U2 - Songs Of Innocence

Exclusive white 180-gram double LP, gatefold jacket

Featuring production from Danger Mouse, Paul Epworth, Flood and Ryan Tedder

"U2's first studio album in five years is a triumph of dynamic, focused renaissance." — Rolling Stone

U2's 13th album casts its glance back to the band's formative influences and early memories. "It was a war zone in my teens," sings Bono of Cedarwood Road, his childhood address, over a swaggering riff.

Songs of Innocence is being billed as U2's most personal album ever, stuffed with confessional biography rather than flag-waving, or attempts to toy with the stadium form, as U2 did in their Zooropa years, writes The Observer.

"Songs of Innocence - a William Blake reference — accurately describes these rearward glances, insofar as they hark back to a time when U2 were young. The album kicks off with 'The Miracle (of Joey Ramone),' in which Bono finds his own voice in Joey's tuneful sneer, the 'storm in me' reflected in punk's urgency. But the tune still sounds like U2, albeit with the odd chewy riff. Can you imagine U2 trying to sound punk now? Neither can they.

"There are songs even closer to home. 'Iris (Hold Me Close)' is about Bono's mother, who died when he was 14. It would be safe to assume 'Song for Someone' — a soppy, iPhones aloft moment — is about Ali, Bono's childhood sweetheart and wife. Most arrestingly, 'Raised By Wolves' talks of exploding bombs and disbelief, both in the religious and lay senses. Musically, there is a lot going on here: tense keyboards, percussive breaths and distant gospel choirs, making it easily the most intriguing song on the record. (Women want to write on Bono with tattoo needles, but his body's not 'a toilet wall,' he counters.) Pained Swede Lykke Li turns up to sing backing vocals on album-closer 'The Troubles,' which has the good grace to not actually be about the Troubles, per se, but about inner strife." — The Observer, September 2014.

Writes the New York Times: "The album is a blast of discoveries, hopes, losses, fears and newfound resolve in lyrics that are openly autobiographical. It’s also a blast of unapologetic arena rock and cathedral-scale production, equally gigantic and detailed, in the music that carries them."

 

Side 1

1. The Miracle (of Joey Ramone)

2. Every Breaking Wave

3. California (There Is No End To Love)

4. Song For Someone

Side 2

5. Iris (Hold Me Close)

6. Volcano

7. Raised By Wolves

8. Cedarwood Road

Side 3

9. Sleep Like A Baby Tonight

10. This Is Where You Can Reach Me Now

11. The Troubles

Side 4

12. The Crystal Ballroom 12” Mix

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