U2 returns to soulful form on 'Atomic Bomb'

November 23, 2004|Globe Staff

Frankly, it's been a while since U2 made a great album. The band rolled out a series of iconic records in the '80s, including ''The Joshua Tree," which was the final word on spiritual, conscience-driven music at the time. But in the '90s, the group tried to outpace its own fame with a baffling array of self-absorbed discs, pursuing a postmodern, dance-club hipster path that was trendy but smacked of dilettante interlopers sacrificing their soul to stay ahead of an impossibly commercial curve.

Those days seem to be over. The new U2 album, ''How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb," out today, is the band's most personal record since ''The Joshua Tree." It's not only a joy to see the group rekindle its shimmering '80s guitar-pop sound (with original producer Steve Lillywhite back for many tracks), it's encouraging to know that the music comes so strongly from the gut once again, without the latest techno-experimental production techniques.

The album comes off like the mature next step from ''The Joshua Tree," minus all those nervy, self-indulgent detours of such '90s discs as ''Zooropa" and ''Pop." Signs of U2's revival were evident on its last studio album, ''All That You Can't Leave Behind" (2000), which included the hit single ''Beautiful Day." But ''Atomic Bomb" is an even better disc. Guitarist the Edge plays a more dominant role -- he appears more comfortable reviving his bright guitar swirls -- and there's a renewed soulfulness from singer Bono, whose best songs involve his reactions to the death of his father, Bob Hewson, in 2001.

The most profound track on this ennobling album is ''Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own," which the band performed at the funeral. The tune, in which Bono hits a glorious falsetto, is sweetly reminiscent of U2's ballad ''One" and represents his catharsis: ''You're the reason I sing, you're the reason why the opera is in me."

And he adds these son-to-father words: ''Listen to me now, I need to let you know, you don't have to go it alone."

''One Step Closer" also addresses that relationship. Enhanced by guitar and pedal-steel atmospherics, Bono sings about what lies in store at the end with the kind of openheartedness that we once took for granted from him. The idea for the lyrics came from Noel Gallagher of Oasis, who is given a special thanks on the sleeve.

On ''All Because of You," which could be about a parent or lover or some kind of higher power, Larry Mullen Jr. sets an invigorating drum pattern, and Bono does the rest: ''I'm alive, I'm being born," he belts as only he can, edging close to pretension but never going over the line.