Day 0907 - All That You Can’t Leave Behind

U2 “All That You Can’t Leave Behind” (2000)

It’d be easy enough to write this one up as “Famous rock band finally stop faffing about with pop/dance music and gets back to rocking” but that would sell short the band's growth.

As outlined in my write-up for “Achtung Baby” (day 702) the band had moved away from their more ‘meat n potatoes’ melodic-rock sound and experimented with dance, funk, and alt-rock, culminating in their album “Pop” where they fully embraced the dance and pop scene.  That album was not a favourite among fans and the band felt that it was rushed and not their best work.   I personally think it’s one of their better ones, but there we go.  One person’s trash…. and all that.

So the band decided to get back to their roots of “band playing together in a room”.  They reunited with Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois who had helmed their biggest 1980s albums.

The sound is fairly straightforward, with guitarist the Edge mostly sticking to clean tones with less sonic experimentation than he’d previously indulged in.  That’s not to say the album is a straight reversion to their “Joshua Tree” sound though.  They seem to have retained some of their more European melodic ideas.  Single “Elevation” sounds like it could be the younger cousin of “Mysterious Ways” from the Achtung Baby album with its effect-laden guitar, dance elements and slightly sexual lyrics.  There are still some dance beats to be had elsewhere too.

I was interested to see what the album as a whole would be like as the first 3-4 songs are its singles (Beautiful Day, Stuck in a Moment You Can’t Get Out of, Elevation and Walk On), so I wondered if they’d front-loaded the album in the hopes that side A would sell side B.   That kind of is the case too.  

There are some other good songs besides the singles, “In a little while” is a nice simple pop song, and “Grace” lives up to its name. But, much of the second half of the album is a bit forgettable, or self-important (“Peace on Earth”).

Day 0702 - Achtung Baby

U2 "Achtung Baby" (1991) - got it

While not my favourite U2 album, I can see that this one really does deserve its place on the list.  The band had been slowly evolving their overly-earnest sound, working through early post-punk, to a more nuanced pop-rock under the tutelage of producers Eno and Lanois, and then eventually delving deep into America’s rock and blues sound.   But when they released “Achtung Baby” (a line from Mel Brooks’ “the Producers” and an exclamation often uttered by one of the studio crew) it was a reasonably sizeable stylistic left-hand turn for such a major band.

The band were embracing dance rhythms and electronic elements, a style that, to my mind played to the strengths of sonic experimenter, guitarist the Edge, and metronomic, powerhouse drummer Larry Mullen Jr.

The road to the album hadn't been an easy one.  The band limped through fractious sessions in Berlin that yielded hardly any useable tracks.   Close to the tipping point, the band came up with the track "One" and from then on things started flowing, with the band picking up sessions again back in Ireland.

There are looped bass and drum sounds, "Rubber Soul"-era Beatles-style vocal harmonies (a combination that sounds not unlike some of the Chemical Brothers' work with Noel Gallagher).  There's the chunky wah-wah guitar of "Mysterious Ways", and the psychedelic swirl of "Even better than the real thing".   It's the track "the Fly" that really strikes me: Bono can be a bit of a self-righteous twat on occasion, but he really can write some good lyrics when it comes down to it.  I don't usually listen much to lyrics, but there's something about Bono's desperate, whispered delivery that makes you take notice.

The band would carry on down this avenue of experimentation through the "Zooropa" album, culminating with the "Pop" album, maligned by the band, but something of a favourite of mine.  After that, they returned to a more earnest, straight-ahead rock sound and were viewed by fans to have 'made a comeback' but I still enjoy this era of exploration.

Day 0609 - The Joshua Tree

U2 "The Joshua Tree" (1987) - got it

Love or hate them, this really is U2 at the height of their powers.  They still had their earnestness and honesty, but hadn't become insufferably preachy.  They had mastered their instruments and embraced studio technology without being overly reliant on it.  With one Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois-produced album (the Unforgettable Fire) under their belt, they had found their groove with the producers and were able to trust them and take risks with their sound.

I'd obviously heard a lot of this music (even before I'd bought the album), but I was still pleasantly surprised what a strong overall 'package' the album is.  You have the awesome pop trio of "where the streets have no name" "Still haven't found what I'm looking for" and "With or without you" followed on by the atmospheric rock of "Bullet the blue sky".  The quality doesn't dip on the second side with "Red Hill mining town" and the NZ-inspired "One Tree Hill".

As someone who isn't a rabid U2 fan, but appreciates parts of their oeuvre, I would still point to this as their pinnacle.   Passion meeting studio-savvy without getting too far up their own arses in either of those aspects.

Day 0528 - War

U2 "War" (1983)

U2's last album with Steve Lillywhite before they hooked up Eno and Brian Lanois and became one of the biggest acts of the 80s.

Lilywhite's more stripped-down production sound really worked for where the band were at this point.  Their sound was a sort of post-punky vaguely new-wave but somehow that sound without synthesizers.

Larry's drums sound like he's booting the hell out of his kick.  Adam's melodic but simple bass makes a platform for the Edge to start really finding his guitar tone (with a few less effects than he'd eventually use).  All of that with the raw soul of Bono's voice (before he got too up his own arse) across it.

This album features one of my favourite U2 songs "Sunday Bloody Sunday".  Other highlights include "New Year's Day", "Seconds" (one of only two songs to feature the Edge on lead vocals) and the hymn-like "40", which would go on to be U2's go-to show closer for some time.