Released: 2014

Genres: Pop Rock

The Musiquarium’s Songs of Innocence Album Score: 4 out of 10

Songs of Innocence was controversially uploaded for free to everyone in the world’s iTunes accounts and while that might initially seem generous, it was impossible to remove without the help of third party software (that has since become discontinued); if you tried to delete the album, it would be back every time you reopened iTunes. For somebody who already had all their albums, this was a kind gesture, but for those who didn’t even like U2 at their best, it was just extra ammunition for their disdain for Bono and the band.

Looking to change things up and modernize their sound, Songs of Innocence is one of U2’s first albums not to use production from Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois, Steve Lillywhite or Flood (though the latter has a production credit on one track) — instead, U2 opted for Danger Mouse and OneRepublic’s Ryan Tedder, so this album ends up sounding more like a typical mid 2010s pop rock album than anything else. OneRepublic is one of my most disliked bands of the 2010s, so foregoing producers like Eno, Lanois, Flood and Lillywhite for Ryan Tedder is a bit baffling, but I understand U2’s desire to modernize their sound and try something new after diminishing returns with their usual producers.

On Songs of Innocence, the band revisits their past, with songs inspired by their youth in Ireland, though the music is firmly planted in the modern day, creating a bit of a clash between the past and present. Despite the title, The Miracle (of Joey Ramone) doesn’t sound like a tribute to the punk vocalist and instead ends up sounding like a generic mid 2010s pop song, with those horrible a cappella vocals that infested the airwaves by bands like Coldplay, Imagine Dragons and OneRepublic, rather than something by either U2 or Ramones. Bono does these weird nose snorts on Raised By Wolves that sound absolutely horrible, and it’s not helped by a clichéd chorus. Cedarwood Road is one of the better tracks though, thanks to a pleasant melody. The rest of the album was a blur for me.

Songs of Innocence makes mediocre albums like How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb and No Line on the Horizon both look relatively good. Ryan Tedder and Danger Mouse’s production does U2 no favours and only goes to show how bad the band needs Eno/Lanois, Flood and Lillywhite, but even good production can’t save uninspired songwriting.

Songs of Innocence is still very much a U2 album, but it just doesn’t captivate the way the once hungry band once did with masterpieces like War, The Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby. I feel like the only thing that Songs of Innocence will be remembered for is being the album that U2 forced onto everyone’s computers and the one that permanently damaged their reputation with the public.

For credit breakdowns and historic release details, view U2 on Discogs.

Back to the 2014 Album Guide or the U2 Album page

Written by Brett Nippard