u2, "vertigo." having saved their career, bono is now free to save the world. if "vertigo" is any indication, how to dismantle an atomic bomb will be a laid-back affair, to its predecessor as rattle & hum was to joshua tree: htdaab will be the concert album, only without the concert, if that makes any sense. only, one can hope that it won't be the zooropa to achtung baby. (an aside: as much a beating as zooropa takes, "the first time" and "stay" are two of my more favorite u2 songs.)

as for "vertigo" itself, it's fun, though one would like to hear what the earlier, fire-breathing incarnation of u2 would have made of it ... until one recalls that said version of u2 was anything but fun, and so the looseness and the playfulness, typified by the interjections of spanish, would be out the window (i mean, could you imagine a young bono skipping from three to fourteen in his count-in?) still, the band knows what we're looking for, and bono is smart enough to throw in the grace note of "feel," and then "kneel." in short, i am optimistic.

preliminary thoughts on nancy sinatra: the best song i've heard is, and typical in these all-star affairs, written by a couple of nobodies and nancy's kid, called "bossman" (the song, not her kid, though if she wanted to heaven knows i wouldn't stop her.) the most memorable, mostly for bad reasons, is thurston moore's "momma's boy." creepy early 80s soniks, but the rest is garbage and not even intimations of oedipal-lovin' can save it.

oh, and jarvis cocker's "don't let him waste your time," with nancy as agony aunt, may ultimately end up being the best track on the album. bono & the edge's contribution makes me less optimistic about their own album: the title, "two shots of happy, one shot of sad," is so bad that even michael buble would think twice. lastly, if morrissey were a true friend, he would've suggested that nancy cover timi yuro's "interlude," something he and siouxsie sioux did to grand effect, instead of throwing her the dog from his own most recent album.