I wrote three album reviews some weeks ago out of boredom and posted them in another forum. I might as well post all of them here as well. Here's the first:
U2 - How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb
We've seen U2 define and redefine their sound for decades. Their hits and misses along the road have been well documented. The release of 2001’s All That You Can’t Leave Behind was seen by many as U2’s return to its roots and heralded their re-establishment as the biggest band in the world. As much an achievement that was, Bono would probably be the first to say that it wasn’t really a return to their roots. And I believe him. It’s just another step in the evolution of their music, albeit a bit of a radical one. It’s funny how they make such transformations at the start of each decade, isn’t it?
The previous album put The Edge back on the map with his guitar work. This album puts him in center-stage, as How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb is probably one of U2’s most guitar-heavy albums ever, which becomes immediately apparent in the first track, the carrier single, “Vertigo,” a hard rocking burner. It’s also refreshing to hear The Edge incorporate those awesome delay effects in his guitar sound again like he used to do, which is most prominent in songs like City of Blinding Lights and Crumbs From Your Table. Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen, Jr. provides the solid backbone to their sound in each and every song, as usual. So yes, old U2 fans, rejoice: the synth experimentations are virtually absent now, even more so than the previous album. They’re back to being a real 4-member rock band, like in the 80’s.
As much as I worship U2, The Joshua Tree is the only album that I can consistently bear to listen to from start to finish. Just like their career as a whole, their albums typically have hits and misses in terms of their songs, and How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb is no different, at least for me. I didn’t quite get the hang “Love And Peace Or Else.” It being placed after the emotional “Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own” (Bono’s ode to his late father) only makes it worse for me. I also found “All Because Of You” and “A Man And A Woman” a bit boring. And that’s about it. The other eight songs just about blows me away.
In How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb, U2 pretty much continues the direction of they took in All That You Can’t Leave Behind. Whenever I listen to the best of U2’s albums, I feel this energy, this sense of energy brought about by either Bono’s lyrics and singing, or The Edge’s guitar playing. And guess what, while writing this, I was listening to “Crumbs From Your Table” and I was having that feeling.
