The Band: Bono (Vocals)
The Edge (Guitar)
Adam Clayton (Bass)
Larry Mullen (Drums)
Released: 2000 (Island)
This album, released in 2000 marked in many people's eyes U2's return to doing what they do best; making songs that seem designed to be played on a stadium tour. Following the changes in their music that took place in the 1990s on albums such as Achtung Baby and Zooropa, this re-inforced them as being,in the words of Bono, "The biggest rock band in the world". The album has so far sold around 7 million copies worldwide.
Tracks:
1.
Beautiful Day-This was the first single taken from the album, with a classic U2 feel to it, and a chorus that seems designed to get the crowd going. The Edge's guitar stands out in this track for me, as do some moments when the music basically fades out and you are only left with Bono's vocals. It's a very happy song, that seems, sterotypically, designed to be played on a summer's day when all seems right with the world.
4.5/5
2.
Stuck In a Moment-after the opening blast of
Beautiful Day, this song is quieter, and far more relaxed, with Bono singing about independence and freedom to act as you choose, "I am not afraid of anything in this world". This is a fairly simple song, and one of those on the album where you become aware of Bono's outstanding quality as a lyricist, but also as a vocalist. If
Beautiful Day is designed to get the crowd going, then this is one for them to get their lighters out in.
4/5
3.
Elevation-Although the album version of this is good, the remix is better in my opinion, as it is louder with more energy. Having said that, this version exudes energy, from The Edge's opening guitar, to Bono's joyous "Woo-Hoo's" to introduce the song and at other moments in it. This is a live favourite, which again succeeds in geeing the crowd up. The relatively nonsensical lyrics also help this in a bizzare way.
4.5/5
4.
Walk On-This may well be my favourite song in the album. From Bono's spoken intro to it, to a truly majestic guitar part by The Edge, this song gives off the majesty that U2 do arguably better than any other band. The lyrics to this are again outstanding, and I believe that it was dedicated to New York firefighters in the aftermath of 9/11, which tells you quite a bit about the song. This is probably most similar to their earlier work.
5/5
5.
Kite-For some reason this song took me a while to get into, possibly because of it's placement after
Walk On. More wonderful lyrics by Bono, with the band providing a great example of just backing up their singer, seemingly effortlessly. I'm giving this
4.5/5. because although it's a fairly generic U2 track, I still love it.
6.
In A Little While-The drums are more apparent on this song than before, as is the bass, for the first time on the album in my opinion. It's not loud by any means though, with a trademark Bono vocal. A nice song, without anything particularly noteworthy going on for me.
3.5/5
7.
Wild Honey-This song features Edge on an acoustic guitar (I think), with it having a more airy feel to it than previous songs, possibly due to the fact that it is a rather straightforward love song. Like the previous track, while it is a good song, it doesn't fully show the range of U2's abilities for me.
3.5/5
8.
Peace On Earth-Well, after the vague break in the album, the band are back to their best here, in my opinion. More brilliant lyrics from Bono, although some people could find them a bit corny in their simplicity. It's where his political beliefs really shine through though, which adds a more emotional air to the track. It's a very slow song, which greatly adds to his near pleas for peace to finally break out.
5/5
9.
When I look at the World-A good song, with again, nothing overly exceptional going on. Bono uses his vocal range to good effect again, with some nice guitar effects going on in the background.
3.5/5 again.
10.
New York-This is another highlight of the album for me, with a relatively long intro going on before Bono starts almost describing the feel and atmosphere of New York in a quiet, muted way. That's before the chorus dramatically kicks in, which is one of the loudest moments on the album. A standout track.
5/5
11.
Grace-A good song, although you can't help feeling that they could have ended the album with something a little stronger I guess. It starts with a very understated intro again, before Bono starts crooning over the soft guitar part.
3.5/5
Although the album has several tracks which aren't actually brilliant, there isn't a bad song on here, in my opinion. If you like Bono's style of singing, and his emotive lyrics, then this is something that I can definitely recommend, and to me it marks some of U2's most consistently fine work. Hopefully the new album will be out later this year, and if it progresses from this, I'll be a happy man. Overall, this gets
3.5/5, falling just short of a truly great U2 album.
