(As published in the Illinois Entertainer ... )
Passengers
Original Soundtracks 1
(Island)
The last time Bono, the Edge, Larry Mullen, Jr., and Adam Clayton worked with Brian Eno, they called themselves U2 and their album Zooropa. This time they're calling themselves Passengers and their album Original Soundtracks 1 because the fourteen songs are based on films, a few of which actually exist. (In an instance of life imitating art, one of the songs from an imaginary film, "Always Forever Now," has turned up on the soundtrack to Heat.) As for why the Irish foursome is calling itself Passengers, well, maybe it's because they're just along for the ride.
As instrumentalists, none of the U2 fellows make themselves individually heard. Any sounds generated by the Edge, Mullen, and Clayton have been sampled and morphed by Eno until they sound like Tangerine Dream. Bono, on the other hand--especially on "Slug," "Your Blue Room," "Always Forever Now," and "Miss Sarajevo"--shines, his understated (for once) vocals wafting eerily through Eno's swirly effects. "Miss Sarajevo" even comes with a cameo from Luciano Pavarotti, who, of course, upstages Bono. The rest is your basic music from the hearts of the space between Eno's ears. Not a bad place to visit, but you wouldn't want to live there.
PassengersOriginal Soundtracks 1
(Island)
The last time Bono, the Edge, Larry Mullen, Jr., and Adam Clayton worked with Brian Eno, they called themselves U2 and their album Zooropa. This time they're calling themselves Passengers and their album Original Soundtracks 1 because the fourteen songs are based on films, a few of which actually exist. (In an instance of life imitating art, one of the songs from an imaginary film, "Always Forever Now," has turned up on the soundtrack to Heat.) As for why the Irish foursome is calling itself Passengers, well, maybe it's because they're just along for the ride.
As instrumentalists, none of the U2 fellows make themselves individually heard. Any sounds generated by the Edge, Mullen, and Clayton have been sampled and morphed by Eno until they sound like Tangerine Dream. Bono, on the other hand--especially on "Slug," "Your Blue Room," "Always Forever Now," and "Miss Sarajevo"--shines, his understated (for once) vocals wafting eerily through Eno's swirly effects. "Miss Sarajevo" even comes with a cameo from Luciano Pavarotti, who, of course, upstages Bono. The rest is your basic music from the hearts of the space between Eno's ears. Not a bad place to visit, but you wouldn't want to live there.
