U2

Pop

U2 that Actually Rocks

Review Score:

(10/10)
I have loved U2's music since I made Achtung Baby my first compact disc purchase, signaling the end of my cassette tape collecting days. Each U2 era offers something great, but the self-critical introspection of the 1990's was by far the most interesting. The band turned its keen, socially conscious eye inward, revealing a heart of darkness. What a departure - and a relief, especially for anyone that characterized the band as preachy. It was amazing to see such a radical change in subject matter, as U2's external, omnipresent optimism caved under the weight of internal ache.

So Pop. This album has something that something that so many other U2 albums lack: explosive rock energy. That energy was explored with tougher tones, new un-U2 song structures and some elements of electronic music. Yeah, there are loops and samples, but any band, particularly one with sustained success, should feel free to try pushing their musical envelope. This wasn't Dark Side or Sgt. Pepper but U2 absolutely used the studio as an instrument, complementing the band's tougher sound. As a result, this album is best experienced through headphones, which reveal outstanding subtleties tucked into the tunes on U2's best rock effort.

Headphone listens also reveal another crucial aspect of Pop: hard and dirty guitar. Up to "Achtung", listeners readily identified a U2 song by the church-bell chimes signature to Edge. On Pop, the Edge gets to convey emotion besides hope and optimism through his guitar. The layering and solos on Gone and Mofo will always sound as fresh, intense and desperate as the day they were committed to tape. With the 90's albums, Edge successfully added new colours and tones to his pallete. This alone makes the band's decade long departure an interesting one, and necessary to a future that would provide new & vital recordings.

The bass and drums always add a sense of urgency to U2 songs (which Coldplay understand quite well) - here, Clayton and Mullen expand their musical repertoire, contributing new sounds and updating the U2 catalog with an homage to contemporary rock and dance music. Thanks to their rhythmic contributions, typical U2 urgency is translated into a party record about God, life/death, trash club culture, etc. Check Last Night on Earth here.

And despite borrowing from contemporary late `90's music, I think that this record has aged well. Just one song sounds like the time it was made:, Mofo, the only overtly electronica/techno tune of the bunch. Otherwise, Do You Feel Loved and Gone sound like they could have been made in 2005, U2 fast forwarding to the future of rock and roll.

The follow up disc is the anti-Pop and suffers because of it. While All that You Can't does offer some really pleasant songs, it lacks guts of any kind, instead choosing to reveal in some great, but formulaic aspects of U2. Uplifting choruses, trebly/chiming guitars, and Bono's crystal clear vocals pushed to the top of the mix like a diva. That's all been done before with great success, but here it is so safe, so adult contemporary.

Look, my mom and I can agree on All that You Can't, but every time "Pop" is on, she insists that I turn it off because it gives her a headache. I don't want to listen to the same music as my mother, so thanks, Mofo. Rock and roll should be young, tough and rebellious - not your typical parental cup of tea. Even Elevation, the most rock moment of the record, is a bit soft. It was great to see U2 reclaim its place at the top of the rock world in 2001, but I begged that they wouldn't age with a whimper, becoming the new millennium equivalent of "A.M. Gold."

Fortunately, after a few listens to Atomic Bomb in advance, my fears have been put to rest because there is some rock on the disc. I believe U2 can still create beautiful and cutting edge music that ROCKS. Just listen to Love and Peace or Else and decide for yourself if the newest U2 is tough enough.

Now U2 might not revel in the harder side of rock, but sometimes they explore it with great success. Check out Zoo TV era Bullet the Blue Sky, for example, where they pump 1.21 gigawatts of rock n' roll electricity into the tune. Pop is a record where U2 did some more successful exploring into ROCK. If that piques your interest, I suggest you check it out. Ignore the underwhelming reviews from those folks who just want U2 to do U2 (many of whom probably didn't even listen to the record), and I am certain you will be pleasantly surprised.

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