NLOTH Album Reviews - Professional / Web / Mag Reviews ONLY

[bcrt2000]

So what major reviews are left now? NME and Pitchfork?

 

[MMP]

Allmusic, Entertainment Weekly, MOJO...

 

[pepokiss]

a Mercy mention

 

[last unicorn]

Spin Magazine.



It must have hurt for Spin to give them 3 1/2 stars. They don't want to like U2's albums but they just can't help but like this one.

Edited: oops forgot the link.
U2, 'No Line on the Horizon' (Interscope) | Spin Magazine Online

I don't understand SPIN - according to that article they really like the album, still couldn't be bother to give it at least that damn half star so it would be rated 4 stars? Will some music reviewers ever be able to overcome their own ego?

 

[The Sad Punk]

No Uncut review yet, presumably? Is the new Q on the shelves?

I don't understand SPIN - according to that article they really like the album, still couldn't be bother to give it at least that damn half star so it would be rated 4 stars? Will some music reviewers ever be able to overcome their own ego?

What do you expect from Spin?

 

[HansaTonImbiss]

Fantastic read

Thanks for that- should be in review chain as we speak. And I hope you all will read it when it hits the official distro as well...

 

[HansaTonImbiss]

Allmusic, Entertainment Weekly, MOJO...

Q is forthcoming as well, isn't it? And don't forget Billboard and iTunes.............

 

[AtomicBono]

This goes to review for posting online tomorrow AM. I thought I'd let the subjective crowd on this forum get a "first look" at what I'm submitting for editing as a thank-you for all the constant postings and links you all provided. This is a great online community, run by true fans. Thank you. Hope you all enjoy!

Thankfully, No Line on U2's Horizon
.

great review

 

[brianvox]

On The Record ? U2 “No Line On the Horizon”

U2 “No Line On the Horizon”
February 23, 2009 @ 8:48 am | by Jim Carroll
On The Record readers with an interest in sampling U2’s new album should proceed here where there are one minute snippets (yep, 60 seconds) of all the tracks from “No Line On The Horizon” to be heard. Please let us know what you think in the comments below.

Me? Well, seeing as you asked……

The arrival of a new U2 album has a strange effect on seemingly sane people. Many of my fellow critics, for instance, have greeted the new arrival with open arms, ticker-tape parades, unrestrained praise and new shades of purple prose. Such unpoetic arse-licking is to be expected from the band’s own golden circle of house-trained scribes, but it’s something else entirely when usually reliable bellwethers join the circus. Maybe they’re holding out for a 25 minute bull session with The Edge or it’s like the banking cowboys exhorting people to put on the green jersey

A peculiar byproduct of this particular release is the chorus of expert voices claiming that this is the album which will save the record business. Save the record business? Such misguided guff - that an album from one of the most marketing-savvy bands in the world will send people back into the shops filling their boots with CDs - makes you wonder when was the last time those experts actually stood in a record store and saw what was really going on out there. Naturally, HMV in Dublin will be opening at midnight on Thursday to provide the obligatory snap of U2 fans standing around on Grafton Street to get their hands on the new album. Have these people not heard of ? Joke, OK?

It would be too easy - and, let’s face it, far more entertaining - to continue this post in a similar snarky manner. That would see us going down a road which would lead to an accountant’s office in Amsterdam or a room in the White House where Bono is knee-to-knee with George W Bush. But those are human transgressions. For musical transgressions, you have to head to the new album.

Like every outing since “Achtung Baby”, this album is about trying to go back to that glorious snapshot in time. “Achtung Baby” was where U2 were last at their most thrilling and they know it. Back then, they showed that you could only truly proceed in pop by abandoning everything which had served you well to date. Since then, they’ve tried valiantly to recapture that high ground, yet have not showed the inclination or bravery required to leave the baggage at the door. Once, it seems, was enough for that.

