Review Summary: A re-introduction to the band that harkens back to their roots and yet has the new dynamics/sounds thrown in since that young band started.
U2 has always been about big, big, and bigger!You kind of expect U2 to something big. That is what has made them well known. But did anybody expect a free album to all ITunes customers a full month before the actual release of the album? Songs of the Innocence is U2's 13th studio album, Lucky or unlucky as that number can be. The album is their first since the disappointing No Line on the Horizon back in 2009. Over a half a decade has gone by since that album. So what would this band gives us as far as music. I think this in many ways is a return to that teenage band that broke out with Boy back in the 1980s. It's an interesting collection of songs about their youth and things that occured early in their lives.
The album starts with "The Miracle (Of Joey Ramone)". A nice introduction to the band that seems to be re-introducing itself to the world. Most people know U2, but not quite like this. This song is about Bono's introduction to music at a young age and the effect it had on his life. It's an ode to the band that influenced them The Ramones. A great band that never had the audience that U2 manages to gather. With driving beats, clapping, The Edge's raw guitar, and Bono's great voice this is the U2 you know but also has hints of new stuff not attempted. "California (There is No End to Love)" is U2's first perspective of California as teenagers. It has a very Beach Boys type beginning; the "Santa Barbara" part vocal kind of sounds like "Barbara Ann" by the Beach Boys. "Song for Someone" is very classic U2 ballad and sounds like a song that Bono may have written for his wife Ali. It as a nice acoustic beginning. Bono croons a line "And if there is a light, don't let it go out" that becomes the underlying message. Larry Mullen, Jr.'s drum lines just build the song nicely before it crescendos into a nice satisfying guitar riff by The Edge.
Iris" is a personal song about Bono's loss of his mother at a young age, and looking back at from his perspective today. Seems fitting since Bono wrote a song about his mother back on October (Tomorrow), and wrote a recent song for his dad (Sometimes You Can't Make it On Your Own) on How to Disarm an Atomic Bomb in 2004. "The universe is beautiful, but cold"
lyric hits this reader hard as my mom passed away as well over a decade ago.
"Volcano" has a very driving bass-heavy line by Adam Clayton. It at times feels a lot like their "Vertigo" song from How to Disarm with a tad more maturity this time. I can see this opening their tour next year. "Raised by Wolves" is a story of a car bomb that went off near Bono and one's of his mates. It's powerful in attiude and harkens back to their War album. "Sleep Like A Baby Tonight" is an unusual approach for U2 and probably the most unique song on the album. Sure you can tell it's U2 with Bono's falsetto type vocals, The Edge's grungy type guitar, and Mullen's tight drum lines. But the throbby syntheziers that the songs builds around is something never done before by U2.
The closer "The Troubles" is built on a very nice rythmn section by Adam Clayton and Mullen's. With some nice strings to supplement the singing duo of Bono and guest vocalist Lykke Li. Lykke Li though steals the spotlight much like Cash did on the closer "The Wanderer" on Zooropa. It is a song about Bono learning to move from his own problems and putting his past behind.
This album is not the headturner that Joshua Tree or Achtung Baby were, but also fits in better in their library than No Line on The Horizon and Pop. And reminds everyone how powerful U2 as a band can be. And also how emotional they can get. And kind of return to the young band they once were, but with the maturity that they have now.
