on 2011-04-04 dscanland Said:

I think you summed up All That You Can't Leave Behind for me with the phrase: "Still, though formulaic (and successful for it) this album remains a pleasant listen." I don't mind this album and still reach for it now and then but it certainly isn't their finest moment. Any other band without their past you might argue a better score.
Not Rated

Review:

on 2011-04-03 CharlesMartel Said:

Although the single from this album has a very special meaning for me, personally, I do not rate this as a particularly great album. It is better than some of the lame stuff the band put out in the mid- to late-nineties, but nowhere near a patch on their earlier stuff, before they became stadium rockers, when they were very much among leaders of the post punk genre in the early eighties.

By the time this album was released they had very much become the very definition of detached from the real world stadium rockers, and there is something of the hypocrisy evident in this status when Bono gets on his soap box and starts lecturing us. He can't but help slipping in a few preachy moments on this album too, but it is tolerable as you have to listen out for them. Like many I wish he would just shut up. However, difficult though it sometimes may be, I always try to separate the persona of Bono from the music of the band.

Still, though formulaic (and successful for it) this album remains a pleasant listen. This was an album delivered to the masses for the masses to lap up. It is what they craved and what they craved is what they got. In this respect, U2 were always among the more capable outfits at delivering. This is rock written as pop and delivered up as such.

What makes a huge difference is that U2 had emerged out their self-imposed mid-life crisis of their appalling nineties flirtations with commercial pop. Maybe it benefits by comparison but when all is said and done the album is not all that bad, and is certainly the best thing they have done since "The Joshua Tree". That album remains iconic for the band though I do not consider it to be their best by any means.

As if wishing to ditch unpleasant associations with albums from that era U2 moved from a single, three-letter title to a five word behemoth which is neither easy to remember nor to say in the right order. When all is said and done, U2 turned over a new leaf with this album. Though they had long ceased to be able to move the soul with the lyrics, the band could still churn out a damn good melody and this album has them aplenty.

That is really the key to any appreciation of the later era U2. If you can appreciate this for what it is and not try to think that there is a deeper, hidden meaning behind it, then you can enjoy this. Otherwise no. Ignore the preaching and ignore the overt sentimentality which sometimes seeps into the music and, especially, the lyrics, and just appreciate it for what it is. Occasionally excellent music on an album which is often pleasant without being particularly inspiring. If you look at the music in that fashion you are less likely to be driven to bursts of loathing and denigration which seems to follow almost all U2 releases these days.

However, I still (and always will) thank "Beautiful Day" for helping me through. It will always have a special place in my heart.
Rating: 6/10