DATE: Tuesday, March 4, 1997                TAG: 9703040041

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E1   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Music Review 

SOURCE: BY CRAIG SHAPIRO, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   70 lines

RECORD REVIEW: "POP" IS PROOF THAT IRISH SUPERGROUP STILL BELIEVES IN SOMETHING PURE

THEY MIGHT TALK a lot of trash, but don't buy it - not for a minute.

When U2 gathered at a New York City Kmart last month to announce its upcoming PopMart world tour, guitarist the Edge told those assembled, ``We believe in trash, we believe in kitsch.''

``Pop'' (Island), due in stores today, makes it crystal clear that nothing could be further from the truth. For all of the aural derring-do they uncork on the hip-shaking new album, U2 still believes in something transcendent and pure. Something divine.

One need only look back to 1987, when the Irish supergroup released ``The Joshua Tree,'' arguably the best of their nine albums. Maybe it's coincidence that ``Pop'' arrives on its 10th anniversary, but there is no denying that ``Joshua's'' defining single, ``I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For,'' remains part and parcel of the experience.

``You can reach but you can't grab it, you can't hold it control it you can't bag it,'' Bono sings on ``Discotheque,'' ``Pop's'' inescapable first single and opening track. ``You know you're chewing bubblegum, you know what that is but you still want some'' underscores the point: In the quick-fix dawn of the millenium, we opt for what's in easy reach. The instant it loses flavor, the trash heap awaits.

Two tracks later, on ``Mofo,'' he implores, ``Lookin' for to save my soul, lookin' in the places where no flowers grow, lookin' for to fill that God shaped hole.'' The same song holds the key to the album: ``Lookin' for baby Jesus under the trash.''

Those themes are repeated throughout ``Pop.'' When Bono, whose lyrics here are some of the sharpest - and most oblique - of his career, raises the question of faith on ``Staring at the Sun,'' ``Please'' and ``The Playboy Mansion,'' maybe the most soulful song U2 has ever recorded, he also doubts whether that's enough.

``Wake Up Dead Man,'' is nothing less than a plea for the Second Coming.

Stylistically, ``Pop'' is not quite the wide-open embrace of dance music that the chunky ``Discotheque'' implies. It is, however, sumptuous ear candy. And that's the beauty of the album. Listen to the message or shake it with the messengers, either way is infinitely rewarding.

Produced by Flood (Smashing Pumpkins, Depeche Mode) and deejay Howie B., it confidently pushes the sonic boundaries that U2 first explored with such overwhelming success on 1991's ``Achtung Baby'' and in '93 on ``Zooropa.'' Gone forever are the anthems of ``October'' and ``The Unforgettable Fire.''

The production team generates a glorious noise, sometimes building a mighty wall of sound (``Discotheque,'' ``Mofo''), other times going for intimacy and ambience (the confessional ``If God Will Send His Angels,'' the gentle ``If You Wear That Velvet Dress'').

But at its heart, ``Pop'' is a great rock album. Credit fluid bassist Adam Clayton, one of the most underrated in the business, and especially drummer Larry Mullen. Because of their steady rhythm, the dozen tracks never fly out of orbit. The Edge largely uses his guitar to color and shade, but on ``Miami,'' he cuts loose with his old fire.

Where ``Pop'' begins with a bang, it ends on a note that is quieter and more introspective with ``Velvet Dress,'' ``Please'' and ``Dead Man.'' ``In among the noise,'' Bono told The New York Times, ``that's where I hear that whisper.''

Does that say something about the direction U2 will take next. Probably not. What makes them one of the great bands of their time, and, along with R.E.M., one of few whose albums will still be played 30 years from now, is they aren't content waiting for the industry to catch up. They are their own greatest challenge.

``Pop'' is the latest testament. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

[Album/CD cover]

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