Review Summary: The Irish group U2's 2004 release showed the band starting to become stale, although it featured a fair number of solid rock anthems.
In the world of popular music, change is something that, many times, is justly maligned. For example, when
Weezer released the terrible
Raditude and
Hurley a year apart from each other, the former with garish pop production and an out-of-place verse by Lil' Wayne, and the latter poorly attempting a return to Weezer's roots with what sounded like outtakes from the previous album, many called foul - and for good reason. However, change can always be a good thing, even for the Irish rock group U2. After the mixed response to 1988's pseudo-live release
Rattle and Hum, critics and fans alike welcomed the wonderful
Achtung Baby with open arms, the record keeping up with the times by featuring a more electronic and alternative sound than their previous work. When the even
more experimental
Zooropa arrived two years later, it was also received well, although it didn't sell nearly as much as
Achtung had before.
1997, however, was U2's breaking point. The rushed, electronica-influenced
Pop was not nearly as commercially and critically successful as their previous work and it fell off the charts almost as fast as it arrived. However, in hindsight,
Pop was really the last time U2 was truly innovative and cutting-edge, and the album itself is really quite an underrated and subversive work. Three years later, the band finally returned with
All That You Can't Leave Behind, a return to a more simplified and mainstream rock sound that left critics and the commercial public at large satisfied. Here, U2 showed that they were still able to return to their roots and still be relevant. Where would U2 go from here?
Enter 2004's
How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb... which was yet another album where U2 tried to stick to their roots (or what the band thought they were) by creating huge, expansive anthems meant for everyone in the world to relate to. Sometimes, this worked well. However, in the long run, it was where their reputation as out-of-touch dad rockers truly began. On "Vertigo" and the truly excellent "Love and Peace or Else", they create huge, expansive anthems by way of loud, mindblowing ROCK songs that are sure to make the last person in the farthest row in the back of a U2 concert feel butterflies in their stomachs. On the wonderful "Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own" and the bland "City of Blinding Lights", the band creates huge, expansive anthems by making almost
Coldplay-like material. On "A Man and a Woman", they create a huge, expansive anthem by copying
Sting. Noticing a pattern?
Although the album isn't
bad by any means,
How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb can become stale by playing it too safe, such as on "Crumbs From Your Table", which (for some reason) describes the relationship between developed and developing countries by using the word "baby" and sounding exactly like what U2 sounds like to people who don't listen to them; and on the aforementioned "A Man and a Woman", which is U2 at their most middle-of-the-road. However,
Atomic Bomb also has its fair share of excellent moments. Take "Original of the Species", a ballad which combines innovative musicianship and intriguing lyrics to create one of the album's best cuts. "One Step Closer" is heartbreaking, while the truly remarkable "Love and Peace or Else" shakes you to the core and is one of the closest times it feels like any group has come to replicating a concert experience in the studio.
U2 could, and maybe should, have returned with a more subversive and experimental work than
How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb. The parts of this album that are truly great are almost able to become some of their best material that they had made up until then. However, many of
Atomic Bomb's lesser moments keep it from reaching its full potential. At times, the album can sound like U2 going through the motions, although it has enough solid material to keep fans of their more streamlined rock sound wanting more.
