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The Independent

Album: U2
How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, ISLAND
By Andy Gill
19 November 2004


There's something entirely appropriate about Bono appearing once again on the Band Aid single, singing the same line as before, since U2 seem to be stuck in some Time's Arrow-style situation, trapped in a bend of time arcing back towards their origin.

With 2000's All That You Can't Leave Behind, the band in effect turned their back on their Nineties period of sonic exploration, and delivered a more solid, classic-U2 album, studded with strong, memorable cuts such as "Wild Honey", "Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out of", and "Beautiful Day". Now, with How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, the backwards process continues even further: Steve Lillywhite returns as head producer in place of Eno and Lanois, and the album's sound seems to have reverted to something more like their pre-Joshua Tree style. As Bono notes in "All Because of You": "I just arrived; I'm at the door/ Of the place I started out from."

But, crucially, there's nothing here anywhere near as memorable as the aforementioned tracks from the last album. The closest Atomic Bomb gets is the single "Vertigo", and even that sounds like an artificial euphoria - as if the band were deliberately trying to rediscover the drive of their earlier career. All of a sudden, U2 sound tired and washed-out, aping their own former glories in half-cocked anthemic hogwash like "City of Blinding Lights" and "Original of the Species", songs full of facile rhetorical tropes such as: "I want the lot of what you got/ And I want nothing that you're not".

Even the lyrics, it seems, are stuck in some Ouroboros-like circularity, devouring themselves in an orgy of self-negation. "City of Blinding Lights", for instance, opens with Bono observing cryptically, "The more you see, the less you know", and concludes later with the even more cryptic, "The more you know, the less you feel". Which leaves us... where, exactly?

The general drift this time round is more personal than political, with several songs pleading for forgiveness or reconciliation: even when, in "Love and Peace or Else", Bono asks "all your daughters of Zion, all your Abraham sons" to "lay down your guns", he actually turns out to be fretting over some romantic split, rather than the political conflict that immediately springs to mind. None of which would matter a jot, of course, if the music sparked the lyrics to life with the band's characteristic spirit and élan. But the familiar Edge arpeggios sound weary, and it's a dull U2 album indeed on which the most notable musical strategy is the flamencoid chording of "Fast Cars".

No, it simply isn't happening this time. Instead, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb just offers a new benchmark of mediocrity.
24 November 2004 17:59

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Yes, post another one of the poor reviews U2_Guy (out of the many reviews i've read, there are about 3). But before searching out another, maybe you should go back to the "Here it is!!" thread to find your own comments on the album after initial listen and for about the next week. If i remember, there were quite a few :ohmy: faces. Quite a positive reaction. After about a week i guess you somehow decided that it wasn't another Pop and have become a HTDAAB criticizer. Are we to expect another turnaround in the days to come, like with Vertigo?? (Initially he kept criticizing that in every thread possible, but then to my surprise (not really) he changed his mind and now says he likes it.) Maybe you can form your own opinions instead of latching on to others whenever it's convenient, or you feel like playing devil's advocate. :mac:

Cheers,

V
 
VertiGone said:
Yes, post another one of the poor reviews U2_Guy (out of the many reviews i've read, there are about 3). But before searching out another, maybe you should go back to the "Here it is!!" thread to find your own comments on the album after initial listen and for about the next week. If i remember, there were quite a few :ohmy: faces. Quite a positive reaction. After about a week i guess you somehow decided that it wasn't another Pop and have become a HTDAAB criticizer. Are we to expect another turnaround in the days to come, like with Vertigo?? (Initially he kept criticizing that in every thread possible, but then to my surprise (not really) he changed his mind and now says he likes it.) Maybe you can form your own opinions instead of latching on to others whenever it's convenient, or you feel like playing devil's advocate. :mac:

Cheers,

V
Click to expand...

Maybe i'm the John Kerry of this forum... which actually i think is a good thing.
 
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So far I have seen 2 articles in our magazines with the album coming, one dealing with U2's most memorable videos and one has a U2 A-Z kind of thing.

The latter, in the magazine Stop (don't have the link sorry) says only a few lines on the album

"Released on Monday, U2's How to dismantle an atomic bomb is, without a doubt, their strongest album next to Achtung Baby. Full of guitar inputs and memorable ballads, it is only reminiscent of their 90's music at moments."
 
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Review on teletext from VIVA, can't post the link but here is what it says:

"U2 sounds like U2 sounds like U2 again. After the fickle, yet sometimes genious 90's (Achtung Baby), U2 decided to rock again. God, love, politics and caring for each other are the topics as usual.
With the music clicking, U2 avoids any cliches.
Classy."
 
Forgot a few lines in VIVA review

"Bono & Co. found the connection again with ATYCLB, and HTDAAB is a step further. No fear of grand gestures or eternal words."
 
