U2’s Songs Of Innocence will forever be known as the album released as a “gift” from Apple, allowing anyone to grab it for free from iTunes for a month. The band announced all this at an Apple press conference for the iPhone 6 where they also performed the album’s opening cut, “The Miracle (Of Joey Ramone),” with its over-driven guitar, tribal-like toms and a very unlike-Bono-sounding vocal. Once again, U2 show the world they are on the cutting edge of all that’s hip – at least in showmanship and marketing.
The Edge manages his muted guitar lines and some floating keys on “Every Breaking Wave,” where the band also employs some big production touches on the choruses. It’s not a great tune, but certainly familiar ground the band has tread before. I like Adam Clayton’s heavy bass lines on Bono’s tribute to his mom, “Iris (Hold Me Close).” Clayton also leads the way on the punk-like “Volcano.” This is U2 visiting their youth with a sound reminiscent of the aggressive, albeit limited playing, U2 debut, 1980’s Boy. “Raised By Wolves” has Bono fronting the best showing of the band playing for a singular purpose – slicing guitar hits, simple piano lines, loops, and the tribal drumming of Mullen.
We are into a heavy rockin’ on “Cedarwood Road” with its evocative lyrics and The Edge laying down some pristine, single-note lines. I just love how things get seemingly uncontrolled and loud during the song’s choruses. “Sleep Like A Baby Tonight” sees Bono delivering some highs over an old sounding synth and strings, then the beat comes in with The Edge’s most echo-ladened, distorted guitar lines so far. It’s a great song of light and dark, from verse to chorus, with a very catchy melody and a farting guitar solo at its tail.
By the time we get to the reggae beat of “This Is Where You Can Reach Me Now,” we welcome a radical change with tight acoustic, a chanting chorus, and Clayton sustaining a big, fat bottom end. There’s some inspired stuff on Songs Of Innocence with U2 offering up a few different styles and letting their playing acumen loose. Even though we haven’t seen an album from these guys in five years, the songs are predictably fresh, the playing is enigmatic, and the buzz behind it is bound to make others take notice.
~ Ralph Greco, Jr.
