Friday, November 19, 2004

U2 - Zooropa - Countdown Day VIII


"Don't Piss in the Drain"
For the first time in their careers, U2 put together back-to-back masterpieces with the release of Zooropa. Many people, even U2 faithful, dislike this album and to you I say, "pthtphtphtphtp!!!" This album had just one or two commercial hits with Numb (thanks to the video) and Stay, it's the bulk of the album that makes this album wonderful.

This album is a stylistic mess, there's no doubt about it, and their follow-up will follow suit. I guess I enjoyed this album inspite of the misdirection and Pop I don't like as much because I began to grow tired of the misdirection and began to yearn for the 80's again.

If the pending Atomic Bomb is said to be "The Edge's Album" then there is no denying that Zooropa belongs to Adam Clayton. The Bass takes over the album and is one unifying element of songs like Babyface, Daddy's gunna pay, Stay, Zooropa, Dirty Day and Lemon.

The boys seem to be channelling their inner Beck on this album more than once, which is probably why I love it so much. In fact, songs such as Babyface, Daddy's Gunna Pay... and especially the brilliant Some Days are Better Than Others could all easily be dropped onto Odelay or Mixed Bizness and noone would be the wiser.

The band doesn't fail to remind us why we love them with slow ballads such as The First Time and Dirty Day. The former sounds like a leftover from the Joshua Tree/Rattle & Hum days and while out of place and tossed in towards the end of this album, it is a beautiful song and one of my favorites.

Then they go and get Johnny Cash to close out the album on the fantastic collaboration "The Wanderer". While it serves now mostly as a novelty item, it's a pretty cool tune in and of itself.

Top songs to hold onto:
1. Some Days are Better Than Others
2. Stay (Faraway, So Close!)
3. The First Time
4. Babyface
5. Daddy's Gunna Pay for Your Crashed Car
6. The Wanderer
7. Numb
8. Dirty Day

Jerm's Take
Mark's Take

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