Vertigo (U2)

as far as u2 albums go, this one is middle of the road. it suffered from being over-delayed and over-hyped. how to dismantle an atomic bomb produced at least three singles, but only one, "vertigo," was truly worthy of the u2 canon. when this album came out, it received rave reviews from most sources--four star reviews that the album may or may not have deserved. around the same time, i was talking with a friend who was a huge u2 fan, and he said something i found wholly appropriate. he said that u2 is at a point in their career where harsh criticism of the band is unlikely to occur because of the general quality of their past work and the legacy they've left for the rock scene. in other words, criticizing u2 is practically verboten.

how to dismantle does not venture into unknown or unexplored territory for these dubliners. the tone and pace of their songs are familiar to us now, and they stuck with what they knew on this album. it was not a departure from their prior albums, like achtung baby was in contrast with the joshua tree. it remains a solid album, but does not lead us anywhere new. maybe if the album hadn't followed the tremendous success of all that you leave behind, i wouldn't consider how to dismantle in this light.

the looped, clean sound of the edge's guitar is a pleasure, and on songs like "sometimes you can't make it on your own" the guitar melody itself is enough to sustain the song where the lyrics may be lackluster. but some songs, like "miracle drug" and "crumbs from your table" seem superficial. bono usually writes such emotive and layered lyrics that can be interpreted in about 15 different ways, and that impression isn't made on these songs. but other songs, like "vertigo" and "love and peace or else" attain that depth we expect of him.

how to dismantle an atomic bomb is a mixed bag. i skip some tracks. others are wonderful. the album is flawed, but still beautiful. it is not like their other masterpieces, but we cannot expect each album to be masterpiece-quality.