On The Download: U2’s ‘Get On Your Boots’

“Sexy boots… Get on your boots,” teases Bono.

There are only a handful of rock stars that can sing that line without making us laugh. Well, maybe it is only the TRUE rock star that can.

And with those words, Bono and the boys of U2 are back with their first single in two years.

“Get On Your Boots” is a gloriously pretentious, rocker in the realm of Elvis Costello, The White Stripes and well, U2.

The blown-out, distorted guitar rhythm sinks in your head and pulls from Jack White, The Kinks and Hendrix.

The drums have a wonderful raw, roomy sound, a la Mitch Mitchell (of the Hendrix clan), with the wild fore-fronted drum fills, and The Beatles with the simple sixties-ish clap along drum beat.

Then, there is Bono doing his best “Bono” and Elvis Costello rap.

Now, all of that is good thing — a harken to Elvis Costello means that the song has a younger, punkier U2 sound. And the Hendrix and Beatles nod means that the single has both a harder — and then classic — rock attitude.

Finally though, not that it is necessarily bad, but in “Boots” you can hear “Money, Money, Money.”

You can hear the dollars thrown into the production. There are clap tracks, drum syncs, overdubs, over-laid backing harmonies, and more. Not being the recording expert, it makes me wonder how raw and wild U2 really is.

They are known for their tedious work in the studio, mish-mashing various takes of songs to come up with, usually, a superior whole.

“Get On Your Boots” seems to be a compromise of the old classic, blow-the-roof-off-this-place rocker, with the best sound money can buy. With that said, U2 is back and rocking as hard as ever. And, when “No Line On The Horizon,” the band’s new album, drops on March 3rd, it will be one loud, fun day in the car, blasting the new disk through the roof.