U2 - Songs of Innocence

U2

Songs of Innocence

9 September 2014

Island

 

2.5 stars out of 5

 

 

By now most of the world has heard the story: U2 and Apple announced the new U2 record on September 9^th, and then released it that day, for free, to half a billion people (anyone who had an Apple ID). Reaction to the album was mixed—the usual haters, and the usual (and completely inexplicable) 5 stars from Rolling Stone. Reaction to the free release was stronger, from grateful fans to others violently angry that U2 and Apple had the nerve to rape their personal iTunes collection and impregnate it with Songs of Innocence. U2’s last LP, No Line on the Horizon, wasn’t well received, except by Rolling Stone, of course, who gave it 5 stars and declared it Album of the Year for 2009. Personally, I liked 3 or 4 tracks (the ones with the most obvious Brian Eno touch to them), hated most of the rest. The new album has nothing to like, although nothing to hate either.

 

U2 has made some of the best albums ever made by anyone: War, The Joshua Tree, Achtung Baby. They have also made some truly awful ones: Rattle and Hum, Zooropa. The last four have all followed the same forgettable formula: arena-sized rock songs that sought to recreate the hits of Achtung Baby without any of the experimental edge of that record. Songs of Innocence follows in this same tradition, although with the blandest, most tired-sounding results yet. If it were possible to approach this record while ignoring U2’s previous output, one would find a rather pedestrian collection of songs, full of pretension to big things without ever actually delivering them. But since this is U2 (admittedly one of my favourite bands ever), the results are downright disappointing. Consider: twenty years ago, a song like “Iris (Hold Me Close)” would have been a b-side, hidden away on a CD single among remixes and live versions of other, generally stronger tracks. Here, it’s the best track on the record.

 

Blame Danger Mouse? Whatever. God Himself (Brian Eno) produced No Line on the Horizon and even He couldn’t save it from being a big mess. While there are no horrible missteps here like there were on No Line on the Horizon (“Get on Your Boots,” anyone?), there are no strokes of genius, either. Given the number of years the band put into making this record, one would expect at least a little bit of experimentation. Instead, we’re given (literally) eleven tracks so lacking in character that the only hope one can draw from Songs of Innocence is that Bono has finally learned how to reign in his ego.

 

reviewed by Richard Krueger