All That You Can't Leave Behind

1	Beautiful Day
2	Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of
3	Elevation
4	Walk On
5	Kite
6	In a Little While
7	Wild Honey
8	Peace on Earth
9	When I Look at the World
10	New York
11	Grace

Barnes & Noble

For most of their two decades together, U2 have ranked among the most forward-looking of rock's mega-bands, which makes their decision to "get back to their roots" on this remarkably evocative album a curious -- but thoroughly positive -- one. The electronics, irony, and distance of recent years have largely been stripped away, all the better to concentrate on the Edge's still visceral guitar playing and Bono's eternally questing presence. The singer proves he can still send shivers down the spine by soaring through songs such as the yearning "Peace on Earth," but he's just as capable of capturing attention with subtlety and a downbeat delivery, as he does on the pensive "New York." A good bit of All That You Can't Leave Behind comes couched in dark hues, thanks to Bono's heart-on-his-sleeve musings and the seductive production of Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno. But there are moments of outright abandon giddy enough to pack a dance floor with folks doing the old bump 'n' grind, including the lusty "Wild Honey" and the soulful spirit-lifter "Stuck in a Moment." U2's rhythm section, Larry Mullen Jr. and Adam Clayton, who sounded somewhat tentative on experimental discs such as Pop and Zooropa, positively leap into the hard-charging grooves of songs such as "Elevation" and the corny but infectious "Walk On," a pair of songs that bring to mind the vibrant Rattle and Hum-era incarnation of the band. This appropriately titled disc is, in many ways, a reclamation of styles and notions U2 once discarded as outmoded, only to find that they fit mighty well after all. David Sprague

All Music Guide

Nearly ten years after beginning U2 Mach II with their brilliant seventh album Achtung Baby, U2 ease into their third phase with 2000's All That You Can't Leave Behind. The title signifies more than it seems, since the group sifts through its past, working with Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno, all in an effort to construct a classicist U2 album. Thankfully, it's a rock record from a band that absorbed all the elastic experimentation, studio trickery, dance flirtations, and genre bending of Achtung, Zooropa, and Pop -- all they've shed is the irony. U2 choose not to delve as darkly personal as they did on Achtung or Zooropa, yet they also avoid the alienating archness of Pop, returning to the generous spirit that flowed through their best '80s records. On that level, All may be reminiscent of The Joshua Tree, but this is a clever and craftsmanlike record, filled with nifty twists in the arrangements, small sonic details, and colors. U2 take subtle risks, such as their best pure pop song ever with "Wild Honey"; they're so self-confident they effortlessly write their best anthem in years with "Beautiful Day"; they offer the gospel-influenced "Stuck in a Moment," never once lowering it to the shtick it would have been on Rattle and Hum. Like any work from craftsmen, All That You Can't Leave Behind winds up being a work of modest pleasures, where the way the verse eases into the chorus means more than the overall message, and this is truly the first U2 album where that sentiment applies -- but there is genuine pleasure in their craft, for the band and listener alike. Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Village Voice

All That You Can't Leave Behind returns to the grand gestures of old. Practically every song a potential hit single. Soulful, exuberant, at peace with its own clichés, this is one U2 record that will never be called antianything.