The album that carries U2 into its 25th year--and likely the mixed blessings of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame--is one of its most frank and focused since the days of October and War. But its gestation was anything but simple, in part salvaged from '03 sessions the band deemed subpar. Enter Steve Lillywhite, the band's original producer and sometime collaborator in the decades since, who helped retool the track "Native Son" (originally an antigun screed) into the aggressive iPod anthem "Vertigo" and leaves his distinctive stamp on the muscular "All Because of You." Perhaps weary of ceaseless, fashion-driven reinvention in the wake of monumental success, U2 seem only too happy here to re-embrace their original sonic trademarks in service of more daring, pop-melodic hooks than they've collected in one place in decades. The Eno/Lanois produced "Love and Peace or Else" may shimmer with the duo's electro-production conceits, but it's Edge's lugubrious, postmodern John Lee Hooker guitar swagger that drives it. Elsewhere, Bono's trademark dramaturgy is spotlighted on "City of Blinding Lights," the unabashed romance of "A Man and a Woman," and the confessional "Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own." It may come wrapped in a conundrum--is it nostalgic retrenchment or a sum of the band's endless musical catharsis?--It's also the album where, Fly and MacPhisto be damned, U2 boldly claims its arena titan mantle with apologies to no one. --Jerry McCulley

Recommended U2 Discography

War	The Joshua Tree	Achtung Baby
All That You Can't Leave Behind	The Best of 1990-2000	The Best of 1980-1990

I did not like this CD very much. Honestly I just bought it for Vertigo and that's about it.

Though the music is entertaining (see other 1300+ reviews) I am disappointed in that the disc did not contain instructions for dismantling an atomic device. That kept me from rating it 5 stars. I apologize that this is a brief review, but I have the pressing issue of an atomic bomb ticking away in my basement and need to act fast. In retrospect I should not have paid for expedited shipping.

I got started on The Joshua Tree and Achtung, Baby. The genre of Atomic Bomb is somewhat different from those classics, but it's still on of my favorites. U2 has endured the test of time.

This is a great album, and I am no avid U2 fan, as this album and Achtung Baby were the first U2 albums I bought.

Most of the songs on this album move and change in their progression, so this is no collection of rhymes on repeat, but a well-thought-out, provacative work of some complexity.

It has a few rockers (Vertigo, Love and Peace, All Because of You), some beauty (Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own, City of Blinding Lights, A Man and A Woman), and a couple mid-tempo wonders (Crumbs From Your Table and Original of the Species (and this one with an ending reminiscent of the best of the Rolling Stones).

Great album, don't miss it! 5 stars! Ok, it's not perfect (it's not easy finding perfect albums), but really all the songs, except for the ok Yahweh, are very good. I had to add the fifth star to make up for the below-four-star average I noticed here. Still it doesn't get much better than this.

I know this is a classic and all, but I didn't really like it. Shame on me! :P