Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Steve Stockman on "the hurting heart" of the mid-album songs in U2's "Songs of Innocence"

 "a heart that is broken/is a heart that is open" -U2, Cedarwood Road


Steve Stockman writes:

One of the things that stands out on this new U2 record is the personal raw emotion of the songs. The heart of the record is where the hurt is, to paraphrase an old Bono line. From Iris (Hold Me Close) to Cedarwood Road we are on a 4 song sequence that is a painful journey from tragic personal loss to the door that opened for redemption to be found. I believe it to be the heart of the album. To record an album of songs of youth is nothing new to U2. 
"Boy" was exactly that but it was actually written in their youth as they left the exit door from adolescence. These songs have been thirty five years in the bubbling, brooding and making sense of. Where the other songs on Songs Of Innocence are also crucial building blocks that made Bono a man, this little section from Iris to Cedarwood Road are the trauma, the deepest fault lines of Bono’s shaping. Song For Someone is also a crucial building block but let us work through Iris to Cedarwood Road and get back to there.  link
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complete series:

 

IRIS TO CEDARWOOD ROAD - THE HEART OF U2's SONGS OF INNOCENCE PT 1

IRIS TO CEDARWOOD ROAD - THE HEART OF U2's SONGS OF INNOCENCE PT 2

FROM IRIS TO CEDARWOOD ROAD - THE HEART OF U2's SONGS OF INNOCENCE PART 3 -

FROM IRIS TO CEDARWOOD ROAD - THE HEART OF U2's SONGS OF INNOCENCE, PART 4

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