U2 Cranks Out Another Commonplace Miracle

When exactly was the last time U2 turned out a bad piece of music? Not everything's been legendary but their track record for quality is head and shoulders above most bands on the scene. Ate up "Sunday Bloody Sunday". Found "Discotheque to be a blissful dance change of pace. Then there's "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me" Rioting in the streets would've been fully justified had that song not ended up in Batman Forever. Thankfully cooler heads and even cooler marketing strategies prevailed. U2 straddles generations without losing its undeniable ability to stay culturally relevant. The newest example of my claim is "The Miracle (Of Joey Ramone) a sprightly homage to the fallen punk pioneer. I don't exactly equate the Ramones with bouncy, spring in the loafers fare but U2 manages to help one of the men behind "I Wanna Be Sedated" maintain his dignity. From the way Bono spins this yarn Joey is one incredible messiah who returned to him all that he thought was lost. This song comes to us from the "Songs of Innocence" album. That could explain the liberate tone the song adopts. Lest you get cozy imagining the band's resting on its laurels (an acceptable state given where they're at career-wise) Larry Mullen Jr. comes to play with Dublin forged drum chops militant in design but not stripping the playfulness down to a nub. U2 got its magical rocket ride to global pop success started in 1976 so issuing a tribute to Joey Ramone sounds to me like the boys are dabbling in a return to their roots. You can clearly inhale Bono's own innocence in the lyrics. Like many of us he was chasing down his dream before it disappeared (whereas Tom Petty runs it down but I digress). Dreams come in many shapes and sizes. Anyone who's had one and feared it was slipping away can see where he's coming from. The dynamic of not fitting in is the universal language among rock stars past, present, and probably future. Bono wanted to be heard above the din. With millions of folks on this planet, only a fraction of which come from Ireland, that's a pretty huge din. The Edge knows exactly where to strum. It's woven into the mix instead of screaming "Hey look at me!" He's comfortable both in his skin and with his workmanship so he doesn't need to rupture anything to get the job done. You'll recall in a recent Foo Fighters review I lauded them for how non cookie-cutter their musical opuses are. That also holds true for U2. There brew is heady, made to be embraced by stadiums full of benign insane asylum patients who treat this foursome like a legitimate cult that they'd be fools not to follow. Adam Clayton makes his bass hum in a manner not bound to be duplicate by any other artist. This band explores the complete palette of emotions before spreading paint onto their canvas. They can be deceptively toned down as was the case for "With or Without You" They can pick an optimistic direction as held true in "Beautiful Day". Their excellence comes from not blazing the same trail twice. Somewhere Joey's cracking a smile. From one artistic giant to another the mutual admiration society only grows stronger. "The Miracle (Of Joey Ramone)" is no miracle. Simply one more chart burning charmer to add to the pile of logs that U2 has made a life's work out of creating.