I will tell you now, however, that I was right when I stated that "Get on Your Boots" could have been chosen as the first single merely because it's the most radio-friendly song on the album.

 

 

^That was my only hope for the album when I first heard GOYB's, and I am so pleased that it's actually true! I also like what I'm hearing about "Let me in the sound!" as a repeated motif, a reference to musical escapism. Makes me feel a little better about the corniness of the song's lyrics.

Let me just say, when I had my first play of the album and "Magnificent" came on, the first thing I thought was--"The Unforgettable Fire"

 

And I mean that in the best of ways. If this album reminds me of anything, it's early U2 with their newer influences in there. Think Achtung-era influences thrown over the Unforgettable Fire sound. It's brilliant thus far. Even Get On Your Boots sounds better in the context of the album, actually.

Let me just say, when I had my first play of the album and "Magnificent" came on, the first thing I thought was--"The Unforgettable Fire"

 

And I mean that in the best of ways. If this album reminds me of anything, it's early U2 with their newer influences in there. Think Achtung-era influences thrown over the Unforgettable Fire sound. It's brilliant thus far. Even Get On Your Boots sounds better in the context of the album, actually.

 

Thats what I've been hoping.

I still haven't listened to it.

LISTENED TO IT TONITE.. WOW.. i agree with those of you who have said its like UF and AB combined that is a great way to describe it..

 

sidenote: Rolling Stone's new issue the review of the album gives it 5 stars! The last U2 album that got 5 stars was Joshua Tree!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

also....if the news could get any better there is this:

 

U2 PLANNING ANOTHER ALBUM IN 2009

February 14, 2009

posted by: m2

 

The Observer has a terrific article by Sean O'Hagan about the making

of No Line On The Horizon, which includes the revelation that U2 is

planning to release another album before the end of 2009. Bono

describes the next album as "a more meditative album on the theme of

pilgrimage." There's also a 3-minute video from various recording

sessions, lots of background on the album and songs, and ... just go

read it!

 

http://www.guardian .co.uk/music/ 2009/feb/ 15/u2-no- line-on-the- horizon

 

 

 

 

2009 is gonna be their year..

Now if both albums suck, U2 is done haha. According to their two crap albums and we're out policy.

M'kay, here we go:

 

No Line on the Horizon - While it feels a bit weird to have a U2 album open with a song that clearly isn't gonna be the huge hit, it's still a pleasant listen. Bono's voice opens the album nicely here and sets the stage for the remaining ten songs. Not too much better than the remix, though, which I felt was average.

 

Magnificent - The first track seemed a bit lofty, and this one does also at parts. Of course, there's some really nice guitar moments on this song. Parts also remind me of their Unforgettable Fire days, but it's a little less remarkable than what follows right after...

 

Moment of Surrender - The album highlight, although it feels a bit odd as the 3rd track. But if you're expecting a seven-and-a-half minute rocker, or a catchy number with memorable hooks, you've come to the wrong place. It's far more majestic, and I'm hoping to find the lyrics for it ASAP.

 

Unknown Caller - Also fairly lengthy, but not nearly as heavenly. One of those songs that is certainly a decent listen, but it's not gonna be the clincher that sells copies of the album. The organ bit is interesting enough to pick the song up at that point, and it's another song I'd like to find lyrics for.

 

I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight – Blatant single material, and probably the next one off the album. While more of a pop tune, it's not as vigorous as ones past, still keeping more mellow with the overall mood of the album. Also a pick-me-up from the helpless vibes that other songs give off, and seems easy to learn.

 

Get on Your Boots - Everyone's heard this, and I'm still not a huge fan, although if you want swift "catchiness" on this album, you won't get much closer. The fact that this was chosen as the lead single proves that this isn't an album specifically produced for radio purposes.

 

Stand Up Comedy – The other song on the album that screams "Make me a single!" A lot of quick lines with a repeated theme to make them stick in your head. Like "Crazy Tonight", it's not incredibly vigorous, but it's a tune that you can carry with you.

