Review Summary: A messy, sprawling conurbation of the average, unimpressive in spite of a few successes.
EP’s and live albums - both can claim to be the curious asides of bands more committed to their album work. Whilst they are frequently a home for the intriguing oddities of said bands discography, it is equally in their nature that they suffer from the hangover of the B-side; a place for weaker tracks that have gone unpolished and unloved in production. Depending on how cynical you are, they are either counted precious for their supply of extra material that connoisseurs crave; or they’re a quick cash-grab to fleece the fans. Interesting, then, that U2 should try to amalgamate these two less eminent formats into a single, album-sized project, with documentary film to boot. Sadly, it’s less of an amalgamation, more of a mismatch.
I say mismatch partly due to the sparseness of consistency. Take the live numbers. These can be as superb as the powerful pounding that is ‘Bullet the Blue Sky’, charged with such impassioned political outrage that it can be counted among the best of U2’s prolific live set catalogue; or as precious as the capturing of a particular performance on ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’ – recorded on the same day as the Eniskillen bombing, the band took the stage racked with emotion, and put in a rendition of the ultimate anti-war song unforgettable for the harsh new light they shed on it. And yet, these absolute gems sit next to the likes of their simply abysmal cover of ‘All Along the Watch Tower’. The tracks from the studio fare similarly. ‘Hawkmoon 269’ sounds as if it is trying to capture the immensity of sunset on the African Sahara and reassert its connotations as spiritual; it virtually succeeds, if you can ignore some of the more questionable metaphors. ‘All I Want is You’ is better still - undoubtedly a classic, the trademarks of Bono’s faith-inspired lyricism, and The Edge’s scintillating escalation, while familiar, outdo even themselves. This track could have been included in ‘The Joshua Tree’ and still be able to hold its head high, but it finds itself amid a glut of vaguely-catchy-but-forgettable asides.
I quote mismatch also because of the lack of any real order. You could look at the length of ‘Rattle and Hum’ and call it an album; or at that complementary documentary and say it’s a project. But in reality, it’s neither – for those, coherence is needed, and of that there is precious little. They endeavour to create a more focussed overall effort by these means, but the end result amounts to no more than an overly-long, overly-tiresome and just plain overgrown live-album-cum-EP. While in the midst the riff-raff are truly special moments, they are sadly lost among a majority consisting of filler (if they even qualify for that). It’s a shame. They would have been much more at home on a record of better overall quality; the 7” in a 12”s shoes that is ‘Rattle and Hum’ does them a disservice.
