U2

U2 returned to airwave dominance in 2000 with the release of this -- their 12th album. Powered by the ringing, Trip-Hop-touched "Beautiful Day" and the surging "Elevation," the album furthers the band's near-perfect track record in terms of incorporating contemporary elements into the post-modern pop style they are famous for.

U2's tenth studio album and third masterpiece, All That You Can't Leave Behind, is all about
the simple melding of craft and song. Their first masterpiece, 1987's The Joshua Tree,
imagined cathedrals of ecstasy; their second, 1991's Achtung Baby, banged around fleabag
hotels of agony. But on All That You Can't Leave Behind, U2 distill two decades of
music-making into the illusion of effortlessness usually only possible from vetera... More >

I know they're with a new label if not corporation, but the transformation I imagine was simpler. They woke up one day, glanced around a marketplace where art wasn't mega anymore, and figured that since they'd been calling themselves pop for half of their two-decade run, maybe they'd better sit down and write some catchy songs. So they did. The feat's offhandedness is its most salient charm and nagging limitation. If I know anything, which with this band I never have, their best. (Grade - A-)