After about 2 hours of searching - bingo. I'll repost for all to enjoy:
Maxpouliot put together the track by track reviews from the first 3 magazines. This one includes the review from Blender/U2.
'Vertigo' (3:07)
NME
The first single, and as you'd expect, it's a corker.
'Vertigo' features a riff from The Edge as big as 'Beautiful
Day', perfectly complementing Bono's cries of "Feeeel!"
throughout the chorus. "Hello, hello, we're in a place called
vertigo", he sings. It's an anthem, probable Number One single
and an electrifying opening to the album.
Q
U2 as garage band. Over power chords, Bono sings about boys
who play rock and roll.
Adam Clayton: "It was originally called Native Son and had a
very different feel. Bono and Edge rewrote it when we started
work with Steve Lillywhite. The bass and drums have a little
bit of Echo & the Bunnymen in there - a nice wink to where we
came from."
Blender
First single, bursting with energy
The Edge: “Rock & roll has to have that feeling of
urgency and I think this has it.”
Adam Clayton: “To me it sounds like it could have been
done in 1980 and yet it has that contemporary feel as
well.”
Uncut
Thundering bass from Adam Clayton, jagged guitar and a punkish
riff that suggests they haven't ignored the rise of The
Strokes et al in the three years since ATYCLB. An anthem to
the more redemptive power of rock'n'roll and gets more epic as
the track goes on and and ends in a dozen triumphant cries of
'Yeah, yeah, yeah!"
'Miracle Drug' (3:54)
NME
After the punky 'Vertigo', 'Miracle Drug' is much slower but
still heavy. "Want to trip inside your head/Spend the day
there", Bono croons. It's a love song with tribal drums and a
massive guitar-led chorus. Could be a single.
Q
The sort of wide-eyed anthem that should by now carry a U2
patent.
Bono: "It started off being about the Irish writer Christopher
Nolan, who was at our school (Nolan, who was born with
cerebral palsy, won the 1988 Whitbread Prize for his
autobiographical novel 'Under The Eyes of the Clock'). But in
a more oblique way it's probably as much about Aids and the
drugs developed to arrest it. I couldn't write specifically
about that without feeling like an idiot."
Blender
Wondrous swooping tune, great story
Bono: “We all went to the same school and just as we
were leaving, a fellow called Christopher Nolan arrived.
He had been deprived of oxygen for two hours when he was
born, so he was paraplegic. But his mother believed he
could understand what was going on and used to teach him
at home. Eventually, they discovered a drug that allowed
him to move one muscle in his neck. So they attached
this unicorn device to his forehead and he learned to
type. And out of him came all these poems that he’d been
storing up in his head. Then he put out a collection
called Dam-Burst of Dreams, which won a load of awards
and he went off to university and became a genius. All
because of a mother’s love and a medical breakthrough.”
Uncut
A slow, echoing start with cello, before Bono's voice
plaintively sings, "I want to trip inside your head, spend a
day there, hear the things you haven't said". The Edge's
guitar takes up a ringing, ascending motif, it's clearly some
kind of love song, although lyrics such as, "love and logic
keep us clear, reason is on our side" might have been lifted
from a Scientology manual.
'Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own' (5:02)
NME
After two all-out rock numbers, 'Sometimes....' is the first
ballad. Backed by simple chiming guitar and drums reminiscent
of 'Where The Streets Have No Name', Bono sings "You don't
have to put up a fight/You don't always have to be
right....let me take some of the punches for you tonight". The
feel is a lot like REM's 'Everybody Hurts'.
Q
Bono on his father's death. As stately and emotive as One.
Bono: "There's a line, 'You're the reason I have the operas in
me.' My old man was a beautiful tenor. He was this
working-class guy who loved opera. He used to sit conducting
the stereo with knitting needles."
Blender
Bono’s heart-wrenching love letter to his dad
Clayton: “Bono’s grieving for his father. It’s such a
personal song.”
The Edge: “We actually sang it at his dad’s funeral.”
Uncut
Written for Bono's father and sung at his funeral. Like a
companion for 'One', it starts slow and hauntingly but builds
dramatically, until Bono breaks into a shimering falsetto:
"It's you when I look into the mirror". It ends in a crescendo
of visceral emotion before being stripped back down to a
heartbeat. Both uplifting and heart-rendering, and despite the
personal nature of the subject the effect is universal.
'Love and Peace or Else' (4:47)
NME
An industrial growl and host of Nine Inch Nails-style noises
hide Bono's whispering intro, before the song evolves into a
clapalong, glammy chorus "Give me love and peace", Bono sings.
It's the first hint of his political side, with references in
to "troops on the ground". A thumping bassline makes it all
sound a bit like Black Rebel Motorcycle Club.
Q
As close as U2 have come to being Led Zeppelin
The Edge: "I'm delighted about this one. It's been around
since the last record. All we had was an amazing keyboard part
of Brian (Eno)'s and a rhythm section Larry and Daniel
(Lanois) had worked up. I fought for hours trying to figure
out what to do with this fantastic raw track. We cracked it
this time."
