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:lol: Note how much of the supposed new album review is dedicated to U2 - and specifically Bono - bashing.

No credibility whatsoever from those guys.
 
They like it but can't stand the idea of liking a U2 album so they bash it by saying it sounds too much like u2 - but it is better if u2 sounds like u2 and not the experiment like they did during Pop?
Oh and Vertigo is stupid but it's catchy and grows on you:)

correct me if I'm wrong:wink:
 
Talk about overblown. That review was a tad over the top. I love how pitchfork constantly criticizes Bono's lyrics but then always gives 9's and 10's to Yorke for mumbling nonsense most of the time. Still a 6.9 is a pretty good review from them.
 
Re: Pitchfork Review

But "City of Blinding Lights" is the record's climax, and How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb begins its gnawing descent almost immediately, culminating with disastrous closer "Yahweh", a whiny, monotonous mess that's easily one of the worst songs U2 have ever recorded.
Click to expand...

Pitchfork has the most accurate review of this album I have seen, especially the part about "Yahweh." Tied with "The Playboy Mansion" as the most embarrassing thing they have released.
 
The Chicago Sun Times destroyed the album

http://www.suntimes.com/output/entertainment/cst-ftr-u222.html

* 1/2


Atomic dog

November 22, 2004

BY JIM DEROGATIS POP MUSIC CRITIC

Twenty-eight years after forming in Dublin, U2 has become the Rolling Stones. Both superstar acts have larger-than-life frontmen whose posing and preening is both their strength and their weakness. Both boast perpetually cool guitarists who serve as the groups' musical engines, and both have secret weapons in the form of deceptively simple but amazingly powerful drummers.

Unfortunately, both have also long since morphed from vital, creative rock groups into monolithic money machines, giant corporations that turn out new product -- er, albums -- primarily to fuel lucrative tours of the world's enormodomes.

Like 2000's "All That You Can't Leave Behind," U2's heavily hyped 11th studio effort, "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb," which arrives in stores Tuesday, is less of an artistic statement or a significant step forward than a simulation of what some unadventurous fans think a U2 album ought to sound like, and at times it veers obnoxiously close to self-parody.





CD REVIEW
U2

"HOW TO DISMANTLE AN ATOMIC BOMB"

* 1/2







Witness the album opener and first single, "Vertigo," which reeks of formula: Start with a grandiose Edge guitar line that recurs in the bombastic choruses; break it down to some tinkling atmospherics in the quiet verses and oh-so-arty mid-song break, and let Bono wail with great emotion about Jesus, "those bullets [that] rip the sky" and how deeply he feels.

Feels what? That question is never answered in this particular ditty, but you can tell by the way Bono is screaming that he feels something, man. "Whoo-hoo!" and "Turn it up!" he yelps.

Rather than vertigo, the dizzying sensation of the world spinning around you, the song evokes the feeling of deja vu, the sense that you've been here and done this before. My favorite part comes when Bono counts the band in: "Uno, dos, tres, catorce!" In case your Spanish is as bad as his, that translates as, "One, two, three, 14!" And that's as close to a quirky curveball as this long-running group gets in any of these 11 songs.

Looking back at the Rolling Stones' extensive catalog, the most die-hard fan will grant that the group's last great album was 1978's "Some Girls," an effort whose raw energy, brave experimentation and self-deprecating humor was inspired by the punk explosion of the time. For U2, it's been downhill since the one-two punch of 1991's "Achtung Baby" and 1993's "Zooropa," whose raw energy, brave experimentation and self-deprecating humor were inspired by the alternative explosion of the time.

Bono, the Edge, bassist Adam Clayton and drummer Larry Mullen Jr. were prodded to stretch out and challenge themselves on those albums by the arty but populist production team of Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno, and they were rewarded with the strongest efforts of their career. Lanois and Eno are back in some capacity here, but they're overshadowed by the just plain populist production team of Chris Thomas and old mainstay Steve Lillywhite, and a lazy reliance on the old-school approach dominates over any attempts to break out of the U2 mold.

This isn't to say that songs such as "Miracle Drug" and "Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own" -- both resonant of the brilliant "One" -- or "City of Blinding Lights" and "Crumbs From Your Table" -- heavy on "The Joshua Tree" influences -- are devoid of charms. They're just uninspired recreations and inferior simulations of the genuine achievements that preceded them.

As Bono has made abundantly clear in reams of pre-album publicity, the title of the new disc and many of the songs were inspired by his turbulent relationship with his father, who died from cancer in 2001. This experience led him to once again ponder heavy issues such as birth, death, war, peace and the existence of the Almighty, via the album's closer and its pretentious nadir, "Yahweh."

