Found this review on amazon for Passengers...
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
16 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
An open letter to U2, December 1, 2005
Reviewer: J. GARRATT "jgarratt" (Columbus, Ohio United States) - See all my reviews
Hey, members of the group Passengers, particularly Bono, the Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr.: I have an idea. Go back to your mansions and try to find where you hid your copy of "Original Soundtracks 1." Remember that album? If you don't, shame on you. Go on, go through your walk-in sunglasses closets and see if you can find it. Now, pop it in the CD player.
Now, as it plays, can you remember how unrestricted you felt at the time you made it? You guys had it all: a huge canvas and an unlimited amount of colors with which to paint. You had Brian Eno in the same room encouraging you to take advantage of these tools AND helping you write and perform all of the songs. The sound just seemed to flow without resistance, and you know what else? It's ten years old! Yet it sounds as fresh as it did the day it was released. And all the while, there was no one there to wag their finger at you and scold you for not sounding enough like U2. Ten years ago, you realized that idea was rubbish. Now...?
Bono, listen to the song "Slug." Do you hear how your lyrics were more abstract? You gave us a better picture of things without saying too much. And with all of this subtlety, you didn't feel the need to explain everything to death. "Elvis Ate America," what on earth is the point of that song? I don't know, and I prefer not to know. "Your Blue Room" is a tease: keep it that way. Give our imaginations a chance again, like you did with "Zooropa" and "Original Soundtracks 1."
Mr. Edge, pay attention to "United Colours." Now listen to "Miss Sarajevo" and "Your Blue Room." Very different style you were attacking, weren't you? Yet you sounded like no one else. What's even more fascinating was that you didn't even sound like the Edge from long ago. You realized that you didn't have to recreate the beginning riff of "Where The Streets Have No Name" or "With Or Without You" every time you picked up your guitar. Instead you were running down a path were even the young guys couldn't keep up with you. And it was exhilarating. But you have since traded your big, wide canvas and paint brushes for a coloring book and some crayons.
All of you guys, listen to "Miss Sarajevo." Notice how is pulsates, how it drives creativity into the listening mind without being outwardly adventurous. Listen to the sly chords and how they slink around one another to a most dreamy force, marking your band's artistic peak. Listen to "One Minute Warning." Hear how cool all of that noise is in the beginning? Hear how that vocoder is more scary and modern than it is clich? Do you even remember how cool it was to record the ending of that song?
A special note to Larry Mullen Jr.: shut up. Yeah, you were bored with the Passengers album, but no one cares. You are an expendable member of the band and you really ought to go with the creative flow instead of settling for second best so that you can keep fans happy. I've heard what you did on "Original Soundtracks 1," and you were pretty good. But it's unfinished business. Time to make peace with your creative side.
Adam Clayton: all I can really tell you at this point is to talk some sense into your band mates. Help them realize that there is a difference between making "art" and making jingles for iPod commercials. You and your bad have come so far, you need to keep pushing further. We need to know what's on the other side of pop music and you guys were leading the way. Then you had to back off, because you're all wimps and you want to be 19 again.
So gentlemen, please, listen to what you were doing 10 years ago. No more of this "How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb" nonsense. "Original Soundtracks 1" may not be flawless, but it shows a creative spark that could've carried you guys far beyond superficial pop stardom. Stop settling for less.
(...)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Haha!