U2: How to Dismantle and Atomic Bomb

Cafe Society
1

Since their new album is topping the charts, I can’t be the only Doper who bought it. I’m curious about other people’s opinions. I find the album as a whole a mixed bag. The lyrics can veer into laughable but the music usually saves the song.

  1. Vertigo - extremely overplayed on the radio so there’s no need to listen to it
  2. Miracle Drug - skippable
  3. Sometimes You Can’t Make It on Your Own - great lyrics and extremely depressing
  4. Love and Peace or Else - LOVE! The bass and lyrics totally drive the song. Probably the next radio single.
  5. City of Blinding Lights - eh Vegas is pretty, forgettable
  6. All Because of You - don’t think too hard about the lyrics. Okay song.
  7. Man and a Woman - this damn song gets stuck in my head (not in a nice way)
  8. Crumbs from Your Table - personally, I think this song is directed to George W. Bush based upon the time Bono was asking for AIDs relief funding so I enjoy this song.
  9. One Step Closer - lyrics are dumb and music can put me into a coma. Don’t play on long trips driving.
  10. Original of the Species - cute song, I like the lyrics.
  11. Yahweh - I don’t need no freaky deaky God music, thank you very much!

The weird thing is you can’t sing along to a single song on the album. There’s no “One”, “Mysterious Ways”, or “Pride” type track. Which could make this a weak album. But while I think the album is weak lyrically, musically it’s sound.

2

You’re not.

I’m afraid I don’t understand this. I sing along with much of the album when I’m listening to it at home.

3

What’s the point of that straight dope link questioning the album title and the SNL performance? Thanks for correcting me. In my opinion, the songs aren’t as “catchy” as on their older albums. I’m happy that you can sing along.

4

I just reskimmed the thread to confirm - a good bit of it is discussion of impressions of the album itself, and it’s pretty much the only thread I’ve seen where this album has been discussed. I’d assumed you’d find it useful, sorry.

And I genuinely didn’t understand what you meant by not being able to sing along. Did you mean there weren’t any dramatic songs with loud, anthemic choruses, for instance?

5

I’ll preface this by saying that I am highly biased because U2 is my favorite band, closely followed by the Beatles. Achtung Baby is their best album, followed by The Unforgettable Fire, the Joshua Tree, War, and Pop. The newest album is better than All that you can’t leave behind, but I only really listen to the first 2/3s of this album. I like Sometimes you can’t make it on your own the best, followed by Miracle Drug and City of Blinding Lights. A man and a woman is pretty good, and I like the other songs up until One Step Closer. Yahweh and Oringinal of the Species are just filler as far as I’m concerned, with really idiotic lyrics, but decent enough music.

Overall, I really enjoy this album, but it isn’t great. Adam Clayton is really the star of it with some really great bass lines. I can’t wait until the tour.