Ever since the beginning of their career, U2 had a sense of purpose and played on a larger scale than their peers, so when they stumbled with the knowing rocktronica fusion of 1997's Pop -- the lone critical and commercial flop in their catalog -- it was enough to shake the perception held among fans and critics, perhaps even among the group itself, that the band was predestined to always be the world's biggest and best ock & roll band. Following that brief, jarring stumble, U2 got back to where they once belonged with All That You Can't Leave Behind, returning to the big-hearted anthems of their '80s work. It was a confident, cinematic album that played to their strengths, winning back the allegiance of wary fans and critics, who were eager to once again bestow the title of the world's biggest and best band upon the band, but all that praise didn't acknowledge a strange fact about the album: it was a conservative affair. After grandly taking risks for the better part of a decade, U2 curbed their sense of adventure, consciously stripping away the irony that marked every one of their albums since 1991's Achtung Baby, and returning to the big, earnest sound and sensibility of their classic '80s work. How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, the long-awaited 2004 sequel to ATYCLB, proves that this retreat was no mere fling: the band is committed to turning back the clock and acting like the '90s never happened.
Essentially, U2 are trying to revirginize themselves, to erase their wild flirtation with dance clubs and postmodernism so they can return to the time they were the social conscience of ock music. Gone are the heavy dance beats, gone are the multiple synthesizers, gone are the dense soundscapes that marked their '90s albums, but U2 are so concerned with recreating their past that they don't know where to stop peeling away the layers. They've overcorrected for their perceived sins, scaling back their sound so far that they have shed the murky sense of mystery that gave The Unforgettable Fire and The Joshua Tree an otherworldly allure. That atmospheric cloud has been replaced with a clean, sharp production, gilded in guitars and anchored with straight-ahead, unhurried rhythms that never quite push the songs forward. This crisp production lacks the small sonic shadings that gave ATYCLB some depth, and leaves How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb showcasing U2 at their simplest, playing direct, straight-ahead ock with little subtlety and shading in the production, performance, or lyrics. Sometimes, this works to the band's detriment, since it can reveal how familiar the Edge's guitar has grown or how buffoonish Bono's affectations have become (worst offender: the overdubbed "hola!" that answers the "hello" in the chorus of "Vertigo"). But the stark production can also be an advantage, since the band still sounds large and powerful. U2 still are expert craftsmen, capable of creating records with huge melodic and sonic hooks, of which there are many on HTDAAB, including songs as reassuring as the slyly soulful "Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own" and the soaring "City of Blinding Lights," or the pile-driving "All Because of You." Make no mistake, these are all the ingredients that make How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb a very good U2 record, but what keeps it from reaching the heights of greatness is that it feels too constrained and calculated, too concerned with finding purpose in the past instead of bravely heading into the future. It's a minor but important detail that may not matter to most listeners, since the record does sound good when it's playing, but this conservatism is what keeps HTDAAB earthbound and prevents it from standing alongside War, The Joshua Tree, and Achtung Baby as one of the group's finest efforts.
The iPod and all its iterations remain the best-selling digital music device in the history of the universe. Microsoft tried to launch an attack a year ago with his Zune player, but due to a number of reasons, including that they insisted in making a brown one,it left the gate slowly and was roundly ridiculed by some.However, Microsoft was apparently listening. The brown Zune has been flushd an...
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Hey I laughed.http://www.zakeen.com/phonead.jpg
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Dear Bono,I hear you're having some tax trouble lately. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/04/business/yourmoney/04amster.html?_r=1&oref=sloginhttp://www.slate.com/id/2152580/You beloved manager is moving your money around so you don't have to give the Emerald Isle a chunk of your income, and after all the years of very generous tax rates they had given you before!Now, I'm a fan. I have all the al...
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$495 had been raised today, as of 10 AM EST, in a petition effort to get U2 frontman Bono to "retire from public life."Started via ThePoint.com, a Web site that lets anyone start a campaign. the petition's goal is "to get Bono to retire from public life (so he'll stop leading misguided counter-productive philanthropy efforts) ....and, simultaneously.... ...
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From ZDNet.comBy Larry DignanAmazon announced Sunday that it plans an international rollout of its DRM-free MP3 music download service in a move that sets up a global scrap with Apple’s iTunes service.Is Amazon’s service an iTunes killer yet? Not really. But there’s no doubt about Amazon’s intentions. I’ve downloaded more than a few DRM-free tunes from Amazon in recent weeks–most becau
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The iPod and all its iterations remain the best-selling digital music device in the history of the universe. Microsoft tried to launch an attack a year ago with his Zune player, but due to a number of reasons, including that they insisted in making a brown one,it left the gate slowly and was roundly ridiculed by some.However, Microsoft was apparently listening. The brown Zune has been flushd an...
More >
Most at NYU say their vote has a price By: Lily Quateman - Washington Square News Two-thirds say they'll do it for a year's tuition. And for a few, even an iPod touch will do. That's what NYU students said they'd take in exchange for their right to vote in the next presidential election, a recent survey by an NYU journalism class found. Only 20 percent said they'd exchange their vote for an iPo...
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Hey I laughed.http://www.zakeen.com/phonead.jpg
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As Thumper's father used to say, "if you can't blog something nice, don't blog nothing at all." And my father certainly didn't raise me to be a Bonobasher, but sometimes it's just so easy (especially when Brian Turner is feeding you links. Thanks Brian!)So it seems four tracks from U2's upcoming No Line on the Horizon were leaked after Sir Bono played them so loudly at his villa in the South of...
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My best friend just had a baby girl! Olivia was born at 4:31 p.m. on August 8. She's 7 pounds, 9 ounces and extremely beautiful.My friend scheduled the birth and on Tuesday my co-workers and I were discussing the blessed event. Someone pointed out the baby would be born on 08/08. Somehow this date seemed important to me. Something else special happened on this day, but I couldn't remember ...
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U2 frontman Bono has spoken out on the criticism he and his band have faced over recent months, after protests were held in the wake of allegations they had been expoiting a tax shelter in the Netherlands.In a revealing interview with the Guardian newspaper, Bono shrugged off the complaints, saying: “What bothered me was it’s [...]
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Dear Bono,I hear you're having some tax trouble lately. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/04/business/yourmoney/04amster.html?_r=1&oref=sloginhttp://www.slate.com/id/2152580/You beloved manager is moving your money around so you don't have to give the Emerald Isle a chunk of your income, and after all the years of very generous tax rates they had given you before!Now, I'm a fan. I have all the al...
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| Title | Lyrics | Buy |
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| 1 Vertigo |
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| 2 Miracle Drug |
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| 3 Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own |
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| 4 Love and Peace or Else |
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| 5 City of Blinding Lights |
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| 6 All Because of You |
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| 7 A Man and a Woman |
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| 8 Crumbs from Your Table |
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| 9 One Step Closer |
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| 10 Original of the Species |
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| 11 Yahweh |
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Click to purchase…
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 "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb")
