I am not one who subscribes to the “cult of U2” and thinks
\nthey’re bigger than Jesus, Allah, Buddha and Donald Trump combined.
\nYes, I think they’ve made some great music in their 20-plus year
\ncareer, and they’ve earned some accolades they most definitely
\ndeserve. But I don’t sit around and worship
\nThe Joshua Tree<\/i> as if it’s one of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
\nHell, I have yet to listen to, much less buy, U2’s last studio
\neffort
\nAll That You Can Leave Behind<\/i>.<\/p>\n
In a sense, this works to my advantage when approaching U2’s
\n11th studio disc,
\nHow To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb<\/i>. I enter this one with zero
\npreconceived notions, zero expectations, and – believe it or not –
\nzero bias. Diehard fans may have trouble treating this one as its
\nown creature – and I can’t say I would do any different if I were
\nin their shoes.<\/p>\n
But after spending a good chunk of the weekend listening to this
\ndisc online (legally, mind you – U2 did the smart thing and
\nstreamed the whole disc a week prior to its release), I came away
\nthinking that Bono and crew had made a very enjoyable disc, though
\nit does seem to have a lack of one thing. That thing is permanence
\n– and that may not be a bad thing in the long run.<\/p>\n
The first single (and lead-off track) “Vertigo” is an okay start
\nto the show, but it dares to hint back to the days of
\nPop<\/i> and “Discotheque,” a period of time that both U2 and
\ntheir fans desparately want to forget. Make no mistake, it’s a
\ncatchy song, but after repeated listens (and I’m not talking about
\nall the commercials for Apple’s iPod), it’s one that doesn’t have a
\nlot of staying power. “Miracle Drug” is the first song that
\nsuggests that Bono and crew are entering some sort of mid-life
\nphase, declaring “I’m through with romantic love \/ I’d give it up
\nfor a miracle drug” but seems to be looking for a deeper connection
\ninto someone’s psyche. This isn’t to say that U2 can’t come up with
\nsome cornball lyrics (example: “Freedom has a scent \/ like the top
\nof a newborn baby’s head.”)<\/p>\n
What is striking about
\nHow To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb<\/i> is that U2 seems to do a
\ntwo-step occasionally on this disc. On one side, they’ll make a
\nsolid musical statement that does tend to harken back to their
\n“glory” days, such as on “Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own,”
\nonly to slide into a bit of mediocrity the very next track (in this
\ncase, with “Love And Peace Or Else”. It almost seems at times that
\nthe band is searching for a niche they can call their own without
\nseeming overblown or pretentious.<\/p>\n
Fortunately for the band, they do seem to find that magical
\nmixture. It starts to develop on “City Of Blinding Lights,” a track
\nwhich does hold out some promise but falls a little flat in the
\nend, but then leads into a solid one-two punch of “All Because Of
\nYou” and “A Man And A Woman”, two songs which equally hold promise
\nto be killer follow-up singles. On one hand, “All Because Of You”
\nis a powerful rocker which is some of the best U2 in this vein I’ve
\nheard since “Mysterious Ways”. On the other, “A Man And A Woman”
\ncarries a surprisingly powerful payload despite featuring a more
\nlaid-back sound – something I do wish the band had utilized more on
\nthis particular disc.<\/p>\n
Regrettably, U2 can’t keep that momentum going; “Crumbs From
\nYour Table” is a step backward, lacking any real direction or focus
\nmusically. (I do, however, like the guitar work from The Edge
\ncoming out of the choruses – simple, yet powerful, something he’s
\ndone his whole career.) That focus is re-discovered one song later
\nwith “One Step Closer,” a more gentle and introspective number
\nwhich again calls to mind some of the more quiet moments of albums
\nlike
\nAchtung Baby<\/i> or
\nZooropa<\/i>, and even has hints of “The Unforgettable Fire” to
\nthe structure. Yet this one is pleasing without sounding like a
\ncopy of any previous song (and, to the zealots who take any
\npossible negative comment about U2 as blasphemy, I’m not saying
\nthey copied any song of theirs). That mood is continued with
\n“Original Of The Species,” a track which almost has a Dusty
\nSpringfield-type vibe at times – something I actually thought fit
\nthe band well in this outing. The more I listen to this track, the
\nmore I believe it is the best on the album.<\/p>\n
The closing number, “Yahweh,” seems to be the strongest evidence
\nof the link between the music and the death of Bono’s father a few
\nyears back; the track almost seems like it’s commending his father
\npiece by piece – strengths and weaknesses – to God while looking at
\nlife ahead of him. If only it had a little more of a punch to it –
\neither in terms of anger or sadness – but it does tend to lose some
\nfocus in the chorus (though the question, “Why the dark before the
\ndawn?” does express a hint of some anger).<\/p>\n
In the end,
\nHow To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb<\/i> is a disc which demands to
\nbe seen on its own strengths and weaknesses, refusing any expected
\nlinks to previous successes like
\nThe Joshua Tree<\/i>. This particular disc is certain to both
\nplease and confound long-time fans of the band, though it’s by no
\nmeans a dive off the deep end like
\nPop<\/i> was. If anything, this focuses on a band who recognizes
\nthey’re growing older, but still have something to say musically.
\nIn that regard, they have succeeded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26876,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5708],"rating":[5615],"class_list":["post-38175","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-u2","rating-rating-b"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38175","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38175"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38175\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38175"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=38175"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=38175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}