But rather than blowing the doors open, “Love Is All We Have Left” is about as quiet as they’ve ever been; we don’t even mind the Autotune. We discern no mention of Bono’s so-called “near-death experience”, but they save that for the louder “Lights Of Home”, a collaboration with sister-rock band Haim for which they get full songwriting credit. “You’re The Best Thing About Me” sounds like two different songs duct-taped together, with its trashy guitar verse and a more anthemic (there’s that word again) section used for the chorus. “Get Out Of Your Own Way” would be good advice, but loses points for sounding too much like the previous song run through “Beautiful Day” and particularly the closing rap by Kendrick Lamar, which bridges into the bombastic yet dull “American Soul”. (This song is mostly notable for repeating the “you are rock and roll” chant from the similarly placed “Volcano” on the last album.)
The album really starts to sag here, through the lackluster “Summer Of Love” and “Red Flag Day”, though it’s nice to hear the Edge’s vintage harmonies in the mix on the latter—or is it Julian Lennon?—as opposed to Lady Gaga on the former. (Bono’s notes helpfully point out that these particular songs were conceived in the south of France looking across the ocean at Syria, possibly with the kids on the cover in tow, not considering the irony of preaching from such a lofty locale most fans can’t afford to visit.) “The Showman (Little More Better)” is something of a departure into mindless pop, but we always hear Stewie and Miley singing about friendship from the Hannah Montana episode of Family Guy. Yet it makes “The Little Things That Give You Away”, moody as it is, a nice diversion.
The sentiment in “Landlady” seems a little strange, until one realizes that it’s a pet name for his long-suffering wife, to whom he’s been apologizing, in song, since the Carter administration. “The Blackout” begins like a generic, annoying dance tune, but develops into something decent by the end. Driving as it is, it’s not really a big stadium singalong, so that’s the role “Love Is Bigger Than Anything In Its Way” plays, if the other ones don’t take. Finally, “13 (There Is A Light)” is touching, and reaches new heights by appropriating “Song For Someone”, one of the better tracks from the last album.
That’s where the standard CD ends, but since vinyl was a lucrative format again, the equivalent of side four was added to a so-called deluxe edition of the CD. “Ordinary Love” is an alternate mix of a song they wrote for a Nelson Mandela film bio. “Book Of Your Heart” has potential, but is best appreciated for Edge’s early-‘80s guitar style and tone. The “St Peter's String Version” of “Lights Of Home” heightens the tension big time, while an alternate mix of “You’re The Best Thing About Me” (billed as “U2 vs. Kygo”, a DJ we’ve never heard of either) is unnecessary and seizure-inducing.
With all the time and talk that’s gone into every U2 album of this century, we must concede that they haven’t delivered anything pointedly bad or even embarrassing. (Well, maybe...) Songs Of Experience should please the fans, and it’s not a complete waste of time or plastic. A quiet, graceful retirement isn’t likely in their playbook, unless another near-death experience finally gets them off the catwalk. Shave it down and combine with the highlights from the one before, and it would rate higher, but that would mean eight years between albums.
U2 Songs Of Experience (2017)—3
“Songs of Innocence” eventually won me over, especially when compared with the near total disaster of their previous album. However, a few songs made me wonder if their next album would be as dull and uninvolving as “Around the Sun”. This, granted, has more changes in tempo. Despite this, I think that they finally crossed the line.
ReplyDeleteFor one thing, the production is lousy. All the producers here have overworked it so much that almost all (pun semi-intended) the edge has been removed from the sound. Larry Mullen, especially, provides uninspired and monotonous drumming. Then they try to pump it up with sweeping string parts and the bellowing backing vocals that first plagued “Unknown Caller”. You would never know that guest stars such as Lady Gaga, Julian Lennon and Haim are there, because they are buried in the mixes.
Such moves seem like desperate measures used to try and disguise the mediocre-to-awful songwriting. From “I Will Follow” to “Volcano”, there was always at least one strong rock track on each album (usually, but not always the lead track and/or lead single) that would hook the listener in. There’s NOTHING like that here. Instead, we get a starter that sounds like a reject from “No Line on the Horizon”. The album never succeeds in building momentum from there.
If I remember correctly, “Lights of Home” credits Haim because someone noticed that it sounds like of their songs, not because it was a direct collaboration. They didn’t help. The forced political references are accompanied by forced music (“American Soul” and “The Blackout”). The appearance of Kendrick Lamar is especially shameless, a contrived attempt to make sure we know that U2 is still “important” and “relevant”. There are also some lyrics that a man who was then approaching 60 should never have written, such as “Little More Better” (really?), “Red Flag Day” and especially “You’re The Best Thing About Me”. You’re right about the Kygo remix of the latter, which really does add insult to injury.
I really did try to give this album a chance by listening to it several times. For the first time, there isn’t a single song on an album that I’d put on a U2 playlist. If I never hear anything from this album again, I won’t miss it (although I did, oddly enough, hear “You’re the Best Thing About Me” in Dick’s Sporting Goods the other day). It remains to be seen if they can pull an “Accelerate” and/or a “Collapse into Now” out of their collective butt so they can end their career on a much more positive note.