HelloAngel
ONE love, blood, life
[SIMG]http://forum.interference.com/gallery/data//585/11265u218-sml.jpg[/SIMG]
By Jake Olsen
2006.11
Released today, “U218 Singles” is a collection of 18 blockbuster hits from U2’s 11 studio albums, plus two newly-recorded tracks. Retailers will be selling the standalone disc of 18 tracks, or the Limited Deluxe Edition, which includes a bonus DVD featuring U2’s performance in Milan, Italy during the Vertigo tour. As the name of the album implies, the disc features an assortment of hit singles from their nearly 30-year history. To entice fans who purchased U2’s previous “Best Of” compilations, the album also features two new tracks: “The Saints Are Coming,” a compelling and effective collaboration with Green Day, and “Window in the Skies.” The remaining tracks, as recent as “Vertigo” to as vintage as “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” provide the listener with the musical version of U2 History 101.
The First Decade: Birth of a Band
“U218” contains three songs from the band’s first decade: “Pride (In the Name of Love),” “New Year’s Day” and “Sunday Bloody Sunday.” These selections showcase a band in its early youth: idealistic, revolutionary, completely unselfconscious. Said All Music Guide’s Steve Erlewine, “there rarely was a band that believed so deeply in rock's potential for revolution as U2, and there rarely was a band that didn't care if they appeared foolish in the process.” In fact, all three songs deal directly with revolutions or revolutionaries: “Pride” is an homage to civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr; “New Years Day” is a tribute to Lech Walesa and anti-communist Solidarity movement in Poland, and “Sunday Bloody Sunday” remembers Sunday, Jan. 30, 1972, when British paratroopers opened fire on Irish Civil Rights protestors, killing 13. An excerpt from Tristam Lozaw’s “Love, Devotion and Surrender” (reprinted in U2 Magazine, Jun. 1, 1984), provides a glimpse into a baby band’s ideals and hopes and ties the three tracks together:
“About a year ago, Bono started getting interested in Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. and the idea of idea of passive resistance. ‘I realized that you can't be a passive pacifist, you must be an aggressive pacifist. I had to make a strong statement about what was happening, and 'Sunday Bloody Sunday' is that statement. War is not all conflict and violence. Love is still a central theme. 'New Year's Day' is really schizophrenic. It was sparked off by Lech Walesa and Solidarity, yet at the same time it's a love song. Love is always strongest when it's set against a struggle. And even in 'Sunday Bloody Sunday' there's a line 'Tonight we can be as one.' Rock 'n' roll can do in some practical ways what politicians can only do in theory. I really do believe that music has the power to break down barriers.’”
At the time of this quote, 10 years had passed since drummer Larry Mullen Jr.’s seminal “Band Wanted” posting on the Mount Temple Comprehensive School bulletin board. By 1978, the members of the band had already passed through two name changes (first Feedback, then The Hype), a member departure (Dick Evans, The Edge’s brother, decided to leave the band) and their first gig at a school talent show. They were now known as U2. Within two years, this fledgling band had gotten a manager (Paul McGuinness), a deal with Island Records and a new album, "Boy." Three more studio albums were released in this period: "October" (1981), "War" (1983), and "The Unforgettable Fire" (1984) each more popular than the last. "The Unforgettable Fire" brought U2 its first Top 10 hit, "Pride (In the Name of Love)," and the album peaked at No. 12 (versus No. 107 achieved by "Boy" in 1980) on the Billboard charts.
The band’s youthful vitality and idealism—apparent in both the studio and during live performances—began to captivate audiences. "Under a Blood Red Sky," recorded in June 1983 at Red Rocks Amphitheater in Denver, became its breakthrough live performance in the United States. (Bono later admitted to Denver audiences during the Vertigo tour that, "things went off for us then.") U2's historic and career-making 10-minute rendition of "Bad" during LiveAid in July 1985 exhibited an impassioned Bono entering the audience, grabbing a fan and embracing her for several minutes as the band played on. U2 fever had begun.
