Listen to me: Chan, the critic, gives his slant on U2's newest release.

Chan Tran

Four years after U2 emerged from a giant lemon during the Popmart Tour only to find the stadium seats half-empty, the band members have swallowed their pride and digested enough modesty to be unhip once again.

In the aftermath of what was at the time the largest-grossing concert tour of all time, the ZOO TV Tour, U2 wanted to outdo that monster and produced a larger spectacle, the Popmart Tour.

Unfortunately, the band forgot one crucial ingredient for a good tour - a good album.

Although Popmart was not a failure, the band had to add additional dates to its schedule to reach financial success.

The "Pop" album, which took four years to complete, signaled what might be the biggest decline in U2's popularity in its 20-year history. The band desperately tried to cross the electronic-rock boundary by incorporating more techno elements into the classic Joshua Tree- style songwriting. Somewhere along the way the band forgot what U2's music is all about - drum, bass, guitar and Bono.

Apparently Bono started to believe his media-hyped credibility and became a laughable crusader for Third World countries, which reached a pinnacle with the NetAide 2000 benefit concert debacle.

Underneath the fly-designed sunglasses and the half-smoked Cuban cigars, he was without content. U2 was still credible but lacked commercially viable music to support its political, religious and social rhetoric. The message was murky and the music seemed uninspired,  without even one redeeming hit song.

To save face, the band had only one reasonable option, simplicity.

That brings us to the latest album "All That You Can't Leave Behind" which re-establishes U2 as a four-piece rock-based band.

"Beautiful Day," the first single, kicks and hollers from the depths of the band's early prepubescent hits such as "Gloria" and "I Will Follow." The lyrics speak about a man who loses everything but has never felt happier, according to Bono. How fitting that it should introduce and set the tone for the album.

On every song, there are hints of the band members embracing all levels of happiness, a far cry from the doldrums of the last two albums "Pop" and "Zooropa," which was perhaps their most decadent release.

"All that you fashioned/All that you lived/All that you killedÖ All that you can't leave behind," Bono confesses in "Walk On," a song that would play over the airwaves if the band's plane ever goes down.

Somber numbers such as "Grace," "Kite" and "When I Look At the World" rise above the usual mediocrity of most slow-tempo rock ballads. The band has adopted the principal of "it's not the message, but the style of the substance."

Where once they overplayed the emotional message, they have now reached the depths of sincerity. A fact most evident in Larry Mullen Jr.'s drumming, which conjures up an image of a teenager getting the most out of his first drum kit.

"Stuck In A Moment (You Can't Get Out Of)" might become the band's biggest-selling single if the world is right. The song is an unapologetic conversation with a spiritually and mentally lost individual. The message is underlined by a Philly groove and a Beatle-esque horn-filled finale.

Elsewhere, the band gets a bit kinky.

"The corner of your hips is the orbit of your hips/Eclipse, you elevate my soul," Bono hollers in the rousing minor-key "Elevation" which spins and churns like a sinful, hip-hop, gospel song.

"New York" is the closest the band will get to Velvet Underground's complexity, especially the Lou Reed part, which U2 has always been fascinated with. The song's beatnik lyrics and atmosphere might fit better on "Zooropa."

But redemption occurs early with "Peace On Earth" and its opening lines, "Heaven on Earth, we need it now," further establishing Bono's obsession with saving the world. The song plays through its simplistic ideals with almost child-like lyrics. Setting the mood is an atmospheric approach to the production, as evident in the looping strings and sequenced cymbals.

U2 reunited with the masterminds behind "Unforgettable Fire," "Joshua Tree" and "Achtung Baby," Danois Lanois and Brian Eno, to produce "Behind." Not overlooking the merits of previous efforts, "Behind" emerges as a throwback similar to the Beatles' albums in that every song could be a single.

Though the band may no longer be hip with the masses, it's better because of it. Over the course of 11 albums, U2 has admired, created and endured all aspects of pop music trends. Now the band has returned to clean up the mess.

"Pop" was a lemon. "Achtung Baby" was a Mercedez. And "Joshua Tree," was a vintage Mustang.

Where does that leave "All That You Can't Leave Behind"?

In the car lot, with a fresh sticker, waiting for the ultimate tailspin.

Interscope Records

U2, The Edge, Bono, Larry Mullen Jr. and Adam Clayton, left to right, emerge from a four-year hiatus with "All That You Can't Leave Behind," being hailed as their greatest album since 1991's "Achtung Baby."