‘Songs of Innocence’ was announced last tuesday, September 9, on an Apple event where the Irish band has also acted. At the end of the event, which took place in Cupertino, California, U2 played ‘The Miracle (of Joey Ramone),’ a song that will be the first single from ‘Songs of Innocence’.
Bono and Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, revealed after the gig ended, that the new album will be free and available on iTunes .
After a first couple auditions we feel comfortable to make a quick review:
The album opens with ‘The Miracle (of Joey Ramone)’ – ‘your voice was all I heard’ – a song that seems to have been written thinking on stadiums. ‘Every Breaking Wave’, embellished on The Edge guitar effects, seems go back to the 80’s. ‘California (There Is No End to Love)’ is certainly an ovation to Beach Boys, with a vibrant performance from Bono.
The album run quickly to ‘Song for Someone’ with lyrics that are the ‘trademark’ of the singer : ‘if there is a kiss / I stole from your mouth / and there is a light / don’t let it go out’. ‘Iris (Hold Me Close)’ openly speaks of Bono’s mother , who died after suffering a cerebral aneurysm at the funeral of his own father when the lead singer was only 14 years.
The second half of the album kicks off with ‘Volcano’ , where Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen shine, in what is surely one of the highlights of the album. ‘Raised By Wolves’ is furious not only in the lyrics ‘Raised by wolves, stronger than fear’, but also on Edge’s guitar which imposes the tune. Bono recalls the name of the street where he was born with ‘Cedarwood Road’, while Edge’s low-neck riff and a solid rhythmic punch, make this the album’s heaviest song. ‘Sleep Like a Baby Tonight’ lives from a very simple synthesizer, until Edge’s buzzy guitar riff and Bono’s bleak lyrics break the house down.
In the final stretch, another punk rock icon (Joe Strummer) is honored in ‘This is Where You Can Reach Me Now’, a song that reminds us at all – intentionally – ‘London Calling’. To close the album we have ‘The Troubles’ , the usual ballad with guest vocals from Swedish singer Lykke Li, plenty of emotion and with some piercing guitar tones from The Edge.
Perhaps in further auditions we’ll be more fanactic about this new and highly anticipated album of U2. By now we promise to listen it in search of more interesting moments.
Check out below, the cover art and tracklist from U2 ‘Songs of Innocence’ album:
1. “The Miracle (of Joey Ramone)”
2. “Every Breaking Wave”
3. “California (There is No End to Love)”
4. “Song for Someone”
5. “Iris (Hold Me Close)”
6. “Volcano”
7. “Raised by Wolves”
8. “Cedarwood Road”
9. “Sleep Like a Baby Tonight”
10. “This Is Where You Can Reach Me Now”
11. “The Troubles”