 

FEZ - Being Born – I don't know what illegal substance Brian Eno was sharing with the boys during this, but it's arguably the most bizarre product that they've come up with. It's so unusual that I got Radiohead vibes at the beginning, then suddenly it jumps into something much fiercer. I'm not sure I like that fiercer bit which carries most of the song, but toward the final minute, it really lights up and sends off nicely.

 

White as Snow - I can see this becoming an underrated song. The calmest song on the album, with some very peaceful notes before Bono breaks in after 45 seconds. It's almost haunting in parts, but is quite beautiful, being the most gentle of the album's second half (though the final track is more subdued).

 

Breathe - At first, I didn't like how this was being sung, but that changed quickly. This song has pretty decent touches of just about everything, from the lyrics to the solos. It doesn't scream an obvious single, but it's the only other viable candidate I can think of outside those few I mentioned earlier.

 

Cedars of Lebanon - A lot of the lyrics on that album feel about helplessness to me, and this caps that off appropriately, but in a very melancholy way. This isn't a happy song nor a happy ending, but it's certainly worth listening to, as it's lyrically powerful. Sure, it's Bono making a statement, but it fits into the overall mood of the album and sends it off in a solemn way.

 

...

 

All in all, those are general thoughts more about each song's mood rather than their overall quality. I won't make up my mind about the quality for probably a month. When that time comes, I'll decide where to place it in the lengthy list of U2 discography. But this isn't "back to basics" or a "rediscovery". Rather, it's searching for a whole new meaning.

I'd love to know where the U2 downloads thread is.

DAMN this album is......a waste of.......time.

It's time for them to retire

So far, I am really enjoying the new album. There are some really great songs and some others that I feel have room to grow on me. But I like every U2 album, so I am perhaps not the most objective judge.

i don't know what to make of the new album. it's not like HTDAAB at all, it's very different. More chilled out and soundscapey. i really like No Line on the Horizon, nice riff on the chorus, nice harmonies too. Magnificent is another gooden too. Overall tho I'm just not sure the album doesn't seem to go anywhere. might be a grower. On first listen it's not as good as HTDAAB in my opinion.

No Line On The Horizon is the song I am most digging right now.

 

A lot of people really like Magnificent, but I am not quite there yet.

 

Also, I have really come to like "Get On Your Boots." I especially like it in the context of the entire album.

DAMN this album is......a waste of.......time.

It's time for them to retire

 

I'm not sure exactly where you're getting that. I'm not surprised that some people will feel this way. It's not a pop mainstream album.

 

U2 wanted to go somewhere they haven't before and I like Achtung Baby or other efforts that have turned the direction, some people aren't going to follow along.

 

U2 should not retire. If anything this album confirms their devotion to doing musically interesting things. Things that will stimulate themselves, even at the expense of more mainstream fans.

Just got the new Rolling Stone today. No Line On The Horizon was given a perfect 5 stars.

:stunned: wow! I'm getting a little anxious now because everything you guys are saying about the album are consistent with what I hoped it would be. I'm really scared I'll be dissapointed since I'm hyping it up so much in my mind, even if it is as awesome as you guys are saying.

MusicRadar has a great run-down of every track:

http://www.musicradar.com/news/guitars/u2-no-line-on-the-horizon-197114

 

So far, the song that has grown on me the quickest is White as Snow, which has received the most replays from me today. But I'm not too receptive to the pop-reaching songs that are wedged together in the middle.

Here’s my take, in a concise “article” form. :P

 

 

 

Has U2's Line Blurred on the Horizon?

The band's 12th studio album unimaginably incorporates every single influence U2 has ever had, but is this rocker worth 5 years of waiting?

By: Osaka Sun

 

 

Brian Eno is one crazy man.

 

He’s known as the father of ambient music. His over-the-top rock experimentalism as producer has either been well-loved or utterly hated by the media. No more could be said with his work with U2, one classic rock masterpiece that is still tearing music charts apart today, even with each band member nearing their 50s.

 

Eno, with the help of fellow producer Daniel Lanois, first altered the band’s core with the atmospheric rock of The Unforgettable Fire, and made U2 a household name with The Joshua Tree in the 1980s. When the Irish quartet was on the brink of breaking up after Rattle and Hum, he reinvented U2 with dance and alternative rock stylings for Achtung Baby. However, this move would prove costly with the releases of Zooropa and Pop, which alienated the band’s fanbase (including myself) to such a point that Eno had to revive U2 once more with All That You Can’t Leave Behind and How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb at the turn of the century. After these 2 fairly conservative studio albums, U2 have called Eno one more time to produce No Line on the Horizon, which recent critics say could be the band’s most innovative record yet.