The Second Decade: Birth of a Legend, Burnout and Reinvention
Ten years is a long time for any band to exist, let alone show a consistent ability to create hits. U2's first album of its second decade, 1987's "The Joshua Tree," made the first 10 years look like a warm-up. The album was a phenomenal success commercially, selling over seven million copies in two months, and earned the band Grammy recognition for Best Vocal of the Year and Album of the Year. But, hope and rebellion no longer took center stage. With huge commercial and critical success, U2 found it harder to rebel against the ‘Institution’—suddenly they were the institution, musically anyway. Just reaching pubescence, the band began to ask tougher questions in its lyrics. The "youthful self-belief" the critics found in "Boy" was replaced by "seeds of doubt" as the band tried to "find a sense of hope in desperation," according to Erlewine. In the midst of self-doubt, U2 found itself catapulted to stardom. U2 became the third rock band featured on the cover of TIME (issue date April 27, 1987, “Rock’s Hottest Ticket”), its tour was a huge hit and, within one year, has a successful follow-up album and concert movie, "Rattle and Hum." The 1988 release chronicled the Joshua Tree tour, and added new songs to the U2 canon, such as “Desire” and a duet with Bob Dylan, “Love Rescue Me.” But, by 1989, some fans exited the U2 rollercoaster, claiming weariness with Bono's on-stage soapboxing and a general feeling of U2 overdose. The band, too, paid the price of fame. Bassist Adam Clayton, for instance, was arrested in 1989 for minor drug possession charges. In a Dublin appearance on New Year's Eve, 1989, an exhausted Bono tells the world U2 is going away to "dream it all up again."
The new dream was a new U2, reinvented in 1991's "Achtung Baby." Gone are the politically-charged lyrics and references to Martin Luther King, Jr., replaced by lines permeated with both religious and sexual images set to dark, electronic music. “Achtung Baby” instead, was "introspective" and "emotionally naked," and "replaces political for the personal" (again, Erlewine). Within a month of release, the album ranked number one on the Billboard charts.
U2 capped its second decade with 1993's "Zooropa" and 1995's "The Passengers, Vol. I". Written largely during the Zoo TV tour, "Zooropa" continued to explore territory discovered in "Achtung Baby" and earned the band a Grammy for Best Alternative Album. In the height of experimentation, U2 recorded "The Passengers" with producer Brian Eno. The album was such a departure from the typical U2 sound it was released under a pseudonym. As if to further confuse fans, it was billed as a soundtrack for movies that didn't exist. Needless to say, it failed to please fans (it peaked at No. 52) and some members of the band, namely Mullen. Here was a U2 in its late teens, pushing boundaries, experimenting and even rebelling against the labels it previously enjoyed.
Such a momentous decade deserves ample representation on a retrospective album, and “U218” doesn’t disappoint. Six tracks are reserved from this era: “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For,” “With or Without You,” “Mysterious Ways,” “Where the Streets Have No Name,” “One” and “Desire.” These six tracks contain the elements of an adolescent U2’s diary entry: doubt (“Still Haven’t Found”), exposure (“With or Without You”), bitterness and disharmony (“One”), even addiction and ambition (“Desire”).Yes, you read correctly. The haunting melodies and seemingly romantic themes of “One” belie an underlying feeling of disharmony. According to a GQ Magazine article, “Gold In the House,” Bono tapped emotions that run contrary to what the title would suggest. “This much he knows: the Dalai Lama had asked U2 to participate in a festival called ‘Oneness.’ Having sensed the unsavoury whiff of hippiedom, Bono sent back a note saying, ‘One -- but not the same.’ Unconsciously, this became his hook. As the melody flowed, he was thinking about untouchable sadness, disharmony and disease and relationships that end too soon. Within half an hour, they had recorded the bare bones of what Noel Gallagher now calls "the greatest song ever written."
The Third Decade: Reality Check and Rebirth
In 1997 U2 released its ninth studio album, "Pop." Seemingly a culmination of the experimentation and reinvention of "Achtung Baby" and "Zooropa," "Pop" leaned heavily on techno-inspired dance tunes and electronic loops. The follow-up tour, Popmart, was the second-highest grossing tour in the United States that year, earning the band $79.9 million. It was a glamorous, glitzy stadium tour, filled with costumes, massive sets and a giant, lemon-shaped mirrorball. In spite of its massive numbers, Popmart nearly bankrupted the band. Since its release, "Pop" has become the band's most heavily criticized album, and Popmart seems to be the whipping boy for later tours--a lesson in what not to do. U2 felt its audience slipping away, and Bono noted in a later interview his frustration at seeing so many getting up for popcorn in the middle of a song.
