The conventional,
major-label A&R wisdom on
electronica boils down to this:
"If only we could
find a rock band that plays dance
music and can write real
songs." U2 did just that on
"Pop" -- and nobody
cared. Maybe they overhyped the
techno angle; "Pop" is
far more economical in its
art-pop disturbance than
"Achtung Baby" and less
flamboyant in its ache than
"The Joshua Tree."
There are loops
aplenty, but Pop is about hearts
beating, not just pulse beats,
and
the best mix of sob and throb is
in the ballads, a U2 specialty:
the
grim burbling of
"Gone," Bono's arcing
anguish in "Please."
Taken on its own -- away from the
chart numbers and the big shtick
of
PopMart -- "Pop" is
simply an album of great pop. For
some reason, for a lot of folks,
that's just not enough.
Then there's the Bowie Problem.
With the metal-machine-music
overload of 1995's
"Outside" and
"Earthling"'s
lip-service approach
to drum-and-bass, Bowie has been
making too big a deal of
staying even with the pop fashion
curve. The result: He ends up
selling his new material short.
The way Bowie lit into
"Earthling"
numbers like "Looking for
Satellites" and "Seven
Years in Tibet" on his
recent, career-overview club tour
proved that he's much better
off when he stops worrying about
eclipsing his past and spends
more time enjoying it -- like we
do. (RS
776/777) Copyright ©
1968-1999 Rolling Stone Network.
All Rights Reserved.
u
If one's to believe
all the ink about electronic
music as the next big thing, then
dance music is the new rock and
roll. Pop embellishes U2's
musical aesthetic with samples,
percussive loops, distortions and
compressions -- yet those
elements never overwhelm the
band's own personality. Think
about it: this band has always
played with a similar
hip-shakin', bottom-heavy
execution through Larry Mullen
Jr.'s incessant drumming, Adam
Clayton's rib-jangling basslines,
and the Edge's minimal
axe-picking.
And it works like gangbusters,
and places Bono on fertile ground
to explore his favorite
quandaries: the loss of faith in
a world without God ("If God
Will Send His Angels,''
"Wake Up Dead Man''),
disillusionment with a world of
surfaces ("Last Night on
Earth,'' "Gone''), and love
in a time when "you take
what you can get, 'cause it's all
that you can find.''
Pop isn't exactly U2-goes-techno,
but it's a rock record that would
sound great on a dance floor. In
a pop landscape which continually
fragments itself, I guess that's
enough to count as significant.
© 1999
MTV Networks. All Rights
Reserved.
u
Nomination:
Best Rock Album
Pop. A genre as light as air and
as immobile as a brick wall.
This seductive carrot has led
many a donkey down the slippery,
winding path to fame and fortune.
U2 should be familiar with this;
their twenty-year career covers
the gamut from post-punk to
alternative to pop.
And like most pop music, it's
nothing but ear candy. While Pop
receives a nomination for Best
Rock Album, the overall effect is
insignificant in the grand scheme
of things. Whereas their past
albums may rest on the laurels of
song-writing, performances, and
originality, this latest effort
by U2 is as insubstantial as any
other
piece of fluff out there.
When U2 first gained popularity
after the release of Under A
Blood
Red Sky, the band had been
together for over five years an
had four albums under their belt.
In 1983, Rolling Stone's writers'
poll named them 1983's Band of
the Year. Their next release, The
Unforgettable Fire, yielded
"Pride (In the Name of
Love)", their
biggest hit yet and propelled the
band to fame and fortune with
tours in Europe and America. They
were a rock band that finally hit
pop status.
What lay ahead were its rewards.
In 1985 they performed at Live
Aid, and the next summer saw them
headlining the American Amnesty
International's Conspiracy of
Hope Tour. In 1987, they landed a
cover on Time; a #1 album (The
Joshua Tree), and a #1 single
("I Still Haven't Found What
I'm Looking For"). Even
Frank Sinatra invited them
backstage after one of his shows
in Las Vegas.
While the band won several
Grammies over the years and
continued touring, the music's
direction changed. 1991's Achtung
Baby had familiar qualities: an
expansive sound and sophisticated
musicianship layered with Bono's
seductive (if self-involved)
vocals. This latest collaboration
with Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois
became a renaissance for the band
and marked a distinct
aesthetic shift. The next album,
Zooropa's, highly electronic
sound
predated much of the ambient and
techno-derived sounds found
on the dance and pop charts
today. Finally, their low-key
concept album, Original
Soundtracks: Volume 1, remains
the band's most avant-garde and
daring work; so unlike U2's
previous work, it was
released under the pseudonym
"The Passengers".
During this period, U2's image
was everywhere. Their concerts
appeared on television and in
film around the globe. While
Bono's
public position seemed
anti-material (and anti-pop), he
always made sure his best side
was shown. U2 had an image as a
great (and even daring) rock
band, but their efforts on the
soundtracks of Goldeneye, Batman
Forever, and Mission: Impossible
lacked luster.
Unfortunately, Pop continues this
uninspired trajectory. While the
album contains some great
performances (like the Edge's
razor sharp guitars), it lacks
cohesion. The album has no
connection or underlying theme;
almost all the songs are as
passé and mediocre as the
commodities they satirize. U2
tries to point to the great
Popmart as the Tower of Babel,
but the results are ultimately
disastrous.
"Discotheque's"
relentless beat was better beaten
by earlier
industrial and dance pioneers.
"Last Night On Earth"
is certainly
grand in its scope but musically
flat and dull. Some songs have
the familiar sounds, but Bono's
voice lacks any poignancy. What
was previously a collaboration
amongst four members has now
become a disposable piece of
plastic, lacking any immediacy.
Even "Miami" is, well,
pastel.
There are two tracks, however,
that rise above the rest of the
album. "Mofo" has a
highly computerized soundscape -
an industrial version of early
British psychedelic rock. And
"If You Wear That Velvet
Dress" is simply ethereal
and transcendent by nature - the
closest the band has come to
their work as The Passengers.
Certainly not their most
ambitious effort, Pop is U2's
statement
against the suburbanization of
culture and ourselves. But what
the album lacks is the
perspective to teach us that
lesson. The band is so
self-conscious of their
"message" and the
"medium" that the
overall effect is nil. The album
takes up room on a shelf like any
other impulsive purchase,
gathering dust until the next big
pop band happens along.
-Mitch Adair
© 1999 MTV Networks. All Rights
Reserved.
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