For their first album since 2000’s All That You Can’t Leave Behind, I thought U2’s How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb was a rather weak effort. Sure with all the crap out there right now it was still one of the better releases of 2004, but this is U2. They’re supposed to be the greatest band in the world, but in these 11 songs they hardly act like it.

There is no way to tell these songs apart from the ones four years ago. While they’re good, they’re not great. The first single, “Vertigo”, is by far the most overplayed song of the year. It’s also a 45 second commercial jingle stretched out into a three minute song.

“Sometimes You Can’t Make It on Your Own,” is one of the better songs on the album. It starts off slow and then picks up, becoming an anthemic song. Bono sung it at his father’s funeral in 2003.