Song Review - U2 "Ordinary Love"
U2's first new recording in over three years is a welcome return to the band's roots while giving no quarter in its more mature musical endeavors. "Ordinary Love" features in the forthcoming film, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, about South African President and anti-apartheid revolutionary Nelson Mandela. Upon first listen it is clear this will become a key song in the band's already legendary oeuvre.
As noted in the video's metadata, the song was produced by Danger Mouse and has been given the "lyric video" treatment for its initial release:
The song is beautiful; a further example of U2's ability to channel emotions and feelings unlike any artist of the past 40 years. Bono's voice is appropriately epic, impassioned and stronger than we have heard him in recent years. The Edge combines both classic and post-2K sounds in his playing, with hints of War-era balladry and the guitar tone of "Magnificent" in the solo. Larry Mullins, Jr. and Adam Clayton hold down the rhythm and bottom end masterfully in an appropriately "real" performance free from beats and loops.
"Ordinary Love" gets a vinyl release this week as a part of Record Store Day's annual Black Friday releases, with a digital release down the road. The song was written specifically for the Nelson Mandela biopic, so no word yet if it will feature among the tracks on U2's forthcoming album, slated to drop in April 2014.
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