How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb

"I'm not broke, but you can see the cracks/You can make me perfect again/I'm alive, I'm being born/I just arrived, I'm at the door of the place I started out from/And I want back inside"
—from "All Because of You"

It certainly doesn't take a music expert to declare this one of 2004's most anticipated releases, since it comes from one of the most popular and regarded bands today—their first since the four times Platinum-selling All That You Can't Leave Behind in 2000. Nor does it take a media analyst to deem it over-hyped with the deluge of news stories about illegal advanced copies and the commercial tie-ins. What people really want to know is what's with the title and does the album live up to the hype?

U2's outspoken lead singer and lyricist Bono offers two answers on How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb. One is to not build one in the first place. The other is love, and the album offers examples of what that means to the band. As for the hype, believe it. With such a legendary discography to the band's credit, I wouldn't dare call this their best and build unrealistic expectations. But it almost certainly ranks with their best, and if nothing else it's their most consistent—every track is a good one, with a lot of potential radio singles to keep Atomic Bomb a hit well past 2005.

The album is surprisingly cohesive considering it features more than five different producers, including famed U2 collaborators Steve Lilywhite, Flood, Brian Eno, and Daniel Lanois. What's particularly striking are the hybrids, and not just combining their refined sound of today with the raw energy of their formative years. They also integrate the little things that defined classic bands like The Clash ("Vertigo"), Led Zeppelin ("Love and Peace or Else"), The Who ("All Because of You"), The Beatles ("Original of the Species"), and vintage Motown ("A Man and a Woman") while maintaining their own musical identity. Guitar great The Edge and the rhythm section of drummer Larry Mullen and bassist Adam Clayton have come up with some of their best stuff musically.

It's also interesting to note that many of U2's albums have capsulized the decades as a sign of the times. In the '80s, records like War and The Joshua Tree were politically charged while remaining almost happy and optimistic in sound. With Achtung Baby and Pop, U2 defined the darker and cynical '90s by decrying the excesses of society. Now into the 21st century, Atomic Bomb continues to show a cautious and sometimes somber band that also remains very hopeful and spiritually focused.

"City of Blinding Lights" is U2's vintage driving rock sound, a stunning anthem about post 9/11 New York in the same class as "Where the Streets Have No Name." In "Original of the Species," Bono hopes that mankind is able to maintain a childlike innocence as we grow older. "A Man and a Woman" is confessional and romantic without being racy, and "Miracle Drug" draws inspiration from paraplegic Irish poet/author Christopher Nolan to persevere despite obstacles.

Atomic Bomb was also born out of the death of Bono's father in 2001. Sung at his funeral, "Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own" is an emotional knockout like "One," starting gently and soaring to greater heights while maintaining a somber yet uplifting tone. There's also the delicate "One Step Closer," which was written as a response to Bono's father losing his faith before his passing—the lyrics remain sadly uncertain, yet hopeful.

That's just the start of the faith references on this album. A killer fusion of blues and modern rock, "Love and Peace or Else" is U2's prayer for Middle East peace: "Lay down your guns/All your daughters of Zion/All your Abraham sons/I don't know if I can make it/I'm not easy on my knees/Here's my heart and you can break it/I need some release." Bono's work to relieve Third World debt and the AIDS crisis in Africa inspired the rallying cry of "Crumbs from Your Table," which takes its title from Matthew 15:21-28 while writing from the continent's perspective—"You speak of signs and wonders, but I need something other/I would believe if I was able, but I'm waiting on the crumbs from your table."

Note that many of the songs use key phrases that point to the gospel to define them. Even the rowdy hit "Vertigo" suggests prayer and humility as the answer to the feeling of imbalance and uncertainty: "I can feel your love teaching me how … to kneel." In the excerpt from "All Because of You" up above, Bono beautifully expresses a reluctant heart's willingness for restoration and renewal. And he can't be much more explicit about his faith in God with the openly prayerful "Yahweh," singing, "Take this soul, stranded in some skin and bones/Take this soul and make it sing … Take this city, a city should be shining on a hill/Take this city, if it be your will."

Yet despite the outspoken examples of faith in the lyrics, Bono and U2 remain something of an enigma when it comes to their core beliefs. In a November 14, 2004 article for The New York Times, Bono shares that he's worried about those who are overly fanatical about their faith, "wary of people who believe theirs is the only way. Unilateralism before God is dangerous." Yet in the same article, Bono explains the spiritual inspirations behind the new album: "There's cathedrals and the alleyway in our music. I think the alleyway is usually on the way to the cathedral, where you can hear your own footsteps and you're slightly nervous and looking over your shoulder and wondering if there's somebody following you. And then you get there and you realize there was somebody following you: It's God."

This is a band that loves to rest between the sacred and the secular, so that no one group can claim them. What is certain, evidenced by Atomic Bomb, is that U2 continues to do what they do best-create emotive rock that ignites the soul.