U2 - All That You Can't Leave Behind
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Free Music Notes for All That You Can't Leave Behind
Free Music Review: U2 Is WONDERFUL!!
Hit: 5 Stars
When "Beautiful Day" debuted last year, I knew I liked U2, but never quite got around to buying their CD "All That You Can't Leave Behind." Well, I was looking for something new and different over the weekend and thought "Why not?" I picked it up on Thursday and haven't turned it off since. I listen to it constantly. The tunes are all so memorable and the lyrics are incredible. (The ones Bono wrote tend to be better than others.) Here's a quick overview and some opinions:1. "Beautiful Day," The first single off of the CD, a great song that says that despite all the bad things going on, it is still a beautiful day worth enjoying.
2. "Stuck In A Moment," Well, sometimes you lose yourself in things and just can't seem to snap out of it. "You've got to get yourself together, you've got stuck in a moment and you can't get out of it." The tune is pleasant, especially the piano. A little choppy.
3. "Elevation" Not a personal favorite, bad not bad. The tune sounds like a recycled Beatles song to me and the girlish "Whooooos" are not for me. The lyrics are pretty good, though.
4. "Walk On" The best song on the album! I could listen to this all day. "I know it aches and your heart it breaks... walk on." It talks about "all that you can't leave behind" and says that you have to sometimes. The melody is haunting and the lyrics made me cry the first time I heard them.
5."Kite" This one bugs me, especially the beginning. (I always think there's something wrong with my CD player.) Nothing special here, one of the worst on the album.
6."In a Little While" The drums, the guitar, the vocals are all good, the song itself is stupid. I wouldn't go out of my way to hear it.
7. "Wild Honey" This song is cute and clever. My third favorite after "Walk On" and "Beautiful Day." It sounds like classic rock/pop songs by the Beatles and the Stones. It's soothing while peppy- it's just great!
8."Peace On Earth" A long pause is added for affect at the beginning. Then, it sounds a bit like "Walk On," then goes into strong lyrics. It is a heartwrenching tune about all those holiday songs' telling of "Peace On Earth." Where is it?
9."When I Look At The World" 4th best on the album. Bono is wondering what is wrong with him that he can't see the "wonderful" things around him that everyone else can.
10."New York" It's REALLY long, but very good also, it talks about all the things that go on "In New York," the ethnic groups, the poverty, the misery everywhere. 5th best.
11. "Grace" Middling, I like the lyrics, but it could have been better.
Overall, I find this to be a wonderful album, but most people probably won't be impressed. They will say Bono is a bad singer and you can't understand him, etc. Well, for those of you out there who believe that, you're more than welcome to your own opinion, but Bono's in and out voice MAKES the album, it gives a sense of being real and down to earth. Being a normal person, basically. If you're not thrilled with it, well, wait a few years and try again, but if you're tired of all the teeny boppin' love songs floating around on top 40 stations, try this on for size. This is REAL music.
Free Music Review: Looking Forward Through a Rearview Mirror
Hit: 5 Stars
"All That You Can't Leave Behind" is a turning point in popular music. I will even go so far as to say it is a landmark that, ten years from now, will be viewed much the same way that we now view Dylan's "Highway 61", Nirvana's "Nevermind" or Springsteen's "Born in the USA." With each of these albums, arguably not the strongest product by any of their composers, the musical landscape was changed... in the case of Dylan it was the protest singer who plugged in, turned on and broke the mode of what rock and roll was supposed to be, creating a blueprint for the next 3 generations to follow. With Nirvana it was a change in attitude from the pointless schlock that was the 80's hair metal and bumble gum pop, to a neo-punk passion that defined a generation. And with Springteen (while I would argue it was far from his best work) the notion of arena rock, music and politics, and what it meant to be a mega-music star were all changed in ways that created much of how the music industry operates today, for better or worse. U2, likewise, have created a musical statement equal to any of these mentioned above. "All That You Can't..." is not a return to roots, it is also not a continued venture into Euro-pop and trip hop, it is instead a re-focusing of what pop-rock should be in an era dominated by pathetic trends and gimmicks, from trash mouthed white metal/rappers from some suburbian utopia that want you to believe they have had a rough life, to teenage pornstars in the making and David Cassidy wanna-be's. Where are the New Kids now? 5 years from now where will Limp and Speares be? It won't matter, because U2 will be the band to save us from such junk..."All..." reunites Lanois, Lillywhite and Eno for production purposes, along with uber-photographer Anton Corbijn, forming an U2 all-star session of personalities from the groups past... Lillywhite was chiefly responsible for their early work, Lanois the haunting "Unforgettable Fire" days, and Eno everything from "Achtung Baby" to "Passengers." Combined the production team creates a very slick package that rrefrains from being heavy handed, with each technical genius getting their own voice introduced at various points. As a result, the music takes the form of a collage of U2 music from across their spectrum. The album has no real downers, nor does it suffer from the problems of the previous albums in that it is not so revolutionary and deep as to refuse easy admittance. Instead, much like Dylan's work it is accessable from the first listen, but also deep enough to stand up to several listens. "Pop" was a brilliant album, but one that had to be digested slowly. Most people, even long time fans were not willing to do this, and so the album has been passed off in many circles as a failure. "All..." will let you in right away and keep you coming back to hear things you didn't catch at first. It has managed to pull off the difficult feat of having both deep, emotional lyrics and monster radio-friendly hooks... think "Joshua Tree" with perhaps even more deeply rooted lyrics. Until hearing this I had penciled in Radiohead's "Kid A" as album of the year. With this I might have to reconsider...