But the singer's musings never rise above the level of fortune-cookie proverbs, and the most honest line in any of his lyrics comes in "All Because of You" when he confesses, "I like the sound of my own voice."

U2's defenders will say it's unfair to allow extramusical factors to taint this album, but we can't avoid the fact that the band has hit a new low with a marketing campaign that outdoes Jessica Simpson's pact with 7-Eleven. The group's ubiquitous TV commercials for Apple and the special-issue iPod containing its entire catalog are cheap, tawdry gimmicks beneath a band of this stature, and while the stars have made a point of saying they didn't take any money for the sponsorship, they certainly haven't said they'll donate their royalties or profits from the tour that begins in March to Third World debt.

Ask yourself: If U2's new music was any good, would the group need to prostitute itself in ads and on the soundtrack to that teen soap opera "The O.C."? Would we have ever taken it seriously if it had done this sort of thing circa "Boy" or "October"?

"Ah, but these are different times!" the faithful protest. Funny, though, how it sounds like we're hearing the same old song.





THE JOKE'S ON BONO

More than any other rock band, U2 has inspired a bounty of jokes, most focusing on Bono. Even the most loyal fans love to laugh at the messianic singer, as evidenced by the Web site www.enjoyu2.com, which features a collection of quips about the star. Here are a few of my favorites.




*At the party after the show, Bono talks all night about U2, his intentions, his lyrics and his interests. He finally feels a little guilty and says to the other guests, "Sorry, enough talk about me and the band. Your turn to talk about yourselves. How do you like our new song?"




*Edge and Bono crash in an airplane and go to heaven, where they see God sitting on the great white throne. God addresses Edge: "What do you believe in?" Edge replies, "I believe in the Gibson Explorer and that if we had made more U2 records, the world would have become a better place." God thinks for a second and says, "I can live with that. Come and sit at my right."
God then addresses Bono: "What do you believe in?" Says Bono: "I believe you're in my chair!"



*
*Q. How many members of U2 does it take to change a light bulb?
A. One; Bono holds the bulb and the earth revolves around him.




*Q. What's the difference between Bono and God?
A. God knows that He is not Bono.




*Q. What's the difference between Bono and Moses?
A. Bono doesn't divide the sea; he walks on it.
Jim DeRogatis*
 
Pitchfork gave HTDAAB a 6.9?

I just checked out their other reviews, and they gave The White Stripes' "Elephant" a 6.9 back in the day as well...

...And that album was nominated for a Grammy for Best Album of the Year.

Hmm...very interesting.
 
dmesq said:
Pitchfork gave HTDAAB a 6.9?

I just checked out their other reviews, and they gave The White Stripes' "Elephant" a 6.9 back in the day as well...

...And that album was nominated for a Grammy for Best Album of the Year.

Hmm...very interesting.
Click to expand...

Yeah, pitchfork is very highbrow/indie/underground/etc. They know what good music should sound like. :eyebrow:
 
Sorry this took so long. Four days befor the bomb drops and my computer decides to blow up. Anyway here's the Hotpress article I mentioned some days ago:

17 Nov 2004

Last night began a momentous chapter for the world’s biggest band. For U2, it was the first live airing and radio/internet broadcast of material from their eleventh studio album, How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb. For those in attendance, it was an opportunity as rare as they come. The location: Dublin, Ireland. More specifically, at the album’s birthplace, in their Hanover Quay studios. Hot Press editor Niall Stokes was in attendance to feel the impact and capture the aftershock.

Part 1

The word had been out for a few days: U2 were doing a gig for the BBC in downtown Dublin. A live slot on the Zane Lowe show, it was happening at the band’s Hanover Quay studios at 8 o’clock, or thereabouts, on the evening of Tuesday, November 16. It was the hottest ticket in town – but then it usually is with the biggest band in the world on their home turf.

The invitation specified to congregate in Harry Crosbie’s house by the river, two doors down from the studio, approximately an hour and a half in advance. Tom Dunne was there. Dave Fanning arrived late. Regine Moylett, the band’s UK PR guru was in town with journalists from NME and The Sun in tow. Brian Boyd from the Irish Times and Eddie Rowley added weight to the media presence. Rita Crosbie greeted people at the front door. From the U2 camp, manager Paul McGuinness, Principle Management MD Stephen Matthews and his assistant Candida Bottaci were busy orchestrating proceedings. A sizeable crew from the BBC was in attendance, including Jo Whiley, who looked resplendent in black.

