7thGen

U2现在似乎只出精选集了吧——不过在80-90年代，他们可是整个摇滚乐界最响亮的名字之一。。。

《Zooropa》一般被认为是U2走下坡路的开始。这只由四个从小玩到大的街头哥儿们组成的爱尔兰摇滚组合自1978年成军之后，一直遵循着2-3年出一张专辑，然后花2年来巡演的惯例，这支有着类似Bruce Springsteen草根气质的乐队却有着类似David Bowie那样华丽的天份，吉他手theEdge被认为是最具有个性的吉他大师之一，他十分喜欢电声吉他高音部分的穿透力，所以他的吉他是没有最低的两根弦的 -_-bb，这也成了U2配器中最具特征的部分，主唱Bono的词作既有革命的力量又有诗人的优雅，这在80年代以后都是不多见的。乐队早先就出过《War》、《October》、《Under the Bloody Sky》等出色的专辑，1987年和1990年更是依靠《The Joshua Tree》和《Achtung Baby》两张横扫英美的专辑成为殿堂级乐队，但是接下来1993年的《Zooropa》居然一首冠军单曲都没有，可谓失败已极。但是我却认为《Zooropa》具有它独特的魅力，甚至可以看作和《The Joshua Tree》一样伟大的专辑。

现在看来，《Zooropa》失败的原因很简单，就是音乐过于电子化而内容过于内省，失去了先前U2赖以成名的那种气势——U2的音乐常被人冠以“人民的严肃之声”（serious voice from the people）——但是想想，进入90年代，这帮哥儿几个都是奔40的人了，还在那呐喊革命？这个岁数的Beatles已经在唱“You say you want a revolution… Don’t you know you can count me out”了。其实，Bono们在1990年出《Achtung Baby》的时候已经跟之前很不同了，只不过U2当时如日中天的名声和专辑中几首单曲造就了巨大的商业成功，而整张专辑的实验和概念味儿也很讨评论家的好，凡是听过《The Joshua Tree》和《Achtung Baby》的人都知道，这哥儿几个早就憋着要反了，最后明知道可能要挂，还是义无反顾的走向了《Zooropa》。

10年之后年近三十的我再次细细的品味《Zooropa》，更加能够体味其中的可贵。《Zooropa》诞生于欧洲统一进程的关键阶段，这个专辑名（也是专辑第一首歌的名字）明显是Zoo和Europe两个词的组合，所有有人翻译为“欧共体动物园”，虽然比较俗了，但是也还算过得去。而整张专辑充满了对古老欧洲的回响，和对新欧洲既好奇又调侃的心态。“欧洲的理想”在这里成了一个周末游园会般的娱乐节目。专辑中乐队对于吉他、人声、键盘、鼓的控制也是恰到好处，既有《Stay》中那种慵懒的鼓点，也有《Zooropa》中U2招牌式的高亢吉他，而在《Lemon》中Bono的假声、《Numb》中第一次出声的theEdge、《Daday’s Gonna Pay For Your Crashed Car》的电子舞曲让你感觉到乐队求新的强烈欲望，当然U2也没有忘记让一直热爱他们的拥趸寂寞，一曲《Some Days Are Better Than Others》让你可以回味《The Joshua Tree》中的感觉——不过Bono用他着意变得内敛的演绎提醒你U2已经走过了超过25个年头！这首歌中的腔调直到跨入新世纪U2出版他们的新单曲《Electrical Storm》和《Beautiful Day》时还可以感觉得到。

《Stay(Faraway, So Close)》的歌词写到：

With satellite television, You can go anywhere, Miami, New Orleans, London, Belfast and Berlin

请注意，那个时候只有卫星电视（而且还是很紧俏的dd），没有Internet。这种前瞻性本身就是对这张专辑的最好注脚。

(What do you want?)
(What do you want?)

Zooropa…Vorsprung durch Technik
Zooropa…be all that you can be
Be a winner
Eat to get slimmer

Zooropa…a bluer kind of white
Zooropa…it could be yours tonight
We’re mild and green
And squeaky clean

Zooropa…better by design
Zooropa…fly the friendly skies
Through appliance of science
We’ve got that ring of confidence

And I have no compass
And I have no map
And I have no reasons
No reasons to get back

And I have no religion
And I don’t know what’s what
And I don’t know the limit
The limit of what we’ve got

Don’t worry baby, it’ll be alright
You got the right shoes
To get you through the night
It’s cold outside, but brightly lit
Skip the subway
Let’s go to the overground
Get your head out of the mud baby
Put flowers in the mud baby
Overground

No particular place names
No particular song
I’ve been hiding
What am I hiding from

Don’t worry baby, it’s gonna be alright
Uncertainty can be a guiding light
I hear voices, ridiculous voices
Out in the slipstream
Let’s go, let’s go overground
Take your head out of the mud baby

She’s gonna dream up
The world she wants to live in
She’s gonna dream out loud
She’s gonna dream out loud
Dream out loud

Stay (Faraway, So Close!)

Green light, Seven Eleven
You stop in for a pack of cigarettes
You don’t smoke, don’t even want to
Hey now, check your change
Dressed up like a car crash
Your wheels are turning but you’re upside down
You say when he hits you, you don’t mind
Because when he hurts you, you feel alive
Hey babe, is that what it is

Red lights, gray morning
You stumble out of a hole in the ground
A vampire or a victim
It depends on who’s around
You used to stay in to watch the adverts
You could lip synch to the talk shows

And if you look, you look through me
And when you talk, you talk at me
And when I touch you, you don’t feel a thing

If I could stay…
Then the night would give you up
Stay…and the day would keep its trust
Stay…and the night would be enough

Faraway, so close
Up with the static and the radio
With satellite television
You can go anywhere
Miami, New Orleans
London, Belfast and Berlin

And if you listen I can’t call
And if you jump, you just might fall
And if you shout, I’ll only hear you

If I could stay…
Then the night would give you up
Stay…then the day would keep its trust
Stay…with the demons you drowned
Stay…with the spirit I found
Stay…and the night would be enough

Three o’clock in the morning
It’s quiet and there’s no one around
Just the bang and the clatter
As an angel runs to ground

Just the bang
And the clatter
As an angel
Hits the ground