Free Music Review: PERSONAL U2 FAVOURITE
Hit: 5 Stars
Having had this CD in constant rotation for over a year (i felt it neccessary to download all the tracks before it was released) I feel I owe it to the band to emphasize what a fantastic, sparkling release this is. Unlike the critics of this album I think it takes a lot of guts to put together something that is positive, energetic, and all-ages, that continues a commitment to classic songwriting skills. Honestly I cannot think of a solid rock release in years that is not depressing or tries to be experimental to the point of pretension and boredom. Track by track:
Beautiful Day, everyone knows it, sweet electronic pop verses against crashing rock chorus.
Stuck in a Moment, slower, motown-ish pop that took a while to grow on me. All the female U2 fans I know cite this as a favourite.
Elevation, sort of a mix of previous U2 classics Zoo Station and Last Night on Earth, much bouncier and more dynamic here than on the Tomb Raider mix released as a single. It has a lyric that I suppose to some seems overly simplistic but could either be about God or sex, like many a great U2 track.
Walk On, one of the all-time greats in U2's 20+ years. It has all the passion of a Pride or a One, which the dance groove of Mysterious Ways.
Kite is a glorious sweeper that in some strange way reminds me of the Joshua Tree track Red Hill Mining Town via it's tempo, muted verse vocal and passionate chorus and b-section.
In a Little While is another favourite, reasonably scratchy due to the fact it is about a hangover and was recorded under appropriate conditions. It sounds like nothing they've ever done before and probably goes a long way in pissing off older (read: only like white rock and roll) fans due to it's R n B drum loop.
Wild Honey, a Beatles-ish charging country rock track. Lyrically along the same lines as Sweetest Thing, musically dissimilar to any previous release by U2.
Peace on Earth has elements of Zooropa and Joshua Tree U2 while spitting a grounded lyric as to whether peace is ever going to happen, name checking people who died in an Irish terrorist bombing. Pretend the names are of victims of the WTC and Pentagon bombings and perhaps Americans will understand, instead of calling the track "trite."
When I Look at the World is an overlooked classic with some of Edge's most innovative guitar ever in the solo and an out of control Bono vocal towards the end. The chimes are straight from Boy but the rest of the track is loud, dancey, and sad.
New York is the most innovative and noisy track,also featuring a lot of electronic beats and effects. It matches well with the jarring feeling of a typical New York street, an ultra-urban melting pot.
Grace, the final track, is the only track that doesn't grab me by the gut where previous album closers Wake Up Dead Man, The Wanderer, 40, All I Want Is You, Love is Blindness, MLK and Mothers of the Disappeared would have. It's fluff, but then every ending track of a U2 album shouldn't be about a dead person, or multiple dead people.
To sum up, a passionate, mostly sunny alternative to dispassionate and depressing. It seems even the casual U2 listener has their personal favourite period and personal least favourite, this is my personal favourite period.
Free Music Review: U2's music is all about HEART
Hit: 5 Stars
After listening to the album countless times (enough to have the lyrics memorized), I came to the conclusion that "All That You Can't Leave Behind" is more about the heart, the meat of what's important to ourselves.Some may feel that Bono's (and Edge's) lyrics have lost their bite. Nope, I don't think so. Bono and The Edge have captured passion and an openness in their lyrics, a stark quality that speaks volumes.
What I don't understand is that many people feel the band is "rediscovering" their roots. Wait a minute. Every single U2 album that has been released has its own unique sound. U2 has spent years experimenting with new sounds, but they still sound like U2 - it's still Bono's voice on those songs, The Edge's way cool guitar licks and voice soaring through and over those songs, and Adam and Larry's beat keeping the fingers and toes tapping.
