U2 - How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
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Free Music Notes for How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
Free Music Review: A Manual For Our Times!
Hit: 5 Stars
I was lucky enough to catch U2's free show in Brooklyn last week, and as such, there are few songs that I've had the benefit of hearing live:
"Vertigo & All Because Of You"
Bono and the boys dove head first into "Vertigo," and then came right back with "All Because of You." Two great singles that really got the crowd pumped. Vertigo is a direct decendent of Elevation from ATYCLB, and All Because Of You just plain kicks ass.
"Miracle Drug"
Bono then introduced "Miracle Drug." He told the story of a paraplegic classmate who, after years of silence, decided to take a chance and have a device attached to his head that would allow him to type. With this device, and the help of a drug that allowed him to move his head ever so slightly, the man proceeded to write an award-winning collection of poems. It's a fantastic song for a truly inspirational tale.
"Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own"
Next was "Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own." I had read that this song was pretty much a conversation between Bono and his father, Bob, who had passed away in 2001. It's an absolultely beautiful song. While introducing it, Bono explained that he believes that the dead leave gifts for their loved ones after they've gone, and his father blessed him by allowing him to hit notes with his voice that he hasn't been able reach in over a decade. As the band began to play, he said, "OK Bob, here we go, don't f**k up now!" I absolutely love this song, and it is high in the running for favorite on the new album.
"City of Blinding Lights"
This song apparently has a few meanings. Bono explained that at one level, it's about the band's love for New York, but also about lost innocence. Somehow, I think that the two probably go hand in hand! "City" is a great song, and with Manhattan in the background, it was truly magical.
"Original Of The Species"
The band paused for a moment as Bono was equipped with a guitar. He then introduced "Original Of The Species," which elicited a cheer from the crowd. Bono stopped, looked at the crowd inquisitively, and said, "How do you know this sh*t?" This of course led to another loud cheer. Bono began laughing and pointed to someone in the crowd. "Edge," he said, " I think we found the guy that stole that CD!" The band shared a quick laugh, then proceeded to send chills through the crowd with an absolutely gorgeous rendition of what's sure to become a classic.
Here are my thoughts on the rest of the album:
"Love and Peace or Else"
Upon first listen, this song felt out of step with the rest of the album. It's definitely the most adventurous track musically. Now, after about 20 or so listens, I find it sonically intriguing. I'm peeling back the layers and finding new things to like about it! The fact that it rocks pretty hard doesn't hurt either.
"A Man and a Woman"
A very sexy track, cut from the same cloth as "When You Wear That Velvet Dress" from "POP". I got the image of two lovers dancing very close and whispering to one another when listening to this.
"Crumbs From Your Table"
With all of the work Bono's been doing on behalf of debt relief and AIDS research, you knew that it would seep through into his music. It's all here, and out on his sleeve, "Where you live should not decide whether you live or whether you die."
"One Step Closer"
Apparently, Bono got the lyric from a conversation he had with Noel Gallagher of Oasis. The two had been discussing Bono's father's health when Noel asked Bono if his was religious. Bono explained that his father had never really been sure, to which Noel replied, "Well, he's one step closer to knowing, isn't he?"
"Yahweh"
Classic U2. Here's a track which could have been the last song on any of the past several albums, going all the way back to Joshua Tree.
Overall, a very satisfying musical experience. One thing that's particularly intriguing is the change in Bono's lyrics. He is much more direct this time around, and you feel as if you're intruding on conversations he's having, with his deceased father, his wife, his children, even God. It's quite moving.
Free Music Review: Best cd of the year, no matter what anyone says
Hit: 5 Stars
I am a hard rock kind of guy, i admit it. I like bands like slipknot, and metallica. But i also enjoy bands like coldplay and oasis. I like all rock pretty much. I got into U2 because of my parents. They own all their cds, and i started listening to them a couple years ago. I like all of them, and i think all of U2's cds are good in their own way.
Personally i like joshua tree and the unforgetable fire the best. I work at a music store, and one day we got in a copy of u2's "vertigo." I listened to it that day, and i thought it was awesome. I couldnt stop listening to it. Its one of U2's best flat out rock songs. I was looking forward to the new cd a lot. I then thought about how i felt before ATYCLB came out a couple years ago. I thought beautiful day was one of U2's best songs. I bought the cd, and was utterly disappointed. I only liked about 4 songs on the whole cd, and never really listened to it.
