Songs Of Surrender＜限定盤＞

世界を代表するロック・バンド、U2が40年を超えるキャリアを通して発表してきた最も重要な楽曲を、過去2年間に行われたセッションで2023年版として新たな解釈で新録音したアルバム。

◆U2がU2の本質に迫る。ベスト・ソング16曲を新たな解釈と歌詞で新録音したニュー・アルバム
◆プロデュース、編集:ジ・エッジ(G)
◆40曲入4CD
◆ジ・エッジによるライナーノーツ掲載
◆U2はこれまでに14枚のスタジオ・アルバムをリリースし、全世界アルバム・セールスは1億7,500万枚以上、グラミー賞を22回受賞している。

Six years after Songs of Experience -- and nearly a decade after Songs of Innocence -- U2 delivered Songs of Surrender, an album whose title suggests its either part of a trilogy or the album where the band decided to finally succumb to the forces attempting to pull it down to the ground. Given that a collection of remakes inherently feels like a retreat, the latter interpretation seems more likely. Named partially after Bonos 2022 memoir, Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story, the project -- available in a couple of iterations, including a four-LP set where each volume is named after a bandmember -- finds each member of the group cherry-picking ten of their favorite U2 songs, and then the Edge spearheading "intimate" rearrangements of them. Largely anchored by -- but by no means limited to -- acoustic guitars, Songs of Surrender is subdued, handsome, and tasteful, music made from the vantage point of reflection rather than risk. Theres nothing on Songs of Surrender that sounds precisely like the originally released versions -- studio effects and electric guitars have been stripped away, the rhythms dont thunder -- yet nothing here quite surprises. Bonos lyrical alterations are subtle, even when they amount to more than the tweaking of a stray line; giving "Stories for Boys" a mature makeover or rewriting "Walk On" for Ukraine doesnt quite change the emotional thrust of the songs. Apart from Adam Claytons album, which contains inversions of such loud rockers as "Vertigo" and "The Fly," U2 doesnt stretch the boundaries of what acoustic-based rock would be: its all ballads and anthems, songs that can be sustained by drumming. Pros that they are, U2 deliver smooth, polished performances that are handsome and, yes, intimate but not especially compelling. Its stylish background music that sounds a bit like it was designed to be heard in chain coffeehouses during the late 2000s. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

映画「SING/シング:ネクストステージ」に提供した"Your Song Saved My Life"以来となるU2のニュー・タイトルは、選りすぐった過去の名曲たちをエッジ主導でリメイク再録したセルフ・カヴァー・アルバム。形態によって16曲～40曲入りと中身は多様ながら、いずれもアコギやピアノ、パーカッションなどのシンプルな演奏が微かなアンビエンスを纏ったバッキングにリアレンジされ、リズミックな弾き語りもあればトラッドっぽく響く瞬間もある穏やかな聴き心地の作品となっている。その真ん中にあるのは円熟したボノの歌声。"Sunday Bloody Sunday"など立体感のある音像処理もおもしろい。
bounce (C)狛犬