U2 - Zooropa
|
Our Price: $13.98 Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here) Category: Music CD See more new music releases 
|
|---|
Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store
Canadian Music Store
Free Music Notes for Zooropa
Free Music Review: Rushed but ok anyway
Hit: 3 Stars
This U2 cd has the feel of a rushed production, and I think it lacks the real ingenuity and talent that other U2 cds have. A couple of good songs like Lemon are hiding in here but otherwise a forgettable cd.Free Music Review: U2's Most Underrated Record
Hit: 4 Stars
All great bands expand the boundaries of their genre of music, and U2 do just that with Zooropa. This record is well ahead of its time as U2 establish themselves as one of the few groups who can merge rock with electronica and make it sound compelling from both vantage points. Though this record follows the experimentation with electronica on Achtung Baby, the deep bass and big guitars are replaced with more subtle touches, allowing the electronica and sound effects of The Edge to take more of a central stage. The key to any great record is great songwriting plus a great sound, and that is evident on this record. The songs themselves are about profound isolation and confusion in an era where the virtual world of the Internet, mobile communications and satellite technology are fundamentally redefining our lives. The songs are not about impassioned anthems or uplifting messages of hope, but about confusion, dissonance, introspection, insecurity and trying to find oneself in an odd world.
The Songs:
Zooropa - the ambitious 6 minute opener, recalls David Bowie but with the solid backing of Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen's solid rhythm section. The Edge is able to roam free with distorted and flanged echo guitar riffs that coalesce around a more sophisticated chord progression that would sound great even if played on an acoustic guitar or piano. A track with depth that gets better with every listen.
Babyface - U2's most pop-like song since Sweetest Thing, but in electronica format. This song is pop psychadelia meets electronica, driven by a xylophone/bell like keyboard sequenced melody and has a Beatle/Bowiesque melody that is very hummable. Edge continues to provide great touches with sounds that don't seem like they should be made from a guitar, but are. That is Edge's genius, and this song is a gem as a result.
Numb - The most well-known song from the record, fits in nicely into the pattern of detachment, cynicism, and confusion that defines the themes of the record. Edge sings lead, and mutates a standard I-IV-V rock song into a compelling electronic mumble with a punctuation that says 'I'm supposed to feel something here, but I'm not sure.'
Lemon - My favorite U2 song ever. A great bass line by Adam Clayton and impassioned, thoughtful lyrics by Bono about the displacing effects of societal change provide the backing for one of Edge's greatest sonic achievements. His combination of echo/flange/and fuzx guitar sounds that make up the main chord progression sound at once like an organ, a keyboard, a guitar and something distinct and new altogether. Brian Eno also played some keyboards on this song. A great achievement.
Stay - A song that is more or less like a standard U2 rock ballad put through the cynical, detached meat grinder that is the sound of Zooropa. This is a solid track that is very popular among fans, especially since it has been played live many times.
Daddy's Gonna Pay For Your Crashed Car - One of my favorites. U2 sing about the Laguna Beach scene before the show even existed. The music is based on an industrial drum sample followed by electronic touches. This is the most electronica song on the CD. Bono's vocals are reminiscent of the songs on Achtung Baby.
Some Days Are Better Than Others - A song driven by Adam Clayton's groove, Bono's melody, and some truly amazing sounds created by Edge in the chorus. This song could've been played as a commercial friendly rock song, but it is far more compelling in this rock-electronica format.
The First Time - The worst track on the record. It simply a rewrite of All I Want Is You, but a less hopeful version. Should not have been on the record. I would have rather they waited to release Zooropa until Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me was ready (as that song was released during the same time period). Now the addition of that song would've made this a 5 star record.
Dirty Day - The version on the record is not compelling. There are some very good parts of this song, but Bono's voice is too nasal sounding, and the true essence of the song was buried in the mix. The remixed version of this track on the best of 1990-2000 collection, however, rocks. Use that version when making your own mix of Zooropa.
The Wanderer - U2 meet Johnny Cash and record an electronica song?? But somehow it works. This is not a novelty track, but a very well written song in the great tradition of Cash. If Cash had used musicians from the world of alternative rock, he could've had more hits in the 80's and 90's.
Free Music Review: The hidden jewel in U2's repotoire
Hit: 5 Stars
To the best of my knowledge, Zooropa was never intended to be a full album, but rather an EP that turned into a full album. Listening to U2's albums before and after, it's a pretty good guess as to why. This was U2 being U2, showing they can do whatever they want and doing so by creating an eclectic, infectious blend of electronics and a faint sound of rock n' roll. To futher confuse audiences, besides the lead track's ode/warning of commericial culture and a couple of love songs, the songs on this album are just plain weird - and that's what's so wondeful about it.
Numb was the lead single, featuring the Edge in monotone delivering a list of dont's with Bono providing incidental harmonies. All this done with interesting electronic sounds that have Eno written all over them. Hardly single material, but nonetheless engaging - and it produced one of the most iconic videos in U2's career.
Stay was the closest to standard U2, though the inspiration was a Wim Wenders film that was heavily featured in the song's video. Lemon, featuring Bono singing higher than ever before is a grand song, mixing strings with dance. These odd takes are just the singles. The meat of the album has even more to offer.