I was expecting a rocking U2 cd with great, catchy songs like beautiful day. I didnt get that.
Since vertigo was kind of like beautiful day, i was expecting the same type of cd. Boy was i wrong. This cd is awesome!!
I like every song, and i've been listening to it every day since i bought it on the day it came out. Every song sounds different than the last, but they're all catchy and wonderful.
Vertigo- I really like this song. Its one of those feel good songs that you find yourself singin along to in the car, while driving real fast. Its kind of short, but its still great. (9/10)
Miracle drug- One of my favorites on the cd. This song is perfect. Its opening, the chorus, the edges guitar work(nice picking), all perfect. Its a nice ballad, and it picks up nicely towards the end. (9/10
Sometimes you cant make it on your own- One of U2's best songs, and the second best song on the cd in my opinion. This song is so heartfelt, and it makes you want to yell the chorus along with bono at the end of the song. Awesome all around. (10/10)
Love and Peace or else- A great song. Its a little slow at the beginning, but it picks up the pace at the end with the edge going all out. Bono's singing is a little strange, but its a great song.(8/10)
City of Blinding Lights- This is one of my least favorite songs on the cd to be honest. The chorus kind of feels like it shouldnt be in this song. I cant explain it. I like the piano, and the guitars. It kind of sounds like a joshua tree song. Its good, but not great. (7/10)
All because of You- Where do i start. This song is awesome! I cant wait to see the music video for this song. It will be U2's next single, and for good reason. Its right up there with vertigo, but its even better. Great guitar and bass work. The only complaint is that the song doenst seem finished. They could have made it a little longer at the end. It just kind of stopped, at the point where you want a little more. It is almost perfect. (9/10)
A man and a woman- I really like the bass in this song. It has a sound all its own. Its the standout track on the cd. It kind of has a latino feel to it. Its fairly paced, and just a feel good song. (8/10)
Crumbs from your table- Along with vertigo and , all because of you, this is another rocker. This is where the edge does some of his best work on the cd. Unlike all because of you, the song feels completed, and it ends on a great note. One of the best on the cd.
One step closer- My least favorite on the cd. Just a slow, downer. Not too special- (6/10)
Original of the species- My favorite song on the cd. It is so great. The 1st chorus, the second chorus, the beginning, and the end sends shivers down my spine when i hear it. The end in particular. Bono just sings his heart out, and its beautiful. The best. (11/10)!!!
Yahweh- Obviously a religious song, and not too shabby. A good song to close the cd with, but it feels like there should be another, better song after it. Its pretty light, and has an ok chorus of bono singing...yahweh. Its ok. (7/10)
Overall this cd is pretty good. A lot better than the last couple. I hope the next few cds are like this also, but they probably wont be.
Free Music Review: U2 returns to greatness
Hit: 5 Stars
How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb is, without question, U2's best work since Achtung Baby. If you like U2 you must have this album in your collection. The energy and exuberance is, frankly, shocking given that the band members are now in their mid 40's. The quality of this work is something you'd expect from a young, hungry band looking to make a name for itself, not a band that has been around for 25 years and, seemingly, said everything we thought it could have possibly ever said.
"Vertigo" is a pile driver of a rock tune. It hits you in the gut like "Bullet the Blue Sky", but with a slick pop hook. Bono proves that, at 44, he can still hit high notes. The vocal performance measures up to just about anything Bono's every recorded.
"Miracle Drug" could have ended up on Joshua Tree or The Unforgettable Fire. It's less anthemic than "Where the Streets Have No Name" but has a similar flavor; Edge's guitar work draws on that and other late 80's U2 output.
"Sometimes You Can't Make it on Your Own" also harkens back to Joshua Tree. As always, Bono extends a hand to a friend in need. U2 might be the only band that can get away with such sentimentality.
"Love and Peace or Else" is swampy, bluesy and a bit funky. "Love and Peace" calls to mind the Doors, the Stooges, the Beatles (think: "Come Together") while sounding unique, original. It starts slow but ends powerfully.
"City of Blinding Lights" starts unassumingly like U2's quieter pop tunes found on Achtung Baby and Unforgettable Fire, but picks up steam quickly. "City" might be too familiar, too borrowed. I wouldn't be surprised if it is the next single.
