Up With Which I Shall Not Put



So, four and a half years after the debut of "Vertigo," we finally get the debut of a new U2 single. "Get on Your Boots." Prepositional awkwardness aside, what does this relatively hardcore U2 fan think?

I love the quick cascading drum figure that opens it and the dirty and fuzzed out guitar figure that spills out of it. The way that, as the singing starts, the guitars drop out to leave a bass and drum groove only feels a little too familiar, as "Vertigo" played a similar trick, but I can live with it. I haven't really gotten down to deciphering the lyrics yet, but I do very much like the notion of "Get On Your Boots" as a metaphor for a call to action.

After a verse that fuzzed-out guitar line comes back, and I adore the high-pitched bell that's in the background. We immediately go back into the drum and bass-backed verse, which I also like - a little bit of a tease in holding back the chorus that also makes the chorus feel kind of like a bridge.

And I love that chorus. The harmonic shift and the melody line on "You don't know how beautiful you are" have a lovely hard-edged Middle Eastern sound.

Back to the verse , and then again with the Middle Eastern chorus. I love Bono's impassioned "you don't know"s here; he sounds so encouraging, so excited.

Then, towards the end, we get a repeated "Let me in the sound" over drums and some stinging guitar lines. And on to the end, wit ha repeated "Get On Your Boots."

This is a very hard-edged rock song, especially for U2, and I like that it's a fun, spirited first salvo - one gets the sense that the more weighty stuff is waiting in the wings.

Until Whenever