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Album Reviews
Finally, U2 has
returned. The real U2. The one who made great rock records,
with overt Christian references. The one who's albums were
dominated by delayed guitars, solid bass, and a person
playing drums. Oh yea, and that bono guy's vocals. Yes, that
U2. they're back.
How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb is stylistically a return to
the golden days of U2's fame. While there are no instant
classics, all of the elements we once expected from a U2
record are there, with some new twists. It sounds like the
band has taken what they have learned through their
experimentation with electronic music, and applied some of
that newness to their classic sound.
The opener, vertigo, is a straight ahead rock tune, like
their saying "hey! we're a rock band..remember?". This is
followed by a couple of songs that could almost have come
off the Joshua Tree or Rattle and Hum. Moving through the
record, they vary from rockers to ballads, Bono's voice
sounding as good as it ever has, the rest of the band
grooving hard. I am not going to go song by song, these guys
are established enough, that just suffice it to say this is
the U2 you fell in love with 10 or 15 years ago.
Some high points though; miracle drug is a gorgeous song,
starting slow, then building in volume and intensity to a
great guitar break from the edge, and Bono pushing his voice
to the breaking point. love and peace or else, the only song
on the cd that seems to be in any way political, starts with
electronic noise, before breaking into a killer vamp that
seems to brings to mind when love comes to town. and
finally, one step closer, a slow burner that rivals some of
their best work.
I know I haven't mentioned the lyrics. Some will read them
and say "finally, they're singing about God again". Others
will read and say "no, still not Christian enough, if they
were Christians they would say 'Jesus' more". But lyrically,
this is what a Christian record should be. Bono wrote the
songs, and his faith is evident throughout. It's just there.
sometimes you read a lyric, and realize he could only be
singing that to his Creator. words like these:
i saw you in the curve of the moon
in the shadow across my room
you heard me in my tune
when i just heard confusion
all because of you
all because of you
all because of you
i am....i am
I just don't see how you could honestly interpret that any
other way, butI am sure some will. In any case, the album
closer erases all doubts, not my favorite track on the
album, musically, but lyrically, it could almost go in the
hymnal.
Yahweh, Yahweh
always pain before a child is born
Yahweh, tell me now
why the dark before the dawn?
take this city
a city should be shining on a hill
if it be your will
what no man can own, no man can take
take this heart
take this heart take this heart
and make it break
Yes, U2 is back, and while some will still complain, some
people will just never be happy until they release a carbon
copy of the Joshua Tree and then they would complain it's
not as good as the original. if you're like me, and have
been waiting a long time on a real U2 album, this is your
time. Enjoy it. Because knowing U2, the next album could be
something totally different.
~Larry Laster
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.
~Bill Hunt
After spending the bulk of the ‘90’s experimenting itself
into a caricatural hole, U2 responded to tapering record
sales and a hopelessly cartoonish persona with a
self-proclaimed return to form on 2000’s All That You
Can’t Leave Behind. Wisely, the band ditched the disco
rock synthesis of 1997’s catastrophic Pop for the
big-hearted anthems that made it famously sentimental in
the mid-‘80’s.
All That You Can’t Leave Behind fulfilled its back to
post-punk roots promise musically, especially on the
uncharacteristically optimistic single, “Beautiful Day”,
the main riff of which ranks up with the band’s finest.
U2 actually sounded like a rock band for the first time
since 1990’s Achtung Baby, and it reinvigorated both its
focus and teetering fanbase, despite the compromising
lack of envelope pushing.
Bono’s self-righteous musings have always sounded better
when he’s being earnest than when he’s winking at you
behind blue-tinted sunglasses and a pedantic sneer and
shaking the pope’s hand. His grandiosity is both a
blessing and a curse. U2 wouldn’t be the world’s biggest
band were it not for Bono’s crusade for the oppressed and
the less fortunate, but his lyrics often crack under the
weight of the world that he carries on his shoulders like
an anointed martyr.
How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb continues U2’s campaign
to win back the fans it ostracized for a decade with its
gratuitous devolution into electro-rock fusion. The first
single, “Vertigo”, is a guitar-driven rocker with an
infectious hook (the soulless hawking of Apple’s iPod
notwithstanding). The melancholic cloud that hovered
above the band in its heyday may have dissipated, but
what “Vertigo” lacks in mystery it makes up for in
rollicking bravura. It’s not so bad.
The rest of the album suffers from too much open-faced
honesty and a serious lack of intensity. Bono’s “had
enough of romantic love” and just wants “a miracle drug”,
presumably to cure Aids. While that’s all well and good,
it doesn’t make for arresting music. For some reason,
clichés are easier to spill when you pass 40. How To
Dismantle An Atomic Bomb tries to recapture U2’s underdog
status as the world’s rock and roll saviors, but it’s
just too ordinary to rekindle a movement for aging
do-gooders. Your uncle will think this is hip shit, but
that’s why you have college radio.
~
Eric Greenwood
U2(Homepage)
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