As if to capitalize on the unexpressed yearn for the U2 of yore, Island Records released "The Best of 1980–1990/B-Sides" in 1998. This compilation gathered U2 hits from its first recorded decade and, for a limited time, coupled it with hard-to-find B-sides. It seemed to hit a vein with retro-starved U2 fans and peaked at a reasonable No. 2 on the Billboard charts. With fans frustrated by the new and hungry for the old, it was time to rediscover classic U2.
Enter "All That You Can't Leave Behind," U2's first album in the new millennium. Paired once again with longtime producers Steve Lillywhite (from "Boy" and "War") and Daniel Lanois ("The Unforgettable Fire," "The Joshua Tree" and "Achtung Baby"), "All That You Can't Leave Behind" blended classic U2 with tricks it learned during the experimentation of the 90s. According to Erlewine, the album was "an effort to construct a classicist U2 album … [but is] a rock record from a band that absorbed all the elastic experimentation, studio trickery, dance flirtations, and genre bending of ‘Achtung,’ ‘Zooropa,’ and ‘Pop’—all they've shed is the irony." The follow-up tour, Elevation, struck a poignant chord with a world reeling from the 9/11 attacks on the United States. The tour grossed nearly $110 million, making it the second-most successful tour in history, right behind the Rolling Stones' 1994 Voodoo Lounge Tour. U2 raised its head from a decade of doubt and cynicism and found a "Beautiful Day." U2 (Bono especially) found itself even more active in the political arena, raising money and awareness for AIDS and poverty in Africa.
2005 marked the end of U2's third decade as a band. Since 2000, it has released another "Best of" compilation and a full studio album, the Grammy award-winning powerhouse "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb.” This album can be described as the portrait of U2 as an adult band. It's seen a rapid rise to fame, struggled through growing pains, experimented with its own craft and seems to have married its youthful days with its experience. The lyrics are intensely personal—"Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own" was sung by Bono at his father's funeral—and family minded—"Miracle Drug" compares the scent of freedom to that of a newborn baby’s head, and “Original Of the Species” was inspired by the daughters of the band members. At the same time, Bono has said that this is "their first album," an attempt to turn back the clock. Like many people do when they hit 30, U2 was looking back over its life with nostalgia and maybe a little regret. And arguably, even a wish to be young again.
This third decade finds representation on “U218” with seven songs: “Beautiful Day,” “Vertigo,” “Stuck in a Moment You Can’t Get Out Of,” “Walk On,” “Elevation,” “Sometimes You Can’t Make it On Your Own,” and “Sweetest Thing.” The inclusion of “Sweetest Thing” best represents a reminiscent U2. “Sweetest Thing,” originally released as a B-side to “Where the Streets Have No Name” in 1987, was re-recorded by the band for the “Best Of 1980 – 1990” compilation album and released as a single that same year. “Beautiful Day” and “Sometimes You Can’t Make it On Your Own” seem to best reflect a band that has experienced victory and defeat—great gain and great loss. As exhilarating as it is, “Beautiful Day,” when explained by Bono, sounds most like a man who has survived a mid-life crisis—someone who has lost it all, and awakes to find a “Beautiful Day.” In an interview with MTV news in January 2001, Bono quipped, “It's just an up idea, that you can lose everything, and somehow find yourself, you know. And, you know, you can lose your girlfriend, your house; everything's going wrong. And the character in the song is just, he never felt better (laughs).” Bono reflects on his great loss with “Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own,” which he first sang at the funeral of his father, Bob Hewson. Adulthood is no more evident than for a person at his own parent’s funeral, and Bono chose the song as a way to express his loneliness, remember his father and a relationship that didn’t always see eye to eye. As he explained in a June 2005 radio interview with Dave Fanning, “But I thought, that's why I'm in a band, is that sense of abandonment, and I thought, aloneness, which is what the song's about, ‘Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own.’ I thought, that’s why I'm in a band. And I turned around and I sang it to the band last night and I thought about my father. ”
The Fourth Decade: Uncharted Territory
