Soundtrack offers a preview of upcoming U2 album
By TIMOTHY COLLINS
Scene Music Critic
U2, the biggest rock band of the late '80s and early '90s, is back with their first new release of the new millennium. But it does not come by way of a new album; it comes instead from the soundtrack to the film The Million Dollar Hotel. The movie, written by lead singer Bono and starring Mel Gibson, has received critical acclaim in Europe but has yet to pick up an American distributor. Its soundtrack, however, is quite a different story; it has been hyped because of the two new U2 songs that are the band's first new material since 1997's Pop.
The album opens with "The Ground Beneath Her Feet," with lyrics written by Salmon Rushdie. The song starts at a slow pace, carried by drummer Larry Mullen Jr. and bassist Adam Clayton, before exploding about halfway through into one of The Edge's best guitar solos. Bono relates the great lyrics with such emotion that when he sings, "Let me love you, let me rescue you. Let me bring you where two roads meet. Oh come back above where there is only love," the listener can feel his pain with every line.
The only other new contribution from the band comes in "Stateless," a song that is somewhat reminiscent of Radiohead. Bono's lyrics sound more like poetry than anything he has ever written, and Clayton's throbbing bass once again carries the song. It takes a few listens before it sticks in the listener's head and it is definitely not as catchy as a lot of the band's music, but it shows a new side of the band.
The other song that stands out on the album is the U2 song "The First Time," which is taken from the band's Grammy Award-winning 1993 album, Zooropa. The song steals the show on the soundtrack. Bono's lyrics, about the first time he feels love between a man and his lover, brother and father, is as good as anything the band has ever written. The album that it comes from may be the best of the band's career as well, and this song sounds as fresh as it did seven years ago.
The rest of the soundtrack consists of a few songs that Bono wrote and performed without U2. The best of which is "Never Let Me Go," in which he collaborates with Daniel Lanois, the band's long-time producer. The rest of the album is made up of instrumentals and covers; the most interesting of which is the Spanish version of the Sex Pistols' classic "Anarchy in the U.K." It definitely offers a different take on the song.
This soundtrack is a must-have for any U2 fan. The band's new songs are as good as anything the band has written in the last five years. The rest of the songs on the album are good, but it wouldn't be worthy of buying if it weren't for the two new U2 songs. Those new songs give a great glimpse into what to expect from the band's new album due out this fall.
All Scene Stories for Tuesday, March 28, 2000
