listening Post: U2 War

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

listening Post: U2 War

Like most people, I imagine, I am very well versed in the well known songs of U2. How could I not be? During the 80s they were ubiquitous. U2 and R.E.M. (possibly the subject of a later listening post) came out at the same time, have lasted the same amount of time and had roughly the same number of hits.
The difference is that, while Stipe and Co. soldiered on after a key member left (after saying that they wouldn't ever do such a thing) U2 has been comprised of the same 4 Irish lads since 1980.
1980! If Rock and Roll began in 1955, which is the accepted norm, then u2 has been around for more than HALF of the history of Rock.
What really surprised me as I began to research this retrospective is just how young they all are. Three of the members were born in 1961 and the other is even younger. I was born in 1965 which makes Bono and the gang close to being contemporaries.
The thing is, I have never heard the entire albums. I own them, in various forms, but after the big hit songs it just all sounds the same to me, so I would turn the record, CD, mp3, off.
Who among us doesn't own "The Joshua Tree"? And who has really listened beyond the first four tracks? (U2 notoriously front loads their albums with the hit singles starting off with a bang but giving us little reason to keep listening sometimes)
So, an end shall be put to that for me. I have begun the great U2 retrospective of 2008. And here's what I think:

U2 - War - 1983 (buy it)

Okay. This is more like it. I think I get it a little more now. What makes War different from the previous U2 albums? I mean, there's still a preponderance of pomposity (and that will only just get more and more prevalent) so, what makes this different?
The first song as single is still there. Sunday Bloody Sunday is a perennial favorite to this day. Two tracks later New Year's Day explodes with condemnation enough to fill an arena.
What is it about War, then?
Two things as far as I can figure:
Bono is more mature (at 22!) and less prone to wailing through the entire song. He has found and fallen in love with melody and someone has worked with him on lyrics because they cut to the bone.
The other thing is:
The Edge is no longer treated like the guiding force of the band. Which is a little odd because it his style that really sets the band apart from others of their class. What they have learned is a little edge goes a LONG way. Pulling him out, reigning him in allows for the rhythm section to show that they are, indeed, the driving force of this group. Mullen and Clayton really show their chops here. They have been flourishing for 3 years on record but now they take more of a center stage as the band is shown to be more rhythm oriented than traditional blues rock (which will prove odd on Rattle and Hum a few years later) and that is a very good thing.
This really feels like the best place to start listening to U2. Where Boy was an amuse bouche and October was the ginger or kimchee, War is a great appetizer. The main course is yet to come.