You could feel the sense of anticipation building in the room. Stephen Matthews buzzed around making sure that everything was going to plan in the studio. The band’s Irish press officer Lindsay Holmes looked at her watch nervously. Even Paul McGuinness, a veteran of so many U2 special occasions, reflected a feeling of mounting anxiety. “This is the first time that any of these songs are being played live,” he said - that the band might just fuck them up, was left unsaid.

***********************************************************

The word came down from above that we were on - well, the band were. The entourage piled out onto Hanover Quay, where fans had gathered in numbers, and slipped through a garage door into a holding area underneath the studio. After a short delay, the go-ahead given, we were directed up a winding staircase to higher ground. “You’re not allowed to look up Jo Whiley’s skirt,” a voice boomed. Not that we’d have dreamed of it...

Edge, guitar in hand, was at his amp, stealing a final few seconds’ preparation. Adam was plucking at the bass. And then they disappeared together into the back room at the far end of the small space. TV cameras moved through the room, picking up the atmosphere, under the watchful eye of the familiar Ned O’Hanlon, director of much of U2’s video, DVD and broadcast output. The sweat began to stream down expectant faces under the hot studio lights. And then they emerged to a round of applause – Larry, Adam, Edge and Bono.

“Broadcasting from Dublin, bubblin’, one, one, one, one,” or words to similar effect. In that unmistakable voice. And then a catch-cry that will become inescapable over the coming months: “Unos, Dos, Tres, Catorce!!!!!” and we were into ‘Vertigo’, a veritable rock’n’roll monster that has already reached number one in five countries, including the UK, as well as officially becoming the most played U2 song ever on American radio.

From where we were located, you could see only the back of Larry’s head, as he laid down the beat with relentless insistence. Adam Clayton had a look of intense concentration. The Edge, around whom so much of what the U2 orchestra achieves, played like a maestro. Facing Larry, and the privileged audience of thirty or so at the same time, Bono was beginning to come into his own. Jo Whiley leant over the barrier at the front like a gorgeous schoolgirl with a crush on the singer. Harry Crosbie pushed his way to the foreground to get the best possible view. Brian Boyd made furious notes. Beside me, Tom Dunne lapped it up – this was no place for looking cool.

‘All Because Of You’ was next and there were a few anxious glances between band members as the adrenalin dipped. But they held firm and the audience went with them, building to an intense climax.

And then came the moment of truth. Edge strummed restlessly among the high notes and Bono talked himself into the zone. “That you should be listening in cars and trains and cities all over...” he said – he didn’t have to specify where or finish the sentence – is a wonderful and a humbling thing!
 
PART 2:

... continued Page 2/3 <prev 1 2 3 next>

It was one of those moments when the electric current that links us everywhere, however tenuously, becomes palpable. All over Britain, people were glued to their radio sets – and from the vantage point of a studio in Dublin you could see them in your mind’s eye and feel the connection made across thousands of miles and into the deepest recesses of houses and bedrooms by the music.

Bono told the story of Christopher Nolan - who developed cerebral palsy as a result of lack of oxygen at birth and couldn’t move a limb as a result - arriving in Mount Temple School, where U2 originally came together, and the difficulties and challenges he faced. He talked about the belief Christopher’s mother had in him and in his potential. He talked about the breakthrough that led to the unicorn-like device that was attached to Christopher’s head – and how, given a way of using a typewriter, Christopher Nolan had begun to work furiously.

“It turned out that he had all these poems in his head,” Bono said. “His first book was called Damburst of Dreams and it only ever happened because of the look in his eye and the faith someone had in him...”

And they did the beautiful ‘Miracle Drug’, a tribute to Christopher, Bono digging in, getting to the heart of the song and Edge playing the plaintive bits on slide to perfection. The applause in the room was stronger this time, and more heartfelt. This was a huge performance.

Bono talked about his father Bob, and his love of opera. ‘Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own’ was written for him, he explained – but there are times that a song turns on itself and becomes something else. And then he sang it...

One of the most immediately memorable tracks on How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb, ‘Sometimes You Can’t Make It...’ is vintage U2. Tonight, Adam and Larry built the foundations. Edge’s guitar was insistent and hypnotic. And over the top, Bono delivered a wonderful vocal, switching effortlessly from a conversational tone to ‘Fool To Cry’ falsetto. A song with a powerful emotional jab-jab-jab, U2 executed it brilliantly, underlining exactly why they are pre-eminent among rock’n’roll bands; they have the melodies and the hooks to match the lyrical depth and integrity of the songs.

Bono complimented the people who had gathered outside – and a cheer rose up from below, who tuned in via speakers beamed onto the street.

