|
Year-end charts
|
Certifications
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
Austria (IFPI Austria)[203] | Gold | 7,500‡ |
Belgium (BEA)[204] | Gold | 10,000‡ |
Canada (Music Canada)[205] | Gold | 40,000‡ |
Denmark (IFPI Danmark)[206] | Gold | 10,000‡ |
France ( SNEP)[207]
|
2× Platinum | 200,000‡ |
Germany (BVMI)[208] | Gold | 100,000‡ |
Italy (FIMI)[209] | 2× Platinum | 100,000* |
Poland (ZPAV)[210] | Gold | 10,000‡ |
Portugal (AFP)[211] | Gold | 7,500^ |
Spain (PROMUSICAE)[212] | Gold | 20,000‡ |
United Kingdom (BPI)[213] | Gold | 100,000‡ |
* Sales figures based on certification alone. |
References
- ^
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- MacDonald, Landon (1 December 2017). "Review: U2, Songs of Experience". Pretty Much Amazing. Archived from the original on 18 August 2018. Retrieved 3 June 2018.
- ^ Armstrong, Megan (1 November 2017). "U2 Reveal Details Of New Album 'Songs Of Experience' and Announce 2018 North American Tour". Billboard. Archived from the original on 1 November 2017. Retrieved 1 November 2017.
- ^ "U2 Release New Album Songs Of Experience". Island Records. 30 November 2017. Archived from the original on 5 December 2017. Retrieved 3 December 2017.
- ^ a b "Alternative > Future Releases". All Access Music Group. Archived from the original on 3 January 2018. Retrieved 25 January 2018.
- ^ a b "Triple A > Future Releases". All Access Music Group. Archived from the original on 13 April 2018. Retrieved 15 April 2018.
- ^ "U2 Share Four Different Remixes Of Their Song 'Summer Of Love' In A New EP". Uproxx. 10 August 2018. Archived from the original on 25 November 2020. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
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External links
- Songs of Experience on U2.com