dsmith2904
ONE love, blood, life
Achtung! U2's Back, Baby
by Mac Randall
You’ve seen the ad: Shadowy figures wearing white earpieces gyrate against brightly colored backdrops as U2 pumps out an abbreviated version of its new single, "Vertigo"—all in the service of Apple’s iPod. Perhaps you were disheartened by the sight of one of rock’s most famously idealistic bands shilling for a computer company. If so, it may be comforting, in a mean sort of way, to know that folks around the world have been filling up their iPods with illegally downloaded songs from U2’s latest album, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb (Interscope). More than two weeks before the CD’s scheduled release date, every one of its 11 tracks was available on file-sharing networks, and yet another attempt by a major record company to protect its precious copyrights had gone down in flames.
Just in case it sounds as if I’m gloating, I should mention here that Internet piracy gave me a lucky break, because without it I probably still wouldn’t have heard the new U2 album. A tight security clampdown by the group and its label—following the much-publicized theft of an incomplete version of the record during a band photo session earlier this year—made it impossible for most members of the press to listen to the disc before its release. I could rant about how such precautions never work and how it doesn’t make sense for journalists to be treated like criminals, but that’s a tired refrain and can’t erase the fact that copyright robbery helps no one in the long run. So instead I’ll say this: Potential U2 thieves, don’t do it! How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb deserves your money.
Put simply, U2’s 11th full-length studio effort is the album that its predecessor, All That You Can’t Leave Behind (2000), was supposed to be but wasn’t. You may recall that the previous platter was hailed as a return to classic form after the questionable experimentation of Zooropa (1993) and Pop (1997)—both of which I love, by the way. Sure enough, the programmed-electronics quotient was down, and U2’s principal strengths—Bono’s passionate singing, the Edge’s chiming guitars and the supple Adam Clayton–Larry Mullen Jr. rhythm section—were back up front. But though the sounds were right, the spirit was wrong; too much of the album seemed empty and disconnected, as if the band members were all playing in different rooms.
How to Dismantle, by contrast, is the work of a unified front, as the focused fury of the opening track, "Vertigo," makes clear. Yes, it’s a silly song, but it rocks with an abandon that makes All That You Can’t cuts like "Beautiful Day" and "Elevation" sound tame. Nothing else here is quite as heavy as "Vertigo," but the slow-building "Miracle Drug" and the anthemic closer "Yahweh" (who else would give a tune a name like that?) also tap into traditional U2 pleasure centers, creating a sense of uplift that may just have you believing salvation for all is right around the corner. And despite a few clunky lyrics and one borderline-dubious selection ("Love and Peace or Else"), there are no outright embarrassments.
It’s pretty clear by now, 28 years into U2’s career, that this band is never going to sound the way it did on 80’s landmarks like War (1983) and The Joshua Tree (1987). Then again, it’s also clear that U2 will always sound like U2, proclaiming its spiritual yearning in bold strokes on a vast sonic canvas. It helps that they know how to recycle. If the bridge on How to Dismantle’s "Crumbs from Your Table" sounds oddly similar to the coda of "Walk On" from the previous album, that’s because their chord progressions are exactly the same. Still, that harmonic information is put to much better use here, as the Edge coaxes shimmering overtones from his amplifier and Bono wails, "Where you live should not decide whether you live or whether you die." The copy beats the original—one more sign that this is U2’s real return to form.
The New York Observer
by Mac Randall
You’ve seen the ad: Shadowy figures wearing white earpieces gyrate against brightly colored backdrops as U2 pumps out an abbreviated version of its new single, "Vertigo"—all in the service of Apple’s iPod. Perhaps you were disheartened by the sight of one of rock’s most famously idealistic bands shilling for a computer company. If so, it may be comforting, in a mean sort of way, to know that folks around the world have been filling up their iPods with illegally downloaded songs from U2’s latest album, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb (Interscope). More than two weeks before the CD’s scheduled release date, every one of its 11 tracks was available on file-sharing networks, and yet another attempt by a major record company to protect its precious copyrights had gone down in flames.
Just in case it sounds as if I’m gloating, I should mention here that Internet piracy gave me a lucky break, because without it I probably still wouldn’t have heard the new U2 album. A tight security clampdown by the group and its label—following the much-publicized theft of an incomplete version of the record during a band photo session earlier this year—made it impossible for most members of the press to listen to the disc before its release. I could rant about how such precautions never work and how it doesn’t make sense for journalists to be treated like criminals, but that’s a tired refrain and can’t erase the fact that copyright robbery helps no one in the long run. So instead I’ll say this: Potential U2 thieves, don’t do it! How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb deserves your money.
Put simply, U2’s 11th full-length studio effort is the album that its predecessor, All That You Can’t Leave Behind (2000), was supposed to be but wasn’t. You may recall that the previous platter was hailed as a return to classic form after the questionable experimentation of Zooropa (1993) and Pop (1997)—both of which I love, by the way. Sure enough, the programmed-electronics quotient was down, and U2’s principal strengths—Bono’s passionate singing, the Edge’s chiming guitars and the supple Adam Clayton–Larry Mullen Jr. rhythm section—were back up front. But though the sounds were right, the spirit was wrong; too much of the album seemed empty and disconnected, as if the band members were all playing in different rooms.
How to Dismantle, by contrast, is the work of a unified front, as the focused fury of the opening track, "Vertigo," makes clear. Yes, it’s a silly song, but it rocks with an abandon that makes All That You Can’t cuts like "Beautiful Day" and "Elevation" sound tame. Nothing else here is quite as heavy as "Vertigo," but the slow-building "Miracle Drug" and the anthemic closer "Yahweh" (who else would give a tune a name like that?) also tap into traditional U2 pleasure centers, creating a sense of uplift that may just have you believing salvation for all is right around the corner. And despite a few clunky lyrics and one borderline-dubious selection ("Love and Peace or Else"), there are no outright embarrassments.
It’s pretty clear by now, 28 years into U2’s career, that this band is never going to sound the way it did on 80’s landmarks like War (1983) and The Joshua Tree (1987). Then again, it’s also clear that U2 will always sound like U2, proclaiming its spiritual yearning in bold strokes on a vast sonic canvas. It helps that they know how to recycle. If the bridge on How to Dismantle’s "Crumbs from Your Table" sounds oddly similar to the coda of "Walk On" from the previous album, that’s because their chord progressions are exactly the same. Still, that harmonic information is put to much better use here, as the Edge coaxes shimmering overtones from his amplifier and Bono wails, "Where you live should not decide whether you live or whether you die." The copy beats the original—one more sign that this is U2’s real return to form.
The New York Observer
). Then the spacy bridge before Edge's solo slowly creeps up, muddled by that industrial growl, and then the sound of a guitar being plugged in and rock 'n roll explosion. Great, GREAT song.
I don't nessercarily agree with his opinion on ATYCLB, but I do agree that HTDAAB has a much more joyous, unified feel (plus, the guy loves Zooropa and Pop. More power to him.)
