No Line On The Horizon: the most underrated album?

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I think my opinion mirrors many others on here - the album starts strong, has a poor middle and then ends well.

NLOTH, Moment of Surrender and Magnificent are all good songs. MoS was a grower, at first I thought it plodded along a little too much but I appreciate it far more now.

The poor middle section for me is Unknown Caller, Crazy Tonight and Get On Your Boots. What were they thinking with Boots? For me it is one of the worst U2 songs, and a terrible choice for opening single.

Stand Up Comedy - it isn't amazing, but I don't mind it.

FEZ, White as Snow, Breathe and Cedars - all great songs. Breathe should have been the lead single.

Overall I'd give the album a solid 6.5/10. It has a couple of gems, a bunch of good songs but unfortunately also has three terrible songs, including one of the worst ever written by U2.
 
Headache in a Suitcase said:
there's no need to try and like mercy, nor feel bad about not liking it.

come to the dark side. it's nicer here.

mercy.jpg
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:beer:
 
I think I'd mentally blocked out the existence of "I Know I'll Go Crazy Again Tonight Maybe/Sort of" or whatever it's called, until reading over the last few pages of this thread.

That song, more than anything else the band has done in the past dozen years (and there are lots of such things to choose from), has turned me off them.

I've not really listened to U2 over the past several years. I would like to get back into their music again, but to do so please allow me the illusion that "the song which shall remain un-named" does not exist. Thank you all.
 
I've spent the past month revisiting NLOTH, and I agree fully that it is the most underrated- with a few tweaks. Unlike Bomb, which I cannot and never did get into, or ATYCLB, which is really solid but has lost some lustre with age (and drops off after track 7), NLOTH is not only a grower, with resequencing and a few edits it could be (IMO) a borderline classic. My edits (I took an A side/B side approach, with side A ending after Breathe):

1. Kingdom (Soon); 2. NLOTH (v.2); 3. Magnificent; 4. Moment of Surrender; 5. Breathe; 6. Fez/Being Born; 7. Unknown Caller; 8. Crazy Tonight (single version, maybe rename it too? "Climb"?); 9. WaS; 10. Cedars

I agree with most on Mercy- it's a nice song but would be awkward here, and I havent found a version yet that makes me say, "Oh man, that would be great on X album". Its a good cut, but unfinished at best. Anyways, with the edits above NLOTH is now near third or 4th for me of their album releases. If only they had trusted their gut and experimented after a fairly obvious album- I think they have something special there.
 
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HansaTonImbiss said:
I've spent the past month revisiting NLOTH, and I agree fully that it is the most underrated- with a few tweaks. Unlike Bomb, which I cannot and never did get into, or ATYCLB, which is really solid but has lost some lustre with age (and drops off after track 7), NLOTH is not only a grower, with resequencing and a few edits it could be (IMO) a borderline classic. My edits (I took an A side/B side approach, with side A ending after Breathe):

1. Kingdom (Soon); 2. NLOTH (v.2); 3. Magnificent; 4. Moment of Surrender; 5. Breathe; 6. Fez/Being Born; 7. Unknown Caller; 8. Crazy Tonight (single version, maybe rename it too? "Climb"?); 9. WaS; 10. Cedars

I agree with most on Mercy- it's a nice song but would be awkward here, and I havent found a version yet that makes me say, "Oh man, that would be great on X album". Its a good cut, but unfinished at best. Anyways, with the edits above NLOTH is now near third or 4th for me of their album releases. If only they had trusted their gut and experimented after a fairly obvious album- I think they have something special there.
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What about Winter? Blows WAS out of the water. That's an unlistenable track for me but I may be in the minority on that one...
 
redhill said:
What about Winter? Blows WAS out of the water. That's an unlistenable track for me but I may be in the minority on that one...
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I like Winter but something thematically about WAS fits better on the record for me. I'll give Winter another spin, the original non-film version.
 
Winter starts off so good...great mood. Love the simplicity of Edge over those chords. Bono is a little warbly but it's ok.

You can tell there was almost a U2 classic in there somewhere but it just doesn't get there.

Strings sound like a synth. Should have been live.

The transition to the chorus is terrible. And the chorus itself not great. It's very comparable to Levitate in this way.

Contrast the transition in OG Mercy, which is great...but cut from the later live versions.

The inverse would be the clunky riffy poo of Xanax verses exploding into the great chorus...and then they improved the verse music and deflated the chorus with Fast Cars
 
cobl04 said:
Pop is the most underrated, so stop all this bullshit, end of story
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For an album that's supposedly underrated, it sure seems to get a lot of love around here. For what it's worth, I've listened to it more than JT...

