U2 New Album (R)

[SpartanMan]

That's right -- if you don't want the results, don't read the post below. I'll be tracking the "score" as I listen to the tracks stream at U2.com for the next hour or so.

The album comes out "officially" tomorrow.

Track 1 -- Vertigo -- pretty good. Already getting too much airplay on the radio, but I guess that's what puts more ducats in the pockets of the boys.

Track 2 -- Miracle Drug -- Excellent. Sort of a retro-slow/medium paced sound from them.

Track 3 -- Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own -- pretty good slow paced wistful love song.

More to come . . .

[SpartanMan]

4. Love and Peace or Else -- I'll choose "or else". Not a very good song. Sounds contrived.

[SpartanMan]

Track 5 -- City of Blinding Lights -- Now that's better. Much better. Sort of an upbeat track. Only problem is that for those of us who have no rhythm it will take a long time to get the timing of the chorus right to sing along.

[SpartanMan]

Track 6 -- All Because of You -- Not even a rather spirited 25-second guitar solo by Edge towards the end can liven up this unoriginal song.

[SpartanMan]

Track 7 -- A Man and a Woman -- Ehh, we've hopefully hit a trough here with Tracks 6 and 7. These songs sound sort of flat.

[SpartanMan]

Track 8 -- Crumbs From Your Table -- A very solid song that could have a double entendre aimed at the US from a world perspective of what's happened in Iraq -- coming from someone who loves the US but feels alienated. I don't know, but listen to the lyrics.

[SpartanMan]

Track 9 -- One Step Closer -- Slow, sad song about apporaching death or understanding of something grave. The "Promenade" of this album.

[SpartanMan]

Track 10 -- Original of the Species -- Very good song with a little bit of a slow start and some good love-song lyrics. Could be a strong finish after a great start and so-so middle . . .

[SpartanMan]

Track 11 -- Yahweh -- Great finishing song. A "Joshua Tree-esque" religious closer . . .


That's it. In terms of quality, about the same as "All You Can't Leave Behind".

[SABuffalo786]

I'll still buy it.

[Northside Rovers]

It sounds pretty good. When is it released?

[MikeLastort2]

I love that this thread has an R in its title.

:D

[SpartanMan]

I love that this thread has an R in its title.

:D

Nothing like a Ryan Nelsen quote in the sig line -- Greensboro College (D III) helped him come here to the US after an opportunity at UNC-Chapel Hill fell through. Stanford and DC United notwithstanding, he'll always be a GC Pride to us who know . . .

[CG]

It sounds pretty good. When is it released?
Nov 23

[CG]

how does everybody like it so far? I've listened to it 5 times since I bought it and really like it. Favorites so far are:

Vertigo
Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own
Love and Peace or Else
Original of the Species

[MassachusettsRef]

I've got a feeling that City of Blinding Lights will eventually emerge as the best/most popular song from this album (so long as it's released as a single, of course). And, so long as the band is willing to haul the piano out regularly, it will be an instant favorite at concerts.

Overall, I think this is a great album--better than All That You Can't Leave Behind. It took me awhile to grow to like some of the songs from that album--not so with this one at all. I think one of the strongest things about How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb is the solid ending. Not since Acthung Baby has a U2 album ended almost (or just as) strongly as it began. Original of the Species and Yahweh are great songs, much better than Grace, Wake Up Dead Man (though some love that song and it is good live) and Wanderer.

[Dignan]

I really like this album, and it is the most consistent album since Achtung Baby. In the end its is just as good as Achtung Baby and Joshua Tree. Although there is nothing really new on the album, its classic U2 and picks up where All That You Can't Leave Behind started their come back to straightforward sincere rock. Don't get me wrong I like Zooropa and Pop, but they were departures from the classic U2 of the 80s, and even from the inventing and daring Achtung Baby.

Listening to this album it seems at times that this is an album that wants to answer the entire U2 corpus/experience. Its a capstone if you will. All the themes that U2 has played with in the past both musically and lyrically are here and summed up in nice fashion. Faith, love, hope, Bono's relationship with Ali, and of course God.

Vetigo seems to be a summation of the Pop era, trying to find fulfillment in all the wrong places. Pop pointed out the emptiness of "pop" if you will and the hyper consumerism and indivualism of the day. It questioned whether God was the answer and alluded that he is, but in the end left the question open. Here Bono has refound his faith in the opening song, showing that God's love is "teaching" him "how to kneel."

Thus, in some ways U2 has come full circle. For this album is much more spiritual and religous than anything they have done in awhile. And that is saying a lot, since Joshua Tree, Achtung Baby, Pop, and ATYCLB were extremly spiritual and sacred in their basic orientation.

"Sometimes You Can't Make it on Your Own" is a fitting follow up to "One"

"City of Blinding Lights" seems to echo the heavenly vision of "Where the Streets have No Name" and U2's past themes of cities and their place in life and relationships. It also gets repeated in "Yahweh." In the lines "take this city/ city should be shining on a hill/ take this city/ if it be your will."

