All That You Can't Leave Behind

By Josh Tyrangiel

When a band decides to focus on the craft of songwriting, you know it's coming off a lemon, as U2 is. But Pop was the anomaly in a career that's been dedicated, and now rededicated, to making great rock music. The 11 tracks, produced by U2 veterans Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno, reveal a band exhausted with its own irony, and aging, if not always gracefully, at least honestly. Beautiful Day and When I Look at the World are Bono full-voice blasters, while the melancholic Kite and New York are about people who still haven't found what they're looking for. But God bless 'em, the members of U2 are still looking.

--By Josh Tyrangiel