Jesus, in the song You wrote, the words are sticking in my throat...
Written: Apr 30 '03 (Updated Nov 27 '04)
Product Rating:
Pros: Partial return to U2's "classic" sound; more optimistic than 90's U2 seemed to be.
Cons: A few songs that lack musical spark; Bono sounds old at times.
The Bottom Line: Despite a few moments where the band appears to be showing their age, ATYCLB marks a triumphant return for one of the greatest rock bands of all time.
divad23's Full Review: All That You Can't Leave Behind [Bonus CD] [Limite...
Okay, no more procrastinating. I've been telling myself I'd get around to this one for years now. I guess I couldn't help it; reviewing U2 is a bit intimidating. After all, the band has been around for longer than I've been alive, and they're one of the greatest rock bands in all of history (surely you know that this is more than just a subjective claim on my part). Even though I've been an avid fan of rock music inspired by a Christian worldview (note: this does not always mean the same thing as "Christian rock") for nearly 10 years, it took me until the turn of the century to finally delve into the band's discography and figure out what I had been missing. Which was apparently quite a bit.
So I've taken it upon myself to review the band's entire back catalogue (or, at least, all of the full-length studio albums). I thought about starting in the obvious place, with their debut Boy, and working my way up, but then I thought, why not start with the present? Their latest album, All that You Can't Leave Behind, was the first U2 album that I really took the time to sit down and listen to, and I went backwards from there. I'll admit it's not the best way to try and make some sense of U2, but sometimes I just need to have a band's current style pinned down before I can appreciate their older work.
Released in late 2000, All that You Can't Leave Behind was what many fans considered to be a "return to form" for U2 after the often-misunderstood electronic phase they went through in the 90's. While it's definitely true that the songs are much less programmed, the instruments are given more breathing room, and there's an air of renewed hope to much of the album, I must also point out that anyone who goes in expecting The Joshua Tree, Part 2 will be disappointed. And they'll be disappointed in a different way from how the 90's albums disappointed them, because for the first time in a long time, U2 didn't try to push the musical envelope. They just made an honest and confident album, and while it may not quite have as much "edge" as a lot of their 80's material, that certainly doesn't mean it's a snoozer by any means. U2 can still rock with the best of 'em when they want to.
Of course, U2 did pick up a few fans in the 90's who honestly liked their new style better, and this album was probably a bit strange for those fans, because for the most part, there's nothing as enigmatic as most of Achtung Baby, as cynical as most of Pop, or as bizarre as most of Zooropa. Sure, they haven't lost their ability to ask difficult questions, and the new songs are every bit as infused with the political, spiritual, and even sensual themes that have made U2 such a hit for the past two decades. And the electronics aren't totally gone, either - but they're no longer being used to create a cold, detached musical landscape. What you have here is basically U2 starting over from square one, carrying no baggage from their past other than the essentials that they just couldn't bear to part with.
Beautiful Day You thought you'd found a friend to take you out of this place
Someone you could lend a hand in return for grace...
One of U2's biggest hits (and an entry in my personal Top 5 U2 songs) starts this album off - the warm keyboard tones that show up at the beginning might have been a false alarm to both camps of U2 fans (the ones who were hoping they'd get away from the electronic stuff, and the ones who were hoping they'd stick with it and remain mired in doubt and cynicism), but there was no need to be afraid. Adam Clayton clears up the confusion with a steady bass line reminiscent of some of his best work in the 80's, and before you know it, an aged Bono is calmly describing a heart filled with stubborn hope in a world of resistance and frustration. In the midst of all of the difficulty, Bono still has the vision to declare that "It's a beautiful day, don't let it get away!", and the moment when this line breaks into the song's chorus has got to be one of the greatest moments ever in rock music. The Edge takes the quick chord changes that propelled the verse and shifts them into overdrive - BA-da-da-BA-da-da-BA-da-da-BA!!! It gives the whole song a marvelously kinetic effect. By the time the bridge shows up and gentle synthesized notes are raining down around Bono as he sings, "See the world in green and blue, see China right in front of you", et cetera, you can't help but feel you're up there with him, getting a God's-eye-view of everything. And that's exactly what the song, and so much of this album is about - getting up out of your own miserable little world and realizing that all of the chaos is really part of a brilliantly orchestrated master plan. Here, in four minutes, U2 has effectively granted their audience a sigh of relief after all of the tension and doubt that built up over the course of their last album.
Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out of I'm just trying to find a decent melody
A song that I can sing in my own company...
Obviously a lead-off track like "Beautiful Day" is gonna be a tough act to follow. As that one flutters off into the distance, Larry Mullen's drums kick off a mid-tempo number that takes the album in a more soulful direction. It's a tough one to describe since it doesn't sound like your typical U2 song - it kind of shuffles along comfortably with a few Gospel-style backup vocals to help it along here and there, and some odd electronic "pinging" noises that seem to hang around for no particular reason. It's a song about self-confidence that was apparently written in an attempt to shake a suicidal friend out of his stupor, and having been through a few depressions myself, I can definitely relate to the feeling of being trapped, stuck in a happier period earlier in my life that I'd love to go back to, being afraid to move forward. Bono does a great job of describing that time warp here, because he's been through it more than a few times himself. The lyrical flow takes a little getting used to, and I'll admit that I thought the song was kind of lame at first, but I've come to appreciate it a lot more with repeated listens (its run as a radio single didn't hurt either).
