U2

Pop

The U2 Learning Curve: Better A Year Later

Review Score:

(8/10)
I bought "Pop" last year before the release of "All That You Can't Leave Behind". The only songs with which I was familiar were "Staring At The Sun" and "Discotheque", both of which I mildly enjoyed. After one listen, I fell in love with "Do You Feel Loved", "Gone" and "If You Wear That Velvet Dress"; but the rest of the album left me cold ("Wake Up Dead Man", "Mofo"), or just plain annoyed me ("Miami", "The Playboy Mansion", "Please").

A year has passed and, now, I can't get enough of this album. It's full of danceable grooves, and, much to my surprise, deeply personal and spiritual lyrics. Only "Discotheque", "Do You Feel Loved", and "Mofo" live up to the techno billing that preceded the album's release. The rest of the album's music is traditional U2 stadium rock. "If God Will Send His Angels" is a haunting, beautiful U2 ballad, in the tradition of "All I Want Is You" and "Love Is Blindness". "Staring at the Sun," "Last Night On Earth", and "Gone" would fit in on any of the group's albums from the early 90s. In fact, "Staring at the Sun" is probably one of the best yearning, bittersweet ballads U2 have ever written. I didn't think much of the song when I first heard it, but once I let myself get lost in the Edge's guitar, I was in love.

Speaking of which, "Gone", with it's fuzzed out guitar is, hands down, one of my all time favorite U2 songs (right up there with "Bad", "In God's Country", "New Year's Day", "Till The End of the World", and "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For"). The lyrics are superb, and Bono's delivery is stellar. "Mofo" is a marvelously eclectic rumble of a song that turns out to be one of Bono's most personal songs (it deals with the loss of his mother).

Elsewhere on "Pop", "Discotheque" and "Last Night On Earth" invite the listener to get up and dance (the former, literally), with terrific results. I haven't danced this much to a U2 album since "Achtung Baby". "If You Wear That Velvet Dress" features wonderful lyrics and a stunningly seductive delivery by Bono that gives me chills each time I hear it.

Finally, there are the songs that I held in something close to contempt when I first heard this album: "Please", "The Playboy Mansion", "Miami", and "Wake Up Dead Man". "Please" is a terrific song, full of yearning, desperation (a common theme throughout Pop) and frustration but it remains a difficult listen because of the intense subject matter and Bono's matching delivery. "The Playboy Mansion" plays like a bluesy soundtrack to some glitzy Hollywood film (a musical precursor to ATYCLB's "In A Little While"). At first, I cringed at the inclusion of the bit from "You Showed Me", but I realized that it fits the laid back tone of the song quite well. Lyrically, the song is a fun poke at popular culture's view of the ideal existence.

"Miami" used to grate on my nerves like no song in a long time, but the half-sung half-spoken song (backed with a trip-hop beat) about that famous city is actually a unique song worth the listening experience, even if has to grow on you.

"Wake Up Dead Man" underwhelmed me when I first heard it, but further listening revealed some of the Edge and Adam Clayton's best work, as well as the desperate lyrical call for Jesus to appear in the here and now. It proves a fitting end to this ever-questing album.

Like many U2 albums, "Pop" rewards repeated listenings. It took me 5 years to grasp and appreciate the raw beauty of "Achtung Baby". It took only a year for me to like, enjoy, and even fall in love with "Pop". I'd say my U2 learning curve has improved considerably.

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