U2's Bomb Goes Off Nicely
How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb by U2
After a wild 10-year romp through fields of poppy electronica, Irish icons U2 have returned to the lean, hard-charging form that made them one of the world's premier rock bands. Their new release, the provocatively titled How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, won't displease more recent fans, but it will likely delight those who felt the band peaked with Rattle and Hum.
Overall, that trademark wall-of-guitars sound is back in force, as is instantly apparent in their opener, Vertigo. The album's first single for obvious reasons, it envelops the listener immediately in a high-voltage rhythmic squonk that doesn't let up until The Edge's final feedback squeal. All the while, dancing playfully in and out of the steel-stringed surf, Bono's voice capers and soars. We don't need the little girl from the Poltergeist movies to let us know "they're baaaaaaaack!"
The songlist swings on a nicely balanced (if a bit jittery) pendulum between power ballads like Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own, which starts quietly then builds to a satisfying peak, and flat out rockers like All Because of You, a straight ahead wallbanger that brings to mind The Smithereens in its sheer vigor and verve.
Highlights
Beyond Vertigo's infectious noisiness, several other tracks stand out as potential follow-up singles. A shimmery curtain of echoing guitars ushers in City of Blinding Lights. Bono's melody is pure earworm material, and an appealingly close vocal harmony overlays the chorus, yielding the effect of R.E.M. circa Green. A Man and A Woman offers an engrossing and heartfelt contemplation on "the mysterious distance" between the sexes. And in One Step Closer, The Edge's ethereal atmosphere is disturbed by a purposeful Bono, singing of a journey where every hard-earned stride takes us "one step closer to knowing," while Larry Mullen Jr.'s insistent drum beat drives the final choruses like a native dance.
Isms and Ologies
As might be expected, politics comes up more than once on this recording, but it does not concern any particular polemic so much as simply Bono's driving passion for improving the human condition. In Love and Peace or Else, a low rumble as from a distant but approaching army gives way to an almost gospel sounding cry to "lay down"... your treasure... your arms. "I'm uneasy on my knees," Bono says. "We need love and peace."
On the other hand, the most vehement expression is found in the angry Crumbs From Your Table. Its lacy and delicate intro, punctuated by tiny chimes, belies the coming fury, as Bono lashes out. "With a mouthful of teeth / You ate all your friends," he snarls. "Where you live should not decide / Whether you live or whether you die." Then, to sum up: "You speak of signs and wonders / But I need something other / I would believe if I was able / I'm waiting on the crumbs from your table." I'm guessing U2 will not be performing at the Bush inauguration. Then again, maybe I'm completely off, and Bono is addressing the late Yasser Arafat. Ya think? Naaah, that would never fit, would it?
A Closing Prayer
Anyway, the band ultimately transcends our petty human squabbling, and reaches for a greater state of being... a higher peace. Although this carries the risk of brief wallows in treacle like Original of the Species, a rather weak and sentiment-soggy cut, the risk is justified by the glorious closing cut, YAHWEH. The layered strings heretofore scrupulously avoided on this album rise up around a lovely, quivering guitar, as U2 lifts up a mighty, stirring prayer: "Take this soul / Stranded in some skin and bones / And make it sing." I would say that prayer has been answered.
With How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, U2 has stripped their sound back to the basics. Guitar. Bass. Drums. Voice. Rather than transporting themselves back to an earlier time, however, they have again reinvented themselves, relative to those roots. This, they seem to be saying, is where we might be if we'd skipped the 90's. Well don't get me wrong; the 90's were fun in their own way. But as this is indeed where they are, regardless, the real fun now will be seeing where they go from here.
