ATYCLB is a very interesting album in that it is, perhaps, their most quiet album, their most subdued work -- yet, and perhaps because of this, is able to creep under the skin and kind of ooze to that place where it becomes infectiously warm. It's like an extroardinary tale wrapped around ordinary events, like a book you can't put down in spite of its simplicity.
Bono was right on, when he said, before the album came out, "It's like a Beatles record...". It very much reminds of of Rubber Soul in that its warmth permeates itself around the listener. The attraction doesn't come from the sound so much as it does from the feeling that surrounds this record. It's like a warm blanket. Your very favourite warm blanket. And the more you sleep in it, the more you live in it, the more you understand its tenderness, and the more you are willing to open your eyes to the beautiful detail within the fabric. And you begin to see colours you never knew existed in it.
You begin to hear the subtle backdrops inside the songs, the swirls of sonic twists seeping through the walls in the bridge of Beautiful Day, for example. You begin to get lost, you feel yourself on the edge of the harmonies, against the backdrop of screaming guitar, just when the chorus kicks in again -- and all of a sudden it feels familiar to you.
This is why I keep coming back to this album.
Is it there best to date? I couldn't argue the point, but I can't say it is, either. That's the remarkable thing about U2. You can't put them into any kind of box. If you do, they usually have you asking many more questions than the answers you thought you came up with. And now I'm just talking nonsense....
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The Tempest
