Ben Story

So much more than I expected

Revisado: 12-18-22

Much more engaging and introspective than the average rock memoir, Bono touches on …. Basically everything

The first third or so deals with Bono’s early life and the band’s origin story. As a big fan of U2, this was fascinating to me, I knew some of the basic facts of how the band formed, but was fascinating to hear the details of how they formed, how they broke into stardom, how they linked up with Paul McGuiness. I loved hearing about young Bono obsessed with the importance of the band getting a van for touring, certainly they’ve stepped up their game in that regard over the years.

The story of Bono’s relationship with his father runs throughout the book, and was somewhat surprisingly a highlight for me. Gave he story a strong emotional core. He also talks at length about his relationships with his wife and bandmates. He sprinkles this with anecdotes about his experiences with several legendary musicians - Sinatra, Dylan, Prince, among them, as well as several politicians. A good chunk was also devoted to his activism, how he got involved with it and what he actually did.

There were some good details about the making of some of the bands landmark albums, especially Achtung Baby, and to a lesser degree Joshua Tree, but I didn’t feel like this was a main focus of the book. I would suggest for example the book U2: At the end of the world, for those looking for more behind the scenes info from the Achtung/ZooTV era. I was impressed that Bono did not shy away from copping to some missteps, including the Somgs of Innonce - iPod debacle, amongst many others. His analysis of why Pop was not well received I have heard before, but he gave a few more details. To some degree, I was disappointed and would have liked to have heard more about the making of some of the less popular albums. I would be fascinated to know more details about the making of a lot of songs on Pop and No Line, but as I said, this was not that type of book.

Having Bono read the book was a great idea. His cadence and inflections, the way he laughed as he recalled some of the stories, added so much depth. You really felt as if you were getting to know the man.

Overall, definitely worth a listen for all hardcore U2 fans, and still plenty to keep less ardent fans engaged.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

Disappointing

Revisado: 08-20-21

Have no real insight.

The gimmick of “illustrating” the theme of the chapter by changing the style was very irritating.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña