U2 - All That You Cant Leave Behind

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For a band that has been around since the late 70's and had it's highest points in the mid-80's and late 90's U2 has done a great job of sticking around and still making viable music, while their contemporaries have died off or faded into obscurity. All That You Can't Leave Behind is the Irish bands 10th studio album and first since the pop/dance oriented LP Pop.

Many critics have remarked that U2 have made two masterpieces with The Joshua Tree, the album that made them international superstars, and Achtung Baby, the album that signaled U2's change to a more electronic dance oriented style. With this album it seems like U2 has a third masterpiece on it's hands and like the other two it also signals a change in style for the group. The album marks a return to the band's roots, with a shot of soul and R&B thrown into the mix. When I say a return to roots it's not a return to the soaring rock anthems of The Joshua Tree but a move to a more stripped down live sound. U2 attempts to keep the album simple and relatively raw sounding, a lot like early 60's pop and R&B songs. Something front man Bono said was important in a time of "canned beats" and over hyped teen pop groups. Not that the band abandons drum machines, samples or any other electronic aides completely, they are still used liberally on the album, but they do not overwhelm the tracks. The new album also feature's Bono's vocals free of any alterations or filters and are higher in the mix unlike the last couple of U2 albums. Bono seems very confident that the album will be embraced by fans, when asked by Sonicnet.com about the current crop rap metal bands and bubble gum pop acts U2 will be going up against for sales Bono responded "We are the Men, they are the boys." Bono also added in an interview with Wall of Sound "People are sick to the teeth of processed and hyped pop bands," he continued. "It's crap. They want something real again, and that's where we come in. The tide is turning."

The album starts off with the "Beautiful Day" a song reminiscent of the band's early sound. It is also the first single released to radio and is already getting strong airplay from rock radio stations. The band has also offered the single for free at www.WindowsMedia.com and will be available until Nov.10th. The track "Elevation" is an electronic tinged, groovy reminiscent of the bands previous two albums, and sticks out because most of the album stays clear of this type of song. At the beginning of the track "Stuck in a Moment" Bono sounds similar to fellow Brit rocker, Thome York, but that moment passes quickly as the song progresses. Originally the track was supposed to contain backing vocals by Rolling Stone front-man Mick Jagger and his 16 year-old daughter Elizabeth. However, the band decided to go with an alternative Jagger free version for the album, many fans hope the band will eventually release the Jagger backed track as a b-side, but for now we will just have to settle for the beautiful album version of the ballad. The song getting stuck in a moment that you can't get out of, and how you can't let it get you down and have to rise above it before it's to late. The track "Kite" is another beautifully crafted song about a couple slowly drifting apart from each other. On the song "New York" Bono sings as a man trapped in a mid-life crisis, escaping from it all by getting lost in the chaos and all that is New York.

A lot of the tracks have a quick impact and sound as almost as if you've heard them somewhere before, and each song has enough staying power that they don't start to annoy even after several repeat listens. As I stated before the album makes it a point to keep things simple, but the band doesn't make the same mistake as other bands trying to keep it simple do, which is scale it back so much that they become boring. No worries about that with this album, what you get is 11 solid, soulful tracks from one of the hardest bands to peg down. Really an album worth checking out, even if you've never really liked U2 before, you may be pleasantly surprised


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All That You Can't Leave Behind is the Irish bands 10th studio album and first since the pop/dance oriented LP Pop. Many critics have remarked that U2 have made two masterpieces with The Joshua Tree, the album that made them international superstars, and Achtung Baby, the album that signaled U2's change to a more electronic dance oriented style. With this album it seems like U2 has a third masterpiece on it's hands and like the other two it also signals a change in style for the group. The album marks a return to the band's roots, with a shot of soul and R&B thrown into the mix. When I say a return to roots it's not a return to the soaring rock anthems of The Joshua Tree but a move to a more stripped down live sound. U2 attempts to keep the album simple and relatively raw sounding, a lot like early 60's pop and R&B songs. Something front man Bono said was important in a time of "canned beats" and over hyped teen pop groups. Not that the band abandons drum machines, samples or any other electronic aides completely, they are still used liberally on the album, but they do not overwhelm the tracks. The new album also feature's Bono's vocals free of any alterations or filters and are higher in the mix unlike the last couple of U2 albums. Bono seems very confident that the album will be embraced by fans, when asked by Sonicnet.com about the current crop rap metal bands and bubble gum pop acts U2 will be going up against for sales Bono responded "We are the Men, they are the boys." Bono also added in an interview with Wall of Sound "People are sick to the teeth of processed and hyped pop bands," he continued. "It's crap. They want something real again, and that's where we come in. The tide is turning." The album starts off with the "Beautiful Day" a song reminiscent of the band's early sound. It is also the first single released to radio and is already getting strong airplay from rock radio stations. The band has also offered the single for free at www.WindowsMedia.com and will be available until Nov.10th. The track "Elevation" is an electronic tinged, groovy reminiscent of the bands previous two albums, and sticks out because most of the album stays clear of this type of song. At the beginning of the track "Stuck in a Moment" Bono sounds similar to fellow Brit rocker, Thome York, but that moment passes quickly as the song progresses. Originally the track was supposed to contain backing vocals by Rolling Stone front-man Mick Jagger and his 16 year-old daughter Elizabeth. However, the band decided to go with an alternative Jagger free version for the album, many fans hope the band will eventually release the Jagger backed track as a b-side, but for now we will just have to settle for the beautiful album version of the ballad. The song getting stuck in a moment that you can't get out of, and how you can't let it get you down and have to rise above it before it's to late. The track "Kite" is another beautifully crafted song about a couple slowly drifting apart from each other. On the song "New York" Bono sings as a man trapped in a mid-life crisis, escaping from it all by getting lost in the chaos and all that is New York. A lot of the tracks have a quick impact and sound as almost as if you've heard them somewhere before, and each song has enough staying power that they don't start to annoy even after several repeat listens. As I stated before the album makes it a point to keep things simple, but the band doesn't make the same mistake as other bands trying to keep it simple do, which is scale it back so much that they become boring. No worries about that with this album, what you get is 11 solid, soulful tracks from one of the hardest bands to peg down. Really an album worth checking out, even if you've never really liked U2 before, you may be pleasantly surprised