"All Because of You" - a solid up-tempo song with a pinch of (the Who's ) "Substitute". The guitar work is all Edge but Bono's lyrics might have been ghost-written by a young Pete Townshend.
"A Man and a Woman", like a few of its sister songs, is held together by the bass. Without the fat bottom, the song would be another mid-tempo pseudo love song. A worthy piece but hardly the best on the album.
"Crumbs from Your Table" is another whose tone and attitude seems lifted from The Unforgettable Fire, though it's more rock than many of that album's songs. Lots of Edge's signature chimey riffs give the song a familiar feel. "Crumbs" is another that is held together by the bass. It's one of the better songs on the album.
"One Step Closer" is sleepy, introspective and spiritual; probably the least complex song of the eleven.
"Original of the Species" - An obvious play on Darwin's "Origin of the Species", Bono's take is that the lover he's singing about is "the first one of your kind" and "feel like no one before". "Original" is another mid-to-up-tempo ballad that could be a single or video.
"Yahweh". The ancient Jewish scribes used to wash their hands before and after each time they wrote God's name in the scrolls. This song is part prayer, part poem. Bono's either calling for God's help or trying to be cute, I'm not sure which. "Yahweh" adequately concludes the album but, in my humble opinion, should have been sandwiched in the middle of the disc.
When a band builds a body of work as deep and as good as U2's, it is harder and harder to improve on its last or greatest material. Besides, what fuels a man's creative fire when he's middle-aged, fat, married and astoundingly rich?
To me, it's nothing short of a miracle that U2 could put together an album this good now. Had How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb been released in 1987, the power of it would be more easily explainable, understood. Usually artists aren't allowed to put out "classic" material past their primes, but How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb might be viewed, in a decade or so, as one of U2's most important works. If the 20-somethings get it
-- by that I mean both buy and understand it - it may be viewed as the best album of the new millenium.
Free Music Review: As rewarding as U2's classic albums
Hit: 5 Stars
Time and again U2 has demonstrated why they're on the short list of the greatest bands in the history of rock and roll music. How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb is yet another example of what distinguishes this band from all the rest. This album carries a singular sound, infectious hooks, meaningful lyrics, variable textures, stellar musicianship, and a lot of attention to detail.
U2 has developed each song on this album as an admirable work. Separately these songs are independently worthy of adulation, but collectively they present a synergy that is rarely seen in albums these days. Meticulous craftsmanship has come to define U2's songwriting and production, and it's wonderfully apparent here. Throughout Atomic Bomb the band takes you through a variety of musical landscapes, frequently transitioning from one place to another within tracks. Those transitions are what separate this band from others: as you listen you're captivated by HOW the band brought it all together as much as you're captivated by the great melody, music, lyrics, etc. Consistent with past practice, U2 didn't put any filler on this album - if it wasn't worth listening to, it wasn't placed anywhere on How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb.
The album begins with the driving hit "Vertigo," a fun freight train of a tune laced with Spanish (listen for the HOLA!). After the rousing opener, "Miracle Drug" changes the pace with a plaintive, beautiful song containing oblique religious references - this blend of the secular and the spiritual is mesmerizing from start to finish. "Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own" is a soft and poignant reassurance that we need each other. The next track, "Love and Peace Or Else," is reminiscent of a Led Zeppelin-style romp with a benign introduction that transforms to a groovy, funky pounding of heavy guitars. The fifth track is one of my personal favorites on the album: "City of Blinding Lights" is a soaring, affective song with a heavenly sound and message. "All Because of You" is another hard rocker that bears a compelling chorus and melody. With "A Man and a Woman," Bono explores the complexities of relationships between the sexes while backed by the acoustic guitar and the terrifically prominent bass guitar of Adam Clayton. "Crumbs from Your Table" is a conscience-prickler of moderate tempo bearing an activist message. Things slow down further with "One Step Closer," another beautiful song with unapologetically spiritual overtones. On "Original of the Species," Bono reminds us that each of us is unique and that "some people got way too much confidence baby" (how true is that)! Atomic Bomb gracefully closes with "Yahweh," a title citing the Hebrew reference to God, a title which artfully conveys the message of this final song, the one selected to be the uplifting end note of this album. "Yahweh" is part prayer/part worship song, and it has instantly become one of my very favorite U2 songs of all time.