The four members of U2 have been collaborating and making music now for 32 years, its fourth decade of creating music together. It's impossible to say what the future holds but we can try and guess based on what we know about “U218” and the two new tracks produced by Rick Rubin at London’s famed Abbey Road studios, “The Saints Are Coming” and “Window in the Skies.” Firstly, “U218” is U2’s final release under the Island label. Future U2 albums will be released under Universal Music Group’s Mercury label. This switch is likely what prompted Island/Interscope to produce “U218” as an attempt to further tap U2’s works commercially. Also, we know that U2 is going strong and still crusading. “The Saints are Coming,” a collaboration with Green Day, will help pay for Music Rising, an organization committed to replacing musical instruments lost to Hurricane Katrina. As mainstream as they are, Green Day still represents a punk/alternative element—much like an early U2. The collaboration with Green Day not only gives a nod to U2’s post-punk roots, it also shows a sincere desire to make inroads with different audiences. This collaboration also continues U2’s trend of unlikely partnerships, much like its recent work with Mary J. Blige and her cover of “One.” These collaborations seem to indicate U2’s desire to expand its already massive fan base, while at the same time experimenting with new sounds and genres. “Window in the Skies” shows how the band will continue to experiment within its music, and sounds unlike anything they’ve released before—with strings supporting The Edge’s guitar and an almost disco sound. Still, with a title as exalted as “Window in the Skies,” there’s every reason to set our hopes high and get ready for the best the band has to offer in the decade to come.
Tracklisting for “U218 Singles”:
1. Beautiful Day
2. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
3. Pride
4. With Or Without You
5. Vertigo
6. New Years Day
7. Mysterious Ways
8. Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of
9. Where The Streets Have No Name
10. Sweetest Thing
11. Sunday Bloody Sunday
12. One
13. Desire
14. Walk On
15. Elevation
16. Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own
17. The Saints Are Coming
18. Window In The Skies
By Jake Olsen
2006.11
Released today, “U218 Singles” is a collection of 18 blockbuster hits from U2’s 11 studio albums, plus two newly-recorded tracks. Retailers will be selling the standalone disc of 18 tracks, or the Limited Deluxe Edition, which includes a bonus DVD featuring U2’s performance in Milan, Italy during the Vertigo tour. As the name of the album implies, the disc features an assortment of hit singles from their nearly 30-year history. To entice fans who purchased U2’s previous “Best Of” compilations, the album also features two new tracks: “The Saints Are Coming,” a compelling and effective collaboration with Green Day, and “Window in the Skies.” The remaining tracks, as recent as “Vertigo” to as vintage as “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” provide the listener with the musical version of U2 History 101.
The First Decade: Birth of a Band
“U218” contains three songs from the band’s first decade: “Pride (In the Name of Love),” “New Year’s Day” and “Sunday Bloody Sunday.” These selections showcase a band in its early youth: idealistic, revolutionary, completely unselfconscious. Said All Music Guide’s Steve Erlewine, “there rarely was a band that believed so deeply in rock's potential for revolution as U2, and there rarely was a band that didn't care if they appeared foolish in the process.” In fact, all three songs deal directly with revolutions or revolutionaries: “Pride” is an homage to civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr; “New Years Day” is a tribute to Lech Walesa and anti-communist Solidarity movement in Poland, and “Sunday Bloody Sunday” remembers Sunday, Jan. 30, 1972, when British paratroopers opened fire on Irish Civil Rights protestors, killing 13. An excerpt from Tristam Lozaw’s “Love, Devotion and Surrender” (reprinted in U2 Magazine, Jun. 1, 1984), provides a glimpse into a baby band’s ideals and hopes and ties the three tracks together:
“About a year ago, Bono started getting interested in Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. and the idea of idea of passive resistance. ‘I realized that you can't be a passive pacifist, you must be an aggressive pacifist. I had to make a strong statement about what was happening, and 'Sunday Bloody Sunday' is that statement. War is not all conflict and violence. Love is still a central theme. 'New Year's Day' is really schizophrenic. It was sparked off by Lech Walesa and Solidarity, yet at the same time it's a love song. Love is always strongest when it's set against a struggle. And even in 'Sunday Bloody Sunday' there's a line 'Tonight we can be as one.' Rock 'n' roll can do in some practical ways what politicians can only do in theory. I really do believe that music has the power to break down barriers.’”
