Zooropa

I purchased this product because the songs sounded different from all the other U2 I have heard. I fell in love with a few of the songs on youtube, and I just had to have the whole album. This is definitely a different sound than regular U2 - more electronic in nature, which is what drew me to the album. I love U2's classic sounds, and this album just brought a bit of variety into my collection. Definitely recommend it!

A lot of things can and have been said about U2, but one thing you can't accuse the band of is not taking chances. Compare "Zooropa" with their earlier albums like "War" and "October" and you notice a stunning change in mood and especially sound. This is the kind of album made for the extremely diverse listener or the fan not afraid to explore new flavors. It feels as if the group was tired and bored of being shackled as simple message givers and anthem composers and decided to burst out of the bubble and simply have fun with what a studio can do. A lot of artists have tried to dramatically change their sound (remember Pat Boone and Neil Diamond?) and have failed miserably, deciding to return to their place of origin. But U2 are skilled craftsmen who know how to work with a team composed of brains like Daniel Lanois (absent here) and Brian Eno (big architect here). The Eno influence is big here with the electronic brushstrokes and how the album goes more for atmosphere than straight ahead rock. The opening title track is practically an epic of images and sounds, Bono describes and promises with lush techno synths gliding around. But this isn't U2 going techno, it's U2 PLAYING with techno. "Babyface" for example sounds like a sweet pop tune but notice The Edge creeps up with a snarling guitar riff that still sounds at home. Speaking about The Edge, who is underrated as a vocalist, his stand-out moment is "Numb," a rap with a techno guitar riff sliding back and forth in the background. The song is essentially just the same beat over and over with Edge speaking, yet it still manages to capture you with the words and his phrasing. "Lemon" is the kind of track some U2 fans love and others hate. The track feels like U2 take some lessons from Blondie and adding their own touches to a song that sounds like disco for the new century. It's a fun song with cryptive lyrics about Bono's memory images of his mother and an evocative chorus. Yet amidst all the experimentation, U2 still deliver songs that are undeniably theirs like "Stay (Faraway, So Close!)," a hypnotic movement of chords and vocals where Bono takes on the character of an angel speaking out to a soul. This was of course recorded for a Wim Wenders angel flick and it works to great effect. "The First Time" feels like a classic U2 love song, like a left over from "The Joshua Tree" or "Rattle And Hum." "Daddy's Gonna Pay For Your Crash Car" sounds perfect for the European dance scene while "Dirty Day" feels like a dark, sinister cousin of "Bullet The Blue Sky." The album closes with a master stroke with Johnny Cash stepping in for "The Wanderer." It's a powerful, emotional moment with Cash delivering an apocalyptic vision with the synthesizers bubbling behind him. The brilliant thing about "Zooropa" is that it only SOUNDS different, listen with care and read the lyrics and you realize everything spiritual, social and political that U2 has been saying through their music is still there intact. With "Zooropa" U2 once again achieve something interesting, deep and create that thing so missing in a lot of today's new bands, art.

Intended at first to be an EP, it developed into an entire album that, though largely underappreciated, is an unusual testament to U2's versatility.
It begins with the title track, an amusingly sarcastic comment on modern society's obsessions and is followed by a series of great standouts such as the endearing "Babyface", "Numb" (the Edge's shining vocal moment), the shimmering and delightfully psychadelic "Lemon", and ballads like "Stay (Faraway, So Close)"...and into the realm of the funky such as "Daddy's Gonna Pay For Your Crashed Car".

I really could go on, but the point is that U2 got extremely funky with this album, and it really worked. It's so unusual, it's a trip worth taking again and again.