Most of the negative reviews (of which there are not many) seem to be coloured quite obviously when reading them........by the fact that the reviewer doesn't like either BONO and or U2. At least even the glowing reviews have still had some valid critiques whether they be about Bonos sometimes off target lyrics or his over use of certain words (kneel.......grace.....the.....and......it). But if you're going to make a genuine negative review at least back it up with some valid points of view. I'm not saying the positive reviews are all fabulous either......(
 
How embarrassing...........I pressed the submit reply before I finished................Anyway
I was just trying to say that some of the negative reviews are just as crap as some of the positive ones.........I mean did the guy from Q magazine actually listen to the album or was he just filing his nails and typing on autopilot.................I mean what kind of shite was that? Anyway I'll shut up...........:grumpy:
 
Does anyone have the Miami Herald review that was in my paper this morning? I can't find it online and don't want to type it out :huh:
 
A review in one of our biggest newspapers (need to type it because it's printed and not on the internet):
(less stelar than the previous two I posted)

New U2 album: Running away into the bright past

Dublin rock giants released their 12th studio work, How to dismantle an atomic bomb

U2 can praise itself on some excellent albums in their long career, the standouts being the debut Boy, War, The unforgettable fire, The joshua tree and Achtung Baby. The newest How to dismantle... is their 12th studio work, in which, as the previous ATYCLB, they're trying to meet with their past again.

Since the beginning of the 80's they got the attention of the wider audience, especially the politically charged lyrics from their third record War, through to the calm and melancholic UF to the worldwide hit JT that propelled them into the biggest mainstream attractions of the world. U2 in the 80's are a story about a rock band, who unnoticably slipped from underground into quality mainstream, without losing its originality in the least, the originality is based on guitar sound walls from The Edge and Bono's excellent vocals, strenghtened by a solid rhythm section.
Hordes of fans identified with the Dublin four, that started to adapt to the demands of the market of the music industry after the biggest bursts of success. This could be seen on the live/studio album Rattle and Hum, where they flirted with blues, soul and gospel. They did not realise, doing that, that they are losing what they were building from the start - recognisable and original music expression that was based on new vawe legacy.
With the new album U2 want to forget the 90's, when they swayed into dance and club rhythms with technological innovations they could not handle with the flood of new music styles. Instead of sythesizers and other technological effects album is faithful to classic U2: Bono's outstanding vocal and characteristic Edge guitar. Dublin quartet tries to sound as reassuring as possible, with a look into the future, but the flirting with their own past is an obstacle at that.
The things the four used in their most innovative period are hard to repeat without bigger consequences. Compared to those times How to dismantle an atomic bomb is a pale and overly ambitous work without a real punch, energy and warmth. It's repeating the same formula they used on the previous record. This only proves that the rock giants, faced with a horrible lack of inspiration, are trying to awake its bright past.
 
Review from the Winnipeg Free Press

From today's paper:

"U2 How To Dismantle an Atom Bomb (Island/Universal)

After spending two decades running from its own sound, U2 returned to the chiming rock 'n' roll of its '80s heyday with 2000's All That You Can't Leave Behind. Many fans loved it, but there was no denying the cowardice and cynicism involved -- it was far too easy for an "old" U2 to win back the masses.

Happily, How to Dismantle an Atom Bomb took more of an actual effort. Sure, there are more Adam Clayton quarter notes in 4/4 Larry Mullen time, gently distorted Edge guitars and pseudo-spiritual Bono vocals wailed out with all the emotion you've come to expect from Mr. Sunglasses. But these tools are not used to assemble new analogues of Pride in the Name of Love or Where the Streets Have No Name. This time, Bono and his buddies wrote new songs that ring with signature U2 familiarity but don't sound as if they were pre-tested on a series of focus groups.

They rock out convincingly on instant classic All Because of You, re-examine their soulful side on Original of the Species and deliver at least one sugary pop ballad in Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own. Elements of their early '80s rock period and late '80s roots obsession abound.

But like All That You Can't Leave Behind, it's like the '90s never happened, as the band shows very little of its electronic side. And it also shies from politics: The title refers not to any specific world event or crisis, but to the old hippie philosophy of peace and love conquering war and hate. Is that a little simplistic from a band led by a guy who hobnobs with world leaders and campaigns to eliminate developing-nations debt? Hell, yeah. But what Bono does on his own time does not detract from U2's best album in ages. [3.5 / 5]

-- Bartley Kives"

Not a bad review overall, but I question calling 'Sometimes...' a sugary pop ballad. And from what I understood, HTDAAB was a reference to Bono himself. :shrug:
 
Cowardice? Cynisism?

Those aren't even in U2/Bono vocabulary. Looks like another 90's U2 worshipper.

