On rainy days we’d go swimming out On rainy days swimming in the sound On rainy days we’d go swimming out You’re in my mind all of the time…
As much as I want to believe that Bono wrote the above in an impassioned note to me declaring his undying love, alas, no: they are lyrics from U2’s latest single, “Electrical Storm.” And if I must share my Bono with the rest of the U2-hungry world, I am happy to say that this new single will satisfy us rabid rock fans’ near-insatiable appetites.
“Electrical Storm” is, thankfully, not as drippingly pop-saturated as recent singles “Walk On” and “Stuck in a Moment You Can’t Get Out Of.” Rather, it’ll remind you why you started listening to U2 in the first place. (And if you aren’t a fan, be prepared to become one.) Bono has relocated the raw sensual core that gives U2 the fullness and body of its sound.
Like most earlier U2 tracks, it’s the kind of song that keeps making you daydream while you’re trying to do your homework.
What further makes “Electrical Storm” so special is that it isn’t really that special at all. With the Edge’s surging guitar, Adam Clayton’s storming bass, and Larry Mullin’s commanding drums backing Bono up, the song could sneak onto 1991 U2 album Achtung Baby and nobody would notice.
I realized this the first time I saw the music video, which is done in grainy black and white so that-I would bet deliberately-it would look like some vintage U2 clip.
I had to see the video twice before I realized it was a new song. The song itself is a fusion of Achtung’s more powerful tracks like “Until the End of the World,” “The Fly,” and “Who’s Gonna Ride your Wild Horses.”
Yet it is original enough so that it does stand, hypnotically captivating, on its own. So why create a brand new track that sounds like a throwback to the old? The answer is this: U2’s new album.
Set to be released on Nov 11, their new album is a second volume to their first set of greatest hits U2: The Best of 1980-1990. This new greatest hits album, entitled U2: The Best of 1990-2000, features hits from Achtung Baby through 2000’s All that You Can’t Leave Behind. “Electrical Storm” fits like a treasured lost puzzle piece found among these classic tracks, sandwiched coyly between Behind’s Beautiful Day and Achtung’s One.
It might seem at first that they just want you to bite down on the bait of the new just to pull the old up with you. But the advantage of purchasing this new greatest hits album is that there is more new to it than just this song.
First of all, “Electrical Storm” isn’t the only new track featured. The as-yet-unreleased song “The Hands that Built America” will be the second single from this album, to be released within the next month.
Secondly, the first release of the album will include a whole second CD of B-sides and alternate mixes such as the jewel “Summer Rain” and mixes of hits like “Mysterious Ways” and “Lemon”. And just think, all this just in time for the forthcoming holiday season. Looks like I’ll have more than just Bono himself on my wishlist this year…
Bono asks us in “Electrical Storm”: Let’s see colours that have never been seen/ Let’s go places no one else has been. Take up his invitation.
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