How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb | 
 enlarge | Artist: U2
Label: Interscope Records
Category: Music
List Price: $13.98
Buy Used: $0.79
You Save: $13.19 (94%)
New (60) Used (154) Collectible (6) from $0.79
Rating:  1362 reviews
Sales Rank: 1270
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 5.4 x 5 x 0.4
MPN: 000361302
UPC: 602498678299
EAN: 0602498678299
ASIN: B0006399FS
Publication Date: 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
| • | Vertigo | | • | Miracle Drug | | • | Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own | | • | Love and Peace or Else | | • | City of Blinding Lights | | • | All Because of You | | • | Man and a Woman | | • | Crumbs from Your Table | | • | One Step Closer | | • | Original of the Species | | • | Yahweh |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
The album that carries U2 into its 25th year--and likely the mixed blessings of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame--is one of its most frank and focused since the days of October and War. But its gestation was anything but simple, in part salvaged from '03 sessions the band deemed subpar. Enter Steve Lillywhite, the band's original producer and sometime collaborator in the decades since, who helped retool the track "Native Son" (originally an antigun screed) into the aggressive iPod anthem "Vertigo" and leaves his distinctive stamp on the muscular "All Because of You." Perhaps weary of ceaseless, fashion-driven reinvention in the wake of monumental success, U2 seem only too happy here to re-embrace their original sonic trademarks in service of more daring, pop-melodic hooks than they've collected in one place in decades. The Eno/Lanois produced "Love and Peace or Else" may shimmer with the duo's electro-production conceits, but it's Edge's lugubrious, postmodern John Lee Hooker guitar swagger that drives it. Elsewhere, Bono's trademark dramaturgy is spotlighted on "City of Blinding Lights," the unabashed romance of "A Man and a Woman," and the confessional "Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own." It may come wrapped in a conundrum--is it nostalgic retrenchment or a sum of the band's endless musical catharsis?--It's also the album where, Fly and MacPhisto be damned, U2 boldly claims its arena titan mantle with apologies to no one. --Jerry McCulley Recommended U2 Discography 
War | 
The Joshua Tree | 
Achtung Baby | 
All That You Can't Leave Behind | 
The Best of 1990-2000 | 
The Best of 1980-1990 |
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| Customer Reviews:
 U2 and the Atomic Bomb January 1, 2009
Nathan Beauchamp (Oak Park, IL USA)
How to follow an album like ALL THAT YOU CAN'T LEAVE BEHIND with its multiple radio hits and critical acclaim? U2, the long standing kings of alternative rock and my generation's Rolling Stones, don't know how to make a bad album. However in the hierarchy of greatest U2 albums, HOW TO DISMANTLE AN ATOMIC BOMB would not make most people's top 5. However, it does make mine. Here is why.
While ALL THAT YOU CAN'T LEAVE BEHIND is a fine album, there were a few things about it that bothered me. One was its preachyness. I actually agree with the at times blatantly Christian message of songs like "When I look at the World" and "Grace," but I don't go consider either song to be of U2s normal quality. They seem more like soapboxes for Bono to pontificate from. I appreciate the man's faith, and I appreciate his willingness to pen songs like those two, but for my money, I prefer songs with a harder edge (rock) and a message delivered with more subtlety. Another thing I disliked was the overall effect of the album. An 'album' has got to be more than the sum of its parts to be great; I felt that ALL THAT YOU CAN'T LEAVE BEHIND was a loose collection of radio hits, songs written to deliver a message, and a few rabbit trails followed (like New York, my favorite track). It was not a complete album in the way JOSHUA TREE or THE UNFORGETTABLE FIRE are.
HOW TO DISMANTLE AN ATOMIC BOMB is an album that expected to be even more preachy than ALL THAT YOU CAN'T LEAVE BEHIND, based on the title. I was thinking something like "Seriously Bono, Aids in Africa, Christianity and grace, and now the juggernaut of cold war arms races? Is there anything you DON'T feel qualified to comment on?" Thankfully, the title has nothing to do with the music. Also, I was happy to realize that ATOMIC just 'feels' like a complete, united effort. A more conservative album in some ways, this is a collection of songs that have a distinctive, highly polished production value (Steve Lillywhite's influence no doubt) that I enjoy quite a bit. Filled with pop anthems, classic rock beats, and remarkable lyrics, I think this ATOMIC is a better album overall.
Say what you want about this album, the fact that there is a high level of disagreement on weather it is excellent or sub-par illustrates that U2 is still a band capable of making provocative music. Love them for being willing to change things up, or hate them for taking a new path, but they are and will be, the greatest band of my generation.
 U2...An Unapologetic History......what's up with one star? December 30, 2008
Timothy N. Knight (Knoxville, TN United States)
I just bought this album. I have all of the U2 albums. Not sure what took me so long to aquire this one. Glad....very glad I did. A friend of mine bought Boy when it first came out as a result of seeing "I Will Follow" on MTV. Two months later I saw U2 open for the J. Geils Band in front of 2500 adoring individuals waiting to hear Peter Wolf blast out "Centerfold". The rest is history....for me. I knew this band was destined for greatness. They did not dissappoint. Album by album the band grew in depth and performance, never duplicating themselves. They were fortunate that their fan base was nearly religious in their fervor and loyalty, allowing the band to increase commercially and expand artistically. Not a small feat in our microwave culture.
I continued to buy each U2 album to see what was "on their minds". Ever a fan of sharp lyrics, U2 never has disappointed me. However, after Actung Baby, U2 strayed further and further from any melodic or production cohesiveness. I don't intend to mislead. I think all of the U2 albums are worth the effort.....and some of them do take some effort or "warming up to". Nonetheless, I was ready for a return to War or Boy or even Rattle and Hum. Let's Rock!!!
This is it. U2 returns to the beginning, full circle, and is as fresh as they were in 1980. I wanted to review this album from a sense of history. I am not going to give a song by song reference. Beware those of you looking for the U2 from 1991 forward. This is a culmination of a band not afraid or making any apologetics for sounding very much like U2. I hope that they continue. The Rolling Stones aren't worried, AC/DC is not worried, Rush is not worried that they are RCCK AND ROLL. True U2 lifers will love this album. I hope no one has been discouraged from buying this because of the inexcusable one star ratings. Must say, I scratch my head and wonder who these one star wonders were listening to.
Oh well. Thank you U2
 Just one song November 13, 2008
Alan Manning (USA)
I did not like this CD very much. Honestly I just bought it for Vertigo and that's about it.
Did not instruct me on how to dismantle bomb. October 12, 2008
Kumi (Japan)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Though the music is entertaining (see other 1300+ reviews) I am disappointed in that the disc did not contain instructions for dismantling an atomic device. That kept me from rating it 5 stars. I apologize that this is a brief review, but I have the pressing issue of an atomic bomb ticking away in my basement and need to act fast. In retrospect I should not have paid for expedited shipping.
New U2 Listener - Love the Album September 29, 2008
J. Odom
I got started on The Joshua Tree and Achtung, Baby. The genre of Atomic Bomb is somewhat different from those classics, but it's still on of my favorites. U2 has endured the test of time.
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