Pop

I recently took a trip to visit some friends, and had a significant car ride ahead of me. Not yet having an iPod, I took my old slipcase full of CDs, holding most of the CDs I've ever owned. During the trip, I listened to a few albums I've not heard in their entirety in some time, including the absolutely fantastic Pop, by U2. It's generally regarded as a failure by a number of critics: too "experimental" and "techno" and not consistent with the rest of their work. It was made even clearer when All That you Can't Leave Behind came out 4 years later - it was called a breath of fresh air after Pop. I don't think I could disagree more. Sure, ATYCLB was excellent, but Pop is wonderful in it's own ways. "Discoteque" is rawkin' yet dance-able, "Do You Feel Loved?", "Last Night On Earth", and "Please" are wonderfully 90s sounding U2 rock songs - and being U2 songs, there's a depth to them that is totally lacking with most other artists. "If God Will Send His Angels", "Staring At The Sun", and "Wake Up, Dead Man" are spiritual quests packed into 4 minute anthems. "Miami" is a bouncy little techno ramble, over which Bono recounts their various adventures attempting to record an album in that town. "If You Wear That Velvet Dress" is sssssssssssssmmmmoooooooooooooooooooth, as smooth as Bono gets. And then there's "The Playboy Mansion", which is the funniest song about eschatology ever written. Bono, Larry, Adam, and The Edge may do things differently from time to time, but they never do anything less than excellently.

By the way, if you're looking for "my other blog", you've found it - first one to comment with something witty enough to make me laugh gets a prize.