More additional material from a time when U2 had their pulse on the cultural rage. Their drums matched the beat of protest and their singer marked a capable and profound view of the world. U2 has often been tied to the protest and activism of their frontman but with a piece like Happiness, taken from the upcoming additional releases of How to Reassemble an Atomic Bomb, his point rages on. How little has changed over the twenty-five years since the release of How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb. But where the brilliance of Country Mile and Picture of You (X+W) offers formidable material which stands on its merit, Happiness is a messy experience. No wonder it was left off the album. But then it must be good enough to release if it has been polished up to celebrate the anniversary. Twenty years on and it still sounds like a vaguely forgettable B-Side which never cut it as a proper track.
Though it may be harsh to see Happiness in this light, it is inevitable. Bono was feeling for something more intimate on these extra tracks and they did not fit the times or standards set by the rest of the band. In another avenue of creative urgency they would work, perhaps eclipse the efforts heard on the album proper, but in either experience, Happiness is the weak link. A transitional song at best where the merit of its instrumental charm far outweighs anything the lyrical components can provide. Classroom antics and messages from the teacher to the student make their way through Happiness and the usual clamour for audience interaction can be heard soon after. Bono insists we hold on, but to what? What is there to cling to at this point? Nothing much, and the case for Happiness is for the pursuit of joy.
Easier said than done and the more its drone and crunch goes on, the clearer it is to why it was dumped from How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb. Its “yeah, yeah, yeah” feels very of the time. Where Country Mile and Picture of You (X+W) feel relatively fleshed out and oddly fresh given how long ago they were written, Happiness is punctured by the lacklustre material which has not exactly grown into something riveting or essential at this period of worldwide unrest. Bono will often seek such momentum in songs of his, particularly from this period and the shadow album set to release later this month, but Happiness lacks the blunt force needed for a track of ambitious anger and also fails to provide much articulation.
Happiness is a fuzzy and forgotten piece from U2 which would have remained in the vault had time to retrospectively inflate the potential and influence of How to Disassemble an Atomic Bomb had not appeared. At a point of immense creativity and flows into a new genre or direction for U2, it is rather startling to hear how by the numbers Happiness is. Plodding guitar work from The Edge and a meandering Bono lyrical set which pales in comparison to the lesser projects which would follow How to Disassemble an Atomic Bomb. It is a shadow album in every sense of the word with offerings like this, the overcast caused by superior material doing Happiness no favours now it has to face the unkind light.
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