80s Music Extravaganza
They've been reveling in 80s-band nostalgia over at Second Americano, what with U2's new CD and the question of whether the Killers are the new Duran. As for the latter, I can only ask, "Are we human, or are we dancer?" which makes about as much sense in my post as in that song.
U2? Fro says No Line qualifies as one of U2's top three albums. I'm not so sure. Joshua Tree and Achtung, Baby! set a pretty high bar. But then that's the peril of being U2. You've got a lot to live up to. I would be really surprised if this one goes down as in that league, or even surpassing War, which somehow never gets mentioned anymore in lists of U2's great records. That said, this is a pretty stellar effort, more musically interesting than either All The Things or How to Dismantle, if not as commercial or immediate. They start strong, with "No Line. . .", "Magnificent," and "Moment of Surrender," the last of which may be the album highlight for me, at least so far. After the inventive "Unknown Caller" (another winner), we get the radio interlude--"I'll Go Crazy. . . " and "Get On Your Boots"--before they end with a batch of more meditative songs. Structurally, it feels like a merger of The Unforgettable Fire and Achtung: an evocative scene scape that suddenly explodes into experimental pop rawk in its middle act. The problem I think, if there is one, is that the songwriting does not rise as it does on their best records. As much as I've come to like "Boots," it can't match the wordplay of Achtung's "The Fly." And as good radio candy as "Crazy" is, it will never be "One" or "I Still Haven't Found. . . ." Maybe I'm being too harsh. U2 always impress with the quality control. They never put out shit, or even mediocrity. Still, I'd put this in the second rank.
There is, however, an 80s throwback out there right now that is hard to beat. Although I left it off my year end list, were I to rewrite now, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds would make my top 5 for Dig! Lazarus, Dig!! Few records manage to rock this hard this smart. Cave wanders into the American wilderness of sex, drugs, and faith like few could. Somehow he pulls off literary pretensions without the pretense, Christian (?) romanticism without preaching or sentimentalism. Quite a trick. A few favorite tracks: "Today's Lesson," "We Call Upon the Author," "Lie Down Here (& Be My Girl)," and the title track/opener "Dig! . . . " First listen may be WTF, but repeat spins will not disappoint. Human? Dancer.
posted by tenaciousmcd @ 12:13 AM
2 Comments:
Very quickly...
I don't really disagree with a single word you've written here. You've nailed the first 2/3 of the record, and you are right about the lyrics on the Radio songs. Moment of Surrender is the best song on the album, I think, and it's only gets better when you hear that it was only ever played once.
But I will blog a response, as I think the last 1/3 has more going on then your paragraph allows. Breathe could be the best rocker on the album, WAY better than Boots and Crazy, and the lyrics there are very strong indeed. And I have stuff to say about the other songs there...
Here's the MAJOR difference between NLOH and Achtung, and the reason why the latter will always be so much better. Boots and Crazy are VERY intentionally-made as Radio songs. The Fly and Mysterious Ways, and One were NOT written in that way.
But it's the 21st century and they want to make albums that are both great musically and very popular, and that's not easy...
Oh, and War is probably no. 3 on my u2 album list, so...
Fro, that last part of what you say above does a nice job of capturing my reservations about NLOH: the radio songs, as good as they are, are just too self-consciously "radio songs."
I'm interested to hear what you'll have to say about the last 1/3 of NLOH, which I obviously give short shrift above. I don't dislike those songs, they just don't make that strong an impression, with the exception of "Cedars of Lebanon," which I find a refreshingly restrained closer. Some of the others I'm less sure about. "Fez-Being Born" is a tad random, like they were straining on the experimental side, and I'm not sold on "Breathe" yet, which has its indulgent moments. But then I guess that's U2 for you: indulgence is always the risk. No one else could pull off their shtick without drowning in it, yet they almost always pull it off. Almost always.
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