Re-Assembled Dispatches
Maddy gives her thoughts on a buried classics listening party
It’s rare that I take anything Noel Gallagher says seriously (not since ‘Don’t Look Back in Anger’ at any rate); yet his response to ‘How to Re-Assemble An Atomic Bomb’ was on point. After hearing a few tracks from the album of ‘shadow songs’ from the Atom Bomb sessions, he demanded his money back from the 2004 version. It would seem he’s not alone.
Last night’s preview event in London wasn’t quite what you’d call a ‘party’ - U2.com’s words - as it lasted less than an hour and the strongest tipple on offer was ginger beer. When we were herded into the little screening area, there were no videos to accompany the songs. However, there was a charming pre-recorded intro message from the Edge and quite a few women in the front row who felt like dancing. So far, so convivial.
The main decor from the London listening ‘party’. (Source: Maddy Fry)
Still, I was worried that there would be something a little sterile about just sitting down in neat rows while listening to an album. I was wrong.
Some of the songs gave a sense of deja vu to anyone who 20 years ago endured the trauma of downloading ‘The Complete U2’ (I almost broke out in hives remembering how my computer never seemed to have enough bandwidth): ‘I Don’t Wanna See You Smile,’ ‘Xanax and Wine’ (now called ‘Picture of You’) and ‘Are You Gonna Wait Forever?’ held few surprises.
Yet when ‘Treason’ and ‘Happiness’ came slinking through the speakers, I was knocked sideways. It was a leather-clad, raunchy and funky U2, in a way they haven’t been for years. ‘Mercy’ (now called ‘Luckiest Man in the World’) was familiar but still emotional. Having not heard it for years, I realised it contained some of Bono’s best lyrics: ‘I know I’m weedkiller honey, and you’re sugar/If you’re the prosecution, I get away with murder….We’re binary code, one and a zero/You wanted violins, and you got Nero.’ It’s one of the most moving meditations on faith I think I’ve heard him sing about since ‘I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For’, and it’s only a small bone of contention that ‘sugar’ and ‘murder’ don’t really rhyme.
I can’t drive, and yet I want this number plate. (Source: Maddy Fry)
The more unpolished version of ‘All Because of You’ was miles better than the one that made it onto the album. It felt so much more rock-heavy and rough around the edges than the real deal. Edge’s guitar was such quintessential U2 that the Bill Bailey stand-up routine mocking his chime-heavy pluckings felt vaguely warranted, in the best way possible. It begged the question of why the band so often feels the need to over-produce everything. These rough-cut versions of Atom Bomb felt so much more ballsy and playful, with Adam’s bass really getting the chance to sing.
(Despite the lyrics to ABOY also containing a cringey example of Bono’s fluid grasp of what makes a rhyme - ‘voice’ versus ‘tortoise’ - I now remember them fondly as I recently used them to win a biography of George Harrison. I hope both men would have approved).
Bear in mind that for any British audience, emotional release doesn’t come easily; yet when the album came to an end, everyone cried for more and before long, ‘How loooonnnnggg…..to sing this sooonnnnggg…’ was reverberating through the room. No speakers were needed.
Best of all, I left the building feeling excited, not just by the past, but by the future. This is what happens when U2 stop over-thinking it. Long may it continue.
©Fry/U2 and Us, 2024
Soho joined in the countdown until next week’s release of ‘How to Re-Assemble….’ Or predicted the Rapture. (Source: Maddy Fry)