‘Beautiful Day’ was the home run. Glorious, powerful, surging, anthemic - it is one of the great pop songs of the past five years and here it was delivered with a sense of final, climactic abandon. The show was over, the day nearly done. It had been a good one. Now, as Bono said, it was going to be quite a night. Hold me, touch me, take me to the higher ground...

On the first floor of the studio in Hanover Quay, we were already there...











***********************************************************

Afterwards, to come back down, the band join the wider gang across in Harry Crosbie’s house for a few drinks.

“Was that OK?” Bono asked Jo Whiley. “We were a bit nervous. We fucked it up a couple of times, but I think we got away with it.” She gives him a kiss, the mutual affection evident in the hug they share before she offers to go get him a drink.

Bono’s in expansive mood, telling yarns about bumping into an Irish guy in an Amsterdam brothel (it’s a complicated story!), and talking about the Dutch painter and singer Herman Brood and Philip Lynott – both heroin addicts.

“Do you know why I hate indie snobbery so much?” he asks. “Because I had it!” And he talks about how much he regrets the fact that he didn’t respond as well as he might have done to Philo, when they lived a couple of doors from one another in Howth in the early ‘80s.

“He’d say, ‘Hey, Bono, do you want to come to dinner?’ and I’d say noooo thanks,” he recalls. It was the aura of heroin addiction, and the suggestion of neglect, which went with it that freaked Bono. It’s an aspect of rock’n’roll he could never relate to.
 
PART 3:

... continued Page 3/3 <prev 1 2 3 next>

“Nobody falls harder than our heroes,” he says, “and he had been my hero. I just couldn’t stand to see him that way. But what I’d give to have that dinner with him now.”

Across the other side of the room, Edge is beaming – clearly satisfied that a good night’s work has been done. I compliment him on his slide playing. “We’ve had to invent a new thing,” he tells me, “so I can switch from normal chords to playing slide in the middle of a song. It’s tiny, and fits on the tip of the finger. I’ll show you.”

Someone observes that How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb is an album with a lot of big songs on it.

“We wanted to deliver as many songs as possible that could be played on the radio,” Edge says. “We haven’t always done that. Even the last album, despite what people might think, didn’t have a lot of stuff that was really radio friendly.”

Bono has been grabbed by the NME and agrees to deliver some words of wisdom into a cassette recorder. He is the centre of attention, even as the room begins to empty.

“I just want to say thanks to everyone for coming,” Harry Crosbie announces with a grin. “We don’t mind doing this for our neighbours but now we want to go somewhere else, so we’d appreciate it if everyone could Eff Off out of here.”

Bono’s voice pipes up. “I just want to say thanks to Harry for having us,” he improvises. “We try to be good neighbours and not make too much noise – but I’ll tell you one thing, we don’t make nearly as much noise as Harry and Rita!”

Cue raucous laughter. I guess it really is time to go.

Outside the fans are still waiting. A few steps along Hanover Quay, the canal opens out and you can see across the width of it to the Ringsend side. There, the new high rise apartment blocks light up the night sky, a vista we’d scarcely have dared to dream about even fifteen years ago. There is a gorgeous atmosphere here - here and now, in this city, this city of blinding light.

But no light burns brighter than that of U2. Earlier, towards the end of ‘Beautiful Day’, to mark the occasion, Bono had changed the lyrics of the song to embrace people throughout Britain – linking London, Liverpool, Manchester and Glasgow before switching back across the Irish Sea to Belfast and Derry.

And then he brought the song back to the Phoenix Park – to the city of Dublin. The music beamed out – and ten million people all over Britain listened.

Sometimes it’s hard to take it all in.

Niall Stokes
 
Another HTDAAB Review: musictap.net

From MusicTap:

New U2 albums are never quite what I expect them to be. I generally consider that a good thing. Every second or third release from this band seems to represent a landmark of sorts in the evolution of their sound. Case in point are the likes of War, Joshua Tree, Achtung Baby and All That You Can’t Leave Behind – all highly successful, defining entries in U2’s discography. The steps in between include both live releases (Under a Blood Red Sky and Rattle and Hum) and less commercial, more experimental dalliances (Passengers: Original Soundtracks, Volume 1 and Pop come to mind). Then there are those albums where you can almost tangibly sense the band in mid-transformation – albums like The Unforgettable Fire and Zooropa. U2’s latest, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, falls squarely into this last category.

