All That You Can’t Leave Behind hit 25 at the end of last week, a couple of days after my own 25th birthday. That same week, I attended a family wedding and heard the track ‘Stuck in a Moment’ played as the first dance song. Coincidence? Quite possibly but that isn’t going to stop me using it as an excuse to write about one of my most adored albums of all time for the album this week.
I was raised with the sounds of the Police (maybe a subconscious influence on my move to Newcastle in search of Geordie comforts) and Newton Faulkner, later discovering the likes of ACDC and The Who. Yet through it all, U2 has been at the core of my music listening experiences. My parents had nearly every CD and almost all family car journeys are associated with them. This album in particular was a mainstay of the Egglestone household. There’s something about its sonic identity that almost dates it as a turn of the century (21st) album and yet somehow stops it from being cast aside as early 2000s commercial crap (excuse the French if you can). Perhaps it is because of the heartfelt character and poetry of the songwriting or the harmonic simplicity of many of the songs that allows them to be candidly converted into singer-songwriter covers in a living room or at a family gathering. Ultimately, I think it’s the emotion that is so vividly captured in the layers of guitars, drums/percussion, vocal harmonies, and driving basslines – and of course, Bono’s uniquely captivating voice. You may hate that I described it as such, but I don’t think anyone can deny its allure regardless of whether they actually like it!
Aside from the obvious appraisal of Bono and the Edge, I think that what makes this album particularly brilliant is the drums and percussion. While it may not be the first record you think of that showcases Larry Mullen Jr.’s style, I believe it to be the peak of his creative career. The drum sounds and percussion that are heard across the whole album are critical components of the tracks. They direct the energy and sonic fingerprint in an album that has so much diversity of feel. Take ‘Peace on Earth’ for example; it is so subdued until the 3:40 mark and yet the drums are present throughout. Maybe what I am getting at here has more to do with the production than the actual drums themselves, as Mullen is playing an acoustic set on this track, but my point is that the way he plays and the decisions that he/they make regarding percussion is so much more important than you might be prone to think.
I have so much more to say and not enough space, as usual. I’ll leave with this then: if I had never heard All That You Can’t Leave Behind, I am not sure that I would experience music in the same way that I do today.
Waxing Lyrical 