U2: Songs of Surrender album review — 40 songs remade in a lockdown project gone too far

It’s not quite as extreme as translating War and Peace into Klingon or arranging the blades of grass in your garden into shades of green, but U2’s new album still has the appearance of a lockdown project gone too far.

Songs of Surrender finds the Dublin band remaking no fewer than 40 of their songs. The concept is linked to Bono’s recently published memoir Surrender, whose 40 chapters are named after U2 tracks. The album has a different selection of songs, curated by The Edge. According to bassist Adam Clayton, the guitarist had “a bit of a bee in his bonnet” about revisiting their back catalogue while locked down. He has rearranged the music and co-produced the new recordings.

The initial intention was to make stripped-back versions of the originals, as can be heard in the album’s muscularly plain rendition of “Sunday Bloody Sunday”. But the approach is inconsistent. Other tracks feature multi-tracked vocals, echo effects, string and horn players and a children’s choir from Mumbai. U2’s idea of sparseness is another band’s plenty.

The acoustic numbers are proficient but add little to the source material. They resemble the moment in an arena gig when a set of tall stools and unplugged instruments are brought on stage, a signal to head to the bar or nip to the bathroom. The more elaborate reworkings are better. “Red Hill Mining Town”, a tribute to shuttered 1980s mining towns, becomes an uplifting funeral march with brass and military drumming. “Where the Streets Have No Name” is transformed by synthesiser and electric organ into a shimmering vision of a utopian city on a hill.

The Edge is at the forefront of the action, playing numerous instruments and singing, although his musicianship is restrained. Drummer Larry Mullen Jr and Clayton spend much of their time on proverbial tea-making duties. Bono is close-miked, exposing the grain of his voice to scrutiny. It fits with the link to his memoir, although the results prove variable.

Bono’s tendency to wrench every last ounce of significance from a vocal presents a challenge in these altered musical settings. Emotional grandeur exists in a precarious balancing act with overdone mannerisms, like the mix of dramatic force and ungainly bellowing that he brings to the simple strummed melody of “Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses”. The song buckles under the pressure, an unintended illustration of the album’s title.

★★☆☆☆

‘Songs of Surrender’ is released by Island Records/Interscope