U2: 'Get On Your Boots'

"I don't wanna talk about wars between nations," sings Bono on U2's comeback single, proving if nothing else the Irishman still has a sense of humour. In fact, 'Get On Your Boots' finds the rock giants in surprisingly light-hearted mood. There's a dark underbelly to the lyrics ("Rockets hit the funfair, Satan loves a bomb scare"), but Bono's cries of "sexy boots" and Edge's buzzing riffs have a refreshing innocence lacking from recent U2 records.

The band's well-thumbed rhyming dictionary is put to the test here ("dark dream", "ice cream", "submarine", "gasoline") and the track's laid-back funk bears more than a passing resemblance to Dylan's 'Subterranean Homesick Blues', but it still stands up favourably in comparison to the mechanical stadium rock of 2004's Atomic Bomb disc. While the Eno-produced No Line On The Horizon promises to be a more serious affair - track titles include 'Cedars Of Lebanon' and 'Moment of Surrender' - for the time being it's great to hear U2 having fun again.