Regarding the last paragraph: if it's so 80's, where are the politics?
Not to mention Bono can't - and probably won't - jump up and write Bullet the blue sky regularly, if he wants to keep all sides with the AIDS work. It'd look kind of silly for a 40+ year olds to start shouting slogans they had in their 20s.
 
From the Burgh...

Forget the goofy iPod ad. At this point, U2 couldn't hope to sound more vital than it does on "Vertigo." And yes, it has a lot to do with a whole generation of hipsters reviving the sound of the '80s just in time. But that's no reason to resist the charms of a song that's undeniably the perfect U2 single for the moment, kicking off the album with an urgent glam-punk swagger (Sonic Youth meets Motley Crue to compare notes on writing the perfect Pistols knockoff), a chorus that soars as high as any old-school U2 anthem and a vocal performance from Bono that seems to have borrowed its phrasing from rap without actually rapping.

But what holds it all together is Steve Lillywhite's production, both revisiting and reinventing U2's classic pre-ironic sound.

It's not much different than the last one, really. But the better songs all have their own identities to help you keep the albums separated in your memory, from the wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am approach of "Vertigo" to the synthesized cello that dims the lights for the second track, "Miracle Drug," a soulful epic fueled by just the sort of overreaching righteousness, spiritual fervor and hamfisted drama that made this band so damn important to fans of "The Joshua Tree" in the Reagan '80s.

"Freedom," Bono tells us, "has a scent like the top of a newborn baby's head."

Now, that's just goofy. But he sells it, and it's nice (although, in truth, it could be argued that the closer people get to tasting freedom in America, the more they're likely to be hit with a scent like the opposite end of a baby).

Much like "All That You Can't Leave Behind," not every track here lives up to the promise of the openers ("Vertigo," "Miracle Drug" and "Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own"). But even in the weaker moments this time, you can generally find at least a table scrap or two of saving grace, even if it's just a quirky production technique -- the chiming breakdown near the end of "Love and Peace or Else," for instance, or the Edge's weird falsetto backing vocals buried in the mix on "A Man and a Woman."

While most highlights here are on the mellow side -- from the acoustic understatement with which you're eased into the aching "Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own" to the haunting, richly textured "One Step Closer" -- the raucous abandon and sheer exhilaration of the band's performance near the end of the garage-punk-flavored "All Because of You" is every bit as life-affirming as the life-affirming lyrics.

And the album rallies at the end, with "One Step Closer" giving way to the soulful grandeur of the album's most arresting track, "Original of the Species," which somehow sounds like old Rod Stewart, Led Zeppelin on "In Through the out Door," '70s soul and U2 all rolled into one. And then, St. Bono goes and signs off with a heartfelt open letter to the big guy, "Yahweh."

3/4
 
You people spend so much time worrying about reviews. While the majority of reviews of the new album have ranged from good to spectacular, in the end they mean nothing.

Look at Zeppelin...their first six albums which now are widely considered classics were butchered by the critics at the time of their releases. But after the release of their boxset, most media organizations (including Rolling Stone) went back and re-critiqued their stuff, raising all of their marks from 1s and 2s to 4s and 5s.

I even recall Achtung...U2's finest... gettting some pretty crummy reviews in some quarters. Only time will tell whether HTTAAB becomes considered a classic.

Cheers
 
Review of album on espn.com

Apparently someone has written a review of the album that also has some sports stuff in it. I just thought it was interesting.
 
and I just realized why looking at all the news on the front page of interference is always a good idea

:wink:
 
wow, it seems as though espn sports analysts make much better u2 reviewers than CNN music analysts (who the heck is this (CNN) guy anyway and why did I just waste my time reading his ponderous article?)
 
from The Onion ... terrific review (hope no one has already posted it):



Advertisement




U2
How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb (Buy It!)
(Interscope)


In the period following U2's discovery of clatter and clang with Achtung Baby, a vocal minority of fans yearned for the clean, classic sound of the band's early days. As exciting as U2's years drawing from the information overload of irony-drenched end-of-the-century pop culture could be, the traditionalists seem to have won out in the end. The 1997 album Pop didn't pop, but 2000's All That You Can't Leave Behind, with its earnest lyrics and sweeping guitar heroics, connected with a fresh take on the group's old style. Sometimes innovation gets overrated, and it's not like the band is all that safe even when playing it safe. Few acts could work on the large scale that U2 favors and not look silly: Nudged a little, The Edge could sound self-indulgent, and it's almost scary how little it would take for larger-than-life, heart-on-his-sleeve frontman Bono to resemble that guy from Live.