At the time of this quote, 10 years had passed since drummer Larry Mullen Jr.’s seminal “Band Wanted” posting on the Mount Temple Comprehensive School bulletin board. By 1978, the members of the band had already passed through two name changes (first Feedback, then The Hype), a member departure (Dick Evans, The Edge’s brother, decided to leave the band) and their first gig at a school talent show. They were now known as U2. Within two years, this fledgling band had gotten a manager (Paul McGuinness), a deal with Island Records and a new album, "Boy." Three more studio albums were released in this period: "October" (1981), "War" (1983), and "The Unforgettable Fire" (1984) each more popular than the last. "The Unforgettable Fire" brought U2 its first Top 10 hit, "Pride (In the Name of Love)," and the album peaked at No. 12 (versus No. 107 achieved by "Boy" in 1980) on the Billboard charts.
The band’s youthful vitality and idealism—apparent in both the studio and during live performances—began to captivate audiences. "Under a Blood Red Sky," recorded in June 1983 at Red Rocks Amphitheater in Denver, became its breakthrough live performance in the United States. (Bono later admitted to Denver audiences during the Vertigo tour that, "things went off for us then.") U2's historic and career-making 10-minute rendition of "Bad" during LiveAid in July 1985 exhibited an impassioned Bono entering the audience, grabbing a fan and embracing her for several minutes as the band played on. U2 fever had begun.
The Second Decade: Birth of a Legend, Burnout and Reinvention
Ten years is a long time for any band to exist, let alone show a consistent ability to create hits. U2's first album of its second decade, 1987's "The Joshua Tree," made the first 10 years look like a warm-up. The album was a phenomenal success commercially, selling over seven million copies in two months, and earned the band Grammy recognition for Best Vocal of the Year and Album of the Year. But, hope and rebellion no longer took center stage. With huge commercial and critical success, U2 found it harder to rebel against the ‘Institution’—suddenly they were the institution, musically anyway. Just reaching pubescence, the band began to ask tougher questions in its lyrics. The "youthful self-belief" the critics found in "Boy" was replaced by "seeds of doubt" as the band tried to "find a sense of hope in desperation," according to Erlewine. In the midst of self-doubt, U2 found itself catapulted to stardom. U2 became the third rock band featured on the cover of TIME (issue date April 27, 1987, “Rock’s Hottest Ticket”), its tour was a huge hit and, within one year, has a successful follow-up album and concert movie, "Rattle and Hum." The 1988 release chronicled the Joshua Tree tour, and added new songs to the U2 canon, such as “Desire” and a duet with Bob Dylan, “Love Rescue Me.” But, by 1989, some fans exited the U2 rollercoaster, claiming weariness with Bono's on-stage soapboxing and a general feeling of U2 overdose. The band, too, paid the price of fame. Bassist Adam Clayton, for instance, was arrested in 1989 for minor drug possession charges. In a Dublin appearance on New Year's Eve, 1989, an exhausted Bono tells the world U2 is going away to "dream it all up again."
The new dream was a new U2, reinvented in 1991's "Achtung Baby." Gone are the politically-charged lyrics and references to Martin Luther King, Jr., replaced by lines permeated with both religious and sexual images set to dark, electronic music. “Achtung Baby” instead, was "introspective" and "emotionally naked," and "replaces political for the personal" (again, Erlewine). Within a month of release, the album ranked number one on the Billboard charts.