Blender
Like Led Zeppelin playing rockabilly — in a dumpster
Clayton: “The scary bass sound you hear on that isn’t
actually me. It’s name is Brian.”
The Edge: “The solo comes from a very deep and dark
place. You wouldn’t want to go there.”
Uncut
U2's own Middle East peace initiative, apparently, with lyrics
telling the "daughters of Zion" and "sons of Abraham" to "lay
down your guns". Musically there's so much happening: it
starts with a rumbling, half-hearted sound like distant
gunfire before a raw blues riff takes over, The Edge
eventually pushing it into the realm of heavy metal. Then it
ends with some martial drumming from Larry Mullen and
spiraling guitar, as Bono repeatedly intones, "Where is the
love?"
'City of Blinding Lights' (5:44)
NME
The second Big Stadium moment. Pretty piano opens the song,
which sounds like an updated 'With or Without You', Bono's in
reflective mood, singing, "The more you see, the less you
know".
Q
Back to the wide-open terrain of The Unforgettable Fire, via a
vintage Edge motif.
Bono: "It's a New York song. About going there for the first
time. We were the first band to play Madison Square Gardens
after 9/11. During Where the Streets Have No Name the house
lights came up and there were 20,000 people in tears. It was
beautiful."
Blender
Vintage U2: rich imagery, driving guitars
Clayton: “This began as an outtake from Pop. To us, it
was an homage to Scott Walker. The working title was
‘Scott Walker’.”
Uncut
At almost six minutes, the longest track on the album. It
opens with guitar effects and surprisingly, tinkling keyboard
melody before the rhythm builds into something more insistent,
beautiful but slightly sinister. Blessed with one of those
great, whoosing, "whoa-whoa-whoa" choruses and an
irrepressible hook. ("Oh you look so beautiful tonight in the
city of blinding lights"), much of the rest of the lyric ("the
more you see the less you know") has a similarly Zen quality
to George Harrison's "The Inner Light".
'All Because of You' (3:37)
NME
'Achtung Baby'-era guitars back one of Bono's most
confessional songs ever. "I'm not broke but you can see the
cracks", he sings. The lyrics suggest that he may walk the
corridors of the UN, meet with Presidents and be able to call
the Pope on his mobile, but sometimes he'd just like to be
simple old Paul Hewson.
Q
Three minutes of gleeful stomping and a likely single. Sample
lyric: "I like the sound of my own voice."
Adam Clayton: "Often when we have something which is straight
rock it never goes anywhere - we just keep churning it around.
But this was one or two takes."
Blender
The Edge re-finds the Riff
Clayton: “It could be about God, it could be about your
father or your friends. Or the audience.”
The Edge: “Life would be so much simpler if you didn’t
know what you knew. I think it’s about that, in a way.”
Uncut
With a guitar riff somewhere between "Jumpin' Jack Flash" and
The Who's "Substitute", the most '60s sounding U2 since
"Gloria", complete with freak-out guitar coda. And is the
touch of self mockery as Bono sings, "I like the sound of my
own voice, I didn't give anyone else a choice"?
'A Man and a Woman' (4:25)
NME
If the first half of the record is direct, simple rock, from
here on in it gets more chilled. 'A Man and a Woman' is the
last of the straight-ahead rock numbers dealing with similar
themes of lost love.
Q
Motown by way of The Rolling Stones' 'Waiting on a Friend'
Bono: "The sound of sitting on a stoop in New York in the
summer. I wanted a song that rolled up The Clash and Marvin
Gaye into one."
Blender
U2 go motown, in a smoochy kinda way
Bono: “I always thought if we could get this one right,
it would make you feel like you were in New York City
sitting on the stoop, hearing it coming out of taxi cabs
on a hot summer evening.”
Clayton: “The ladies will love it.”
Uncut
Opens with acoustic guitar and vibrating bass, then adds
strings and becomes a floating ballad with a luminous, summery
chorus. "I could never understand the mysterious distance
between a man and a woman," Bono croons a song that sounds as
though it should be a theme to an epic Hollywood movie.
'Crumbs From Your Table' (4:57)
NME
Compared to 'Vertigo' and 'All Because of You', 'Crumbs...' is
one of the more understated songs on the album. Could probably
have been a B-side.
Q
The Edge breaks out I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking
For's ringing guitar. Bono rails at the Aids crisis.
Bono: "I went to speak to Christian fundamentalist groups in
America to convince them to give money to fight Aids in
Africa. It was like getting blood from a stone. I told them
about a hospice In Uganda where so many people were dying they
had to sleep three to a bed. Sister Anne, who I mention in the
song, works at that hospice. Her office is a sewer."
Blender
A drunk classic!
The Edge: “It’s actually the only song we’ve ever
successfully worked on when we were completely pissed.
Totally drunk. Around the kitchen table with acoustic
guitars, slurring away.”
