U2 Album: “All That You Can't Leave Behind (Limited)”

Oh, my AP English class has finally paid off, because now I understand why U2 has gone from "brilliant" to "more brilliant" to "more brilliant still."

I'm talking about William Blake, the 18th-century poet who authored the "Songs of Innocence and Experience." Don't click away--even if you know nothing about poetry, if you know something about U2, you'll appreciate this...

The theme of the "Songs" is this: We enter the world with a pure, unaffected point of view. As such, we perceive it with unadulterated clarity, but we lack the understanding to appreciate what we see.

With experience comes this understanding, but at what price? We lose the clarity of perception we were born with.

As understanding increases, though, we realize this. And then we become whole. Only through innocence can we become experienced. Only through experience can we appreciate innocence.

Now, who's that sound like? An Irish rock group, maybe, who started out waving a white flag, proclaiming, "I Will Follow"? Who saw the world in black and white and knew exactly which side they were on?

The same group saved themselves by diving headfirst into the black, as it were. With the Zoo TV experience, they immersed themselves in the sensual and the secular. In fact, they did that so thoroughly that to this day, older, more simpleminded fans resent them for it.

The simpletons can rejoice, and so can us Achtung Babies who understand what U2 did and why they had to do it, and love them for it. It started on "Pop," and it's happened on "All That You Can't Leave Behind": U2 have come full circle, become whole. They are innocent again. They understand the world around them, and now they know why this is black, why that's white, and why there's so much gray.

The band who created "All..." aren't afraid to wear their collective heart on their collective sleeve again. They aren't afraid to ask for "Peace on Earth." They can write the sweetest, most lovingest love song they've ever written now--"Wild Honey"--because they know now that beyond the darkness love is certainly waiting.

They've made their phone calls from Hell, and they are more aware than ever that, while the dark places won't go away, the world is still a true, beautiful place. They're seeing with cherubs' eyes now--the eyes of wise children.

They said they wanted to make an album about joy, and that it wouldn't be easy. They've more than risen to the challenge.

Buy this album. Buy it now. Click now. It will make your problems go away, at least for a little while. It will make your soul soar. It will make you sing.

A 'back to basics' approach is a well known trick of the record trade: a band becomes famous, its music familiar, so it ducks and dives, twists and turns, trying to throw up a few surprises. Then, when the fans break the code and the envelope can't be pushed any further, the earlier style is reprised and sold in a combined package of nostalgia and 'old is new' novelty. This is the slash and burn agriculture practiced by the music industry. With Oasis on the wane, the Verve having broken up, and Radiohead disappointing their rock fans again, a return to their straight rock roots by U2 couldn't be better timed.

In 1988, with the World at their feet, Phil Joanou's epic rockumentary Rattle & Hum attempted to carve U2's visage on the Mount Rushmore of rock'n'roll legend by trawling them through America's musical heartlands of gospel, blues, and rock. Soon after this, however,the band started to move away from their trademark sound of intense, almost messianic vocals against a soundscape of clanging guitars and epic rhythms in favor of a more produced, textured sound arrived at with the help of Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois. Impassioned, naive idealism was replaced with a worldly, sophisticated, clubby, media-savvy, ironic sensibility.

U2's aptly titled new album, All That You Can't Leave Behind, is an attempt both to undo some of the damage done by this move as well as consolidate some of its gains. Bono has dubbed the new album's sound "titanium soul." and claimed that the new songs are "tunes rather than just ideas," implicitly criticizing U2's earlier output. "There's no storytelling or artifice," he declared on the band's official website. "It's about the pure joy of playing in a band, with or without an audience."

After the jaded cynicism of the MacPhisto period when Bono projected himself as the bad end of a Faustian bargain, there is now reported to be a renewed burst of spiritual energy coursing through the group, courtesy of Bono's newfound cause campaigning for the abolition of Third World debt. This, along with the more stripped down sound, has raised expectations

"Beautiful Day," the first single, makes a brave attempt to live up to these hopes as lushly layered harmonies are flailed with incendiary guitar. On "Walk On" and "Elevation" the melding of the Edge's clanging guitar and Bono's impassioned singing also signals that U2 are no longer content to communicate through the ouija boards of producers, sound engineers and the mixing console as they were in the Zooropa and Pop. years. The suspicion remains, however, that the guitar overdubs are merely being cranked up in the mix to give a rawer feel.

The sound and fury of the noisier tracks are balanced with slower numbers which allow Bono to mug the microphone with some quite effective stabs at soul. "In A Little While" is a low-key, piece of pop that really grows on you. "Wild Honey" is also a great song, but howabout a remix to bring out the Edge's beautiful, crying guitar?

The best song on the album is undoubtedly "Kite," a soaring, catchy, anthemic song, with Bono delivering one of his most impassioned vocals, emblazoned with some intricate guitar riffs and tugging rhythms that relentlessly drive the song on without overpowering its delicacy.

The lyrics are interesting because Bono is singing from the viewpoint of someone who has just died looking back on his life and thinking about his children. To anybody who has just lost a parent the lyrics will be extremely moving.

P.S. I love the jacket design - it looks like Adam has misplaced the tickets again.

It all sounds so cliche..."back to their roots," "they've done it again," "another masterpiece." True, sort of.

