I'm at a Place Called Vertigo, don't Bring Me Back.

Listen. Just listen. Just for one go-round, listen. I promise it won’t take long - How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb clocks in just under 50 minutes. I request this of you because you’re probably thinking the same thing I was: U2 had run their course. Bono, discontent with merely organizing concerts to help those less fortunate, had dived - or perhaps cannonballed - his way into the dirty world of politics trying to make good on the messages U2 so often sang about. The band had just risen from a void of experimental electronica muzak - with mixed results at best - which remains dwarfed by earlier classics which include the powerful Joshua Tree and experimental Achtung Baby. The band released All that You Can’t Leave Behind, which attempted to avoid leaving the band’s roots behind but lacked a certain something - the unknown element which separates outstanding from classic.

Shame on us. Shame on us for believing the most musically and politically significant band of the last 25 years had run out of gas. Shame on us for thinking U2 no longer had anything relevant to say, for insinuating their messages were outdated and would no longer have an impact on twenty-first century Earth. We underestimated the current state of the world, so instead of lacking relevance, U2’s politics seem more timely than ever. Which makes their latest CD, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, a timely release for a world badly in need of U2.

Yet, there’s a real element of irony which comes in How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb. For all the politics contained in the title and in Bono’s real life, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb contains little politics. No matter. How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb instead contains a reborn U2, or perhaps a resurrected U2 if you will. Atomic Bomb is U2 finally coming full circle. On Atomic Bomb, Bono rediscovers his clean, pristine singing voice and The Edge rediscovers his jangling three-note guitar. Yes, they tried on All that You Can’t Leave Behind, but for how outstanding that CD was, U2 sounded rusty. Their techno experiments in Zooropa and Pop had taken a toll, so Can’t Leave Behind sounded like U2 journeying back to where they started. Atomic Bomb sounds like they’re there.

Atomic Bomb is lead off by the very bastard child which is its first single, Vertigo. In Vertigo, we hear The Edge go back to the simplistic three-chord guitar which we’ve come to know and love on early U2 songs like I Will Follow and Pride. But Vertigo sounds significantly different from the rest of How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb. It has a punk quality to it which will bring flashes of older punk bands like The Ramones and The Clash. This doesn’t detract from the overall quality of the song or even the CD, though; if anything, it’s a personal favorite, despite Bono showing the rust which was so prevalent on All that You Can’t Leave Behind.

Eighties Bono first shows up on the second track, Miracle Drug. When the song begins, we hear him singing in his non-straining, lounge singer voice. Therefore, we don’t expect anything spectacular. But as the first verse goes on, you begin to notice the slow building of emotion, and the rust slowly but surely vanishing. Then when the chorus is reached, Bono makes it clear that he can still sing as cleanly and beautifully as he did in songs like Where the Streets have No Name. You’ll get goosebumps the first time you hear it:
the songs are in your eyes
I see them when you smile
I’ve had enough of romantic love
I’d give it up, yeah, I’d give it up
for a miracle, a miracle drug, a miracle drug

The first and only time political U2 shows up is in the fourth track, the amusingly titled Love and Peace or Else. The song is somewhat reminiscent of Bullet the Blue Sky from The Joshua Tree in the sense that it’s darker and more thumping than the rest of the CD, and the only foray into politics (and also the fourth song.) In the current war-tearing of the world, U2 is very direct about what it wants:
I don’t know if I can make it
I’m not easy on my knees
here’s my heart and you can break it
I need some release, release, release

we need
love and peace
love and peace

I’m happy to say that U2 has no identity crisis on How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb. The band manages to be consistent in their time warp, and Adam Clayton, Larry Mullens, and The Edge all play as cleanly and flawlessly as ever. Although Bono does manage to recapture his ability to sing, he uses it more sparingly, and certainly not on the CD’s current singles, Vertigo and All Because of You. Instead, he seems to save it more for impact moments this time, like in Miracle Drug, Love and Peace or Else, and Original of the Species. He also uses the falsetto voice he used so often throughout Zooropa on Sometimes You Can’t Make it on Your Own, the beautiful standout he penned for his late father.

One thing I’ve always admired about U2 is their willingness to tackle religion, a subject most other bands wouldn’t touch with a pole. Religious faith is the theme of another favorite, Crumbs from Your Table. In this song, U2 plays music which I can only describe as an intelligent loop while Bono, in a clean voice, questions his religious faith:
you speak of signs and wonders
but I need something other
I would believe if I was able
but I’m waiting on the crumbs from your table

In typical U2 fashion, lyrics are sometimes a mystery. Theories crop up about the messages of certain songs, most notably With or Without You and One. How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb keeps this tradition alive and well printing up mysterious messages in City of Blinding Lights and One Step Closer. The former is a true throwback with a fast-paced guitar line which builds and releases like Bono’s voice often does. But the lyrics are rather tricky. The song starts off with a contemplation of things learned:
the more you see the less you know
the less you find out as you go
I knew much more then than I do now
Then he goes into what is, in reality, a better description of New York then the song from All that You Can’t Leave Behind titled New York:
neon heart dayglo eyes
a city lit by fireflies
they’re advertising in the skies
for people like us

One Step Closer conveys a feeling of hopelessness by providing a low bass line accented by descriptions of general negativity:
I’m hanging out to dry
with my old clothes
finger still red with the prick of an old rose
Those lyrics before singing that he is:
one step closer to knowing

It just wouldn’t be U2 without love and heartbreak. Love is covered in an original song called Original of the Species, another intelligently-looping song that speeds up and slows down at intervals. Heartbreak is covered in A Man and a Woman. The music in A Man and a Woman speaks to the broken-hearted, and contains a spirit of desperation and loneliness. But, also true to U2 form, the band brings an uplifting tone and some encouragement to the CD, and this time it’s reserved for the positively-worded closer, Yahweh.
take these shoes
click clacking down some dead end street
take these shoes and make them fit
take this shirt
polyester white trash made in nowhere
take this shirt
and make it clean, clean
take this soul
stranded in some skin and bones
take this soul
and make it sing

How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb is easily the best CD U2 has released in the last 15 years. Look at the last lyric I posted. Take this soul, and make it sing. U2 makes your soul sing, as well as your ears.