Songs Of Surrender

U2

Songs Of Surrender

Latest album from Irish rock band featuring acoustic or reimagined versions of 40 songs from their back catalogue produced by The Edge

ADM rating[?]

5.6

Label
Island
UK Release date
17/03/2023
US Release date
17/03/2023
  1. 8.0 |   Rolling Stone

    On Songs of Surrender, he reminds you these are sturdy songs that can be rethought without any sonic window dressing.
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  2. 8.0 |   Mojo

    Ultimately, it may be a watershed moment. By stripping it all back down, in some ways, they’re bigger. Print edition only

  3. 8.0 |   Uncut

    The highlights are splendid: a brass-embellished "Red Hill Mining Town", a languid piano-led "Beautiful Day", a near-calypso "Miracle of Joey Ramone". Print edition only

  4. 8.0 |   Clash

    This is a stunning showcase of milestone moments and more from the Irish quartet. It’s a touching journey reflecting on how the four boys changed into men and changed the world through the power of music at the same time
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  5. 7.0 |   XS Noize

    In the U2 discography of in-between studio album releases; Zooropa, is the very best of its kind, Unfortunately, Songs of Surrender is the most disappointing of U2’s efforts in this category
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  6. 6.0 |   NME

    "Reimagining and re-recording" 40 U2 tracks sounded like an arduous task for both the band and their fans — thankfully, there are some gems to be found
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  7. 6.0 |   The Guardian

    In a typically grand gesture, 40 songs are picked by the band for muted acoustic treatments, with varying degrees of success
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  8. 5.7 |   Pitchfork

    Spearheaded by the Edge, this collection of stripped-down, re-imagined U2 songs is a frustrating missed opportunity
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  9. 5.0 |   No Ripcord

    U2’s songs certainly are malleable. They’re also not as impossible to play as Dylan suggested. But the biggest issue with Songs of Surrender is that U2 often fail to be malleable enough to truly stretch their wings and radically reshape these tracks
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  10. 5.0 |   PopMatters

    U2’s sense of surprise was exchanged for maddeningly consistent predictability in their later career, and ‘Songs of Surrender’ sounds how you think it would
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  11. 4.0 |   The Independent

    Most of these lo-fi reimaginings only make you miss the original more
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  12. 4.0 |   The FT

    The band revisit their back catalogue with varying degrees of success
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  13. 3.5 |   Spectrum Culture

    Songs of Surrender is tailor-made to be forgotten, to flow in one ear and out the other before passing into nothingness as you scroll through Spotify for the real, better versions of these songs
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  14. 2.0 |   The Arts Desk

    It’s singing as pro wrestling
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