Yet in spite of the odds, How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb finds U2 sounding just as passionate as it did on 1980's Boy, and just as committed to converting that passion into sprawling pop songs about God, love, and the world's injustices. Given the times and Bono's ascension to the status of a pop diplomat more likely to be seen with the Pope than Paris Hilton, it would be fair to expect an album loaded with political statements. Instead, they get folded into even bigger themes. Rather than a prophet on a hill, Bono just sounds like some friendly, well-meaning fellow when on "Love And Peace Or Else" he mixes vague talk of Middle East peace into a hope that everyone listening leave the earth with a "wrinkled face and a brand-new heart." "Crumbs From Your Table" begins as a plea to a neglectful lover, then quietly brings the same drama into the geopolitical arena.

The emphasis, however, remains on the human experience, and U2 always has the sound to match. The first single, "Vertigo," summons the nervous feeling of being somewhere late at night where there's too much going on—some of it tempting, some of it frightening, some of it unhealthy, and most of it somewhere in between. An exercise in quietude reminiscent of the Joshua Tree days, "One Step Closer" recalls the death of Bono's father to the accompaniment of what sounds like the first great rock hymn of the 21st century. When "Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own" builds on a slow Adam Clayton bassline, a between-the-notes Larry Mullen drum tap, and a Bono vocal that builds in drama until it explodes with the line "You're the reason why the opera is in me," as The Edge unfurls a muscular, angelic guitar line that only he could play, U2 secures its status as the Biggest Band On Earth, assuming the planet is still big enough to hold it. —Keith Phipps
 
What you all make of this one from Dotmusic..........

Yikes........The negative reviews are stacking up.

U2 - 'How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb'
(Tuesday November 30, 2004 1:23 PM )

As part of our ongoing investigation into Helena Christensen's indie pop credentials (card carrying member of the Arab Strap fan club, huge Belle & Sebastian fan - no we're not joking), LAUNCH found itself watching a BBC4 documentary on the supermodel turned celebrity snapper. In it, our girl revealed that when she photographed Bono, she insisted he remove his ever-present sunglasses. Mr Vox was a little bemused. "Insincerity is hugely underrated," he smirked. As long as he kept his shades on, he argued, he could be as insincere as he liked.

Twenty-four years and over a dozen albums into their career, U2 are now at the point where they're actually at their best when they're the most insincere. Track one, single one, "Vertigo", is an excellent case in point. Riding on a gloriously raw garage riff, chopped out with obvious glee by the man we still have to refer to as The Edge, it's all posture, no substance - all rock'n'roll fun, not a hint of global conscience. Your first thought upon hearing it is that U2 have somehow stumbled into an Indian Adolescence, fired up with testosterone and urgency, and that this is going to be their all-guns-blazing, teaching-the-young-uns-a-trick-or-two, comeback-and-a-half album.

Alas, no. As much as he might like to joke about clasping onto insincerity, Bono just can't help himself. He drips sincerity, oozes it from every over-emoting pore, imbues into every brow-beaten syllable, every trite generalisation and universal chord. And the more sincere he gets, the more prone to cant and cliché his lyricism becomes. "I want to hear you when you call/Do you feel anything at all?" he ponders on "Miracle Drug". "Lay down your guns/All your daughters of Zion/All your Abraham sons" in "Love And Peace Or Else" is his contribution to the Middle East peace process (well that was easy, why didn't anyone think of this before?). It's all so vague, meaning well but contributing little.

Musically, it's either U2 on autopilot, rattling through the epic-lite chiming songwriting style that's launched a thousand melodramatic outsider complexes over the years, or U2 thinking they're being awfully clever and subversive when they're actually nothing of the sort. With "Vertigo", the enjoyment's in hearing a band just having fun. On "Love And Peace Or Else", however, they clearly believe they've mastered the f*cked up blues of PJ Harvey just by whacking on a fuzz pedal and getting a little basic for a second. "City Of Blinding Lights" sounds so desperate to get on the soundtrack for "Lost In Translation 2" (Look! Ennui! Neon lights! C'mon…), it's embarrassing. "What happened to the beauty I had inside of me?" frets Bono, in full ho-hum mode. "All Because Of You" is The Dandy Warhols taking a fag break. "Original Of The Species" sounds like Oasis ripping off Embrace, with neither side coming off well.

There are moments. "A Man And A Woman" is a tender George Michael cover waiting to happen, a surprisingly effective rumination on desire and commitment. "Fast Cars" marries a relentless flamenco with Thom Yorke's information overload/paranoia. And even the songs that seem to be yet more of the same old U2 ("Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own", "Miracle Drug") have a grand sweep that's possible to admire even if there's not much love to speak of.

But mostly this is U2 trying too hard, caring too much, being too insufferably genuine without having anything to be particularly genuine about. Or as Bono himself says: "Some things you shouldn't get too good at/Like smiling, crying and celebrity". And: "Sometimes you can't make it/The best you can do is fake it". If only those shades had stayed on for a little longer.

5 out of 10.

by Ian Watson
 
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