Trying To Throw Your Arms Around The World
In order to feel genuinely let down and, ultimately angry about the new U2 release, I believe that, a priori, one must consider that one or more of U2's prior albums were brilliant. See, some would ask how could I be disappointed because U2 has past their prime quite long ago? But for me, I hold The Unforgettable Fire among the great albums of all time, and I have likewise had close affinities for Boy, October, War and Achtung Baby. The Joshua Tree was also very good. Sure, these albums all came out an awfully long time ago and one can't be expected to repeat oneself, but that is my point.
Roughly 20 years after The Unforgettable Fire, U2 is playing it so safely and so conservatively on How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb that it is borderline unlistenable. Worse, and I have made this point to several friends, U2 is a band that once believed (and they really believed it) they could change the world with their music and their messages, albeit jumbled, of redemption, peace, love and harmony. Thus, to hear Bono now ponce about on Ipod commercials shouting on the goddawful "Vertigo" uno, dos, tres, catorce and ola is just sickening to anyone who once naively saw and believed in Bono's crusade of the early eighties (I saw them in all their remarkable glory on the War tour, no less). I didn't think that image ever preceded substance in those nascent days for U2, but no doubt countless releases and tours since then have proven otherwise, and perhaps I had them wrong from the start.
But you don't fake an album like The Unforgettable Fire, or even the others I mentioned previously. Although their live performances could still stand hairs on one's forearms (even their post-9/11 Super Bowl halftime performance was astounding) and they still dished out the occasional song that invoked the magic of yore, such as "Beautiful Day" (naff lyrics and all), the new record is tremendously ordinary. And for a group from whence such dizzying heights were once its playground, that is a calamity, and they should be ashamed of themselves. Bono can barely sing at all, and the performances are so glossed in production that I can't tell if there is anything at all genuine on Atomic Bomb. Sure, it still sounds like U2, but even the moments that shimmer ("Miracle Drug" and the ostensibly terrific "Yahweh" and bits and pieces of others) are typically gutted by obvious lyrics and/or been there done that/U2 by numbers songwriting. Indeed, I think a young U2 cover band could better approximate this now mega-corporation's more "humble" beginnings than this band of tired, very rich old men could ever hope to achieve. Edge, will you please confess that you're bald and take off the stupid ski hats? Add this to the list of groups that should have burned out rather than faded away. To hear U2 strive so earnestly to recall -- nay, ape its heights of yore is akin to watching a retired athlete hurt himself in his child's father-son softball game. To see this happen to such an old love is to belie what one typically tries not to think about; that we longtime afficionados are growing older and drawing further and further away from the perceived light of youth. Hope I die before I get old, indeed.
Roughly 20 years after The Unforgettable Fire, U2 is playing it so safely and so conservatively on How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb that it is borderline unlistenable. Worse, and I have made this point to several friends, U2 is a band that once believed (and they really believed it) they could change the world with their music and their messages, albeit jumbled, of redemption, peace, love and harmony. Thus, to hear Bono now ponce about on Ipod commercials shouting on the goddawful "Vertigo" uno, dos, tres, catorce and ola is just sickening to anyone who once naively saw and believed in Bono's crusade of the early eighties (I saw them in all their remarkable glory on the War tour, no less). I didn't think that image ever preceded substance in those nascent days for U2, but no doubt countless releases and tours since then have proven otherwise, and perhaps I had them wrong from the start.
But you don't fake an album like The Unforgettable Fire, or even the others I mentioned previously. Although their live performances could still stand hairs on one's forearms (even their post-9/11 Super Bowl halftime performance was astounding) and they still dished out the occasional song that invoked the magic of yore, such as "Beautiful Day" (naff lyrics and all), the new record is tremendously ordinary. And for a group from whence such dizzying heights were once its playground, that is a calamity, and they should be ashamed of themselves. Bono can barely sing at all, and the performances are so glossed in production that I can't tell if there is anything at all genuine on Atomic Bomb. Sure, it still sounds like U2, but even the moments that shimmer ("Miracle Drug" and the ostensibly terrific "Yahweh" and bits and pieces of others) are typically gutted by obvious lyrics and/or been there done that/U2 by numbers songwriting. Indeed, I think a young U2 cover band could better approximate this now mega-corporation's more "humble" beginnings than this band of tired, very rich old men could ever hope to achieve. Edge, will you please confess that you're bald and take off the stupid ski hats? Add this to the list of groups that should have burned out rather than faded away. To hear U2 strive so earnestly to recall -- nay, ape its heights of yore is akin to watching a retired athlete hurt himself in his child's father-son softball game. To see this happen to such an old love is to belie what one typically tries not to think about; that we longtime afficionados are growing older and drawing further and further away from the perceived light of youth. Hope I die before I get old, indeed.
posted by Paul V. Regelbrugge at 2:48 PM
1 Comments:
well, thanks for shooting that dream out of the sky--I suppose it's just a sign of the times, i.e., another brick in the wall--happy thanksfuckinggiving, my best to the family (no, really!)
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