Pop, Pop, Pop Music

DISCOTHEQUE: The first single, complete with “boom”-enriched outro and accompanying video featuring soon-to-be-legendary appearance of U2 as the Village People. Bono: “When we were recording that, we had the whole studio in mirrorballs and disco lights.”

DO YOU FEEL LOVED: Heavy groove-based rocker in the tradition of “Even Better Than the Real Thing.” Very likely single. Wry personal reference suspected in the opening lines: “Take these hands they’re good for nothing/You know these hands never worked a day.”

MOFO: Sonic assault as U2 are possessed by the twin spirits of Underworld and the Prodigy, with Bono at his most cathartic. Breakneck double-tracked drumming quite likely the highlight of Larry Mullen’s recorded career.

IF GOD WILL SEND HIS ANGELS: Slow-winding ballad constructed around a title that existed during Zooropa sessions. Bono: “It’s this guy beating up his girlfriend about her searching for answers and just telling her to look around. It’s like science fiction gospel. Edge is calling it country hip-hop.”

STARING AT THE SUN: Infectious, sky-scraping pop song with echoes of Ray Davies and Bowie’s “Soul Love.” Notable alone for middle eight couplet, “referee won’t blow the whistle/God is good but will he listen?” Dead-cert summer number one.

LAST NIGHT ON EARTH: U2 play Oasis at their own game. Steaming rocker with powerful Beatle-y chorus. The last track to be finished, with vocals recorded at 7 a.m. on the day of the album cut. Bono: “It felt like the last night on earth, all right.”

GONE: Soaring uplifter oddly reminiscent of the Verve, replete with darkly spiritual lyric. Likely to be emotional highpoint of candlelight vigil if U2’s plane ever goes down. Edge: “There’s many layers to that song and there’s another level to it which I haven’t figured yet.”

MIAMI: The strangest track of all. Electro experimental before Mullen kicks in with weighty John Bonham-styled groove. Lyrical snapshots of a band trip to Florida in spring ’96. Edge: “It’s sort of creative tourism.”

THE PLAYBOY MANSION: Touching tale of lottery playing average Joe fantasising about gaining entry to Hugh Hefner’s private Disneyland, set to ’60’s flavoured trip-hop. Return to knowingly delivered truisms in verses, including the maybe libellous, “If coke is a mystery/Michael Jackson…History.”

IF YOU WEAR THAT VELVET DRESS: Muted and frankly, horny ballad with echoes of Chris Isaak’s “Wicked Game.” Something for the weekend. Edge: “That was a song that basically came out of improvisation with Nellee Hooper.”

PLEASE: Shuffly meandering and moody bid-pacer. Edge: “One of the most intricate pieces of music we’ve ever written.”

WAKE UP DEAD MAN: Spaghetti-western atmosphere bristling with distant radio voices. A distorted Bono voices his frustration to Jesus “I’m alone in this world/And a f*cked up world it is too.”

© Q Magazine, 1997. All rights reserved.