Pop
No matter which way you look at it, Pop doesn't have the same shock of the new that Achtung Baby delivered on its first listen. Less experimental and more song-oriented than Zooropa, Pop attempts to sell the glitzy, electronic rush of techno to an audience weaned on arena-rock. And that audience includes U2 themselves. While they never sound like they don't believe in what they're doing, they still remove most of the radical elements of electronic dance, which is evident to anyone with just a passing knowledge of the Chemical Brothers and Underworld. To a new listener, however, Pop has flashes of surprise -- particularly on the rampaging "Mofo" -- but underneath the surface, U2 relies on anthemic rockers and ballads. "Discotheque" might be a little clumsy, but "Staring at the Sun" shimmers with synthesizers borrowed from Massive Attack and a chorus Noel Gallagher will think he has written. Similarly, "Do You Feel Loved" and "If You Wear That Velvet Dress" fuse old-fashioned U2 dynamicism with a keen sense of the cool eroticism that makes trip-hop so alluring. Problems arise when the group tries to go for the conventional rock song, not only in "Last Night on Earth," but also on "Miami" which rides a menacing groove that becomes deflated once the guitars come crashing down. "Miami" also is symptomatic of the return of U2's crusade for salvation. Pop is inflicted with the desire for a higher power to come save the world for its jaded spiral of decay and immorality, which is why the group's embrace of dance music never seems joyous -- instead of providing an intoxicating rush gloss and glamour, it functions as a backdrop for a plea of salvation. Achtung Baby also was a comment on the numbing isolation of modern culture, but it made sweeping statements through personal observations; Pop makes sweeping statements through sweeping observations. The difference is what makes Pop an easy record to admire, but a hard one to love.
1. Discothèque
(Bono/Edge/U Two)
2. Do You Feel Loved (Bono/Edge/U Two)
3. Mofo
4. If God Will Send His Angels (Bono/Edge/U Two)
5. Staring at the Sun (Bono/Edge/U Two)
6. Last Night on Earth (Bono/Edge/U Two)
7. Gone (Bono/Edge/U Two)
8. Miami (Bono/Edge/U Two)
9. Playboy Mansion (Bono/Edge/U Two)
10. If You Wear That Velvet Dress (Bono/Edge/U Two)
11. Please (Bono/Edge/U Two)
12. Wake up Dead Man (Bono/Edge/U Two)
