Vorsprung durch Technik (Zooropa - U2)

Member Name: markhobbs

Product:	Zooropa - U2
Date:	19/08/01 (52 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Very relaxing

Disadvantages: If you thought Achtung Baby was a step in the wrong direction you can forget about it.

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 with some effects in the background. Then the reverberated guitar and finally drum and bass kick in. Very un-U2, but very good. It’s written like an advert, with lines like

Zooropa…better by design
Zooropa…fly the friendly skies
Through the appliance of science
We’ve got that ring of confidence

Babyface sees Bono singing about the foxy ladies he sees on his T.V. screens, and how he… let me think… enjoys them. It has some really funny lines, the best being

Coming home late at night
To turn you on
Checking out every frame
I’ve got slow motion on my side

Hilarious. It’s really laid back (well, it would have to be…), the drums and a chime providing the base of the song. If you don’t like the album you won’t like it, but if you do this a very strong and enjoyable song.

You’ll have to check you’ve gotten the right CD after this track. Edge takes the lead vocals part, and tells us
, almost spoken word, what not to do. The band just thought of loads of stuff that you could put Don’t in front of, so you’re left with Don’t spie, lie, try etc. Bono and Larry provide the backing vocals, mostly singing, in very high voices, I feel numb. They do get to sing a very U2-ish line though, Too much is not enough. Overall, an interesting, if a bit novelty, song.

Lemon is the highlight of the album. Bono’s wonderful falsetto mixes wonderfully with Eno’s synthesizers. Again some brilliant background vocals, this time courtesy of The Edge and Eno. Has to heard to be believed. Also, this the song that led to the erecting of a forty foot fruit. Hooray!

Stay (Farawy, So Close!) is an absolute masterpiece of a song. It gives the image of some horrible city landscape and the equally horrible and sad stories within. The anthem of the album, great to sing along to and nice and simple. A break from the electronic tendencies of the album.

Daddy’s Gonna Pay For Your Crashed Car starts with a fanfare that was apparently taken from the album ‘Lenin’s Favourite Songs’. Then it kicks in to a beat fest, the drums and guitar giving it an unmistakable sound. It’s about a kid who’s doing drugs being constantly kept out of trouble by her father. Not one of the best songs, but a strong one nonetheless.

Some Days Are Better Than Others is a journey through the ups and downs of life. It has a great bassline but a nearly, but not quite, annoying chorus. See closing sentence of last paragraph.

Another beautiful song in the form of The First Time. It’s very soothing, some gentle piano by Eno perfectly complimenting Bono’s voice. Sees Bono feeling love for the first time, and feeling that there’s people who care for him.

Dirty Day is another song that starts off slowly, mainly bass lead, before climaxing in a guitar and chant led finish.
It seems like a father who walked out on his son trying to explain what happened, and how he feels. Brilliant.

The Wanderer is the weakest song on the album. It’s not that it’s bad, it just doesn’t quite work. Johnny Cash and some big beats, I don’t think so. Still listenable though.

If I was going by individual songs, Zooropa would only get four stars, but as an album it’s just amazing. Everything just works so well together, even the weaker songs sound so much better as a set of something. A testament to what rock bands can do when they experiment.

Hooray for me! I'm going to see them play in Slane next Saturday.

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