"Yaweh" also hopefully and optimistacally answers "Do You feel Loved" from "Pop."

"Crumbs from your Table" is a powerful critique of the church and its hypocrisy, something akin to "Acrobat."

"All Because of You" is a subtle praise song to Yahweh, with a play on words that "All because of you, I am" which also can be taken and probably should be taken as "I AM" what God refers to himself before Moses in the book of Exodus and also how Jesus sometimes refers to himself. This of course ties into "Yhaweh" the unspeakable Hebrew term for God.

While Vertigo starts the album off with questions of reality and clarity pushing the singer to faith in God, the closer "Yawheh" collapses back on the previous themes with a hopeful prayer of submission and faith that feels a bit like "Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For". It nicely sums up just about everything U2 have been singing about for 20 years. Faith, love, the need to take action against evil, the paradox of suffering in a world created by a good God, the role of pain and suffering, Bono's own hypocrisy, all of our hypocrisy, direction in the world, eschatology, redemption, love, the reality that true love is submissive and servant hearted, and hope that all our hearts might be broken to make a difference in the world.

U2 albums always have a connectiveness in their songs through themes and images. That is here in this album, but it also has a strong connectiveness to all their work.

It feels familar and comfortable, but by doing this, they have created a masterpiece that ties not only the album together, but their entire career.

Hopefully, there will still be many more albums and this is not a send off.

peace

[dfb547490]

I've only listened thru beginning-to-end once, but I gotta admit I'm a little disappointed...good music, sure, but not the breathtakingly exceptional stuff we're used to from these guys. It's a solid album, but nowhere near the level of War, Joshua Tree, Achtung Baby, or All You Can't Leave Behind IMO.

Vertigo is an awesome song, as is All Because of You IMO...I'll give it a few more listens, but right now it looks like my regular U2 rotation will be limited to those 4 songs plus the best of CDs.

[RandyNA74]

While I appreciate everyone else's comments on the album, I'm gonna have to agree with dfb here. I am rather disappointed with this album.

Judging it purely in terms of music, without giving much thought (yet) in terms of the significance etc. of each song (which Dignan did a great job of describing above), this album rings hollow to me. If each song were a game, Vertigo would be the only clear 3 points in this 11 match season. Virtually every other song would earn a point at best.

I've listened to the album all the way through about 6 times now, and while it may take a few more listens for me to learn to appreciate certain tunes, it has never taken me this long to get into a U2 album. There were always at least 3-5 songs which stood out immediately, with a couple of others following closely behind. This time around, it's Vertigo, then an anonymous mid-table performance by the band. And now the album almost gets on my nerves and I can't sit through all 11 songs back to back. Not quite relegation material, but might as well be considering how much the boys have spoiled us over the years. Many songs have good moments, but few if any are solid throughout.

I think it will take hearing the songs in a live setting for me to really appreciate this "era," as happened with many ATYCLB tunes. I've been collecting U2 bootlegs for over a decade (well, on and off) and bootlegs account for about 98% of my U2 listening habit. So who knows, I may read this post again in a few months and think that I was on crack. :)

But until then....this album has a long way to go to impress me. :(

[MassachusettsRef]

I think it will take hearing the songs in a live setting for me to really appreciate this "era," as happened with many ATYCLB tunes. I've been collecting U2 bootlegs for over a decade (well, on and off) and bootlegs account for about 98% of my U2 listening habit. So who knows, I may read this post again in a few months and think that I was on crack. I think I subscribe to this above post 100%. I also had questions about ATYCLB initially, as I did with this album--the difference is, I came to appreciate this disc as a whole long before I did with the last album. I really think this is the bands third or fourth best disc overall (the key here is admitting that there aren't more than 1 or 2 potential "great" songs, but also realizing there really isn't a "bad" song on the disc, either).

Anyway, for better or worse, the way a U2 album gets judged nowadays (by the popular media and by casual fans), is by it's singles. So, the question becomes, what will the singles be off this disc? U2 has been harder to gauge than some bands when making such predictions (could anyone ever have guessed the singles off Acthung Baby correctly?). I personally hope that City of Blinding Lights is a single, but that's by no means a guarantee. I honestly think that the biggest problem with this album is that--other than Vertigo--there's not instant hit/popular radio song on the album. Even though I think the disc is better than ATYCLB overall, there's definitely no "Beautiful Day" on it. There are no instant classics; that's the part that disappoints critics and all U2 fans--casual and non-casual--alike.

Again though, I think this disc will stand the tests of time--even if it doesn't become a hit in short-term reviews. City of Blinding Lights will be a stadium/arena favorite (and huge single), if only they make sure they break out the piano (and release it). I know I might just be dreaming, but I see a City of Blinding Lights/Where the Streets Have No Name segue that might actually be better (and more appropriate) than Bad/WTSHNN....