U2
Rattle And Hum

And so, we've reached the end of the '80s.

"Rattle and Hum" is U2's eighth effort, considering live and studio albums, and to date, it has sold a total of 13 million copies. With it, U2 decided to document their journey in the States during the triumphant Joshua Tree Tour through live tracks of songs from previous albums and new pieces with clearly American tones; at first glance a self-celebratory work without particular sonic innovations that seems almost to want to churn out a record just to satisfy fans simply with a remnant of the mythical tree.

In reality, the album at the end of the decade reveals once again the absolute greatness of the band in a moment of exceptional grace, both creatively and passionately. The album decides not to cut corners from the start: the kick-off live of the Beatles cover "Helter Skelter" is disarming; Bono is in amazing form and is driven by a voice that allows him to do whatever he wants and enchant the audience with thrilling performances. It continues with the romantic ballad sung by Edge, "Van Diemen's Land", a song as simple as it is beautiful, loaded with the melancholic spirit of someone, condemned, who must leave for a distant land never to return home. The atmosphere suddenly reignites with the frantic "Desire" with Bono once again on fire, talking about love, sex, and sweet temptations, bringing freshness and power, never falling into vulgarity. The sounds are, as can be noticed later, subtly country.

It continues with "Hawkmoon 259", which more or less follows the tempo of the previous one. At this point, U2 deploy another live cover managing once again not to banalize but to enhance its beauty: the Dylan-esque "All Along the Watchtower" is another explosion of pure rock 'n roll energy and pleases everyone. Then we move to another live track, where U2 revive "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" giving it an unusual gospel style together with the black vocalists from Harlem. A well-received performance that will also triumph at the Grammy Awards as the best duet, although it perhaps lingers a bit too much in a non-typical U2 style. After the 35-second break of "Freedom for My People" recorded on the street with a black busker, we hear "Silver and Gold" live again; a protest song against the violence in South Africa towards the black community. A good piece, but not exceptional, which nevertheless prepares us for live "Pride", where Bono & Co. once again demonstrate their power with an epic performance to which the audience responds with great attachment, and to which the 4 Irishmen give all their passion and energy without too many quarrels. With it, the first strictly "live" part of the album closes to move on to new repertoire pieces. It's the turn of "Angel of Harlem", another excellent piece, with typically jazzy traits and the accurately inserted brass that give the song almost the characteristics of a wedding march for this "angel" Bono talks about.

At this point, the beautiful "Love Rescue Me" smoothly enters the scene, written together with Bob Dylan: a sweet dialogue between oneself and oneself where the joys and sorrows of love are addressed, called to rescue us in difficult times of life. The piece is strongly blues, with a delicate guitar riff that repeats continuously, beginning very subduedly, almost self-effacingly, to then explode with all its power with Bono's voice screaming "Yeah I'm here without a name in the palace of my shame I said love rescue me!". This is followed by another blues, this time much more energetic: "When Love Comes to Town", where Bono indulges in a delightful duet with B.B. King: a little song without too many pretensions, perhaps with a text too "peace and love", certainly not the best track, but still appreciable. After the glory and joyful joy of love arriving in town, U2 brings back to everyone the memory of the boundless landscapes of "The Joshua Tree", and its magical rhythms, with an exotic and enveloping piece that I definitely rank among the best on the album.

We are then brought back to reality by the great "God Part II" with a slightly more decided lyrical and musical style, which detaches slightly from the sounds of "Rattle and Hum" to perhaps connect to what will be the band's next, and completely startling, project: "Achtung Baby". Bono once again proves to be in the best period of his musical career and continues not to hold back, reaching exceptional vocal peaks. Lastly, after the live of the famous "Bullet the Blue Sky", the album reaches its fitting conclusion with a beautiful love song destined to become a U2 classic: "All I Want Is You" characterized by Edge's captivating notes, a sensuous Bono, and Larry who follows everyone with a great drum loop. The piece concludes with the addition of strings.

With "All I Want is You", U2 bid farewell to a part of themselves, to welcome, a few years later, a total upheaval of their musical and scenic conception.

"Rattle and Hum" closes at its best an exceptional decade for this band that, from absolute obscurity, has managed, step by step, to carve out a leading role in the history of music, dominating the music scene throughout the '80s, and probably being the only band of this decade (maybe with Depeche Mode) to have reached the level of those of the '70s.

And yet, despite all that is said about the U2 of the new millennium (in part, I admit, rightly so), one cannot deny the multitude of gems that from 1980, at least until 1993, this band has been continuously stringing together.

Perhaps U2 didn't change music like Pink Floyd or The Who did, but they certainly were a more than worthy part of it for a long period. They managed to stand out from a musical world that was increasingly in crisis and brought Rock back to the high peaks it deserves. It is something that must be recognized, listening to them without foolish prejudices and without paying attention to the somewhat overly political action that their leader has been imposing on us every day for some years now.

The U2 of once were something else, and it's good for people to remember that.

Goodbye, all!