Music CD Review: U2 - Zooropa

- U2 is Bono (vocals, guitar); The Edge (guitar, piano, synthesizer, background vocals); Adam Clayton (bass); Larry Mullen, Jr. (drums, percussion, background vocals).

- Recorded at The Factory, Windmill Lane Studios and Westland Studios, Dublin, Ireland in spring 1993.

- Zooropa won the 1994 Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album.

- The bright, digital-looking album artwork alone hints at U2's intentions on Zooropa --to take the group's electronica-laced approach on Achtung Baby! to the next level. While ambient-music pioneer Brian Eno had a strong presence on the former album, here he's practically a fifth member, contributing synthesizers and keyboards to most of the disc's 10 tracks.

- Fans looking for vestiges of the old, JOSHUA TREE-era U2 are essentially left empty-handed, though the gorgeously spare and melancholy "Stay (Faraway, So Close!)" does touch on their earnest earlier sound. Zooropa truly gets going with the fascinatingly droning "Numb," which features the Edge on lead vocals and stands as the most adventurous single that the Irish quartet has ever released. From here the album hits a stride, careening through the giddy Euro-disco of "Lemon," the aforementioned "Stay (Faraway, So Close!)," the heavily percussive "Daddy's Gonna Pay for Your Crashed Car," and the funky, chiming "Some Days Are Better Than Others." Wrapping up the quirkiest outing in U2's discography is an appropriately strange, yet inspired song--"The Wanderer," where Kraftwerk-like synths and dreamy backing vocals support the unmistakable voice of the legendary Johnny Cash.

- Although Zooropa is often overlooked, it's an ambitious record that marks a crucial point in U2's evolution.

- Musical Guests: Johnny Cash Brian Eno

Prices and where to buy it online:

You can buy U2 Zooropa at Amazon.com

U2 Zooropa Song List:

Zooropa
Babyface
Numb
Lemon
Stay (faraway, so close)
Daddy's gonna pay for your crashed car
Some days are better than others
The first time
Dirty day
The wanderer (starring Johnny Cash)

U2 Zooropa Pictures and Wallpapers:

CD Critic Quotes and Reviews:

Rolling Stone (8/5/93, p.63) - 4 Stars - Excellent - "...startling....a daring, imaginative coda to Achtung Baby!....it works brilliantly..."
Entertainment Weekly (7/9/93, p.46) - "...a harried, spontaneous-sounding, and ultimately exhilarating album on which the world's greatest arena guitar band rarely sounds like itself...For an album that wasn't meant to be an album, it's quite an album..." - Rating: A
Q (8/93, p.99) - 4 Stars - Excellent - "...here is U2, the foremost rock 'n' roll band on the planet, seeing if rock can be fashioned from sonic technology....Zooropa refines the first steps in this attempt that ACHTUNG BABY took....the results transcend the merely experimental..."
Q (8/94, p.115) - 4 Stars - Excellent - "...It's stronger than its parent Achtung Baby!..."
Musician (9/93, p.76) - "...by no means a stopgap project, Zooropa ranks among the band's best work to date..."

CD Details:

Release Date: 07/06/1993
Original Release Date: 1993
Label : Island Records (USA)
Number of Discs: 1
Runtime: 51m : 21s
Studio/Live: Studio
Mono/Stereo: Stereo
Producer: Flood; Brian Eno; The Edge
Engineer: Robbie Adams, Daniel Lanois, Flood