The two other standouts include Daddy's Gonna Pay For Your Crashed Car, and The Wanderer. The former is a mix of loops and samples with a lyrical cry for independence while the latter shows that Bono saw Johnny Cash as a hip alternative icon a year before the American Recordings series took off.
What makes this album so special though is that it's a risk taking album. Finished on the heels of the highly successful Achtung Baby, Zooropa should have promised to be a straight rock n' roll record, but it was something far different. While it doesn't have the post-punk excitement of U2's early records or the straight laced rock n roll of their later ones, it's U2 doing a record that is all them. The album is at times crass, and sarcastic, while the production courtesy of flood and Eno, as before, is sharp. Definitely one of the highlights of U2's post 80s career.
Free Music Review: 'Lost in Space': "Midnight Is Where the Day Begins"
Hit: 4 Stars
U2's 'Zooropa' is a bit of a let-down after their magnificent 'Achtung Baby'. It is a brave, new effort that goes into more of a "space age" feel, adding to the technology of its predecessor. The subject matter is more bleak, not unlike a series of depressed creations by "Major Tom". It seems to look at the state of affairs, like usual; only this time Bosnia and technology seem to have staved off the party atmosphere of 'Achtung...'. Significantly, that one was done after the fall of the Berlin Wall. 'Zooropa' soberly assesses the world after communism's collapse.
The title track is the most space age song they've done. The lyrics evoke alienation in the starkest form. If "Zoo Station" was the "Magical Mystery Tour" of U2's career, then this is the "Space Oddity". "Numb" furthers the alienation with an industrial mix and the Edge's monotone rap delivery. "Lemon" seems to disco-tize the music, making it sound like a space station lounge. The lyrics reek of despair, but also contain hope with lines such as "Midnight is where the day begins". (Perhaps mixing their senses like English poet, John Keats, they liltingly give mantras to stave off the desperation of "holding onto heaven too tight." They also seem to draw from Dante where the pilgrim and Virgil reach their destination out of hell at midnight, making Purgatory, a place and time.) Melancholy fills the air with the aching longing of the love song "Stay (Faraway So Close!)". With the Edge's simple, British invasion guitar licks and Bono singing lines like "Dressed up like a car crash/ Your wheels are turning, but you're upside down." It is also a serenade that would go well with a movie like "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" with lines like "Stay! With the demons you drown...Stay! With the spirit I've found..." If the first half seems bleak, then the second half goes to further depths. "Daddy's Gonna Pay for Your Crashed Car" takes a sublime and desperate look at the contingencies of life. "Some Days Are Better Than Others" is sarcastic, but entertaining in its acceptance that some things just happen in life. Both "Babyface" and "Some Days.." are upbeat, yet contain able phrasing for such mundane subject matter. They also reflect their desperate moments, not as poignantly as on 'The Joshua Tree,' but the despair reaped on "The First Time" and "Dirty Day" are almost frightening. If the loneliness and desperation weren't enough, U2 finishes the album with Johnny Cash, singing ably a science fiction nightmare with "The Wanderer". It is a vision of love gone wrong in a landscape of nuclear and environmental proportions.
Perhaps 'Zooropa' alienated some fans. It is not a happy sojourn after the brilliant 'Achtung...,' but it is a brave, unflinching ensemble that can help people work through depression and their worst fears of the future. 'Zooropa' was a bleak, but brave step for U2.
Free Music Review: Zooropa
Hit: 4 Stars
Zooropa is a very underrated album. U2 felt like doing something fresh and different. They did just that and they did it well.
Zooropa - The first track of the album is kind of like an electronica version of Where the Streets Have No Name. It starts with an intro and then transfers into a pretty cool techno guitar riff for the verses of the song. It then closes with a colorful and sort of a springy ending.
Babyface - This track is my third favorite song of the album. It really captures the feeling of innocence in a child but at the same time tells the story of a very deep love between two people.
Numb - This track does a very good job of capturing the feeling of being bored with life. Bono's background vocals add a little spice to the song so that it doesn't get boring to listen to.
Lemon - This is my favorite song of the album. Bono sings in falsetto through almost all of the track which is rather refreshing.
Stay(Faraway, So Close!) - This song is my second favorite song of the album. It is a wonderful track which seems to tell the story of a young woman who has been abused by another man.
Daddy's Gonna Pay For Your Crashed Car - This track opens up with an awesome drum beat before going into the verses. It seems that the lyrics tell a story about a rebellious young daughter who Daddy just keeps spoiling.
The First Time - This song is my least favorite song of the album. It's got good, haunting lyrics but it doesn't have much to offer musically. In my opinion it lacks the kick all the other songs had.
Dirty Day - This was definitely one of my least favorite songs of the album. It's not really a bad song it just didn't measure up to the quality of the other songs like Stay(Faraway, So Close!), Lemon, Babyface, or Numb.
The Wanderer - The last song of the album reminds me of the taste of coffee. It's an acquired taste. When you listen to it for the first time you may label it as trash or you may like it. Some others may need to let the song grow on them. At first I wondered why U2 was messing with a song written by Johnny Cash, but as I listened to it more I learned to like it.
Overall I think Zooropa is a very good piece of work with some very deep messages hidden in the songs. If you don't like it at first give it a chance and let it grow on you.