Yes, this is "back to their roots" in that they've stripped away the hype and experimentation, leaving us with just four guys with their instruments and The Voice. Yes, "they've done it again" in that this is their best album since Achtung Baby and will reach the mainstream again and not tend to be ignored by those who don't understand. Yes, it "is a masterpiece," in it's own way.

You see, U2's latest release is an album full of joy and a little bit of soul. The band have become more comfortable with themselves, their emotions and have finally realized that they don't need the techno to impress us anymore. From the outset, we have the joy of Beautiful Day, Elevation and Wild Honey. Beautiful Day and Elevation are guitar-driven numbers worthy of rolling down the car windows and cranking the volume to 10. Wild Honey's melody and lightness will linger in your head for days and days. It, along with Stuck in a Moment, will give you a certain Beatle-esque feeling.

But U2 has a knack for cranking out the emotion, and Peace On Earth and Walk On bring it on. Walk On, particularly, will go down as this album's "One" or "With or Without You." The guitar has the same familiarity of other U2 ballads (I can hear the crowd roar in recognition when the first notes are played live!) and the lyrics are brilliantly written. Peace On Earth is Bono's tribute to the victim's of the Omagh bombing, and I've yet to hear anything that evokes so much emotion.

The most interesting part of the album for me is the soul that they seem to have tapped for Stuck in a Moment and In a Little While. These just have tremendous feeling that doesn't bog you down, but gives you some hope, and perhaps some joy?

After 16 years as a fan, I am relieved that this is how this album turned out, but not in the least bit surprised. A great addition to any CD collection, as I feel it's some of the best music to come out this year.

If you are trying to decide between buying this disc or the cheaper regular release, you need to consider how big a U2 fan you are. I'm a moderate U2 fan, and althought the bonus track "Summer Rain" was a decent song, I was disappointed that it wasn't longer, despite being the only track on the bonus disc. It is just a normal-length track.

If you're building the flawless U2 collection, then buy this limited edition, but for the casual fan, rest assured that you aren't missing anything groundbreaking in the song "Summer Rain".

The booklet and case art is the same for both this release and the regular edition.

As a U2 psycho, I have the tendency to anticipate the second coming of Jesus whenever U2 releases an album. When I heard that the band were going back to their older form of songwriting (though I appreciated their attempts to break into newer territory), expectations were magnified. I was looking for some of the ambient sounds of Unforgettable Fire or The Joshua Tree. For the most part, though, that effect is missing. There is no "Where the Streets Have No Name" intro, no "With or Without You" bassline, no "Bad" guitar, no "Elvis Presley and America" murkiness. Granted, when I heard "Beautiful Day" I was instantly reminded of the War/Unforgettable Fire era.

Still, the end result is a NEW album. One which at once sounds familiar and different. So here's the breakdown:

"Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of" has an annoyingly long title. It's a gospel-style song that is intended as encouragement to it's listener to break out of his/her funk. While it might not grab you upfront, after a few listens you may find yourself belting out the last lines along with Bono in your car, ending in the uplifting "It's just a moment/this time will pass". "Kite" was written as a rock anthem, and when I first heard Bono shouting "Who's to say where the wind will take you" I thought, "Okay, Bono, easy with the melodrama." But in spite of that, you can't help but to like the song...it's too catchy. "In a Little While" is remeniscent of "Trying to Throw Your Arms Around the World", but not as good. "Wild Honey" is U2 doing Oasis doing the Beatles. It's pretty catchy. "Peace On Earth" is a prayer. Bono is exhasperated with ongoing violence in the world and is wondering when it's going to end. A similar theme to "Sunday, Bloody Sunday" except instead of chastising man for his own inhumanity to man he asks for divine intervention ("Jesus can you take the time/to throw a drowning man a line"). Being a Chicagoan, it is reflexive for me to reject anything New York. However, after "New York" and "Miami" I'm wondering if the band will develop an obsession for Chicago. "Grace" is another closing prayer, similar to "40" "MLK" "Mothers of the Disappeared" "Love Is Blindness" "The Wanderer" and "Wake Up, Dead Man". Each of those songs effectively wrap up the album they finish, as does "Grace".

Those were songs I like. Then there are the songs I LOVE. "Beautiful Day" maintains an upbeat tune even while addressing some hardships. I DEFY you not to start bouncing around in your car when you hear "Elevation", particularly when the music slows down and Edge comes in with a couple quick guitar licks before Bono shouts, "A MOLE/digging in a HOLE..." If the guitar in "Walk On" isn't catchy enough for you, and if Bono's voice doesn't do the trick, read the liner notes and lyrics. Soon enough you will be shouting, "YES, YES, WALK ON!!!" And you won't even feel silly doing it. Honest.

"When I Look at the World" is what makes U2 great. Their whole existance has been an ongoing quest for discovery, and in this song it continues. Bono, addressing what I assume to be a person of great faith, asks "When you look at the world/What is it that you see?/People find all kinds of things/That bring them to their knees" and later says "So I try/to be like you/Try to see things/Like you do". Ultimately, though, "I can't see what you see/When I look at the world". God bless him...he's trying, as he was 14 years ago when he wrote the lyrics for "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For". That honesty and earnestness is what helps us relate to this band. A band searching for truth and affirmation, after 1) moving it into the background (Achtung Baby) 2) embracing the uncertainty (Zooropa) 3) focusing on something else (Pop) has come full circle with this album and brings that search back to the front of its music. It is All That You Can't Leave Behind.