Word: u2
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Buyer beware!" should be emblazoned prominently on every copy of the bizarre new U2 release, "Zooropa." This is not the listener-friendly Irish rock band that fans have come to expect. In fact, songwriter and lead vocalist Bono's trademark moan-wail is the only recognizable feature on the album...
...despite "Zooropa's" focus on techno, synthesized noise, or perhaps because of it, this may just be the U2 album with the greatest emotional depth. Gone are the rousing anthems and raw energy of their early albums ("Pride," "Sunday, Bloody Sunday"), the spiritual ballads of "The Joshua Tree" and the dance rhythms of their 1991 LP, "Achtung Baby." "Zooropa" is the raw emotional waste of the new cyberpunk world of the '90s--humans lost in the mechanical morass of technology...
...last track on the album, "The Wanderer", epitomizes this search of the human soul lost in the midst of a dehumanizing modern era. Johnny Cash sings in this original U2 song: "I went out walking through streets paved with gold/Lifted some stones/Saw the skin and bones/Of a city without a soul." His earthy, gruff vocals express the world-weariness of his wandering persona perfectly. Yet they contrast oddly with the drudging synthesizer beat, to convey a sense of disjointedness...
This effect is strengthened by other unexpected aspects of the album--such as the Edge's turn as lead vocalist on the first track of the album, "Numb." Its eerie mantra-like lyrics throb hypnotically and, for U2 at any rate, somewhat oddly...
Another big international transaction, signed with a subsidiary of the Dutch- owned company PolyGram, should make the Irish rock band U2 $170 million richer six albums from now. The size of the contract is reputed to be second only to Michael Jackson's with Sony...