I still remember getting the cassette the day it dropped and going into my family business after hours to listen to it. Lights off and no one else in the building...around 8PM....with cars passing by...I wasn't entirely sure what to make of it at first (much like AB). I soon realized how remarkable and extraordinary an album it really was.

Looking at the tracklisting now and I can't find one song I wouldn't listen to.
 
cobl04 said:
Pop is the most underrated, so stop all this bullshit, end of story
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Pop and NLOTH are very similar in a way, at least to me. Conceptual albums that were compromised by the band's fear that the general public wouldn't "get" it, culminating in some stellar, some abhorrent, but mostly good tracks that felt disjointed as assembled. I will say that my edited NLOTH grabs me more than Pop, partly because Pop is just so ridiculously long and partly because NLOTH's B-sides are largely originals vice remixes ("Holy Joe" and a few others aside).

All told, I'll argue that NLOTH is more underrated because I think a lot of people shot it dead after the first single, whereas Pop got some life from Discotheque and LNOE/IGWSHA, particularly in Europe. It took 360 for people to revisit NLOTH, and many never did.

Oh, and as much as i hate Boots and SUC, I'll forever consider Playboy Mansion and Miami worse.
 
To those who don't like Miami, listen to the live version from Leeds. I'd be surprised if anyone didn't change their opinion at least a bit on it.
 
kabigon said:
To those who don't like Miami, listen to the live version from Leeds. I'd be surprised if anyone didn't change their opinion at least a bit on it.
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Oh the live version was killer. I just don't think the live version of Miami can atone for its lyrical sins the way the live version of Boots did, at least in my opinion.
 
HansaTonImbiss said:
Pop and NLOTH are very similar in a way, at least to me. Conceptual albums that were compromised by the band's fear that the general public wouldn't "get" it, culminating in some stellar, some abhorrent, but mostly good tracks that felt disjointed as assembled. I will say that my edited NLOTH grabs me more than Pop, partly because Pop is just so ridiculously long and partly because NLOTH's B-sides are largely originals vice remixes ("Holy Joe" and a few others aside).
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This is quite an astute likening. I don't think there's one abhorrent track on Pop, though...and think it's the more daring and complete album.

All told, I'll argue that NLOTH is more underrated because I think a lot of people shot it dead after the first single, whereas Pop got some life from Discotheque and LNOE/IGWSHA, particularly in Europe. It took 360 for people to revisit NLOTH, and many never did.

Oh, and as much as i hate Boots and SUC, I'll forever consider Playboy Mansion and Miami worse.
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I'd flip that, personally. I'm not that guy posting "U2 Wrote Miami" all over youtube but I always enjoyed that track. It really is a fun and twisted listen when you're on vacation in sunny places...even Miami ;)

Playboy Mansion is U2 writing about modern themes without trying too dang hard...and I always get a kick out of it. It's breezy!
 
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Did bono always say petrol rather than gasoline on live versions of miami? This keeps me awake at night.
 
HansaTonImbiss said:
Pop and NLOTH are very similar in a way, at least to me. Conceptual albums that were compromised by the band's fear that the general public wouldn't "get" it, culminating in some stellar, some abhorrent, but mostly good tracks that felt disjointed as assembled. I will say that my edited NLOTH grabs me more than Pop, partly because Pop is just so ridiculously long and partly because NLOTH's B-sides are largely originals vice remixes ("Holy Joe" and a few others aside).

All told, I'll argue that NLOTH is more underrated because I think a lot of people shot it dead after the first single, whereas Pop got some life from Discotheque and LNOE/IGWSHA, particularly in Europe. It took 360 for people to revisit NLOTH, and many never did.

Oh, and as much as i hate Boots and SUC, I'll forever consider Playboy Mansion and Miami worse.
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Completely disagree. I don't see any compromise on Pop. I have never believed this bullshit that it's "unfinished" or whatever, it's perfect as it is. It flows very well.

HansaTonImbiss said:
Oh the live version was killer. I just don't think the live version of Miami can atone for its lyrical sins the way the live version of Boots did, at least in my opinion.
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Miami and The Playboy Mansion are both excellent songs. Miami in particular is a great song. Comparing them to Boots is asinine; the difference is that with Boots it was Bono trying incredibly hard to write a carefree, throwaway rock track. On Miami he didn't have to try so hard, he just wrote a fun dumb throwaway song and it's natural and it works. You can hear the tongue in his cheek on both songs.

There's no cheek in Boots, or anywhere on NLOTH. That's Bono trying so hard. He never used to have to try that hard. That's what makes Pop great.
 
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