Music
All-Time High (And Low) Scores
Best of 2009
Best of 2008
Best of 2007
Best of 2006
Best of 2005
Best of 2004
Best of 2003
Best of 2002
Best of 2001
Best of 2000
Best of the Decade
Upcoming &
Recent Releases
75
Alberta Cross
70
The Album Leaf
69
Alkaline Trio
66
Animal Collective
84
Animal Collective![]()
50
Athlete
82
Beach House![]()
81
The Besnard Lakes![]()
65
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
64
Dan Black
75
Mary J. Blige
75
Blockhead
79
Blood Red Shoes
70
David Bowie
64
The Brian Jonestown Massacre
72
Broken Bells
65
V.V. Brown
72
The Brunettes
71
Basia Bulat
78
Carolina Chocolate Drops
79
Johnny Cash
79
Chew Lips
82
Chicago Underground Duo![]()
79
The Chieftains Featuring Ry Cooder
76
Citay
66
Clem Snide
77
Clipd Beaks
78
Clogs
66
Cold War Kids
75
Easton Corbin
80
Crazy Heart
70
Jamie Cullum
66
Fyfe Dangerfield
72
Delphic
64
Dinowalrus
78
Drive-By Truckers
59
Editors
71
Eels
70
Efterklang
81
Eluvium![]()
82
Erland And The Carnival![]()
57
Everybody Was In The French Resistance...Now
63
Excepter
78
Field Music
76
First Aid Kit
68
Josephine Foster
82
Four Tet![]()
71
Nils Frahm
74
Freeway & Jake One
75
Frightened Rabbit
82
Fucked Up![]()
64
Peter Gabriel
79
Charlotte Gainsbourg
80
Galactic
67
The Gilded Palace Of Sin
73
Ernest Gonzales
59
Good Shoes
79
Gorillaz
70
Adam Green
79
Patty Griffin
76
Groove Armada
67
H.I.M.
43
Hadouken!
73
Harvey Milk
68
Juliana Hatfield
66
Jimi Hendrix
88
High On Fire![]()
80
Hot Chip
66
The Hot Rats
88
Ray Wylie Hubbard![]()
54
Hurricane Chris
76
Jaga Jazzist
76
Jaheim
70
jj
79
Freedy Johnston
54
Nick Jonas And The Administration
57
Ke$ha
66
Alicia Keys
74
The Knife In Collaboration With Mt. Sims And Planningtorock
63
Lady Antebellum
65
Dawn Landes
82
Lawrence Arabia![]()
74
Ted Leo & The Pharmacists
82
Liars![]()
72
Lightspeed Champion
37
Lil Wayne
82
Lindstrom & Christabelle![]()
68
Little Boots
75
Local Natives
75
Los Campesinos!
67
Lostprophets
65
Ludacris
73
Magnetic Fields
74
Massive Attack
58
Katherine McPhee
66
Daniel Merriweather
76
Pat Metheny
72
Midlake
64
Holly Miranda
79
Allison Moorer
83
Motion City Soundtrack![]()
53
Mudvayne
65
Mumford & Sons
55
Never Shout Never
85
Joanna Newsom![]()
81
Scout Niblett![]()
74
Nneka
75
Oh No Ono
70
OK Go
71
Omarion
77
Owen Pallett
84
Pantha du Prince![]()
77
Past Lives
84
Pavement![]()
78
Phantogram
65
Pit Er Pat
86
Polar Bear![]()
64
Priestess
67
Quasi
77
Corinne Bailey Rae
71
The Red Krayola With Art & Language
81
Fionn Regan![]()
77
Retribution Gospel Choir
57
Martin Rev
64
Rjd2
65
Rogue Wave
82
Jack Rose![]()
76
The Ruby Suns
78
Sade
77
Gil Scott-Heron
77
Shearwater
69
Blake Shelton
84
Shining![]()
68
Shout Out Louds
80
Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band
73
The Soft Pack
80
Spoon
63
Ringo Starr
68
Story Of The Year
71
The Strange Boys
77
Strong Arm Steady
79
Surfer Blood
60
Tape Deck Mountain
82
These New Puritans![]()
71
Robin Thicke
76
Tindersticks
81
Titus Andronicus![]()
72
Toro Y Moi
63
Josh Turner
81
Vampire Weekend![]()
79
Laura Veirs
79
Butch Walker And The Black Widows
63
The Watson Twins
69
We Are Wolves
66
Kanye West
64
Wetdog
51
The Whigs
67
White Hills
79
The White Stripes
72
The Whitefield Brothers
68
Wu-Tang Clan
75
Xiu Xiu
78
Yeasayer
73
You Say Party! We Say Die!
