Songs of love and faith by U2

Wow!

I bought this album ages ago – I can’t even remember when - but had hardly listened to it until recently. I actually forgot I had it until two weeks ago when I discovered it during one of my obsessive little sessions I have occasionally, sorting our CD collection into alphabetical order. Hey! It's a "coherence" thing! Okay? :)

At first I thought “Nah! Don’t think much of this.” It seemed too sappy to be U2. There was none of that sharp observation of human injustice from the masters of people power music. This album is softer, mellower, in many respects.

But, what with being in the car stereo for the past two weeks, I’ve had a significant number of opportunities to really hear this album properly.

I now absolutely adore it! It has become one of my favourites. Bono’s lyrics have gotten under my skin and speak to me of so many things. I hear him singing to me about romance, love, and incredible faith. The music is classic U2 with that full rich resonant sound they are so renowned for, but the emotion here is quite different from the U2 of “old”.

It is probably one of U2’s most romantic albums ever with many of the songs talking about relationships between people, especially deeply loved, significant "others".

Some of the songs make me want to sing and others make me want to cry and then on another listen, I will want to laugh and dance. It really is quite an extraordinary CD and I am rather pleased to have stuck it out and really given it some listening time.

Recommended.