I have been a U2 fan for most of my life. With each successive album, this band has shown that they continue to care about their music. The music U2 is making these days is the type that can be created only by seasoned artists who know themselves, are in touch with the world around them, and settle for nothing less than the best they can give in their art. The band has always unabashedly laced their music with religious undercurrents, but those seem more overt in Atomic Bomb, a fact which makes the album even more appealing to me. U2 has achieved such Herculean stature that they don't need to prove anything to anybody, and Atomic Bomb represents an honest work born of musicians who value, first and foremost, the art itself. Commercial success is an inevitable byproduct of what they've created, given the worldwide popularity of this band.
So, I'd definitely encourage you to make How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb a part of your music collection. The album is abundantly rewarding.
Free Music Review: Achtung with Optimism
Hit: 5 Stars
Believe the hype. "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb" is the best U2 album to date. It is not only their most personal piece- it is their most uplifting: "Achtung" with optimism. I listened to it in my car on a cold and wet November day. When the c.d. ended I felt as if the sun had been shining on my face for 55 minutes.
These are not beautiful days for Bono. Distraught over the death of his father, livid over the African AIDS crisis, and disappointed by the violent 9-11 world, Bono is no longer singing about tuna fleets clearing the sea out. Yet like the man who lost his hearing and then composed the most joyful piece of music ever, U2 responds to adversity by affirming the indomitable human spirit.
The album is ignited by "Vertigo," a "Zoo Station"/"Elevation" throw-away that seeks to remind listeners that the boys- er 43 year-old men- can still rock out. The tone changes dramatically in the next two songs- both presumably about Bono's father. In "Miracle Drug," Bono prays for a cure. Those who have felt powerless while visiting a sick loved one can relate: "The songs are in your eyes. I see them when you smile." And yet Bono is not giving up. Why? Because "of science and the human heart there is no limit." In "Sometimes You Can't Make it on Your Own," which he sang at his father's funeral, Bono wails: "Can-you-hear- me -when-I- sing? You're the reason I sing. You're the reason why the opera is in me." Accompanied by Edge's soaring guitars, one is reminded of Tom Hanks' opera scene in "Philadelphia."
From death we go to birth. "Original of the Species" is a gorgeous melodic piece. "All Because of You," which sounds like a lost track from "Rattle and Hum," is sure to be a crowd pleaser in concert. "Love and Peace or Else" is a tad trite and impersonal- peace in the Middle East is clearly not Bono's cause celebre. That we find in "Crumbs From Your Table," where Bono shares his own experiences helping African AIDS patients: "Three to a bed. Sister Ann, she said. Dignity passes by."
"City of Blinding Lights" is the money song. It is the "Where the Streets Have No Name," the "One," the "Walk On,"- but it most resembles "New Years Day." Again, the song opens with Edge on the piano. Again, the song has political overtones- "New Years Day" was about the Soviet domination of Poland; "City" is about New York's loss of innocence after 9-11. Yet the beauty in both songs lies in their powerful, personal choruses. In "New Year's Day," few of us thought about Lech Walesa when Bono sang "I want to be with you, be with you night and day." Similarly, none of us envision Giuliani when Bono croons "Oh you look so beautiful tonight." Instead, our thoughts turn to our lover- what we always think but often fail to say to her just before we dim the lights.
1983 was the last time that U2 concluded an album on an optimistic note. Fans still chant the lyrics to War's "40" at the end of concerts. Achtung's "Love is Blindness," Pop's "Wake up Dead Man," and All That You Can't Leave Behind's "Grace" are all dark, somber tunes that made me want to jump off of a cliff. As I listened to "One Step Closer," another downer, I feared that this was the album's conclusion. Luckily, it is not. Instead, U2 closes with "Yahweh," Bono's passionate plea for G-d to help him become a better man. Whether confessing one's sins in a church or atoning for them in a synagogue, all of us have asked the Lord "Take this mouth. So quick to criticize. Take this mouth. Give it a kiss." The song and the album end with Bono assuring us of a brighter tomorrow: "The sun is coming up on the ocean. This love is like a drop in the ocean."
When I exited my car, I found myself shouting in the dark morning. "Yahweh!!!! Yahweh!!!" Had I lost my mind? Was I ready to join the Promise Keepers? No. "Take this soul. And make it sing." U2 have again made my soul sing.