U2's new album is not a "back to basics" - far from it. "Beautiful Day" truly encompasses the beauty of the world, of the beauty that we all see but can so easily forget about. Bono's lyrics have a way of making us see what's right there under our noses. Listen to the lyrics. Listen to what is being said. As far as I'm concerned, there isn't any preaching going on - it's just a person looking at the world and telling it like it is.
"Elevation," being the only true song with a fast beat, is a toe-tapping, tappin'-the-steering-wheel song that grows and grows with each listening experience. It's a song that can be played over and over to elevate the spirit - really, no pun intended. Even the lyrics get under the skin.
I can't seem to get enough of "Walk On," "Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out of," and "Kite." In a review someone wrote in a local newspaper near me, Bono's lyrics are being compared to that of a high school poet. Listen to the lyrics in "Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of," "Peace on Earth," and "Grace." Bono and The Edge are still in their lyric-writing prime, there is no lost-touch here. Better yet, I believe it's safe to say their lyrics are almost, if not as powerful as their lyrics from "Joshua Tree" and "Achtung Baby."
Truly, the 3-year wait since "Pop" has been well-worth it. It is more apparent this time around that U2 spent their time on this album, fine-tuning it. What I don't understand is how some people believe this album is a throw-back from their "Joshua Tree" days. How? This album has its own sound, its own little life. It shouldn't be compared to other U2 albums. It is quite able to stand on its own as a great U2 album.
Some people believe U2 should be doing what they do best: reinventing their sound. Haven't they been doing that for years? And, can't we listen to a U2 song, any U2 song, and say, "that's definitely U2?" Bono's voice soaring, sometimes gravelly voice, The Edge's way-cool guitar licks, Adam's definitive bass, and of course, Larry's grounding beat - isn't that all the sound we need? U2 is U2. Pure and simple. I believe this album has fulfilled what U2 has set out to fulfill: making music and being happy doin' it.
Dana K. Wolcott
Free Music Review: U2's music is all about heart
Hit: 5 Stars
After listening to the album countless times (enough to have the lyrics memorized), I came to the conclusion that "All That You Can't Leave Behind" is more about the heart, the meat of what's important to ourselves.Some may feel that Bono's (and Edge's) lyrics have lost their bite. Nope, I don't think so. Bono and The Edge have captured passion and an openness in their lyrics, a stark quality that speaks volumes.
What I don't understand is that many people feel the band is "rediscovering" their roots. Wait a minute. Every single U2 album that has been released has its own unique sound. U2 has spent years experimenting with new sounds, but they still sound like U2 - it's still Bono's voice on those songs, The Edge's way cool guitar licks and voice soaring through and over those songs, and Adam and Larry's beat keeping the fingers and toes tapping.
U2's new album is not a "back to basics" - far from it. "Beautiful Day" truly encompasses the beauty of the world, of the beauty that we all see but can so easily forget about. Bono's lyrics have a way of making us see what's right there under our noses. Listen to the lyrics. Listen to what is being said. As far as I'm concerned, there isn't any preaching going on - it's just a person looking at the world and telling it like it is.
"Elevation," being the only true song with a fast beat, is a toe-tapping, tappin'-the-steering-wheel song that grows and grows with each listening experience. It's a song that can be played over and over to elevate the spirit - really, no pun intended. Even the lyrics get under the skin.
I can't seem to get enough of "Walk On," "Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out of," and "Kite." In a review someone wrote in a local newspaper near me, Bono's lyrics are being compared to that of a high school poet. Listen to the lyrics in "Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of," "Peace on Earth," and "Grace." Bono and The Edge are still in their lyric-writing prime, there is no lost-touch here. Better yet, I believe it's safe to say their lyrics are almost, if not as powerful as their lyrics from "Joshua Tree" and "Achtung Baby."
Truly, the 3-year wait since "Pop" has been well-worth it. It is more apparent this time around that U2 spent their time on this album, fine-tuning it. What I don't understand is how some people believe this album is a throw-back from their "Joshua Tree" days. How? This album has its own sound, its own little life. It shouldn't be compared to other U2 albums. It is quite able to stand on its own as a great U2 album.
Some people believe U2 should be doing what they do best: reinventing their sound. Haven't they been doing that for years? And, can't we listen to a U2 song, any U2 song, and say, "that's definitely U2?" Bono's voice soaring, sometimes gravelly voice, The Edge's way-cool guitar licks, Adam's definitive bass, and of course, Larry's grounding beat - isn't that all the sound we need? U2 is U2. Pure and simple. I believe this album has fulfilled what U2 has set out to fulfill: making music and being happy doin' it.