She rakes over the embers of an old affair, probably her two-year marriage to actor Liam Hemsworth, on Jaded, and duets with Brandi Carlile on the harmonica-enhanced country ballad Thousand Miles.Īs we move on, there's a shift to slinkier, synth-powered numbers that set out to replicate the wilder side of LA life. The first half of an album described by Cyrus as a 'love letter to LA' augments her husky vocals with a live band. Produced, like much of this album, by Harry Styles' backroom team of Kid Harpoon and Tyler Johnson, it's a subtly addictive ear-worm rather than an out-and-out banger, although that hasn't prevented it from topping the UK charts for eight weeks (and counting) and breaking weekly streaming records on Spotify. Unlike 2020's excellent Plastic Hearts, it's dominated by the kind of hazy, mid-tempo moods that have become commonplace in pop since Billie Eilish's debut album, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? Dealing in pastel shades rather than bold colours, its slow, languid songs reveal themselves over time, but are far from immediate.Ĭurrent single Flowers sets a high bar. 'Her range and versatility are to the fore on Endless Summer Vacation' Last May, Bono and The Edge played a gig in a Kyiv underground station and met President Zelensky, whose previous career as a comic actor is the clear inspiration behind Walk On's new lyrics: 'This is not a curtain call/ This is the greatest act of all/A stand-up for freedom.' I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For features husky backing vocals from the track's original producers, Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois.Įlsewhere, Sunday Bloody Sunday gains an extra verse and Walk On has been amended to take account of the war in Ukraine. Pride (In The Name Of Love) arrives, literally, with bells on. Where The Streets Have No Name is boosted by cellist Stjepan Hauser, and Beautiful Day is refreshed with a six-piece choir and backing singers. The Edge's finger-picked guitar on Out Of Control is a joy, giving Bono's lyrics an unfussy backdrop.Īnother song from 1980, 11 O'Clock Tick Tock, gets a similarly delicate revamp, dispelling suspicions that Songs Of Surrender is merely an exercise in nostalgia: that may have been true of 2017's The Joshua Tree tour, but it's not the case here. The songs of the band's youth are given mature makeovers. Despite his reputation as an explosive guitarist, he often sidelines his main instrument, electing to play piano and other keyboards on minimalist versions of One, Stay and If God Will Send His Angels. 'We got into the sensibility of less is more,' says The Edge, who co-produced the four discs here with Canadian rock veteran Bob Ezrin. This record - a companion to singer Bono's recent memoir - is a chance to take stock. 'Never a band to do things by halves, U2 cram an awful lot into a new album that is supposedly one of their more intimate endeavours' On 2009's No Line On The Horizon, they struggled to keep abreast of pop trends, while 2014's Songs Of Innocence, plonked rashly onto millions of mobile phones, was a PR disaster. The quartet have strongly denied this, despite a sense that they have been treading water on their last few albums. Later this year, they will play a Las Vegas residency without founder member Larry Mullen, who is undergoing surgery brought on by decades of drumming, prompting speculation that a split could be imminent. The record comes at a pivotal point for the Irish band, who remain one of the world's biggest rock acts on the back of their jaw-dropping live shows. Guitarist The Edge, who devised the project as an experiment in his front room during lockdown, even adorns two numbers (Invisible and The Fly) with that most un-rock and roll of stringed instruments: the dulcimer. As well as the back-to-basics acoustic instruments there are synthesisers, flutes, cellos, a choir and brass band. Taking 40 of their best-loved tracks and re-recording them in a less bombastic style, Songs Of Surrender is U2 unplugged … with the proviso that U2 unplugged involves a lot more than a few gently strummed guitars. Never a band to do things by halves, U2 cram an awful lot into a new album that is supposedly one of their more intimate endeavours. Miley Cyrus: Endless Summer Vacation (Columbia) - Verdict: Slow-burning and understated - Rating: Three starsīlack Honey: A Fistful Of Peaches (FoxFive) - Verdict: Brighton rockers' punchy return U2: Songs Of Surrender (Island) - Verdict: Classics get a bold makeover - Rating: Four stars
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