Walk On You're packing a suitcase for a place none of us has been
A place that has to be believed to be seen...
The last of a block of four big radio hits crops up here. I don't recall the exact background for this song at the moment, but I think it was written in tribute to an exiled political leader in Southeast Asia or something like that. Anyway, it's a fairly upbeat number with lots of ringing guitar and well-timed inspirational phrases from Bono and he encourages this person to continue to stand up for justice, to walk the narrow path that most people are afraid to walk, to live for a reward that can't be quantified in human terms. The album's title is derived from this song's intro and outro, and honestly, the spoken intro is the only thing I can find to complain about here - it just sounds goofy to me. There might be a few high notes where Bono's voice sounds like it's about to break (like fittingly, on the line "If your glass heart should crack"), which at first I assumed was just a sign of age, but now I realize it's more easily attributed to emotion. So I'm OK with it. I still think the song could use a little tweaking, but that's probably just me. My brother's not a U2 fan at all and he loves this one.
Kite Who's to know when the time has come around?
Don't wanna see you cry
I know that this is not goodbye...
With the string of big hits out of the way, the pace slows down a bit for an emotional ballad that appears to be about death. In Bono's newfound optimistic style, he addresses an older friend (perhaps a parent?) who has passed away or is about to, comparing the person's soul to a kite on the breeze and throwing in a subtle Biblical reference when he asserts that "I don't know which way the wind will blow". It's easy to feel the passion he feels as he sings, "I know that this is not goodbye". The Edge does an admirable job of coloring the song in subtler hues with his guitar effects, but for some reason I feel like Larry Mullen dropped the ball on this one. The pace of it just feels clunky, and the time it takes to arrive at the first chorus doesn't help matters much. I also can't figure out why Bono throws in lines about hip-hop driving the big cars and so forth near the end, but that's not really a con - he always manages to throw me off with a lyric or two on every album (and often more than that). It has an overall effect similar to "Stay (Faraway, So Close!)" from Zooropa. Not one of my favorites, but I can appreciate the attempt.
In a Little While A man dreams one day to fly
A man takes a rocket ship into the skies...
Apologies in advance to the late Joey Ramone, who loved this song so much that he played it repeatedly while on his deathbed... but I'm not a big fan of this song. In fact, I think it ranks with "The Wanderer" and "The Sweetest Thing" as being one of the most annoying U2 songs I've ever heard (on an album, anyway). It sounds like it's supposed to be a cute, sexy love song about a "little girl with Spanish eyes", and I'd be up for that if Bono hadn't laid down such a scratchy vocal. I'm sure he's channeling some ghost of soul music's past or something and I'll get chastised for missing the point, but hey, not all experiments are gonna work for all listeners. Once again, I appreciate what they were trying to go for even if I think the result was better left as a B-side.
Wild Honey Did I know you? Did I know you even then?
Before the clocks kept time, before the world was made...
Speaking of B-sides... I've been told that this one was very nearly relegated to that status. Bono wanted to leave it off the album, but The Edge pulled a fast one and threw it back on at the last minute before sending the masters to the record label (or something like that). I'm glad it made the cut - this is the first time in a great while that a U2 song has prominently featured the acoustic guitar. The whole thing sounds like a throwback to another era - something that U2 does well, and the band does a fun little jam as if they were unaware that they weren't totally "plugged in". At first glance this sounds like another carefree love song, and by this time I can't escape the feeling that Bono just sounds old. I'm sorry, but he does! And yet I can't resist the song's inherent charm as he describes a more innocent time when he was "a monkey stealing honey from a swarm of bees". The lover in this song is referred to as "wild honey", and while it's most likely a woman, I had the thought just yesterday that maybe the song could be a reference to God, someone who knew him even before the world began. It makes sense when Christians have praise songs that refer to God as being "like honey on my lips" and so forth. I guess it works under multiple interpretations, so take from it what you will. The end result is still an infectious sense of joy, which leaves you relatively unprepared for what's next.
Peace on Earth They say that what you mock will surely overtake you
And you become a monster, so the monster will not break you...
The quiet electronics that gurgle underneath this song seem to hint at the ghost of Pop without totally bringing back that era for fans who have no desire to relive it. As you might surmise from a title, Bono takes another swipe at a political situation here, but much like "Please", the song has a wider scope than just a temporary situation in his native Ireland. His approach here is more subtle than it was in "Wake Up Dead Man", but the lyrics still hit hard when they mean to, as Bono explains that he's tired of singing empty words about peace every Christmas while seeing nothing get accomplished as mothers are losing their sons to pointless military conflict. He addresses Jesus directly here, and this time around there seems to be a lot less doubt, though his frustration over a lack of peace remains. He simply wants Jesus to come down and do what He said He'd do - bring peace on Earth. Much like a number of the songs on Pop, there is the occasional awkward lyric that damages this track ever so slightly, such as the reference to using trees on one's enemies in the second verse, or the specific list of names that are read out on the radio, which makes for a nice tribute to the victims he's referring to but kind of kills the universality of the song (I have this same beef with a number of Michael W. Smith songs). The music also seems a little dinky at times compared to what you'd expect to accompany the intense lyrics. But Bono's still got it where it counts - when he sings, "Jesus, in the song You wrote, the words are sticking in my throat", they can't help but stick in my throat, too.
