Album of the Week #26 - Zooropa

“I don’t know you and you don’t know the half of it” - Dirty Day

Rock ‘n’ roll is the opposite of safe. It should be experimental and forward pushing, and a little dangerous. It was true when Elvis Presley ruled the charts, and it’s true today. I love bands who continue to experiment and push the limits of popular music as well as their own. Some of rock’s greatest artists are also its greatest innovators. The Beatles, Hendrix, and Brian Wilson all come to mind. U2 is also on that list. 

U2 is a fascinating band, especially when their transatlanticism is concerned. Throughout their careers, U2 have oscillated between Europe and America, creating an especially varied catalogue. Achtung Baby, their 1991 release, is definitely the best synthesis of the two, deftly spanning the sea between their 1987 masterwork The Joshua Tree with this week’s album, 1993’s Zooropa. 

Zooropa

This may be the last album that would be expected of a band that delivered such a heartfelt love letter to American roots-rock a mere six years prior. Even more jarring is that it was released during the height of both American grunge and Britpop, both of which also looked to earlier, less technologically complex forms of rock contrasting the over-produced albums of the 1980s. 

Rather than echo the melodic pop or wailing guitar solos of their contemporaries, U2 decided to make a record that captured the ‘new Europe’ of a reunited Germany and a fallen USSR. Achtung Baby was perched on the verge of the post-Cold War environment, but after three legs of the Zoo TV Tour, U2 felt the need to capture the historical moment as well as the media overload satire from the tour with new studio material. Originally conceived as an EP (a format that had always been more successful in Europe than America), to be recorded on break between tour legs, at Bono’s urging it was expanded into full LP-length. 

The result is something very European, and very Brian Eno driven. 

The title track opens the album, and fittingly the first part is based on a warmup jam the band was using at the time. It then fades into “Zooropa” proper, which outlays a vision of a future Europe by way of William Gibson’s cyberpunk, as Bono and The Edge had been reading Gibson’s work at the time. I think it’s my favorite song on the album, perhaps simply of the central conceit of using advertising slogans like “Be All That You Can Be” and “Better By Design” intermixed with ‘traditional’ lyrics. From this perspective, it reminds me of an affirmative version of what Thom Yorke would do in the early and mid-2000s with Kid A and Hail to the Thief. 

'That's what I want it to be. Legal drugs! Why else would you buy an album these days? Have you read anything by (William) Gibson? It's sort of fucked-up sci-fi. And ('Zooropa') shows you what I mean when I say the textures on this record were very much influenced by what he writes about the future.' -Bono, August 1993.

“Babyface” follows, an untraditional love ballad depicting a man pining over the woman he loves- a model/actress whose photo he is manipulating for a magazine. It brings the idea of celebrity and privacy as part of the media machine into the album, and does a nice job being a subtle jab at ever growing celebrity journalism. 

 “Numb” was a very unconventional lead single from the band that had scored big with anthemic hits like “Streets With No Name.” It’s an industrial-flavored spoken word track, and one of the few times The Edge has done the lead vocal tracks. It’s a list of ‘don’ts’ spoken over a guitar riff and other electronic “noise,” with the intent being to try and capture the feeling of media overload, making one “numb” to all of it. I have to say after listening to it three or four times, it really grows on you. Also, the pacing of The Edge’s lyrics reminds me a lot of M.I.A.’s hit “Paper Planes.” I would totally love to mashup the two.  

The video is notable on its own:

“Lemon” features Bono singing mostly in falsetto over extremely processed guitar sounds. The song is about voyeurism as well as the transience of man’s creations. “A man builds a city/With banks and cathedrals/A man melts the sand so he can/See the world outside” is probably one of my favorite U2 lyrics ever. I also think an acoustic version of this song would be pretty awesome. 

Perhaps in a out-of-place-at-first-glance addition to the album is “Stay (Faraway, So Close!),” which was written about Frank Sinatra. It has a very electronic sound, as is typical of the album, but the lyrics are actually very soulful and heartfelt. The chord progressions backing it are actually very classic, but remixed and processed to sound electronic and foreign, fitting in with the whole Zooropa theme. 

“Daddy’s Gonna Pay For Your Crashed Car” may be my second favorite song on the album, and it begins with some interference and a very Eastern European-Soviet style horn clip. Immediately it is interrupted by industrial-flavored percussive and electronic sounds. Recounting a snapshot in the life of a young girl who has befriended a very generous older gentleman, it shows how she has nothing to worry about-- he takes care of everything-- but she feels alone. Sure, she has nice things, but she is totally dependent on him. 

“Some Days Are Better Than Others” is what I think of when I think of U2 in transition. It’s a very typical U2 vocal track. Bono’s singing and occasional backing by other band members over very electronica-style music. It makes for an interesting combination, especially as the latter crescendos halfway through the song. 

After listening for this review, “The First Time” is now one of my favorite U2 songs. It features some of Bono’s best use of Christian/Biblical imagery. It’s an excellent ballad, and sounds like nothing else on the album. Here’s a link to the lyrics, because I don’t know what else I can say about this song. 

