2 keepers
keeper avg .200
Released in the wake of the paradigm shifting Achtung Baby, that album's aesthetic permeates this one as well, though most of the songs originated after it. Edge's guitar on the first half of the opening two-fer title track***** is processed into oblivion, though combined with Bono's mellow delivery it manages to be novel and intimate, similar to "Until the End of the World." Though the album's two big singles, "Numb" and "Lemon," are practically novelty songs due to the monotone or mock-operatic vocals (respectively) they both embrace electronic music in interesting ways, as opposed to the relatively less-adventurous "Babyface" and "Stay," which bookend them. The album's second half pretty much falls apart. The pleasant "The First Time" (similar to "All I Want Is You") and "Dirty Day" are a bit spare to coalesce into songs, "Some Days Are Better Than Others" is ridiculous (Some days are dry, some days are leaky, Some days come clean, other days are sneaky - Jesus, it's all like that), and "Daddy's Gonna Pay for Your Crashed Car" is a mess. Supposedly "The Wanderer"**** was meant to end the album on a "musical joke," but the juxtaposition of Bono's post-apocalyptic tale delivered in Johnny Cash's (!!!) worn voice over a buoyant electronic backing track seems more meaningful than that. Though there are great components or moments throughout the album, the fact that it was recorded in a hurry shows, as most tracks turn out to be less than the sum of their parts, regardless of how fresh they sounded in 1993.
Comments