All That You Can't Leave Behind

Performer: U2
Artist: Brian Eno; Daniel Lanois
Engineer: Ger McDonnell; Alex Hass; Alex Haas; Mark Howard; Richard Rainey; Stephen Harris; Tim Palmer
Producer: Daniel Lanois; Julian Gallagher; Mike Hedges; Richard Stannard; Steve Lillywhite; Brian Eno
Distributor: Universal Distribution

Notes: "Beautiful Day" won the 2001 Grammy Awards for Record Of The Year, for Song Of The Year and for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. ALL THAT YOU CAN'T LEAVE BEHIND won the 2002 Grammy Award for Best Rock Album. "Walk On" won the 2002 Grammy Award for Record Of The Year. "Elevation" won the 2002 Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal. "Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of" won the 2002 Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal. Lyricist: Bono . Personnel: The Edge (vocals, guitar, strings, piano, synthesizer, background vocals); Bono (vocals, guitar, synthesizer); Daniel Lanois (guitar, background vocals); Paul Barrett (brass); Brian Eno (synthesizer, programming, background vocals); Larry Mullen, Jr. (drums, percussion). Audio Mixers: Jay Goin; Daniel Lanois; Julian Gallagher; Mike Hedges; Richard Rainey; Richard Stannard; Steve Fitzmaurice; Steve Lillywhite; Tim Palmer; Alvin Sweeney; Brian Eno. Recording information: HQ; South Of France; Totally Wired, Dublin, Ireland; Westland Studios, Dublin, Ireland; Windmil Lane Recording Studios; Windmill Lane Recording Studios. Photographer: Anton Corbijn. Seldom has an album title been as appropriate as ALL THAT YOU CAN'T LEAVE BEHIND. Here, U2 returns to its pre-irony '80s glory days with a straightforward rock approach, leaving behind the electronics and intentional mock-decadence of POP and ZOOROPA. It quickly becomes clear however, that the band had to make those albums in order to get to the ego-free state from which this one emerges. While Larry Mullen's driving beat, Adam Clayton's insistently throbbing bass, the Edge's chiming guitar, and Bono's soulful vocals mesh as in the days of yore, there's a less messianic feel to the proceedings that must have resulted from the group's ego-deflating '90s endeavors. While POP and ZOOROPA were the sound of four guys having fun, on this album U2 manages to combine unpretentious joy with the open-hearted rock power of its early recordings. From the spiritual warmth of "Grace" to the soul leanings of "In a Little While," the band regains the organic quality that had been missing from its music of the previous decade. What sounds like an unusually hands-off approach on the part of producers Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois can only mean that they were smart enough not to fix what was clearly not broken.

Rolling Stone (1/4/01, pp.106,118) - Ranked #2 in Rolling Stone's "Top 10 Albums of 2000" - "...They sound emotional, intense, sincere and full of themselves..." Rolling Stone (12/11/03, p.128) - Ranked #139 in Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Albums Of All Time" - "ALL THAT YOU CAN'T LEAVE BEHIND brought things back to essentials. The songs grapple with morality..." Spin (1/01, p.73) - Ranked #20 in Spin's "Top 20 Albums of the Year [2000]" - "...A warm, relaxed album....Thesis: THE JOSHUA TREE. Antithesis: ACHTUNG BABY. Synthesis: this great record." Entertainment Weekly (12/29/00, p.138) - Ranked #2 in EW's Top 10 Albums of 2000. Entertainment Weekly (11/3/00, pp.79-80) - "...It's as if they decided it was time to write and record an album of very good, extremely substantial traditional rock songs with an underlying inspirational bent....unwaveringly assured..." - Rating: A Q (1/01, p.94) - Included in Q's "50 Best Albums of 2000". Q (12/00, pp.116-7) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...U2 have turned the clock back to doing what they used to do..." CMJ (10/30/00, p.4) - "...You are now entering an irony-free zone, where you, too, can get back in touch with the 'real' U2..." Mojo (Publisher) (p.56) - Ranked #84 in Mojo's "100 Modern Classics" -- "The album defined an unprecedented moment, and sealed the band's place in history." Mojo (Publisher) (12/00, p.102) - "...The performances are sparky and committed..." NME (Magazine) (10/28/00, p.41) - 7 out of 10 - "...Possibly their most straightforward, honest record...modern enough to sound new, but sufficiently evocative of their prime JOSHUA TREE days..."

U2's Bono was one of the few real rock heroes of the 1980s, leading the Irish band to international recognition with a charged, political approach to music. The band's early efforts brought a stadium-size presence to post-punk, with Bono's expressive vocals and the Edge's distinct guitar lines interacting seamlessly with the rhythm section of bassist Adam Clayton and drummer Larry Mullen, Jr. In 1987, U2 broke through to superstardom with THE JOSHUA TREE, a grand culmination of their '80s sound. In the 1990s, however, the band very purposefully deflated that epic image, simultaneously adding ambient, dance, and electronica touches on 1991's ACHTUNG BABY. Mining that vein for much of the decade, U2 kicked off the 21st century with a triumphant return to form that was embraced by new and longtime fans alike.

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