U2 U2
Their sound still needs a lot of polishing, but the germs are already there. A solid rhythm section, Bono's powerful voice, and especially the Edge's sonorous and ringing guitarplaying lay the foundation for U2's songs with a message. U2 is aiming for the top, and we're going to know it. Boy is not my favourite U2 album by far, but it is a well-built debut. I Will Follow is of course one of the songs that still stands after more than 20 years, but The Electric Co. and An Cat Dubh are also still outstanding.
Listening to this is pure nostalgia, going back in time to that moment where I regained my musical senses, left Kajagoogoo and Spandau Ballet behind me, and started listening to something else. Like U2. Songs like Sunday Bloody Sunday, New Year's Day or Two Hearts Beat As One take me back to my teenage friends, to school, to the Bierkelder in the centre of Gent where we used to drink a mazout during lunch break, to the new wave dancing where we used to go out on Saturday evenings. But the good news is that War isn't solely nostalgia. The enthusiasm, anger and passion of these young U2-boys still is intact, there is no way this album sounds outdated, it still rocks, and it still rocks hard. Sunday Bloody Sunday kicks in hard, Seconds has those beautiful harmonies, and that other U2 anthem New Year's Day still manages to blow everything away. Great piano, edgy guitars, superb melody, magnificent chorus... what a song. Even the less well-known songs like Like a Song or Red Light shout out that this band is going to make it, and going to make it big. Surrender has this innocent sound that the band has lost a bit over the course of the last 20 years, but that's just one of those things of life. In 40 Bono sounds older and more mature, and the song makes the album fade out in a most beautiful way. Listening to War makes you realize how obvious it was back then that this band was going to make it...
Among the fanbase there are mixed feelings about this album, but it is one of my favourite U2-albums. You can so clearly hear the joy that these gentlemen still have in creating and playing music, and that joy rubs off on me. It's one of those records I put on when I'm down, because it never fails to brighten me up. Walk On has been my personal national anthem in a difficult time, And I know it aches/Your heart it breaks/And you can only take so much/Walk on, walk on, I still find it amazing what effect music can have on a human being. Other than that, this is just an uncomplicated straightforward rock and pop album, that at times explodes cheerfully out of your speakers. No attempts to reinvent (their) music, no need to be experimental and try out new stuff, only the joy of making simple and pure pop and rock songs. And doing that, they seem to go back to their earlier work, a feeling enhanced by the presence of producers Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois. But this can't be called regression, as the music remains pure and fresh, and the band doesn't hark back to its slogans and flag-waving of the eighties. Opener Beautiful Day and Elevation are two rockers pur sang, with exuberant singalong choruses, but if you listen closely also filled with neat little details. Together with the aforementioned Walk On and the perfect popsong Wild Honey they're the strongest songs on the album, giving it a beautiful mix of sadness and optimism, melancholy and joy. All That You Can't Leave Behind may sound uncomplicated and simple, but sometimes that is just what rock music is about.
Neat DVD-single I got from a friend, with the videoclip of one of my favourite songs of All That You Can't Leave Behind, with U2 as the ultimate Mr. Nice Guys. Also features 4 30 second clips from the Elevation 2001 U2 Live from Boston DVD.
The Undertones
The Urban Dance Squad Mellow yeah... Urban Dance Squad was one of the first bands, back in the late 80's, to make a genuine crossover of hiphop, pop, rock, funk, soul, punk, hard rock and whatever you can think of. And unlike the material of many of their followers, Mental Floss for the Globe still sounds pristine today. This can be attributed to the guitar sound produced by Tres Manos, the funky bass foundation of Silly Sil, and of course Rudeboy's sometimes soft, sometimes aggressive rapping/chanting/singing. The album opens up with three of its strongest tracks: the fast and furious Fast Lane with a solid groove and loud guitars; and my two personal favourites No Kid and A Deeper Shade of Soul (the first a fat mellow groove with eastern influences and spooky backing vocals, the latter probably their most known song, very melodic and flowing, a classic crammed with samples). Piece of Rock is a spooky piece of music with a haunting chorus, The Devil is its little brother with an equally spooky atmosphere. Brainstorm on the UDS combines a metal guitar riff, a funky groove, scratching and rap vocals. The album ends with fun and chaos: Hitchhike HD (which doesn't seem to be on the later re-issues?) is a funny bluesy track showing the versatility of Tres Manos, God Blasts the Queen is pure orchestrated chaos. Famous When You're Dead sort of sums up the UDS story, as they never got the credit they deserved.
Hearing Grand Black Citizen on the radio made me decide that I had to have this album, moreover since I really liked UDS's debut album. But it ended up being rather disappointing, most of it didn't click with me. Grand Black Citizen will always be an animal of a song, and there's some other good songs on the album: (Thru) The Gates of the Big Fruit (great bassline), Routine (starts out a bit Living Colour-ish), Careless (a bit bluesy) and Beaurocrat of Flacostreet (with an Eastern touch), but they don't weigh in enough to make this a positive experience. The title song going through the album as a theme doesn't work, and as a whole it doesn't show enough coherence. Too bad.
Urbanus Got this at the time Urbanus was very popular in Flanders. Nowadays his humour is a bit passé, but in the early eighties he shocked the Flemish public at large with his irreverent and sometimes even blasphemous humour. His comic short movies on TV were truly hilarious, and some of his jokes have become national heritage. I do have the feeling this album isn't one of his best, I've often heard him state that he now regrets having put the song Belastingscontroleur (tax officer) on record. A lot of the songs now sound forced, Urbanus tries ways too hard to be funny. But a song like Ik en Morris still is a classic.
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