Safe, Slow, Soft: U2’s Once-Fiery Spirit is Sputtering

(This is the fifth and final installment of a series on the nominees for the Album of the Year Grammy.)

Artist: U2 CD: All That You Can’t Leave Behind (Interscope) Grade: C-

The Buzz: After more than 20 years of making music and surviving numerous artistic phases, U2 delivered an album that has received enormous praise and a Grammy nomination for album of the year.

Career capsule: In true rock ‘n’ roll fashion, U2 became a band before it could even play. It all started when Larry Mullen Jr. tacked a band ad on the bulletin board of Dublin’s Mount Temple High School. The notice attracted Paul Hewson (Bono), David Evans (the Edge), Adam Clayton and Dick Evans. The teens called themselves Feedback and covered songs by the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.

In 1977 the band became Hype, and then U2 after Dick Evans left to form the Virgin Prunes. Despite winning a Guinness-sponsored talent contest and cutting an EP for CBS Records in 1979, the band drew little attention. However, U2 proved to be a stunning live band and signed to Island Records.

Boy, U2’s 1980 full-length debut, was more atmospheric and grandiose than most post-punk albums, and U2 gained notice for openly embracing Christianity (with the exception of bassist Adam Clayton). Opening for Talking Heads brought further exposure, but it was the band’s following album, October, driven by the soaring single “Gloria,” that brought U2 out from the underground.

U2’s following albums, the politically charged War and live EP Under a Blood Red Sky, firmly established U2 as rock’s most promising band and earned Band of the Year status from Rolling Stone magazine.

Experimental music icons Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois were brought in for U2’s next album, and the band began glossing the edges and toning down the passionate fire that had fueled U2’s music. By 1987, with the release of The Joshua Tree, U2 had embraced a softer, poppier sound. The album topped the charts in the United States and United Kingdom, and the band graced the cover of Time magazine.

After the critically panned Rattle and Hum live album and film, the band took a three-year hiatus, returning with the eclectic Achtung Baby and launching a bizarre multimedia tour dubbed Zoo TV.

Continuing the strangeness, U2’s Zooropa and Pop albums were filled with techno and dance influences and were largely regarded as the group’s most embarrassing efforts.

After another three-year break, All That You Can’t Leave Behind was released in the fall of 2000, and Rolling Stone again named U2 Band of the Year.

This CD: Many reviews of All That You Can’t Leave Behind, including the Oregonian‘s, called the album a return to form for U2. That’s only true if one means that it’s a return to the band’s second form, a return to The Joshua Tree-era U2.

That album marked a significant shift to a gentler, slower, poppier and far more commercial approach to songwriting and delivery, and this album is filled with a similarly safe and easily absorbed sound.

At times this album is so soft and mellow it could almost be considered a folk album, and it’s certainly miles away from U2’s initial fiery spirit and stunningly molded spastic outbursts.

Every musical aspect has been severely tempered. Bono’s voice rarely rises above a heavy whisper, and it sounds as if he’s simply speaking through many of the songs. Mullen’s drumming, which used to sound like a brick of firecrackers going off, sounds lazy and suited for a lounge band.

Most disappointing is the Edge’s guitar work. Nothing short of a guitar genius who can play with whiplash intensity, on All That You Can’t Leave Behind, he strums so quietly and slowly he seems to be sleepwalking through the recording.

Practically the only spark to be found on the 11 tracks is the chorus to “Beautiful Day,” a song that earned last year’s Grammy awards for Song of the Year, Record of the Year, and Best Rock Performance by Duo or Group with Vocal. (“Beautiful Day” was released as a single before the album, earning U2 Grammy nominations two years in a row.)

Must hear/tracks to skip: Not surprisingly, “Beautiful Day” kicks things off with its feel-good message and buoyant verse that builds slowly into the wide-open chorus. It’s the song closest to matching U2’s passionate, pounding past. Some of that energy, mixed with a dance beat, propels “Elevation,” but the track bottoms out in the middle with a saccharine refrain, and Bono’s lilting stream of “whoo-whoo’s” grates on the ears and nerves with repeated listens.

By the fifth track, the energy is all but lost, and All That You Can’t Leave Behind, well, can be. The midtempo “Kite” brings (gasp) a synthesized string section into the fold, a coffin nail for any respectable rock band, and the album remains in safe mode throughout.

“Wild Honey” may be the worst of the bunch, though it’s a tough call to make. Possibly more simplistic and poppy then R.E.M.’s “Shiny Happy People,” the track fails to back down or acknowledge its own utter banality. Dumb pop songs should be funny, not serious.

Last place could also be awarded to “New York,” a chiming little ditty that starts out almost devoid of real sounds and during which Bono briefly rips off Lou Reed’s deadpan vocal style without apparent shame.

Bottom Line: Although a welcome turn away from U2’s foray into dance music, All That You Can’t Leave Behind is too sterile, safe and commercially motivated to be considered a true return to form.

Coming Up: The Grammys will air 8-11:30 p.m. Wednesday on KOIN (6).

© The Oregonian, 2002. All rights reserved.