 

Has 5 years of hard work, recorded worldwide from New York to Fez, Morocco, mean the end of U2's legacy, or is NLOTH the new Joshua Tree?

 

Well, one thing is for sure, from the prospective of a “classic” U2 fan like myself (ie. I’d rather think U2's 3 albums from the 1990s never existed), the band has not lost any gas with NLOTH. None at all. In ways thought impossible, Brian Eno has combined his 80s and 90s soundscapes and unique production skills to help create NLOTH, an album replaying memories of the band’s 11 previous albums all at once, with an extra twist.

 

It’s gonna be quite a surprise for every single fan of the band out there. I had to make multiple playthroughs to judge the quality of this album, and it will probably take as much time for everyone else to do the same. It’s very similar to how Eno pushed the edge with Coldplay’s Viva la Vida and Death and All His Friends last year. A definite “grower,” as you might say it:

 

 

1. No Line on the Horizon begins with its title track, and I must say, it’s something. Simply put, it’s Achtung Baby synth meets “Where the Streets Have No Name.” Didn’t think it could happen, eh? I didn’t either! 8.0/10

 

2. “Magnificent” starts off with a tantalizing intro with definite 90s electronics taking command again, but don’t worry. At the 45 second mark, U2 finally returns to the amazing, lush atmospherics that defined The Unforgettable Fire and The Joshua Tree. The Edge brings out his signature textural guitar riffs and processing that we know all too well, and Bono sings about the tenacity of love in perfect falsetto. Superb (quite an understatement), and most likely the next single. 9.5/10

 

3. The 3rd track on NLOTH is “Moment of Surrender,” which was hyped to be the “One” of this album, and Brian Eno’s favourite. It’s a very gospel-tinged track, similar to U2's previous beauties like “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” and “Stuck in a Moment You Can’t Get Out Of,” and since I’m a sucker for those Christian songs, I was giving this song high hopes. Unfortunately, Moment wasn’t as great as I expected. The song is good, but it feels like there’s something missing to it, and there’s some obvious mistakes that could have been averted (such as The Edge’s poorly placed guitar riffs, located at the last 2 minutes of a 7 minute song). 8.0/10

 

4. “Unknown Caller” is the 4th track on the record, and it is also another gospel influenced soft rock song. Opening with calls of swallows, it contains a much more thought-out melody than Moment of Surrender. Apparently, The Edge describes the song’s story as “that the narrator is in an altered state, and his phone starts talking to him” and the caller is supposed to be God. Some of the lyrics like “restart and re-boot yourself, you're free to go” are a bit cheesy, but if you handled the lyrics of “Vertigo,” then you should enjoy Caller very much. 8.5/10

 

5. “I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight” gave me instant flashbacks of stadium rock-pop songs from the band like “Sweetest Thing” and “Walk On.” Sounding exactly as in the album previews, I’ll Go Crazy is another recognizable radio-friendly single on NLOTH that every U2 fan will love. 9.0/10

 

6. This is where U2's rock gets heavier. “Get on Your Boots,” as everyone knows by now, is the unusual first single from NLOTH. Through these past couple of weeks of listening to the track, it’s somehow grown on me, and even though it’s an electro-rocker with very close similarities to Vertigo, I can’t wait when the band plays it live during their next tour. 8.0/10

 

7. “Stand Up Comedy” is U2's homage to the 70s, Zeppelin-esque classic rock. It starts off very funky; the chorus progresses into something brilliant but then it trails off without any real impact. Along with Bono speaking half the time rather than singing, it seems like the band was trying way too much to create an easy going, hard rock sound that they’ve never really attempted before. A huge disappointment, and in my opinion, the worst track of NLOTH. 6.0/10

 

