By: Tom Moon
The dreamy backbeat fades. The young voice steps aside. A wisp of violin rushes to the fore and, without warning, the majestic Luciano Pavarotti enters, singing from the mountaintop.
He’s got the bridge to “Miss Sarajevo,” one of the 14 sonic environments on Original Soundtracks I, a collaboration between the members of U2 and their longtime producer, Brian Eno. In a very short space, the big tenor’s voice transforms this pleasant hook into a beautiful, poignant moment.
Few in rock and roll could introduce a loose cannon like Pavarotti into a song without having it turn to cheese. That’s one measure of the genius of Eno and U2, working here as Passengers: ever since Zooropa, the arch-metaphysical meditation on stardom, the band and its producer have shown a willingness to try anything. They’ll shuffle all the cards in hopes of finding a more challenging (or absurd) mode of operation.
Soundtracks continues that search, with languid reveries, somber declarations, and even some outright silliness. (Check out the nursery-rhymelike “Elvis Ate America.”)
Eno, who plays synthesizer, deserves credit for documenting the band at a creative peak, when the fire of the irreverent Zooropa was still burning and before the stress of trying to create another blockbuster kicked in.
He captures moves and styles that the band hasn’t explored elsewhere, including “Your Blue Room,” a tender introspection that gazes back lovingly at ’50s pop, and the haunting, blues-tinged ritual chant “Corpse (These Chains Are Way Too Long),” that’s 3-1/2 minutes of wrenchingly unresolved tension. Also notable is the anthem “Always Forever Now,” which benefits from gorgeously sculpted vocal harmonies and a bouyant, understated rhythm far removed from U2’s typically brash attack.
Soundtracks turns the rules of ambient music upside-down. Like Eno’s previous ambient works, there’s not much harmonic motion, and the melody is often buried. But the energy of a lean, kicking rock band smashes the porcelain aura: Edge’s multilayered guitars and the rhythm section’s firm pulse anchor even the skimpiest musical structures. And Bono’s knack for extracting the emotion from a melody gives the intentionally low-key tracks a feeling of urgency.
Anybody with a synthesizer can generate drone music. On Original Soundtracks I, U2 argues that it takes skill, and heart, to make such austerity meaningful.
© Moon / Knight-Ridder News Service, 1995. All rights reserved.