U2 capped its second decade with 1993's "Zooropa" and 1995's "The Passengers, Vol. I". Written largely during the Zoo TV tour, "Zooropa" continued to explore territory discovered in "Achtung Baby" and earned the band a Grammy for Best Alternative Album. In the height of experimentation, U2 recorded "The Passengers" with producer Brian Eno. The album was such a departure from the typical U2 sound it was released under a pseudonym. As if to further confuse fans, it was billed as a soundtrack for movies that didn't exist. Needless to say, it failed to please fans (it peaked at No. 52) and some members of the band, namely Mullen. Here was a U2 in its late teens, pushing boundaries, experimenting and even rebelling against the labels it previously enjoyed.
Such a momentous decade deserves ample representation on a retrospective album, and “U218” doesn’t disappoint. Six tracks are reserved from this era: “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For,” “With or Without You,” “Mysterious Ways,” “Where the Streets Have No Name,” “One” and “Desire.” These six tracks contain the elements of an adolescent U2’s diary entry: doubt (“Still Haven’t Found”), exposure (“With or Without You”), bitterness and disharmony (“One”), even addiction and ambition (“Desire”).Yes, you read correctly. The haunting melodies and seemingly romantic themes of “One” belie an underlying feeling of disharmony. According to a GQ Magazine article, “Gold In the House,” Bono tapped emotions that run contrary to what the title would suggest. “This much he knows: the Dalai Lama had asked U2 to participate in a festival called ‘Oneness.’ Having sensed the unsavoury whiff of hippiedom, Bono sent back a note saying, ‘One -- but not the same.’ Unconsciously, this became his hook. As the melody flowed, he was thinking about untouchable sadness, disharmony and disease and relationships that end too soon. Within half an hour, they had recorded the bare bones of what Noel Gallagher now calls "the greatest song ever written."
The Third Decade: Reality Check and Rebirth
In 1997 U2 released its ninth studio album, "Pop." Seemingly a culmination of the experimentation and reinvention of "Achtung Baby" and "Zooropa," "Pop" leaned heavily on techno-inspired dance tunes and electronic loops. The follow-up tour, Popmart, was the second-highest grossing tour in the United States that year, earning the band $79.9 million. It was a glamorous, glitzy stadium tour, filled with costumes, massive sets and a giant, lemon-shaped mirrorball. In spite of its massive numbers, Popmart nearly bankrupted the band. Since its release, "Pop" has become the band's most heavily criticized album, and Popmart seems to be the whipping boy for later tours--a lesson in what not to do. U2 felt its audience slipping away, and Bono noted in a later interview his frustration at seeing so many getting up for popcorn in the middle of a song.
As if to capitalize on the unexpressed yearn for the U2 of yore, Island Records released "The Best of 1980–1990/B-Sides" in 1998. This compilation gathered U2 hits from its first recorded decade and, for a limited time, coupled it with hard-to-find B-sides. It seemed to hit a vein with retro-starved U2 fans and peaked at a reasonable No. 2 on the Billboard charts. With fans frustrated by the new and hungry for the old, it was time to rediscover classic U2.
Enter "All That You Can't Leave Behind," U2's first album in the new millennium. Paired once again with longtime producers Steve Lillywhite (from "Boy" and "War") and Daniel Lanois ("The Unforgettable Fire," "The Joshua Tree" and "Achtung Baby"), "All That You Can't Leave Behind" blended classic U2 with tricks it learned during the experimentation of the 90s. According to Erlewine, the album was "an effort to construct a classicist U2 album … [but is] a rock record from a band that absorbed all the elastic experimentation, studio trickery, dance flirtations, and genre bending of ‘Achtung,’ ‘Zooropa,’ and ‘Pop’—all they've shed is the irony." The follow-up tour, Elevation, struck a poignant chord with a world reeling from the 9/11 attacks on the United States. The tour grossed nearly $110 million, making it the second-most successful tour in history, right behind the Rolling Stones' 1994 Voodoo Lounge Tour. U2 raised its head from a decade of doubt and cynicism and found a "Beautiful Day." U2 (Bono especially) found itself even more active in the political arena, raising money and awareness for AIDS and poverty in Africa.