I have to confess that, upon first listen, I was somewhat put off by Atomic Bomb’s punchy debut single, Vertigo. As I suggested above, whatever I’d been expecting from U2’s new album… it certainly wasn’t this. Still, as is often the case with this band, the longer I lived with the track, the more it tended to grow on me. More importantly, it has yet to overstay its welcome – surprising given the song’s near overexposure thanks to Apple’s recent iPod ad campaign. In spite of this (or perhaps because of it), when I finally previewed Atomic Bomb in its entirety, I was once again thrown for a loop. Vertigo is unlike anything else on the disc. It takes a certain amount of daring to tease a new album with a song that’s largely unrepresentative of it, but then U2 has never lacked audacity.

How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb is very much a logical progression from U2’s previous studio release. If you take All That You Can’t Leave Behind and spin it with a hint of the band’s more recent single, Electrical Storm, you come to a pretty good jumping off point from which to approach this latest work. You quickly get the sense that Atomic Bomb is very much The Edge’s album musically, owing its leaner character to his ever driving guitar hooks. There are subtle touches layered into several of its eleven songs that musically recall elements of The Unforgettable Fire, Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby. Standout tracks include Miracle Drug, All Because of You and (my favorite) City of Blinding Lights .

But if Atomic Bomb is the sound of a band that’s playfully examining where it’s been, it’s also a thoughtful examination of larger, more forward-looking themes. Such grandiose topics as War, Peace, Life, Death, God, Love – they’re all touched upon here in turn, in an interesting balance. Two of the album’s more poignant tracks (One Step Closer and Sometimes You Can’t Make It on Your Own) sprang directly out of Bono’s reaction to the death of his father (in 2001). Bono and company also manage to reflect on the unsettling place in which Humanity currently finds itself in several songs, including Vertigo (“The night is full of holes, as bullets rip the sky of ink with gold, they twinkle as the boys play Rock ‘n Roll…”). Sometimes this rumination works well, sometimes not quite so much. But if the band's reach occasionally exceeds its grasp (Yahweh) and there is the occasional misstep (Love and Peace or Else), there's an emotional honesty present here that's surprisingly refreshing.

How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb might not truly be a great album. but it is a very, very good album -- rich for its simplicity, confidently executed and ultimately compelling. It's an album that you'll have to live with a little while before you begin to fully appreciate it. That aside, I have the sneaking suspicion that a number of these eleven songs will age well within U2's larger body of work. Like The Unforgettable Fire before it, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb grows more rewarding with each new listen.

4/5 stars.
 
I'm sorry (well, I'm not really), but the jokes at the end of the review are wonderful! Made me laugh out loud!!
 
Jim is hot. *You* are obviously jealous of him.

JIMGallo.jpg
 
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How can such a great city have such tone-deaf music critics? The Chicago Tribune review wasn't very upbeat either.

The Sun-Times should have had Roger Ebert review HTDAAB. Yes, he's a film critic, but I bet he would have given the album a thumbs-up!
 
Having grown up in Chicago, I am used to reading the "Sun-Times" and, unfortunately, Jim Derogatis' reviews. :tsk:

Well before this review for HTDAAB, Derogatis proved himself a disgrace. If you prefer a snobbish music critic who only likes small unheard of bands who make music that is really so far out there it's no one has heard it, then Derogatis is your man. However, if you dare to like anything even approaching the Hot 100 hits, forget it - he'll blast you.

I bet Derogatis would have liked "Boy" and "October". But as soon as "War" came along and U2 started gaining popularity, I'm sure he started to rag on them faster than he eats his McDonald's lunches.

In my 20's I had a friend like this. If the band was obscure, he liked them. If the band dared to get a hit song and some popularity, he tossed them aside.

Derogatis also gave negative reviews to JT, "Pop" and ATYCLB (I forget his comments for AB and "Zooropa"). But for a man to dislike that rather large array of music (as clearly "Pop" and ATYCLB are polar opposites), proves that his reviews are heavily biased. He doesn't like Bono - and therefore no matter what U2 does, it's horrid.

HTDAAB is one of U2's best - and after repeated listenings, I'm actually knocking ATYCLB down a peg and putting it up there with U2's "classics". As JT and AB are often defined as U2's best, I will throw HTDAAB with them. It's a complete album from start to finish, containing elements of "classic" U2 as well as "experimental" U2 ("Love & Peace..." and "Fast Cars" are very experimental, even risky songs, especially for this album, and HTDAAB is far better because of them).

My recommendation is to completely ignore ANYTHING Derogatis writes. ALL of his reviews, not just U2, are heavily biased. As a critic, one must dissociate him/herself away from personal biases as much as possible. Derogatis is unable to do that, especially with regard to Bono and U2's music. If he doesn't like Bono, so be it - but U2's work should not be immediately dismissed because of it. :no:
 
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