U2 All That You Can ' t Leave Behind Deluxe Vinyl Box Set
( Island / Interscope / UMe )
During the year 2000 , U2 was a band on a mission . After the perceived disappointment of 1997 ’ s experimental and techno-friendly Pop ( an album that went “ merely ” platinum in the United States ), the Irish quartet were determined to reclaim their signature sound – and with it , retake the title as the world ’ s biggest rock band . The band reassembled the dream team that attained colossal heights with The Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby , reuniting with producers Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno . The band ’ s tenth studio album produced enduring radio and concert staples “ Beautiful Day ” and “ Elevation ,” as well as MTV favorite “ Stuck in a Moment You Can ’ t Get Out Of .” The emotive “ Walk On ” became an anthem of perseverance and solidarity as the band ’ s world tour continued following the 9-11 terror attacks . This Super Deluxe vinyl set celebrates the album with a lavish package of eleven 180-gram vinyl platters , a large double-sided poster , and a hardbound book containing Anton Corbijn ’ s evocative photography . The photo book is cast as a travelogue with notes by Corbijn , leading the band from Dublin to the South of France . Lighthearted seaside moments in St . Tropez and stops in Nice are included alongside images from the two-hour layover at Paris ’ Charles DeGaulle airport that produced the main album artwork . All contents are housed in a heavy prestige-format slipcase . Home , or the search for it , is a recurring theme of the album . “ Hard to know what it is if you ’ ve never had one ,” sings Bono during “ Walk On .” The band ’ s spiritual yearning reaches its apex during the song . “ You ’ re packing a suitcase for a place none of us has ever been ,” Bono sings . “ A place that has to be believed to be seen .” U2 nods to the Gospel-pop of acts like The Staple Singers with “ Stuck in a Moment You Can ’ t Get Out Of .” While guitarist The Edge refashions licks from Motown classics , Bono ’ s emotionally raw lyric is sung as an imagined tough-love confrontation with late friend and INXS frontman Michael Hutchence . The optimistic anthem “ Beautiful Day ” describes nearly losing everything but being thankful for what ’ s left . The Edge ’ s sonic experimentation crafts guitar heroism from even the simplest parts , as heard in the impossibly catchy two-note riff of “ Elevation .” The band toughened up the original album ’ s radio-friendly arrangement with a thrashing solo break when the song was included on the Tomb Raider soundtrack , and this collection allows fans to have their cake and eat it , too . The updated arrangement is featured during the included U2 Elevation : Live from Boston set . With a loping guitar riff , Adam Clayton ’ s bedrock bass , and Bono ’ s soulful melody , deep cut “ In a Little While ” could have been a classic Temptations crooner featuring David Ruffin ’ s rough-hewn voice . The shimmering acoustic strummer “ Wild Honey ” is blissful folk-pop reminiscent of the Beatles ’ “ Two of Us ,” and unique among the U2 catalog . Bono adopts Lou Reed ’ s vocal cadence during the first verse of “ New York ,” celebrating an inspirational city abroad , the likeliest place to lose it all , and the US power center . “ Irishmen been coming here for years ,” he sings , in addition to naming all manner of other immigrants . It ’ s an urbane , 21st-century update to Frank Sinatra ’ s immortal tribute “( Theme From ) New York , New York ,” unfolding at the frenetic pace of life in The City . “ Grace ” drifts woozily with the type of moon-stoned mood that Eno and Lanois crafted in 1983 for Apollo : Atmospheres and Soundtracks ’ “ Deep Blue Day .” The song originally played as a lullaby to close the album . Now , however , the main album is freshly remastered ( following a 2017 standalone reissue ) and is augmented by the swooning but unsettled “ The Ground Beneath Her Feet ” with lyrics by Salman Rushdie . The song was originally recorded for All That You Can ’ t Leave Behind but was instead placed onto the soundtrack for singer Bono ’ s film project The Million Dollar Hotel . There ’ s no mistaking it ; the song is at home on ATYCLB . Arguments can be made that it should have originally slotted into the space of “ When I Look at the World .” With its darker soundscape , however , “ The Ground Beneath Her Feet ” would have made a better fit if it had preceded “ Grace ,” allowing the album ’ s perfect conclusion to remain in place . Splitting All That You Can ’ t Leave Behind onto two LP platters for this set allows the album to be remastered with enhanced gain and clarity compared to the 2017 single-disc reissue . Details of Adam Clayton ’ s growling bass during “ Walk On ” become more audible at moderate volumes , rather than simply being felt in the low end . Spread across three platters , the vinyl port of the U2 Elevation Live concert DVD ’ s audio is bristling and vibrant . Recorded in Boston on June 6 , 2001 , The Edge roars out of the gate with “ Elevation .” Adam Clayton ’ s deep bass locks into Larry Mullen Jr .’ s martial drum beat during War ’ s “ Sunday Bloody Sunday .” “ Judas , this is Jesus ,” says Bono by way of introducing the Boston audience to a slashing version of Achtung Baby deep cut “ Until the End of the World .” The singer announces that he has only just recovered his voice after a rough gig in Albany a few nights earlier , and that he ’ s thankful to his generous audience and supportive band- mates for lifting him up . Bono dedicates “ In a Little While ” to Joey Ramone , marveling that it was the last song his hero heard before he passed away . Bono and The Edge offer an understated and expressive duet of Zooropa ’ s “ Stay ( Faraway , So Close !”) during a mid-show acoustic set . The Unforgettable Fire track “ Bad ” is a mesmerizing and communal experience , as the Boston crowd sings along and adds a coda of “ 40 ” before the band transitions into “ Where the Streets Have No Name .” The
