U2 Goes Back To Basics And Revisits Catalog On Overarching ‘Songs of Surrender’ (ALBUM REVIEW)

One word kept coming up when going through the forty songs of U2’s mammoth release Songs of Surrender, and that word was: why? 

One of the few megastar rock bands left in the world, U2 can play their chart-topping hits until their end of days. But to go back and re-record them with quiet tones and almost no electric guitar? An odd move on many fronts. 

A cash grab? Nope, this band needs no more money. A benefit album? Surely some money will be donated, but that is not the main driver. It seems that pandemic times led to a lot of reflection from us all, some baked bread and The Edge started revisiting/tinkering with old songs, using mostly piano, dulcimer and acoustic guitars. Once his efforts were heard, the rest of the band ran with it. 

The resulting unwieldy quadruple album manages to be overwhelming and underwhelming at the same time. There is no doubt the power of U2’s best material, but to “reimagine” a stunning song like “One” with more piano pomp and a force-fed choir ending, again begs that three-letter question, why? 

Besides the “One” opener and “40” closer (get it?), these forty tracks are not presented in any particular order. The pumped-up acoustic rendition of 2000’s “Beautiful Day” arrives before 1984’s “Bad” substituting electric guitar twinkles for acoustic ones before the pulsing dance beats of 2014’s “Every Breaking Wave” morphs into a heart-aching piano ballad. All these efforts are powerful songs but these versions are not their strongest presentations. 

That is the overarching point here, no song makes a listener forget about the classic originals. Bono may switch a few lyrics and a few tunes may soar higher than the original, such as the marching drums and rising brass of the dramatic “Red Hill Mining Town”. Another revamping that makes a case for sticking around is “The Miracle (Of Joey Ramone)” which pulls back the electro-pomp and fuzz to deliver a poppy, strum-filled, well-sung, dynamite reimagining. 

This is much more the exception than the rule however, bland/tame acoustic efforts of “Stuck In A Moment You Can’t Get Out Of”, “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” and “City of Blinding Lights” (and many more) are either not much different or not that memorable as compared to original versions 

Have people forgotten how powerful this band can be and what strong songwriters they are? If so, perhaps this was needed, but if that is the case then, checking out the original albums and greatest hits would be the better route to take, especially for new listeners. 

U2 has aged, used questionable marketing techniques, and searched for relevance lately. An effort like this may help them mentally and financially, but it just feels like a precursor to their upcoming Las Vegas residency, reminding old fans who used to rock with them that their songs still sound pretty good, even acoustic/quieter. Most listeners will take one pass and say, “huh, interesting”…and go right back to the originals.

In the end though the answer to that question – “Why?”’ –  is Songs of Surrender is simply a reworking of greatest hits for die-hard fans who want to hear U2 try some different takes on the classics.