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 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
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U2
At a time when the Protestant and Catholic factions of Northern Ireland were becoming increasingly polarized, Paul Hewson was being raised in Dublin by a Protestant mother and a Catholic father. Although his parents decided straight away to raise him in the Protestant church, his experience and his intellect often left him feeling as though he were hanging in the balance of the two faiths, with no definite connection to either. To some extent, his future bandmates Adam Clayton, Larry Mullen and Dave Evans shared his ambiguity, and came together in the hope that music would provide them with a more tangible identity. Although their abilities were initially very limited, they were inspired by the punk movement to play anyway. Hewson never subscribed to the trash-and-burn notions of punk, but he appreciated its tendency to remove the barriers that had previously existed between the audience and the stage. He also saw it as a means to bring a new beginning to the stale music scene.
After mincing about with names such as Feedback and the Hype, they eventually settled on U2, for no particular reason other than liking its visual compactness and the constructed pun it contained, suggesting unification. Even before they chose a band name, however, their nicknames were already firmly in place. Dave Evans became "The Edge," and Hewson was dubbed "Bono Vox." Bono's name was appropriated from an advertisement for a hearing aid and contained an inherent irony: bono vox is Latin for “good voice,” but it was yet to be established that he had any singing talent at all. In fact, their early gigs usually ended with the consensus that Bono's vulnerable presence was simply a means to disguise his utter lack of talent.
Entrepreneur Paul McGuinness recognized a certain potential in the young band and offered to manage them, provided they abide by his developmental ideas. The band was young enough to adapt and eager enough to learn, so under his tutelage they changed from adequate amateurs to sharpened pros. Meanwhile, McGuinness himself learned a thing or two about the inherent difficulties presented by the music industry. As a band, their attitude also came into focus, especially when everyone except bassist Adam Clayton started attending Bible class and became born-again Christian fundamentalists. The sense of spirituality (not the religiosity) that they derived from their religious beliefs would be reflected in virtually all of their work. They were not evangelical preachers, but the sense of confidence and calm that they gained from prayer was visible to anyone who cared to see it.
Meanwhile, they continued to rehearse and shop their demos around. It took them more than a year, but by 1980, Island Records offered them a contract. Producer Steve Lillywhite was brought in to work on their first album. Lillywhite was one of the hottest up-and-coming producers in the business around this time, mostly because of his ability to combine a sound that was definitively his own with a sympathetic approach to the band's own desires. Boy was the name of the album and it generated significant airplay ("I Will Follow" in particular) while the U2 members familiarized themselves with America during their first national tour.
Their second album, October, was considerably bleaker, as it reflected the dichotomy of the Edge, Bono and Larry's practicing of Christianity in a rock-and-roll lifestyle, as well as the alienation this caused Adam Clayton. It was not the breakthrough album that the record companies were hoping for, but the band's live shows were now conveying all the passion that the band could express as it continued along on its quest for some type of absolute truth. The third album, War, captured the essence of their live sound and brought the band to the level of stardom that pundits had been predicting for years. On the strength of this album, Rolling Stone magazine selected U2 as "the band of the ‘80s."
Overall, U2 still sounded like rock-and-roll amateurs, but this only compounded the innocence of their message. Furthermore, the skills that they had developed through constant playing taught them how to turn their shortcomings to an advantage. Clayton's simplistic bass playing became a backbone underlining the Edge's rhythmic attacks and Mullen's steady pounding. A strict 4/4 rhythmic pulse became something of a trademark for the band. The bass unleashed a barrage of quarter notes played on the root chord, the drums were usually based around the supportive rhythms of eighth notes, and the Edge scratched out a constant barrage of sixteenth-note rhythms. It wasn't complicated, but it worked. The Edge's sound was the identifiable element. With notes reverberating all around, he gave the three-piece instrumental outfit a fullness that contradicted its compact size. Another advantage was the Edge's disdain for the traditional guitar solo. He is a rhythmic player, and he virtually never breaks out of his rhythmic patterns. Taken together, the rhythmic assault was hypnotic, and Bono's constantly developing sense of melody and showmanship became the perfect focal point for this aural barrage. By the time of the band's fourth album, The Unforgettable Fire, he was no longer yelping and yelling - he was genuinely singing. Just as importantly, the band began to understand the subtle art of dynamics and it brought character to its compositions. While other bands were featuring the blips and bleeps of synthesizers, U2 stood out for playing music that was extraordinarily human.
If seen in the wrong light, U2's honesty could easily be mistaken for pompous grandstanding. At times they reminded me of a child who claims he has an urgent message, but when told to speak, has nothing to say. Bono's lyrics often seemed to be little more than spur-of-the-moment ramblings that took him in circles. This was mostly because the band itself was feeling a lot of uncertainty. Many was the time that they had nearly disbanded because of the conflict between their faith and their lifestyle. Without resolution, Bono was yelling into the darkness and hoping that an answer would present itself. In retrospect, U2's best moments aren't when they try to deliver messages of import, but when they ask the right questions. Their fifth album, The Joshua Tree, makes it plain enough. "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" is one the most eloquent statements about confusion that I have ever heard. Looking for truth in a dogmatic world, Bono was being pushed and pulled, and he willingly played out his passion play on record.
"With Or Without You" covers similar themes. How can you resolve a need for something that is repellent? When your intellect is attuned to both sides of an argument, how can you find which half offers truth and which half offers deception? Is satisfaction something that you deserve or something that you must earn? All of this exists as subtext to Bono's passionate words, and the band's understated performance proves to be the most sympathetic support of all. Rather than emitting platitudes, Bono was speaks a plain truth. While the lyrics speak of claustrophobia, the production of Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno is the definition of spaciousness, further fueling the band’s dichotomous nature. U2 was no longer reaching for the answers; they were immersing themselves in the purity of the question. The Joshua Tree is their least didactic album, and as such, it was one of their best. Recognizing the heartfelt longing that Bono conveyed as nothing less than a desperate plea for peace of mind, Americans received the confused message loud and clear. "With Or Without You" became U2's first #1 hit.
 
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