Bono & The Edge - Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark Soundtrack [2011] [MP3 320] [7L]

Bono and the Edge faced the treacherous gulf between the two when moving from rock stars to composers in their first foray into Broadway with "SpiderMan."

But from all evidence on this just-released original cast album, it's not an issue they took very seriously.

Few songs from "Turn Off the Dark" seem bound by any narrative. Fewer still will help novices imagine much of what they might see on stage. That's frustrating to someone like me, who has seen neither version of the piece — not Julie Taymor's vilified take nor the one which now begs for a second chance.

Then again, that provides an advantage when it comes to the CD. It puts me in the same position as any U2 fan (or any pop/rock follower for that matter) who's wondering if the music works on its own, regardless of whether you ever see the stage shenanigans.

Sad to say, it does not.

It's not as godawful as you've heard, mind you, but it also lacks the tug of something necessary.

The best songs sound like the weakest ones U2 has ever released — like some B-side resigned to a rarities disk or the tracks you deleted from your iPod from their latest CD, the first uninteresting work of their 30-year career.

Certainly, there's bits any U2 fan will warmly recognize — the double-timed guitar chimes that echo those of the Edge or the cadences of every song sung by lead actor/singer Reeve Carney. He mimics Bono's phrasing at each turn, providing a prettified, if far less distinct or deep, corollary. Lead actress Jennifer Damiano sounds paler still. In their duet, "If The World Should End," they seem to fade be......


--NY daily news

01. NY Debut (Instrumental) (3:10)
02. Boy Falls From The Sky (4:26)
03. Rise Above 1 (3:52)
04. Picture This (3:38)
05. I Just Can't Walk Away (Say It Now) (3:24)
06. Bouncing Off The Walls (2:54)
07. Pull The Trigger (4:02)
08. No More (3:43)
09. DIY World (2:54)
10. If The World Should End (3:43)
11. Sinistereo (3:15)
12. A Freak Like Me Needs Company (3:39)
13. Rise Above 2 (4:20)
14. Turn Off The Dark (4:06)