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U2 - Pop (1997)
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U2 has always been a band dedicated not only to making good rock music, but also to say something important about the world we live in. And having said that, this album is probably their most 'political' since 'War'. Most of the tracks are dealing with superficial materialism, consumption and greed contra spirituality and humanism. Even the design of the CD-cover reflects this by using the same kind of graphic art that Andy Wharol used when he made his pop-art (pop-mart): media 'reality' is actually made of nothing more than 'dots' if we go myopic, but on distance it gives an illusion of reality. There are also a lot of religious references to Jesus, Mother (Mary) and Father (God) in the lyrics. The music starts with the track 'Discoteque' which is maybe an attempt to make a hit for the dance floor and at the same time beeing ironic about vulgarism. Track #3 'Mofo' is also made for the dancefloor, but more for the techno/dance-scene. Very strong lyrics on this one. Traditional U2 is served in #4'If God will send his angels' and even on further tracks until we get to #8 Miami. Here we are in a world of vulgar overconsumption again, not unlike in Las Vegas and 'The playboy mansion'#9 is about the same. The best tracks are #11 'Please': a desperate song about keeping the faith in life (great guitarplay by the Edge)#3 'Mofo' and #7 'Gone' (very typcal U2). All in all you get both new and old U2 on this CD. They try to develop and change their music expression, but at the same time keeping a lot of the U2 sound we are so familiar with. Most of the tracks on this CD are quality stuff, but compared to other U2 albums, 'Pop' is not their absolute best. Since U2 has always been delivering really great productions each time (I'm a big fan myself) it's important to make the right comparison. They have also changed studio crew. No Daniel Lanois and no Brain Eno or Steve Lillywhite. Flood is in control of course, but in addition Howie B is engaged with the obvious intention of more emphasis on new impulses from rap and rhythm music. Some people have blamed the less positive reception of this record on this fact, but I think that's unfair. This record is absolutely a very good production, not as good as 'Achtung baby' but better than 'Zooropa'Read full review
By this time U2 had morphed from that lowly group from Dublin into a stadium filling, truck hoarding megaband, this to some extent gave them leverage to take a risk or to. This was put to spectacular effect on Acthung baby, and Zooropa, which marked a braver, more confident, flirtatious group in U2. But all this momentum was about to be derailed as the group delved deeper into experimental, electronic music. Bono and The Edge had for some time been absorbing the disco sounds of the American night-clubs they frequented, and as they hit the recording studio, they channelled their new-found passion into a set of colourful new songs that would divide not only their fans but also their very own drummer and bassist. Larry Mullen Jnr and Adam Claytion are rumoured to have had reservations about the new seismic shift in sound, preferring to opt for a more traditional U2 atmosphere. Eventually Bono and Edge's new method won out quashing any notion of returning to the old-school U2 just yet. This move may seem foolhardy now, but it's hard not to admire the courageous step they took given the benchmark they'd laid down on their previous two albums. And Pop is not a complete catastrophe', indeed the catchy single 'Discotheque' breathes a unique wit that wouldn't have been misplaced on Achtung baby, and 'Staring at the sun' is in some way a forerunner to the britpop sound that ensued in the coming years, with it's Oasis style melancholy and guitar-riff. But other songs let the side down dramatically. 'Miami' pushes it's luck, with a flippancy that is not only uncharacteristic of, but also unbecoming to U2. And by the end of the album the hefty songs will leave some drained and intellectually under challenged. On a positive note, for the techno enthusiasts, there are a plethora of drum loops and interesting studio techniques which should keep your ears amused, and to say this album wouldn't agree with all hardcore U2 fans would be a generalization, but U2 were always capable of better than this, and as Bono and Edge left their Disco attentive phase behind, they set about re-establishing the heart and soul of their sound. The songs were always more suited to a live stage and unsurprising, this is where they found a more appreciative audience, a responsive setting which sexed-up the flatter numbers on the album, proving that Pop wasn't totally ill-conceived. And even on latter albums the lessons learnt with Pop made for a more controlled way of implementing disco elements that amplified U2's master-strokes rather than weigh them down into an undistinguished clump. So let's not be too judgemental, view this album as U2 having a party before they got back to work. And when a band has had a career spanning as long as U2 have been going your allowed a little self-indulgence. The techno-heads may have lost a potential new super-group, but the world gained their rock band back! Amen to that!Read full review
No matter which way you look at it, this album doesn't have the same shock of the new that "Achtung Baby" delivered on first listen. Less experimental and more song-oriented than "Zooropa", "Pop" attempts to sell the glitzy rush of techno to an audience weaned on arena rock - including the band themselves. While they never sound like they don't believe in what they're doing, they still remove most of the radical elements of electronic dance, which is evident to anyone with just a passing knowledge of the Chemical Brothers and Underworld. To a new listener, "Pop" has flashes of surprise — particularly on the rampaging "Mofo" — but underneath the surface, U2 rely on anthemic rockers and ballads. "Discotheque" might be a little clumsy, but "Staring at the Sun" shimmers with synthesizers borrowed from Massive Attack and a Noel Gallagher chorus. Similarly, "Do You Feel Loved" and "If You Wear That Velvet Dress" fuse old-fashioned U2 dynamism with a keen sense of the cool eroticism that makes trip-hop so alluring. Problems arise when the group tries to go for conventional rock songs, some of which are symptomatic of the return of U2's crusade for salvation. "Pop" is inflected with the desire for a higher power to save the world from its jaded spiral of decay and immorality, which is why the group's embrace of dance music never seems joyous — instead of providing an intoxicating rush of gloss and glamour, it functions as a backdrop for a plea of salvation.Read full review
This album just like all of U2 albums..... it is excellent, their ability to change with the times and still produce the kind of music that apeals to both their new fans as well as the older ones is the reason that they are still one of the best bands in the world.
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