‘Songs of Surrender’ - U2

5 MINUTE READ - ALBUM REVIEW

“Long in the planning”, “vanity project”, “fresh take on old material”, “self-indulgent”? A band securing their legacy… Or tarnishing it? It’s not easy to pin down what U2’s latest offering Songs of Surrender is.

That’s partly because this is the musical equivalent of a food festival: all the food trucks have pulled up, serving all the old favourites you gorged on growing up… But there’s just too much for one sitting. 40 new ‘old’ songs, all lovingly repackaged.

This generates a surfeit of emotions: for U2 fans it’s dollop upon dollop of nostalgia. For sure, non-fans may find something to like - those put off by the foursome’s naive 80s bombast may appreciate the paired-back approach, the intimacy of the new arrangements could certainly make new friends (this is a band that has always wanted to make new friends). But make no mistake, this is for the U2 faithful first and foremost. Starved of quality material in recent years, you get the sense that the band have thought long and hard on how to bring a fresh and coherent feel to this cache of old material.  

Bono is central to this exercise. The grey dog, the grizzled rocker, white of whisker and lean of chop, perhaps a little ashamed of his former youthful euphorias, but now man enough to take them a little less seriously. A man who has made a career out of public introspection. Looking back on a full life, the creative and personal choices, the highs and lows… and trying to understand why he became the man he is. It’s no secret that this collection coincides with the release of Bono’s autobiography, a fascinating trawl through the frontman’s origin years and a remarkably clear-eyed analysis of the apotheosis of his and his band’s success. The 62 year old Bono has been busy, but he sounds remarkably youthful on these re-recordings. Sure, the reflective approach suits his vocal range, and apart from the odd wobbly yodel, the mood is one of restraint.

And while this is undoubtedly Bono’s show, The Edge continues to be the most faithful sidekick in the business, putting his own considerable musical talents to the service of his master’s voice. Much of this collection’s arrangement can undoubtedly be credited to him: acoustic, clean guitar sounds have replaced the shimmering 80s shades. Synths pipe and blare. A supporting cast of orchestral instruments lends depth and colour.

And be in no doubt, such a wholesale re-appraisal of old material involves a huge amount of risk. Many will have advised U2 not to “mess with the back catalogue”. The whole thing could easily have entered career suicide territory had it not been handled as deftly. Edge is at the core of this high wire act: a fresh take, one that lives on its own, but nonetheless respectful of the source material. And he does quite a bit of singing too.

So how good are the songs? There’s plenty to admire here. Some of the lesser-known works sparkle: ‘The Miracle’ is a romp, ‘Every Breaking Wave’ and ‘Stories for Boys’ both poignantly elevated by the use of piano. ‘11 O’Clock Tick Tock’ replaces its original’s youthful naivety by a knowing nostalgia: almost entirely changing its meaning. Old favourite ‘Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses’ has already had this kind of treatment (the Temple Bar version can be seen as a precursor to this collection), but this new version seems as fresh as the original. At times it feels like the band have finally understood the significance of what they had written. The prime example being ‘Walk On (Ukraine)’, a break-up ballad now re-written as an anti-war protest song. Likewise ‘Stuck In A Moment…’ is delivered with a little more wistfulness and vulnerability, while the original was a very standard U2 belter. In a sense this a band now free from the shackles of expectation. Bono seems at times unleashed, and the experimental nature of the approach has produced some rich dividends. ‘Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own’ is now fully-formed and emotionally-fulfilled in a way that it’s appearance on 2004’s How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb could only dream of.

But, there are some missteps. Like trying to jam a stadium anthem peg into a stripped acoustic hole, a song like ‘Bad’ doesn’t benefit from this approach. The change in the lyrics seems to jar, at least to these ears. And this shows the danger of straying too far from what worked perfectly before. And the opposite is true: tracks like ‘Electrical Storm’ are just too similar to the original, hokey key-change apart. ‘All I Want Is You’’s muzak intro doesn’t do justice to its subject matter. ‘With Or Without You’ just got the god-botherer treatment.

But there are definitely more highs than lows here. There’s so much to like about ‘The Fly’, originally a semi-deranged stadium rock alter ego, now matured into louche lounge singer on a tour of the northern counties, singing about the hard lessons of his glory years. ‘Two Hearts Beat As One’ has become a camp Pet Shop Boy number, and I love it. The much-maligned (at the time of its release) ‘Vertigo’ loses the “uno, dos, tres, catorce” nonsense, and becomes a proper banger, benefiting hugely from the Redi Hasa-influenced cello accompaniment. The oft-overlooked genius of ‘Red Hill Mining Town’ towers here, Larry’s military beat really driving the song.

So, a band aging comfortably, creatively recycling past glories. This isn’t U2 simply and lazily banging out the greatest hits. This is a band suggesting we (their fans) “don’t know the half of it”, but allowing us a glimpse of the whole. It’s not the “open-heart surgery” of previous U2 iterations. But for anyone “looking for explanations”, these artists are honest enough to say “we don’t understand” it all. As the “days, days, days run away like horses over the hill” these old boys are looking back, with Pride.

U2 Songs of Surrender - 4/5 stars.