63
Young Money
61
Rob Zombie
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.
All That You Can't Leave Behind

Generally favorable reviews
Based on 17 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 62 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album >
Album Info
Label: Polygram
Release Date: 31 October 2000
Discs: 1 disc
Genre(s): Rock, Alternative, Pop
Summary
Also By This Artist: How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb No Line On The Horizon
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Entertainment Weekly
As hopelessly antiquated as it may sound in the year 2000, it's as if they decided it was time to write and record an album of very good, extremely substantial traditional rock songs with an underlying inspirational bent.... the new work focuses on songs, not sonic gimmicks, and the difference is palpable.
Read Full Review >Village Voice (Consumer Guide)
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.
Read Full Review >Wall of Sound
Now, as the group starts its third decade, U2 has found what it's looking for is good music, songs that ring with melody and hooks -- and meaning -- while still weaving in some of the ambient and electronic textures it explored on releases such as Achtung Baby, Zooropa, and Pop. The result is a richly crafted and filler-free pop album on which each song sounds like an individual work, calling to mind mid-period Beatles titles such as Rubber Soul.
Read Full Review >Spin
Call it the happy aftermath of a midlife crisis. U2 is relaxing, reasserting some beliefs critics love to shove back in their face--most importantly, that uplifing art is not necessarily dumb. [12/2000, p.233]
New York Magazine
It's full of anthemic songs with echoing guitar, catchy choruses, and the kind of spacious production Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno also brought to The Joshua Tree.
Read Full Review >Billboard
The chaotic electronic density of U2's last few efforts has been replaced by sticky, bite-size tunes -- sporting candy-sweet choruses that are often underlined by unabashed words of love.
Read Full Review >Village Voice
All That You Can't Leave Behind returns to the grand gestures of old. Practically every song a potential hit single. Soulful, exuberant, at peace with its own clichés, this is one U2 record that will never be called antianything.... Call it their R.E.M. album, monster rock filtered through a sophisticate's restraint.
Read Full Review >Q Magazine
Stepping outside of their natural environment ensured their longevity in the '90s, stepping back in seems to have given them a fresh boost. For all Zooropa and Pop's pushing of the envelope, limiting themselves to rock's core ingredients has given the band a new challenge. Certainly, not since The Joshua Tree have U2 sounded so like U2 but, with songs of this startling calibre, right now being U2 is no bad thing.
Read Full Review >All Music Guide
All That You Can't Leave Behind is a rock record from a band that absorbed all the elastic experimentation, studio trickery, dance flirtations, and genre bending of Achtung, Zooropa, and Pop -- all they've shed is the irony. U2 also chooses not to delve as darkly personal as they did on Achtung or Zooropa, yet they also avoid the alienating archness of Pop, choosing to return to the generous spirit that flowed through their best '80s records.
Read Full Review >Sonicnet
U2 albums are generally slow growers, so it's much too early to label All That You Can't Leave Behind a classic. One can say with reasonable certainty that it's their most vibrant offering since Achtung Baby, their hardest-rocking one since The Joshua Tree, and their first true soul recording.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone
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.... The album represents the most uninterrupted collection of strong melodies U2 have ever mounted, a record where tunefulness plays as central a role as on any Backstreet Boys hit.... Every track -- whether reflective but swinging, like "Wild Honey," or poised, then pouncing, like "Beautiful Day" -- honors a tune so refined that each seems like some durable old number. Because this is U2, there's a quick impact to these melodies, yet each song has a resonance that doesn't fade with repeated listening.
