Novastar
Never Back Down (Singolo)

THE REVIEW

The first thing I thought when listening to "Never Back Down" was: damn, Bono Vox has finally ditched that loser the Edge and recorded a piece on the piano. And what a piece.

Then I find out that Bono is very determined to continue playing with U2, and that despite the wonderful duet with the queen of R'n'B Mary J Blige, he is not veering towards pop sounds. In any case, Novastar stands for Joost Zweegers, who, as the surname suggests, is not originally from Dublin, but is indeed Belgian from Belgium.

And he is the one with the voice like Bono, as demonstrated by the two-voice chorus of the track, where the nuances of Joost's high notes are truly chilling. In the pauses between one verse and another of the stanzas, you can hear the insistent piano, and immediately after, the singing resumes, really very exciting overall, ready to be sung by a few thousand kids in a stadium.
There's nothing in particular that thrills me, it's the whole piece that gives me that wonderful pop sensation like Coldplay (see "Clocks"). And then there's a good rhythmic part, nothing exceptional for heaven’s sake, but effective enough to leave room for the piano.

God, I find myself listening to a little masterpiece (one of the best pieces of 2006, I think) and the first thing I think about is U2 ????????
Better put on "Atom Heart Mother", maybe live, and leave the tree of Joshua alone. Then I’ll have to attend the Corpus Domini procession anyway.

What a rock'n'roll life, eh?