8. The 8th track of the album is probably the most unanticipated. “Fez-Being Born” is where Brian Eno’s experimentation comes into play the most in NLOTH. Almost immediately he prompts the listener into an ambient, mysterious story about life in Morocco. Then at around the 1 minute mark, U2 suddenly emerge with a desperate arena rock sound (later including a backing chorus) with a unique soundscape that could be compared with atmospherics of The Unforgettable Fire, but the rest of the song wouldn’t be able to fit into the ground-breaking record. Needless to say, an odd piece, but it's not total crap. 7.0/10

 

9. Thankfully we get thrust back into sanity with “White as Snow.” Before playing the track, hear the motive pertaining to it first. Bono put the song in the point of view of “a soldier serving in Afghanistan” that gets mortally wounded, and the song “lasts the length of time it takes him to die." He later compared it to William Golding’s novel Pincher Martin, where a British sailor approaches death and looks back at everything that occurred in his life. White As Snow is an acoustic, intimate, moody tune with folk elements added in for extra value, and it can be a tear-jerker if you can put yourself into the perspective of that fallen solder. 8.5/10

 

10. NLOTH’s 10th track is the last rock & roll tune of the album, and U2 goes out with a bang with the War-influenced “Breathe.” Fantastic is all I can say about it. 9.0/10

 

11. The record ends with “Cedars of Lebanon,” a soulful, yet melancholic ballad about a war correspondent in an unidentified war zone. Bono’s lyrics are very direct here, in which the narrator observes and records the bleakness of a war-torn nation, and longs for his distant family. It’s a nice blues-rock track that would fit in a late night driving playlist, but after hearing it in context to the rest of NLOTH, you’ll wonder if it should really signal the end of the album. There will be many U2 fans who will be wanting just a little bit more. 7.5/10

 

 

NLOTH isn’t anywhere as experimental as Achtung Baby (and its two sibling records of the 90s), but it’s still quite an artistic mess. In a good way, though. U2 risks everything again, relying on all of their previous techniques and distinct soundscapes from the past, yet Brian Eno is able to change the band’s direction once more during the process. It’s The Unforgettable Fire of the 00s, but somehow it's very different. And just like The Unforgettable Fire, NLOTH will have a couple of somewhat mixed reviews, but I can finally gasp a sigh of relief that U2 is here to stay, and that another Joshua Tree might envelop on the horizon. The perfect sequel to ATYCLB and HTDAAB, that's for sure; it's probably going to be album of the year too.

 

Final Mark: 4/5

 

 

 

:dance::dance::dance::dance::dance::dance::dance:

I love I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight.

 

One of my favorites off it for sure.

^ I like that song, too.

for those who have been holding out.. Looks like the album will be streaming on their myspace page.

 

February 19, 2009

posted by: Tassoula

 

@U2 reader Jim alerted us to the Entertainment Weekly's PopWatch blog,

which reports that U2 will make their new album No Line on the Horizon

available to fans via live stream free of charge on their MySpace page

tomorrow at 5:00 a.m. ET.

 

So those of you who have resisted the urge to download by way of the

leak—here's a chance to have a listen with the band's blessing.

^ awesome! I hope it streams all day and not just that ridiculous time in the morning...

Rolling Stone is bad with artists they like. Dylan is a great example, and Bruce Springsteen is another. U2 doesn't quite match up with those two but, I admit, they are very close in terms of receiving positive reviews from that magazine.

 

But look at it another way...if Rolling Stone said No Line On The Horizon sucked, I would know we were in for a bad album.

for those who have been holding out.. Looks like the album will be streaming on their myspace page.

 

I'm still not listening! haha.

Me and some friends are planning on having a listening party. You know, bring back some of that excitement of going with your buddies to pick up an album and hear it for the first time.

I'm still not listening! haha.

Me and some friends are planning on having a listening party. You know, bring back some of that excitement of going with your buddies to pick up an album and hear it for the first time.

boy that's a great idea! Listening through a couple times is a must here. Don't jumpt to any conclusions right away, good or bad.

Yeah, I find most U2 albums are growers for me anyways.

I gave in...

 

Not to the leak, but the live stream on myspace. I'll give it one time through without repeat, in a couple week's time, when I buy the album I should have only a silhouetted outline of what each song sounded like now.