“Dirty Day” takes a lot of its lyrics from things Bono’s dad would say, and they sound like what we in America think of as nuggets of Irish wisdom. “You can’t even remember/what I’m trying to forget” and “The days run away like horses over hills.” Perhaps the most powerful lyrics in the song, especially since the passing of Bono’s father in 2001:

Wake up
Somethings you can’t get around
I’m in you
More so when they put me in the ground

 Closing the album is a true meeting of digital and analog. Johnny Cash sings lead vocals in a song titled “The Wanderer” about a man searching for God in a post-apocalyptic world. Adam Clayton’s bass line, though distorted, is the predominant instrument here, and it serves as a distorted echo of the guitar work on Cash’s “I Walk the Line.” It’s a haunting song, and it truly shows of Cash as the master storyteller as well as being an awesome thematic coda for this idea of the future.

As a bonus, “Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me,” U2’s single from 1995’s Batman Forever. It easily could have been on this album, and would have fit thematically better than some others perhaps. It sounds like electronica-glam, and a true synthesis of that idea. It’s a fun song, playful and loud. Reminds me of neon lights. (Link to the video because embedding is disabled by Universal Music Group)

Overall, I think this is now a hidden gem in the U2 discography. In lieu of me prattling on more, here’s what bassist Adam Clayton had to say about it:

 "It occured to me... look at the history of the band and then the Zooropa album... and looking at the history of The Beatles, and everything they'd done and learned, and then suddenly...Sergeant Pepper, which redefined the whole ballgame, and produced a different language, a different sound. And I think Zooropa achieves a new language for Bono to use - a language that's more his own, that he feels more comfortable with... 

And musically, I think, we've defined, or found, a sound that we're entitled to use...It's a record deep with mystery for me.' -Adam speaking to John Waters for Race of Angels

Overall, this is now certainly a hidden gem in the U2 catalogue, especially given the direction they took with their three albums of the 00’s. Some of the ‘European/electronic’ U2 does creep in on No Line on the Horizon, but I think I’d like to see more of this side of U2 again in the future. 

Also of note (to some): all of the liner notes are in Helvetica. 

Review: No Line On the Horizon

This is probably my most anticipated album of the past two years. U2, along with Rush, are one of my favorite bands, and you can judge that on it's own merit. I'm not a U2 apologist, I don't think everything they touch turns to gold (see 1993-1997), but I do think they happen to be a band unafraid to tinker with thier sound, messing with the particulars, playing around with sounds they like while not changing the core. Think of U2 as Bono and The Edge's hot rod. Going into this album, they happen to be coming out of my second favorite of their efforts, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, which features a very Edge-prominent U2, his guitar melting metal while Bono sings some of the best lyrics of his career. So in essense, my expectations are high. Track by track thoughts after the jump. "No Line on the Horizon" - This first track echoes the expansiveness of the beginning of The Joshua Tree with a blend of the sounds they've been experimenting with lately. Like the sound, but the repeated "oh's" will have to grow on me. Still, a solid opening track. "Magnificent" - Definitely hearing a lot of electronic here, like the kind that weaves in and out of Achtung Baby. This is a good thing. Also like the "only love" repeated lyric. I like this song a lot. Not entirely sure why. Really like the outro-guitar solo on this one. "Moment of Surrender" - A track heavy on the rythym. Could go either way on this song until the chorus, where Bono's shouting vocals open up to more voices. That makes the song. Echoes "Original of the Species," off the previous album, which was one of my favorites on the second half of that album. This is definitely the spiritual U2 showing up on this track. Also I believe this is U2's longest ever album track, beating "Lemon" by about a half minute. "Unknown Caller" - Lots of long intros so far. I like the guitar lines on this track so far. Definitely a comment on modern technology. "Force quit and move to trash." Someone in U2 (Bono?) is a Mac user. The chanting vocals are an interesting chant. Lyrically the themes are from U2's failed 90's efforts, but musically, this is all new. Ohh, another Edge guitar outro. I dig that. "I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight" - This is a fun song. Interesting lyrics, and nice backing guitar by The Edge. The build up in the first part of the song really pays off nicely in the "Baby, baby,.." section. Nice track. "Get On Your Boots" - I have heard this one a dozen times already, and still amused by the grammatically correct title (No ending in a preposition Mr. Aspiring Jounalist!). The fuzzy guitar here definitely echoes HTDAAB, making this song almost feel out of place in the context of this album. "Stand Up Comedy" - Awesome bassline here. I'm beginning to think this album belongs to Adam Clayton. Really like the guitar line too, come to think of it. I think this is my favorite song on the album so far. "Fez - Being Born" - Definitely the most experimental track so far. Reminds me a lot of "Exit" from The Joshua Tree. Not a standout, but a solid, interesting track. "White as Snow" - A ballad of sorts, interesting vocal arrangement. "Breathe" - Cool song. Looks like Bono really played around with his vocal style for this album. The band is certainly as solid as ever. "Ceders of Lebanon" - Another contemplative track that really rounds out the album thematically. Overall: This is one of those albums whose depth is only revealed over repeated listens. This is not a hit-single-machine album like their last two efforts. Those were rock albums. Not entirely sure, but while this album rocks in places, it does not have the sonic oomph of the last two. The "Window In the Skies" single from 2006 really fits in with this album thematically, as love reigns supreme within this album. It doesn't blow you away sonically, but this is an album with depth to be listened to and revisited. A-