Kat's Korner: U2 returns

Kat: U2. I saw them live and the next day bought their cassette WAR at Kroger. Yeah, the grocery store. In those pre-streaming days, you bought music on cassette or vinyl or you waited to catch your songs -- if you were lucky -- on the radio. WAR came out in 1983. And it was a great album.  THE UNFORGETTABLE FIRE would come next in terms of studio albums and it was a breakthrough in sound but not really in lyrics.  Then came THE JOSHUA TREE and this one had strong lyrics and strong sound.  But after that?

We pretty much had to settle for parts.  RATTLE & HUM was a mixture of live recordings and studio recordings and it was pick and choose and that remained the case.  There were exceptions.  1997's underrated POP was a real album as was its follow up ALL THAT YOU CAN'T LEAVE BEHIND.  

Friday, U2 released CARNAVAL DE LUZ and it reminds you of how great the band can be.  

There's no "Mysterious Ways," no, but there also aren't seven weak songs on the album as well.  

WAR was ten tight songs with no filler.  CARNAVAL is 12 tight songs with no filler.

No such thing as rock and roll
We just needed it to be
I was standing in the schoolyard
Waiting for you to happen to me
No such thing as a small life
You can't measure time in years
Every life gigantic, huge and romantic
Even greater than it appears

Bono, The Edge, Adam and Larry have produced another classic album that works as an album.  I can remember laying on my bed and listening to THE UNFORGETTABLE FIRE one side at a time. And doing this for days and days while discovering new layers each time.  I've been doing that with CARNVAL DE LUZ since it came out but this is only day three.

Meaning this album has more than I can process in a few initial listens.  It's going to grow with each listen.  

Yeah, time to take cover
Yeah, in your bedroom or a bunker
Yeah, in the dark we discover
Midnight sunshine
I got a feeling like we're losing, but it feels like a win
Here on the ceiling, watching more than the whole world spin
You can move, but always keep the same address
One eighty thousand miles per hour more or less we move

WAR ends with "40" which acts as a benediction.  On CARNAVAL DE LUZ, "Torn" delivers the benediction.

I can't deny this passion and desire

But I know it has to burn me

Standing this close to the fire

What am I supposed to do?

And how am I supposed to choose?

I love 'em both and I just feel so torn

I love 'em both and I just feel so torn

The glass that frames the picture cracked like ice

The photograph remembers all that we now deny

When halfway seems too far to meet

And across the table too hard to reach

Apples falling from the same tree can roll

Torn apart these loving hearts

That beat and break the same

We share a house divided

And the blood that fills our veins

It's a tale of tragedy, a story of this country.  It's a powerful end to a satisfying album.