I know, I know, a lot of folks out there have been put out by the fact that the
band ‘hacked’ their music when iTunes added the new U2 album "Songs of Innocence" to their phones for free …. For Free!
Heck, even if you
aren’t a big U2 fan, for free it’s worth a listen… For Free!If you don’t want it, it can be easily taken off ... did I mention it's Free!?
It’s not really on
your phone or even in your iTunes library until you download it from the cloud anyway. It’s just in your ‘purchased’
iTunes folder.
Ok, so I’ve been
giving the new U2 album a good read. I’ve actually listened to it straight
through more than once. I don’t think I’ve still EVER made it all the way through
1991’s ‘Achtung Baby’ on one pass, so that's a good sign.
Achtung Baby was the album
that signified the start of the band’s “new sound”. They didn’t want to “sound
like an American rock band” anymore and began experimenting with the mix of Euro-trash
dance beats and Phil Spectorish walls of sound. Can you believe it was 23 years ago?!
With this new LP, Songs of Innocence, U2 continues down this
path, but with a much more refined mix of the above sound and an ever expanding
understanding of ‘pop’ music. Maybe they’ve been hanging out with Sir Paul
McCartney, by far, the best ‘pop’ song writer around.
The 11 song album kicks off
with ‘The Miracle (of Joey Ramone)’, probably the first single to be released. It,
along with cuts 2, Every ‘Breaking Wave’ & possibly 3, ‘California (There
is no end to Love)’, will most likely make it onto the New Cozumel Radio playlist.
This collection doesn’t
seem to be as “in your face” as earlier offerings, the “Euro dance beat” has
been toned down and paired with really good rhythms and melodies that are
threaded throughout the album.
Bono still cranks out falsetto like a man half his age,
singing multiple parts on various songs.
Edge continues to
push the guitar into some sort of space age instrument venue, but also offers some nice
acoustic licks, cool Gilmoreish tones, a little metal... and even a tiny bit
of actual lead solo! I know, right! And
of course his background vocals are clear and melodic as always… we’re still waiting for
the Edge solo LP!!
Larry Mullen over the years has found he doesn’t have to
work so hard, to bring the band together and lays down a really nice backbeat
throughout.
Adam Clayton. Well Adam is perfect. As usual, the real heart
of this band, the only member who had ANY formal musical training at the
beginning of U2, still is just, spot on. So good that you don’t always notice
him, but if he wasn’t there, you definitely would notice.
There are elements of Pink Floyd & the Black Keys (but I
already said Floyd, right), and even some Pet Sounds experimentation going on, including a little Beach Boys tribute at the beginning of ‘California’.
I still haven’t
ventured too deep into the lyrics, but there does appear to be actual songs and
lyrical content, rather than just a bunch of phrases and metaphors strong
together.
So, early assessment is
that we give U2’s Songs of Innocence a big “fins up” and recommend all you
Tankers to give it a try … like I said … it’s free!
