It's the Bomb

Unos, dos, tres, catorce!

And I ain't talking about Wooly Booly.

I got a nice surprise in my mailbox today -- the latest U2 album, How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb. I've been a big fan of this band since junior high school when my cool mom bought me Boy, October, and War for Christmas -- maybe the same year I got a Sony Walkman! In fact, Lamont and I went on our first date to a screening of Rattle and Hum sixteen years ago this month!

I've been eagerly looking forward to listening to the new album since first hearing the frenetic single, Vertigo. I'm a huge fan of their last album, All That You Can't Leave Behind, and it's doubtful that more than a week has gone by since 2000 that I haven't listened to it. How could U2 possibly equal that effort?

The simple fact is that they didn't equal it, they surpassed it. How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb may actually be the best thing the Irish band has done since 1983's War, no faint praise. The electronica of the last few albums has been traded in for big, punchy songs with classic Edge guitar riffs. Standout tracks among some stiff competition include:

• Vertigo, which everyone has heard by now


• Sometimes You Can't Make it On Your Own


• Love and Peace or Else, which finds U2 in garage-band mode


• All Because of You, which sounds like it could have been on Achtung Baby


• A Man and A Woman

Who would have ever thought a band I listened to in junior high would still be making relevant music a quarter of a century later? How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb will no doubt be one of my favorite albums for some time to come!