Word: bandness
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...album is vintage U2, for better or worse. The band has consistently built on the sound of each successive album, and moments on How To Dismantle... recall every previous release. The ubiquitous lead single “Vertigo” is another safe anthem following the tried and true formula of “Beautiful Day,” “A Man and a Woman” instantly recalls the icy chords of “The Unforgettable Fire,” and the pounding chords of closer “Yahweh” recall War?...
...failed to collapse as drastically as we wanted it to, given the band’s self-righteousness and potential for pretension by the 80s’ close. The cycle repeated, though, and we kept watching through the relative failures of experimental albums Zooropa and Pop, and as the band won back their audience of baby boomers and their kids with the sappy balladry of 2000’s All that You Can’t Leave Behind. The problem, then, was that people bought it, and bought it big. How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb, and its accompanying ipod...
...thus these songs lose the urgency that characterized U2’s early sound in their sprawling nature. The other persisting problem on the album is the even further emerging figure of Bono. With his personal celebrity aside, he is increasingly becoming the central musical figure of the band, with his vocal twists and turns of phrase more memorable than any guitar hook or bassline, recalling the later albums of another band fronted by a singly-named poster boy—the Police...
This is not to say that the songwriting is not at times excellent; the band has perfected and patented the formula for a good U2 song, and they show themselves in command of this on How to Dismantle... The songs are individually-wrapped candies that offer a familiar but fulfilling sensation with an ignorable degree of retread. It is short on innovation but immediately appealing in its familiarity, which is enough for now. But it means fans are still waiting for their third wave of reinvention and relevance...
...Leeds or The Allman Brothers quintessential Live at the Fillmore East. Following in this storied tradition is Neko Case’s latest release, The Tigers Have Spoken, an album that manages to be quite captivating even given its paltry length. Case, also the singer for the renowned indie band The New Pornographers, had not released an album since Blacklisted in 2002. This is also her first album on the Anti label, following her departure from Bloodshot Records...