[record] U2 "Songs of Innocence" (2014)

This is that U2 album that Apple gave away for free, annoying billions of people around the world who had not worked out how to delete things from iTunes. The extreme reaction to this whole business in some quarters did rather surprise me, as it seemed akin to throwing a massive strop because you find a CD you don't like cover mounted on a magazine.

The record itself… well I have listened to it a couple of times. It is alright, in that when it is on I do not think "Jesus Christ turn this shite off" but I would not go as far as to say it is actually good or anything like that. I certainly cannot see myself listening to it again much. I have long been a sneaking regarder of U2, for all that they are not particularly popular in the circles I move in. With this record I find it hard not to conclude that whatever spark U2 once had is now gone. Still, they had a good innings and few are the bands who have produced so much great work.

Sneaking Red Panda

U2 "The Best of 1990-2000"

My campaign to purchase U2 albums from charity shop, rip them to iPod, and then return them to charity shop continues. This is a collection of tunes from the period that started with the great critical success of Achtung Baby but then arguably saw the band largely lose their way and descend into a world of noodling and poncey music that alienated many of their fans. The tracks from Achtung Baby are the obvious stand-outs here, but I found myself very taken with 'Stay (Faraway So Close)' from Zooropa and 'Miss Sarajevo' from the album U2 released as The Passengers (because it was too far removed from the classic U2 sound). Both of these fan-alienating tunes have an appealing Eno-influenced sound that makes me contemplate spending actual money on the albums they came from.

After that we are into slide into shite territory with a lamer Batman film single and tunes from the rubbish Pop album. Fortunately the compilation is not entirely chronologically ordered, so after all the dullness it finishes with 'The Fly'.

An inuit panda production