Saracene
Rock n' Roll Doggie VIP PASS
Check out this article. I don't agree with all of it (especially with the author's take on the first four tracks on JT), but I think it's still interesting:
http://www.popmatters.com/music/features/011011-u2.html
My thoughts:
Ok, while I agree that it's a terribly good idea to exit while still at the top, I don't agree with his take on U2's situation right now, namely, that there's no good place for them to go anymore. Somehow I don't think that the entire spectre of sounds and musical styles out there can be reduced to "U2's 80s magic", "disco-rock grooves of the 90s" or the combination of the two.
And while I agree that in some way, ATYCLB is a "retrospection", I think that by reducing it to this simple label, he misses out on many things that make this album so much more than just a fusion of U2's two very different decades: it's themes of death and mortality, Bono's rich, aged textured voice, the overall feeling of maturity that comes from having lived and felt a lot. It is very much a work of 40-year-old men who are not the same bunch of people that made JT and AB years ago, and I don't see why they have to look back and try to replicate the feelings and moods of those 20-somethings, 30-somethings they once were in order to continue to make great music. I don't think he listened to ATYCLB very hard anyway, otherwise he probably wouldn't describe "Stuck in a Moment" as "carefree".
http://www.popmatters.com/music/features/011011-u2.html
My thoughts:
Ok, while I agree that it's a terribly good idea to exit while still at the top, I don't agree with his take on U2's situation right now, namely, that there's no good place for them to go anymore. Somehow I don't think that the entire spectre of sounds and musical styles out there can be reduced to "U2's 80s magic", "disco-rock grooves of the 90s" or the combination of the two.
And while I agree that in some way, ATYCLB is a "retrospection", I think that by reducing it to this simple label, he misses out on many things that make this album so much more than just a fusion of U2's two very different decades: it's themes of death and mortality, Bono's rich, aged textured voice, the overall feeling of maturity that comes from having lived and felt a lot. It is very much a work of 40-year-old men who are not the same bunch of people that made JT and AB years ago, and I don't see why they have to look back and try to replicate the feelings and moods of those 20-somethings, 30-somethings they once were in order to continue to make great music. I don't think he listened to ATYCLB very hard anyway, otherwise he probably wouldn't describe "Stuck in a Moment" as "carefree".