It would probably be prudent to give this cd a few more spins before writing a review, but I’ll go ahead and throw some thoughts out there anyway. Overall, I’m disappointed with this album on several levels, but I suppose that’s not a huge surprise. Yeah, Bono can still sing. Yeah, Edge can still play guitar. It has its moments, and granted anything U2 puts out is better than most of the stuff on the market, but nothing really stands out to me and six months from now I can’t picture myself ever choosing it over the early classics like The Unforgettable Fire.
Maybe it’s not fair to compare it to those classics and perhaps it will grow on me, but right now I don’t even envision liking it as much as All That You Can’t Leave Behind. That album had a few catchy songs like “Elevation†as well as some more subtly entertaining and solid offerings like “Walk On†that I enjoy quite a bit. The most striking tune on this one is the “Vertigo†single that has already been beaten to death by iPod commercials. I like the second song on the album, “Miracle Drug,†quite a bit too. It builds to a nice crescendo and the quality of the mix is apparent throughout. Nothing else on the album is offensive in any way, but nothing else really stands out either and I get the sense they phoned it in on a lot of these offerings.
The best thing I can say about this album is that it is well-produced. That shouldn’t really come as a surprise since they are freakin’ U2 after all and they should have the best equipment and producers the world has to offer at their beck and call. But giving credit where credit is due, Steve Lillywhite did a bang-up job mixing the sound. The guitar booms, the vocals resonate, the sound is top notch.
Before I heard the album I read a few reviews saying that U2 “returned to their roots†and that, in particular, Edge’s guitar playing was more like the glory days than on other recent albums. In fact, I heard Bono himself say something to that effect. What a bunch of hooey. Edge’s guitar is back to the glory days only in the sense that there’s a lot of that ringing and building strumming reminiscent of the intro to “Where The Streets Have No Name†or something along those lines; however, nothing nearly as distinct or impressive as that. This isn’t a return to the pop tangent they went on for Zooropa or anything like that, but it’s not too far removed from All That You Can’t Leave Behind so I’m not on board with that sentiment.
With the album title How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb and song titles like “Love and Peace or Else†and “Yahweh†one might also expect a more striking and coherent political message. There’s the usual fare of sympathy for the world’s oppressed, but nothing in terms of a profound message and lyrics like, “Where you live should not decide whether you live or whether you die†just can’t be that challenging to write.
In summary, the album is ok and I expect it grow on me a bit, but overall it’s nothing special. A lot of the criticism of this review stems from the fact that U2 is held to a high standard in my head, but so be it. There would be nothing wrong with putting this album on for any occasion ranging from Sunday morning background music to a loud jam in the car, but 99 times out of 100 another U2 album will be the better choice.
Nice reivew. The thing about reading reviews is that I always want to go out and get the ablum and listen, almost more so when the review is less than stellar. If this log ever gets big enough to need separate maintainers, you will definitely be asked to head up the music review section.