Uncut
A gentle opening with a strummed acoustic guitar and chiming
harmonies gives way to a typical mid-tempo U2 riff. The
subject matter is weighty and lines such as "would you deny
for others what you demand yourself?" and "where you live
should not decide whether you live or whether you die" would
appear to have been inspired by Bono's campaign against third
world debt.
'One Step Closer' (3:50)
NME
An ambient-sounding track their old producer Brian Eno would
have been proud of is the stand-out song on the second half of
'How to Dismantle...'. Bono's dejected, or in his words has
"crossed the road from hope", but is resigned to his fate. "A
heart that hurts is a heart that beats", he sings. It'll be
the lighters-in-the-air moment on next year's stadium tour.
Q
Bono ponders the meaning of death over a hushed backdrop
Bono: "Noel Gallacher gave me that line. We were in Birmingham
on the last UK tour. I was telling Noel that my old man had
lost his faith and didn't know where he was going. And Noel
just said (adopts passable Mancunian drawl), Well, he's one
step closer to knowing, isn't he?"
Blender
Sparse splinters of sound and a lonesome search for
faith
Bono: “I was talking to Noel Gallagher [from Oasis]
about my dad, who lost his faith toward the end of his
life. And Noel asked, ‘Does he believe in God?’ And I
said, ‘I don’t think he knows.’ So Noel went, ‘Well,
he’s one step closer to knowing now.’ And I thought,
‘I’m going to write that song…’ ”
Uncut
Starts with an ethereal wash of sound and develops into a
mellow rock ballad with a wasted, late-night vocal. The moody
production recalls Lanois (although it isn't) and there's
touch of the Mercury Rev school of Americana, even before the
pedal steel comes in. "I'm on an island in a busy
intersection", Bono sings at one point in a moody lyric that
finds him stranded "around the corner from anything that's
real". About as intimate as U2 gets.
'Original of the Species' (4:33)
NME
In keeping with the calmer mood of the second half of the
album, 'Original...' has subtle, cinematic strings backing a
pretty piano. It builds into an epic ballad which is classic
U2.
Q
A strident torch song. Contains the lines, "Some things you
shouldn't get too good at/Like smiling, crying and celebrity."
The Edge: "The last time I cried was listening to that song.
It was a song Bono started on the last record about my
daughter Holly. He's her godfather. The lyric became more
universal. About being young and full of doubt about yourself.
He probably won't agree, but I think it has connotations for
Bono, looking back to when he was 20."
Blender
Air-punching chant-along
The Edge: “I had to rewrite the chords for the verse and
it was like killing your children because I loved those
chords.”
Uncut
If George Martin produced U2, it might sound something like
this, with it's "I Am The Walrus" strings and Beatlesque
ambience. "Baby slow down, please stay a child in your heart,"
Bono sings in an intriguing lyric.
'Yahweh' (4:20)
NME
The title is the transliteration of the Hebrew word for the
name of God, so it's appropriate what the closing song is a
plea for peace. "Take these hands, don't make a fist", Bono
sings, "take this mouth, give it a kiss".
Q
Quintessentially U2 - from soaring chorus to a title that
co-opts the Hebrew word for God.
Bono: "I had the idea that no one can own Jerusalem, but
everybody wants to put flags on it. The title's an ancient
name that's not meant to be spoken. I got around it by singing
it. I hope I don't offend anyone."
Blender
Modern hymn with a broadband connection to God
Bono: “This is an usual one. Daniel Lanois played the
mandolin on that song and it just touches it.”
The Edge: “The real key was the bass part because it
underpins the whole song. It’s magnificent.”
Clayton: “Really, it was nothing.”
Uncut
A rock'n'roll prayer, with chiming guitars full of spiritual
metaphors, as Bono invokes God by his ancient Hebrew name,
imploring him to mend the world and restore us to grace.
'Fast Cars' (bonus track)
NME
Unlikely to appear on the UK version of the album, this track
is currently slated for inclusion on the Japanese pressing
only. That's a tragedy for UK U2 fans as it's by far the most
exciting song here. With a distinct Middle Eastern influence
in the music, it's also where the line 'How to Dismantle an
Atomic Bomb' comes from. NME says: put this track on the UK
album!
Q
Bizarrely, U2 come on like the house band in a Morrocan
bazaar.
Bono: "We did this on the very last day in the studio. It was
really just for fun, but it came out so well it'll be an extra
track on the record in some countries."
Blender
Later, another more experimental candidate
entitled “Fast Cars” (“an Irish/Mexican vibe”)
gets evicted, and the album becomes a lean and
lithe 11 tracks.
Uncut
U2 do world music on a Japan-only track destined to become a
collector's item - an exotic, semi-Arabic beat with a touch of
flamenco.
Mercy (6:30?)
Blender
"Mercy", a six and a half minute outpouring of U2 at its most uninhibitedly U2-ish.….becomes what Bono immediately anoints “the best B-side you’ve ever heard.”
