U2 - ALL THAT YOU CAN'T LEAVE BEHIND
it's a sad thing to see rock stars get old. the rule seems to be that, as an artist gets older, their output becomes less and less interesting: this suggests that their best ideas were used up in their youth. case in point, the other day i was in the store and saw that the bamboozled soundtrack had a new song by prince. there was a time when this was cause for a small celebration and i would've ended up buying the cd on the spot, if only for that song. well, thankfully, we now have these things called "listening towers." prince is the perfect example of an artist who, while still releasing a good tune now and then, will never be the as vital as he was years ago. and this revelation, it ages you as well because you can remember a time when the artist was important.
u2 have been another example of this phenomenon. every time they ready a new release, i get caught up in the attendant hype. when bono and the guys talk about the songs, they just make them sound so damn good and this wipes from my memory the fact that they haven't made a good album since achtung baby. needless to say, going on almost ten years now, i've been a disappointed u2 fan. as far as i'm concerned, u2 isn't about irony or electronica or what have you. what's worse than just getting old is when an artist hopelessly claws for relevancy by jumping on a trend instead of just being who they are. if it's good enough to have gotten them to where they are, why not stick with it?
the success of u2 was a triumph of passion and populism, of anger and attitude. as they grew older, the anger started to wear off, as anger usually does, and was replaced by what one hesitantly calls a religious fervor, typified by the joshua tree album. the press has been heralding all that you can't leave behind as a "back-to-basics" u2 album. in interviews, bono et. al have been pushing the same. "beautiful day," a boisterous single recalling past hits like "pride," gave me hope that maybe, this time, it wouldn't be just hype. i did go in with lowered expectations -- "fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me," after all -- but i'm very pleased, and shocked, to inform you that all that you can't leave behind is an excellent album.
the album begins with "beautiful day" and it's a great opener: an anthemic chorus, the edge's screaming guitar, the explosive rhythm section, and bono's ardent delivery set the tone for the rest of the album. the opening four tracks are easily as good as any opening quartet i've heard this year: there's "beautiful day"; the loping, flat-out fun of "elevation"; "walk on" with its plangent tones and heart-rending yearning; and "stuck in a moment" which is gracefully soulful. what made u2 great in the past also makes these songs great: it's the sound of a band on the same page, showing strong commitment and devotion to what they're doing and just writing and playing exceedingly well. (and, when i say "band," i mean to include brian eno and daniel lanois. the combined efforts of the participants proves that, without each other, they're nothing.)other highlights include "kite" with its cool sounds and relaxed guitars; the effortless lilt of "in a little while"; the impassioned indignance of the majestic "when i look at the world."
i've used a multitude of synonyms for the word "passionate" in this review, and i do believe that that's a good sign for this album. as i've said above, i believe that u2 is at its best when they have a clear vision and are dedicated to it. all that you can't leave behind is a very adult album -- in this case, "adult" not being a synonym for "pornographic. one could argue that there music has always been "adult," just that, in the past, it had been performed by young men. the themes seem to be ones near and dear to bono's heart and it's refreshing to see an older band not making concessions to the youth market.
"grace," a meditative and hymn-like tune, closes the album, an album which starts off with a bang and ends with a whisper. the word "grace" could be applied to the project as a whole as every aspect of the album is executed with just that, grace. u2 have returned to let us know that they can still rock, can still deliver the big ballad, and are still masters of the grand statement. threatened by being consumed by their past and forgotten by the present, with their new album, u2 haven proven that they are one thing that we should not leave behind.
(c) 2000 - fred solinger -
please do not reprint without permission.
