I think my wife would agree with this review from Stuff Magazine out of New Zealand:
Oddly, though, if we were to do a U2 album checklist - got the drive and rhythm; got the ballads; got the signature Edge atmospheric guitar; got Bono in husky form - one thing we'd not be able to check off is choruses. Save for one or two tracks, these are songs in search of a centrepiece, a pay-off.
Often, just when things look ready to soar, they turn inwards or extend the tease. It isn't fatal but it is nobbling, enough to mark this as a solid but not top-drawer U2 album.
Others out the CD up with U2's best, but I am with Stuff, it is not as good as Joshua Tree, Achtung Baby or All That You Can't Leave Behind. I would put it more in the class with Pop (which I actually really like, but when it comes to U2 I am about the most biased person the planet).