band howls through a spine-tingling encore of The Joshua Tree ’ s “ Bullet the Blue Sky ” and a razor-sharp version of Achtung Baby ’ s Eurocentric “ The Fly .” The show concludes with a haunting “ Wake Up Dead Man ” ( describing the “ f---ed up world ”) and the encouraging “ Walk On .” Like “ Walk On ,” “ Wake Up Dead Man ” also took on new meaning at shows following the 9-11 attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center . An album called B-sides , Outtakes and Alternatives puts the main album in further context . “ Always ” is a song in search of inspiration that ultimately evolved into the cathartic “ Beautiful Day .” The moody electro-pop combined with Lanois ’ textural pedal steel during “ Stateless ” represent another sonic highlight from ** The Million Dollar Hotel . The set also includes a winsome acoustic version of “ Stuck In A Moment You Can ' t Get Out Of .” Bono ’ s gliding melody makes “ Levitate ” a compelling extra , especially when the song ’ s synthetic pulse gives way to Mullen ’ s feral drumming . The low funk of “ Big Girls are Best ” connects to the ** Pop sound as well as the taut X-era dance-pop of INXS . Edge has described the psych-pop of “ Love You Like Mad ” as a song that got lost in the crush and the swinging acoustic “ Flower Child ” as one that was abandoned before being properly finished .
Five additional 12 ” platters pull the ATYCLB songs apart and reassemble them in remixes by artists including Paul Van Dyk and Wyclef Jean . All in , this Super Deluxe box set offers an immersive experience with another high-water mark by U2 and a peak that the band has continued to chase in the 20 years since its release .
– Jeff Elbel
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LOVE COMA Love Coma
( Self )
Love Coma hadn ’ t released an album since 1996 ’ s The Language of Fools , but the San Antonio-based alternative rockers ’ spark bursts into full flame from the opening notes of this bona fide rebirth . The band may have parted ways two dozen years ago during the roaring ' 90s , but the players remained sharp by filling the years with steady gigging and creativity . Hyper-prolific frontman and principal songwriter Chris Taylor alone has released around 20 solo
albums since those days , including last year ’ s Lovers , Thieves , Fools + Pretenders . Reconnecting with the old crew merely required choosing the right songs to rekindle the collective intuition and leaving room for his bandmates to flex . “ Into Me You See ” charges forward with confidence and primal rock and roll swagger , even as Taylor ’ s vulnerable vocal turns wondering phrases around the concept of intimacy and questions things that were taken for granted in Love Coma ’ youthful days . “ I say goodbye to the father , say goodbye to the son ,” he sings . “ But the Holy Ghost , she keeps me hanging on .” “ Two of a Million ” begins with a head-fake and sonic nod to the Steve Miller Band ’ s “ Fly Like an Eagle ” before leaping into headlong flight with a hard-charging rock groove with echoes of the Waterboys ’ “ big music ” and vintage Love Coma favorite “ What ’ s Behind Those Eyes .” J . J . Plasencio unleashes deft funk bass as Mitchell Connell plays a taut lead steeped in Texas blues . The band most closely reveals ' 90s roots during “ Falling Over You ,” with two-ton drumming by Chris Dodds that underpins Chris Mattingly ’ s muscular guitars and a vocal
that traces threads to the heyday of erstwhile contemporaries like Live , Jane ’ s Addiction , and Soundgarden , and a whiff of Pearl Jam ’ s “ Even Flow .” Plasencio ’ s oneman cello orchestra weaves an exotic blanket of Middle Eastern textures as the song fades . Taylor ’ s voice is steeped in the classic sound and urban poetry of Patti Smith during “ What Love Looks Like .” Taylor sings “ love is a gift you can open again and again ” like a mantra of devotion . Plasencio plays a slippery fretless part that locks deep into the pocket of Dodds ’ drums . The song promises a wounded soul that troubles needn ’ t be faced alone , while reaching toward a Beatlesque orchestral crescendo a la “ All You Need is Love .” Zeenie Summers of the band ’ s own icons the Waterboys adds a choir of female vocals to the song ’ s coda . The guitars of founding Love Coma guitarist and Sixpence None the Richer mastermind Matt Slocum slash , chime , and grind bones to powder during the urgent “ How Long ,” sparking Dodds ’ relentless forward momentum . The resulting sound fuses U2 ’ s “ Until the End of the World ” with
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24 illinoisentertainer . com december 2020