Slowly but surely, the new U2 album Songs of Experience, comes closer and closer.
Those who attended the band’s Croke Park concert in July were treated to a new song, The Little Things Give You Away. Last week, a performance video of another new track, The Blackout, suddenly dropped, creating even more of a stir.
You’re The Best Thing About Me is mid-paced pop-rock that borders on ho-hum mediocre, and which, even after a few listens, just doesn’t have the impact that first singles from forthcoming albums should ideally have.
The album is the thematic partner to 2014’s Songs of Innocence, which looked at U2’s early musical influences (The Ramones, The Clash, Joy Division) as well as more personal events that shaped them as people. The forthcoming album, which will now certainly be released within the next six weeks, is (according to an accompanying press release) “a collection of songs in the form of intimate letters to places and people close to the singer’s heart; family, friends, fans, himself.”
You’re The Best Thing About Me adheres to this outline, with Bono singing lines of ironic self-reference (“shooting off my mouth, that’s another great thing about me . . . ”) and searching self-doubt (“why am I walking away?”).
Thematically connected by bloodline, the Songs of Innocence album cover featured an image of Larry Mullen jnr’s son, Aaron Elvis. The cover of the new single features an image (by longtime visual collaborator Anton Corbijn) of The Edge’s daughter, Sian Evans.
So far, so usual? Songs of Experience will tell a much more substantial tale or two for sure. But let’s hope it has better songs than this one.
