Imagine walking into your living room and all your stuff is there, but it’s different. The sofa has moved, the bookcase is leaning on a different wall and the framed photos have swapped locations. That’s the feeling you get listening to U2′s new album.
That’s the point of this exercise led by Bono and The Edge. “Once we surrendered our reverence for the original version, each song started to open up to a new authentic voice of this time,” The Edge writes in the liner notes. Many reworkings are relatively straightforward, like “Cedarwood Road,” “Peace on Earth,” “Bad” and “I Will Follow.” Most have a stripped-down feel, which gives Bono’s voice little shelter amid moody keyboards or choppy acoustic guitar. “Every Breaking Wave” is cinematic, like something that should run over the end credits when an anguished drama has faded to black.
Listening to the new “Sometime You Can’t Make It On Your Own” is like running into an ex who is barely recognizable. The reworked “With or Without You” has an air of antiseptic menace.