Reviews
 Keep It Simple
Van Morrison
Roger McGuinn @ the Huntington IMAC, Long Island, NY - April 4, 2008
Emily Saxe @ the Allen Room/Jazz at Lincoln Center - April 5, 2008
Another Country
Tift Merritt
Be Your Own Pet
Get Awkward
Paul McCartney – The McCartney Years (DVD)
Juno – Music from the Motion Picture
Various Artists
Yes - Their Definitive Story
Day and Night Driving
Seven Mary Three
InterMedia Arts Center 2/2/08
Huntington, NY
|
U2
Under a Blood Red Sky is a quickie release to hold over the band’s American audience while it prepared its next studio album. As such, it serves its purpose well enough, but I wouldn’t use it as a means of introducing the band to anyone. The release is album-length, containing live versions of eight previously released songs, recorded live at various venues. For the most part, the disk consists of strong performances that are compromised by Bono’s penchant for screaming out the root note of each song as a means of engaging the audience. If the song is in ‘F’, Bono belts out a series of ‘F’s, unabashedly. No doubt it was exciting if you were there, but on vinyl, it can invoke the cringe reflex.
The song choice is quite good on this E.P., touching on many of the high points from their previous three albums ("Gloria," "I Will Follow," "Sunday Bloody Sunday," and "New Year’s Day"). As usual, the Edge sounds like a one-man orchestra. "Electric Co." is perhaps the strongest song here, performed with an energy that trumps the studio version…except for Bono’s ridiculous and inexplicable lapse into West Side Story’s "America" and Sondheim’s "Send In the Clowns". The bass pattern doesn’t even suit the melody, making this a clear example of Bono’s ambitions getting well ahead of his ability to convey them. What this release establishes, though, is that U2 are building a catalog of classic music.
Grade: 
 
|
Hit Network
More Music Reviews
More Movie Reviews
More Book Reviews
More Concert Reviews
Powered by Millennium Communications Inc.