Read Full Review >Spin Cycle
The band neither succeeds wildly nor fails. There are only a few reminders of the lackluster dance sounds in its recent work... Otherwise, what dominates are the straight-ahead rhythms that drove the early days.
Read Full Review >Checkout.com
The bottom-line is that while All is a good album, it isn't a great one.... All largely rides somewhere in the '80s, hitting a few heights (the ruminative "New York"), while occasionally missing the target altogether ("Peace on Earth").
CDNow
Although devoted fans will welcome this straight-down-the-middle approach with open arms, those on the fringes who were intrigued by their tinkering will find it lacks some of the vibrancy of their recent artistic adventurousness.
Read Full Review >Dot Music
Despite the almost universal hyperbole that has greeted 'All That You Can't Leave Behind', this is no masterpiece. Certainly not by U2's stratospheric standards.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club)
Ten albums into its career, U2's emphasis on its basics--chiming guitars, a war-themed lament here and there, the enormous choruses of songs like "Beautiful Day"--is a refreshing reminder of the group's core virtues. But in terms of execution, it splits about 50-50 between soaring hits and dispiriting misses.
Read Full Review >Pitchfork
Subtle breakbeat drumming and glistening guitar be damned, Bono will ruin a song. And so the story goes for the entire album-- one of the band's finest, if not for the tweeting and hooting of The Fly and his grating lyrics.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this album is 7.2 (out of 10) based on 62 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Paul T gave it a10:
A gorgeous, deeply inspiring collection of heartfelt music. U2 not only made a comeback with this album, they created a masterpiece that will lift your soul and break your heart. Bravo!
M C gave it a9:
Many "cool" or "indie" people attack this album or U2 in general just for the sake of attacking to show their cool side. Come on, it's a soulful rock album. What's wrong with compassion and big heart you people? I would not agree it is U2 THE best album but I would say it is a great album.
nick n gave it a6:
The worst album in u2's career happens to be the best reviewed; then again magazines need to advertise big stories--if they don't kiss a little ass then what happens...? magazines and critics have been castrated by the advertisers and multi-billion dollar corporates.
Ariston B gave it a6:
It is better than the stuff what follows but worse than anything U2 did before. Never again Achtung Baby or The Joshua Tree. U2 should retire or eventually try one more time, but I think they are finished, especially Bono. Money ruins everything.
[Anonymous] gave it a1:
I found myself nearly falling asleep to this,half way in the album loses its way,its vigor whilst still managing to stay in the middle of the road.And this what this is ;a band with money on the brains.I mean can you really take Stuck in a Moment seriously?Its ridiculous,I actually felt embarrassed each time it played. I think the album after this was much better.This album is the sound of a band trying to too hard to regain their crown.
scott w. gave it a10:
Every song on this album is fresh, vibrant and fool of life, and is done U2 style. One of U2s best and one of the best albums ever made. Its truly a pop rock album with lots of hits. Bono and the Edge show that they were fare from finished, in this big come back album for the band.
Kev F. gave it a9:
This album has on it 2 tracks that for me mark highlights of U2's uniquely spiritual/soulful/philosophical take on the world they inhabit with the rest of us. Beautiful Day is song of soaring hope, faith, and reaching for something better. 'Take me that other place', a refrain which gives guttural voice to the experience of longing and hoping that expresses our humanity. That other place means many things to many people, but the needing to get there is the same for us all. Kite is an opus of loss and departure. Edge incredibly captures and expresses the deepest of all human emotion in this song, the why, the oh no, the heartbreak and the dignity of our fragile existence. Just listen to what he plays throughout the track. It's as moving as anything I have ever heard. Especially when you consider the lyric, and the background to the track, uncertainty, fragility, and the loss of Bono's father. This for me is why U2 are universally appealing. In a belting stadium sounding way, they are able to uniquely in my opinion, capture, experience and reflect human emotion. All of their albums contain much of the above, but this album, next to How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, represents this special band perfectly.
