STUCK IN A MOMENT YOU CAN’T GET OUT OF

U2

What went wrong? Is this really the same band that wigged out in fine style to The Fly, jigged about a la Village People courtesy of Discotheque and even turned out classic slowies like With Or Without You (not a tune that I personally like but you have to admit it’s got that certain something to it that sets it apart)? I’m very much afraid it is. U2 have gone back to basics – gone are the electronic effects, the over the top musical acrobatics and (oops!) they also seem to have bunged their originality in the skip outside the recording studio as well. They need to get that back and pronto as their second offering from the All That You Can’t Leave Behind album is this slow, easy going number that’s in desperate need of a swig of Lucozade as it starts, plays for four and a half minutes and doesn’t do anything much during that time. It’s not meant to do a lot, it’s supposed to be a slow song but even so there’s something not quite right about the whole thing. All of a sudden U2 sound dated. If you’ve been together over 20 years like they have it’s to be expected, but my goodness did it have to happen apparently overnight? I hope things improve, really I do, but this is not of their better efforts and the sooner we move on the better.

SO WHY SO SAD

Manic Street Preachers

The shortest and most to the point way to describe this is Manic Street Beach Boys. It’s top drawer stuff this and it’s going to be huge. Imagine, if you will, the Manics and the Beach Boys teaming up to do a classic song. It’s still recognisable as a Manics song, one from the Everything Must Go era (no bad thing), but it goes further than that. Vocal harmonies! Honest! All the way through! And they get away with it completely! Other highlights include the line where the band croon “Burns an express-way to my soul” (worth the price of admission alone) and the sudden, brief, semi-orchestral bit in the middle but really, this screams quality from start to finish. The Manics can now sit back and reflect on a job well done.