When I Look at the World I'm in the waiting room, I can't see for the smoke
I think of you and your holy book when the rest of us choke...
This is the one track on ATYCLB that I always seem to overlook - I feel like most of what it has to say was said more powerfully in "Beautiful Day". It's about Bono wanting to see the world from another individual's point of view (perhaps God, perhaps his wife or someone else), and find a reason there to abandon the despair he feels when he observes it all through his own eyes. The whole thing just feels off to me - a jerky guitar intro gets quickly replaced by all-too-gentle keyboard tones, which end up driving most of the song, and it just drifts along for a few minutes and then it ends. None of this is helped by the fact that Bono once again seems to be having difficulty hitting a few of the higher notes. This might be excusable if he hadn't successfully hit even higher notes in "Elevation". As it is, I can't see why they'd have gone with this particular vocal take.
New York Irish, Italians, Jews and Hispanics
Religious nuts, political fanatics in the stew
Happily not like me and you...
Now this is more like it... I feel like a lot of U2 albums start to lose steam in their back half, but thankfully, when The Edge rearranged the track listing to stick "Wild Honey" into the mix, this rocking tribute to the Big Apple got pushed back from its original position near the front end. I think it works well here, with its subtle programmed beat teasing the listener as Bono describes life in the big city in an unusually low tone. Much like "Beautiful Day", the first verse lingers for a while before the band bursts into a sudden climax. It's an effective merging of U2's old and new sounds. The overall theme of the song seems like it would fit into Pop, since a busy city with a bazillion ways to distract a person from what's important in life is being described, and it's driving Bono to the point of a "mid-life crisis". (Hey, at least the guy can admit to his age unlike some of those cantankerous rock bands that are still sticking around and trying to pretend they're forever 21 years old!) While some of Bono's lower range sounds a bit croaky at first, he does a much better job with the higher range on this track, which helps in a big way to make this one of my favorite tracks on the album. I love the last lingering "Neeeeeeeeewwwww Yoooooooooork..." that pops up at the end of the song after everything else falls away, too.
Grace She carries a pearl in perfect condition
What once was hurt, what once was friction
What left a mark no longer stains...
The album's closing track is quite possibly a better depiction of the concept of grace than most self-professed "Christian bands" have come up with thus far. Bono uses the obvious literary device of personifying grace as a girl, someone who "makes beauty out of ugly things", and he describes how her presence weaves through every aspect of life, not erasing mistakes and memories altogether, but rather making something redemptive out of our human failings. There might be a couple lyrics that seem thrown in just for the sake of making a rhyme, such as "Grace, she's got the walk/Not on a ramp or on chalk/She's got the time to talk", but it doesn't hurt the overall message. The music is a little on the lighter side, and there are times when the intertwining guitar and bass melodies sound a little too "cutesy" for a U2 song, but for the most part, Bono's profound words manage to save the day.
So there you have it - my first spin through a U2 album. Being the great presence that they are in the world of rock and roll, it honestly pains me to point out elements of their songs that are negatives for me, especially when they've clearly put together an album with so much heart and so much hope. ATYCLB is still a landmark album for the band, especially due to how eerily prophetic these songs showed themselves to be after 9/11. I'm sure that this has kind of become "The 9/11 Album" for some people, though personally I'm glad the band, as political as they are, didn't decide to put out a disc specifically dealing with that tragedy. I tend to like it best when U2's songs can be about a specific instance and yet very universal at the same time, and "Walk On", "Stuck in a Moment", and even the crazy montage of "New York" are like that for me.
I would highly recommend ATYCLB to any fan of 80's U2 who doesn't mind that this isn't exactly the same thing, or to anyone who likes hope-filled rock music in general. Fans of Christian rock who aren't afraid of bands that don't specifically call their music "Christian" will find a lot to love here as well - but I'm sure you already knew that, given U2's reputation. If U2 in the 90's troubled you in any way, I'm sure you'll find this to be a fitting resolution, even though I found that era a bit more intriguing. (But then, what do I know, I'm the weird U2 fan.)
ALBUM WORTH:
Beautiful Day $2
Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out of $1.50
Elevation $2
Walk On $1
Kite $.50
In a Little While $0
Wild Honey $1
Peace on Earth $1
When I Look at the World $0
New York $1
Grace $1.50 TOTAL: $11.50
Band Members:
Bono: Vocals, guitar
The Edge: Guitar, keyboards, vocals
Adam Clayton: Bass
Larry Mullen, Jr.: Drums, percussion
Website: http://www.u2.com
Great Music to Play While: Celebrating a new season in your life.
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