Zooropa - U2

Zooropa is a pleasure to listen to, melodious in parts, while strong rythms dominate other songs. This album was written while on the Zoo TV tour, a tour in which the lads... well they went a bit mad, didn't they? But enough about background, on with the music. The title track introduces us to this gem of an album. Zooropa starts off with distant murmurings in the background and it's 2:23 before the first sign of Bono's vocals. Casual and laid back, Bono warbles his way through a multitude of brilliant lyrics like "Be a winner, eat to get thinner". Nice. Lots of weird noises bursting away in the background, and the backing vocals in parts ...  Read the complete review

All too often I listen to a CD for the first time from one of my favourite bands and think that I love it. It is only through time that you realise the true value of a CD and only through time that you can compare it with previous and even future releases. When I first bought Zooropa it is the most I have anticipated a release in years. This was the follow up to the magnificent Achtung Baby. There was a good 2 year gap, which meant that it wasn't a rushed release. Bono had gone on records as saying it was originally going to be a 5 track EP but the songs just kept coming and there it was a brand new album. I must admit I was disappointed for a ...  Read the complete review

For me U2 are at their best when they take a risk, and Zooropa is the riskiest release of their entire catalogue. Sure, Achtung Baby was a big departure, but the hooks and choruses are still there. Zooropa offers up a clutch of what you could lazily call "experimental" songs, delivered by a band brimming with confidence in an ever widening market. The title track is anthemic in a way they hadn't been before. No chorus, but a commercial edge with a delicious twist midway through. Babyface is a big pop number with a childlike quality, helped along by what sounds like a wind up musical box. Numb is just bizarre; The Edge getting his go at the ...  Read the complete review

Not content with reinventing rock, U2 had to go off and reinvent…er, whatever it was that was not reinvented before this came out. For Achtung Baby they’d whipped out the shades, bought the designer clothes and generally surrounded themselves with everything they’ve come to hate about the music industry ( and f**cking loving it), now it was time to get Brian Eno to fiddle around with stuff in the studio. The result of which is a stroll into the world of electronica, a far cry from the likes of Running to Stand Still. The opening two minutes of Zooropa wouldn’t seem out of place on one of Eno’s albums, just some rambling piano ...  Read the complete review

Zooropa is, in my opinion, a bit of a bizarre album. U2 planned to record a new EP before launching the European leg of their ambitious Zoo TV tour in 1993, but the EP quickly turned into the full-length album Zooropa. You can feel the influence of Achtung Baby hanging heavily over this album, but this is no bad thing. Zooropa delves into U2's new found fascination for electronica and experimental dance. There are a number of brilliant moments, such as the quiet menance and angry undertone of Daddy's gonna pay for your crashed car and the space age German disco Lemon. I love Numb - the video of the dripping water on the Edge is ...  Read the complete review