2005 marked the end of U2's third decade as a band. Since 2000, it has released another "Best of" compilation and a full studio album, the Grammy award-winning powerhouse "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb.” This album can be described as the portrait of U2 as an adult band. It's seen a rapid rise to fame, struggled through growing pains, experimented with its own craft and seems to have married its youthful days with its experience. The lyrics are intensely personal—"Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own" was sung by Bono at his father's funeral—and family minded—"Miracle Drug" compares the scent of freedom to that of a newborn baby’s head, and “Original Of the Species” was inspired by the daughters of the band members. At the same time, Bono has said that this is "their first album," an attempt to turn back the clock. Like many people do when they hit 30, U2 was looking back over its life with nostalgia and maybe a little regret. And arguably, even a wish to be young again.
This third decade finds representation on “U218” with seven songs: “Beautiful Day,” “Vertigo,” “Stuck in a Moment You Can’t Get Out Of,” “Walk On,” “Elevation,” “Sometimes You Can’t Make it On Your Own,” and “Sweetest Thing.” The inclusion of “Sweetest Thing” best represents a reminiscent U2. “Sweetest Thing,” originally released as a B-side to “Where the Streets Have No Name” in 1987, was re-recorded by the band for the “Best Of 1980 – 1990” compilation album and released as a single that same year. “Beautiful Day” and “Sometimes You Can’t Make it On Your Own” seem to best reflect a band that has experienced victory and defeat—great gain and great loss. As exhilarating as it is, “Beautiful Day,” when explained by Bono, sounds most like a man who has survived a mid-life crisis—someone who has lost it all, and awakes to find a “Beautiful Day.” In an interview with MTV news in January 2001, Bono quipped, “It's just an up idea, that you can lose everything, and somehow find yourself, you know. And, you know, you can lose your girlfriend, your house; everything's going wrong. And the character in the song is just, he never felt better (laughs).” Bono reflects on his great loss with “Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own,” which he first sang at the funeral of his father, Bob Hewson. Adulthood is no more evident than for a person at his own parent’s funeral, and Bono chose the song as a way to express his loneliness, remember his father and a relationship that didn’t always see eye to eye. As he explained in a June 2005 radio interview with Dave Fanning, “But I thought, that's why I'm in a band, is that sense of abandonment, and I thought, aloneness, which is what the song's about, ‘Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own.’ I thought, that’s why I'm in a band. And I turned around and I sang it to the band last night and I thought about my father. ”
The Fourth Decade: Uncharted Territory
The four members of U2 have been collaborating and making music now for 32 years, its fourth decade of creating music together. It's impossible to say what the future holds but we can try and guess based on what we know about “U218” and the two new tracks produced by Rick Rubin at London’s famed Abbey Road studios, “The Saints Are Coming” and “Window in the Skies.” Firstly, “U218” is U2’s final release under the Island label. Future U2 albums will be released under Universal Music Group’s Mercury label. This switch is likely what prompted Island/Interscope to produce “U218” as an attempt to further tap U2’s works commercially. Also, we know that U2 is going strong and still crusading. “The Saints are Coming,” a collaboration with Green Day, will help pay for Music Rising, an organization committed to replacing musical instruments lost to Hurricane Katrina. As mainstream as they are, Green Day still represents a punk/alternative element—much like an early U2. The collaboration with Green Day not only gives a nod to U2’s post-punk roots, it also shows a sincere desire to make inroads with different audiences. This collaboration also continues U2’s trend of unlikely partnerships, much like its recent work with Mary J. Blige and her cover of “One.” These collaborations seem to indicate U2’s desire to expand its already massive fan base, while at the same time experimenting with new sounds and genres. “Window in the Skies” shows how the band will continue to experiment within its music, and sounds unlike anything they’ve released before—with strings supporting The Edge’s guitar and an almost disco sound. Still, with a title as exalted as “Window in the Skies,” there’s every reason to set our hopes high and get ready for the best the band has to offer in the decade to come.
Tracklisting for “U218 Singles”:
1. Beautiful Day
2. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
3. Pride
4. With Or Without You
5. Vertigo
6. New Years Day
7. Mysterious Ways
8. Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of
9. Where The Streets Have No Name
10. Sweetest Thing
11. Sunday Bloody Sunday
12. One
13. Desire
14. Walk On
15. Elevation
16. Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own
17. The Saints Are Coming
18. Window In The Skies
