U2, Van Morrison, The Go Set: New album reviews

It’s the album you do when you’ve already done every conceivable boxed set and expanded deluxe edition PLUS Van Morrison and The Go Set.

Members of U2 (counterclockwise from bottom right) Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr

This week’s album reviews from The Courier-Mail (ratings out of five stars):

ROCK

U2, Songs of Surrender

(Island/Universal) ***

When you’ve done every conceivable boxed set and expanded anniversary deluxe edition, what’s left but to go back to scratch with the songs themselves? Now we can find out what the megaband’s impressive back catalogue might have sounded like in an alternative reality. While most are merely stripped-down, more elemental versions, Desire (with falsetto) and All I Want is You are among the most worthwhile reimaginings with their synth augmentations. Refreshingly, it gives some of their underappreciated efforts from the controversial Songs of Innocence – such as Every Breaking Wave, Cedarwood Road and Song For Someone – another airing. And just when you think you’ve heard every permutation of I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For, they manage to coax yet another variant out of it. Yes, it’s self-indulgent, and the original versions are almost always better. But it’s still a worthwhile exercise.

BLUES

Van Morrison, Moving on Skiffle

(Exile Productions) ***

Continuing on the Irish theme (it’s pure coincidence that St Patrick’s Day has just passed), Van Morrison’s third album in as many years traces its roots to American blues as it pays tribute to the UK skiffle scene of the 1950s that moulded him. At 77 Van Morrison still boasts a voice as commanding as B.B. King’s was in his old age. It’s inevitable that with 21st technology it won’t sound as makeshift as the original 23 songs covered herein, nevertheless he charts a course through old-time blues, folk, jazz and country. Highlights include a rendition of Woody Guthrie’s Gypsy Davy, and Gov Don’t Allow which rattles off a list of prohibitions that he’ll do anyway.

ALT-FOLK

The Go Set, The Warriors Beneath Us

(ABC) ***

Rounding out our week of Irish music is a band from… Geelong! Think Crash Test Dummies or The Pogues, only heavier. And their themes of history and mortality are reminiscent of Biffy Clyro. Frontman Justin Keenan also has shades of the late great Chris Bailey, while the band’s backing harmonies give certain songs a sea-shanty quality. West Into the Sun is a suitably rollicking opening jig, then there’s the defiant union anthem We Got the Numbers and they’re “drowning in the digital ephemeral utopia” on Opportunities. “Raise Your Hands to the sound of the new underground,” they chant, while the fast-paced Broken Bones and Hearts name-checks major cities on tour and features a mean guitar solo: “Nobody gives a f—- if it ain’t on the radio.”

Originally published as U2, Van Morrison, The Go Set: New album reviews