Miss Piggy Lunchbox

U2’s a bit like Phish now. Not in the suck department, because they’re still pumping out good albums, but in the fact that it’s all about the live show. The tracks and theme of an album are all just the means to the end that is the few dozen stadium shows they’ll do around the world. Actually listening to the release (on the plain vanilla jewel case CD when there are no fewer than three different types of limited edition releases no less) is so 20th century. Now it’s more about the event than the content.

The album’s opening track, the title track, opens with a sole held note and, after a few seconds, punches into one of those delay- and reverb-heavy grooves that has typified the last 15 years or so of U2’s output. Bono does his Bono thing (though his voice is the weakest I’ve ever heard it) over a chorus pregnant with anticipation. When the guitar breakdown and additional drum track burst in at 1:15, you know this is the song that’s opening that new stadium show. You can essentially hear the light show that accompanies the multi-media extravaganza the band has planned for your several-hundred dollar evening.

It all adds up to a maddening sense of ambivalence. On the one hand, almost all of these songs are pretty good with a few (“No Line On The Horizon” and the two mixers) coming very close to great. On the other hand, though, there’s no passion in this. I mean, cranking out 55 minutes and eleven tracks of good is like a day at the office for these guys. Give ‘em a strong cup of coffee and let them pound out the grooves.

That’s more than can be said about a lot of bands, but I shouldn’t be dismissive of the band’s work ethic. I’m sure they bust their tails to keep creating catchy, brilliantly produced radio-ready songs. What I’m saying is, in 2009, what is U2’s motivation for creating a CD? They’re bigger than the quarter-square-foot or so of plastic that will sit on my shelf. They’re bigger than the Best Buy ad and the front page of the iTunes Music Store. They’re bigger than the radio towers and more elemental to the fabric of the culture than the broadband that now brings their audio and video to your home entertainment system. The only thing that can properly reflect the aesthetic of U2 is a stadium. And so the only reason they put out a CD is to give people a reason to come hear the new chords echo off a wall a few hundred yards away.

And I’d love to review that for you, but it would require several hundred dollars and a couple of days in Vancouver, and that is just not going to happen. And so even if I listen to this recording at the best possible fidelity, I still feel like I’m missing something, like the actual event is passing by very far away and I haven’t been invited. They’ve loaded up the jets and flown away, and I’m left to mull over something that fell out the back of one of the delivery vans.

Like I said, this is pretty much the definition of a solid release with every track being enjoyable on some level. That’s usually good for four lunchboxes, but there’s something nagging at me. Beyond even the afterthought nature of the format for this band, I’m left flat by the flaws that are also present in most of the songs. “Unknown Caller” starts off weak and never seems to get going, with its hastily pasted together vocal track where it never seems clear which vocalist we’re supposed to be paying attention to or why. “Get On Your Boots” is fun but also way too much like “Wild Wild West” by Escape Club (you know…”living in the 80’s, heading for the 90’s, living in the wild wild west”). “Stand Up Comedy” starts off fantastic but barely maintains its mixer status as the band, which is getting up there, takes a now seemingly mandatory nap time about two-thirds of the way through the song.

I guess they’ve really nailed down this blurriness theme they’ve created in the cover image and title. There isn’t a single song on here I have strong feelings about. And that ambivalence is marring an otherwise very enjoyable experience for me.

Rating:

Mixers: “Stand Up Comedy,” “Breathe”
Non-keepers: “Unknown Caller”
Filed Between: U2’s The Best of 1980 - 1990 and UHF/VHF – The Relapse Records/Nuclear Blast America and Release Entertainment 1995 Promotional Sampler

Tags: 2009, 3.5 lunchboxes, CD reviews, music

This entry was posted on Friday, August 14th, 2009 at 8:17 am and is filed under CD reviews, music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.