Like its predecessors, “No Line On The Horizon” doesn’t really amount to a hill of beans. It huffs and puffs and throws all the right shapes to make it look like the band are going to the well in search of reinvention and creative salvation. However, it’s all show and no substance. There are a flurry of ideas here and the usual retinue of astute helpers are on hand too to turn these ideas into potential gold and platinum, yet there’s little to indicate that the band have the mettle to challenge themelves by doing what is not expected of a band in their position. The notion that Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois (and Steve Lillywhite is here too to keep things truly old-school) will always save the day is written large throughout. The fact is, though, that Eno and Lanois are only as good as who and what they’re working with and this is where the problems begin.

Actually, no, let’s be fair, there are a few positives here, a few turns like “Magnificent” when U2 fire on all cylinders like it’s the most natural thing in the world for four geezers to stand around in a room and make this sort of gut-busting music together. You can hear the cogs turning, the guitars and drums perfectly in synch, the sound of stadiums jumping up and down with glee. You can hear where the album could have gone and how it would have cocked a snook to the notion that such acts as Coldplay, Kings of Leon and The Killers are fit to stand on the same stage as U2. It’s the sound of a band not merely applying for their old job back, but actually writing a whole new “smart boys wanted” advert.

Sadly, such euhoria doesn’t last. You listen to “Unknown Caller”, “Breathe”, “Stand Up Comedy” and “Cedars Of Lebanon” and wonder what the hell is going on. It’s the comedown after the sugar rush. Like most of the album, each of these four tracks is a bit of a muddle with the band sounding strangely ill-at-ease with each other’s contributions and the song itself. It’s a strange kind of collective misfit, tracks trying to poke oneanother into making some semblance of sense together because they sure as hell don’t do so on their own.

It would be much too easy to signal out Bono’s lyrics for a bit of a lash here, but the truth is that he’s just one culprit in this blustery, burpy, over-cooked melodrama. The album’s glaring lack of coherence can be attributed to many factors, including a lengthy gestation period and a surplus of chefs at the pass, but such excuses only serve to show up again how a great album needs more than good intentions and ideas. It really needs a bundle of great songs and “No Line On The Horizon” is sorely lacking in this department.

While listening to the album, I kept going back to that careless run of shows in Croker in 2005 when the band went through the motions like a bunch of bored rich pre-occupied men counting their money. But pop fans are always willing to sit around for a second act. Like all romantics, we give our heroes the benefit of the doubt, hence why so many will fire up “No Line On The Horizon” and will it to be great. Just great - no-one is expecting a grime or hip-hop U2 (that was “Passengers”, wasn’t it?) or anything like that.

What we were after was an album to make us forget and overlook the distractions which the band have become about. We wanted an album to remind us that four musicians could stand together and deliver an album which was as honest as the day was long and as true to itself as rock can still sometimes be.

But with every song which doesn’t sound quite up to scratch, every groove which sounds too layered and over-analysed, every track which keeps meandering without any direction home and every awful bum lyric which makes you wince with pity for the writer, you’re reminded that U2 have other priorities these days and that this is an album created with those priorities in mind. This album will fill stadiums, newspapers, radio stations, web sites, quarterly target spreadsheets, bank balances, pension funds and investment opportunities in the tech sector. But, unlike so many other albums which will be released with far less fuss this year, it won’t fill your soul.

 

[zwervers2]

On The Record � U2 “No Line On the Horizon”

U2 “No Line On the Horizon”
February 23, 2009 @ 8:48 am | by Jim Carroll
On The Record readers with an interest in sampling U2’s new album should proceed here where there are one minute snippets (yep, 60 seconds) of all the tracks from “No Line On The Horizon” to be heard. Please let us know what you think in the comments below.

Me? Well, seeing as you asked……

The arrival of a new U2 album has a strange effect on seemingly sane people. Many of my fellow critics, for instance, have greeted the new arrival with open arms, ticker-tape parades, unrestrained praise and new shades of purple prose. Such unpoetic arse-licking is to be expected from the band’s own golden circle of house-trained scribes, but it’s something else entirely when usually reliable bellwethers join the circus. Maybe they’re holding out for a 25 minute bull session with The Edge or it’s like the banking cowboys exhorting people to put on the green jersey

A peculiar byproduct of this particular release is the chorus of expert voices claiming that this is the album which will save the record business. Save the record business? Such misguided guff - that an album from one of the most marketing-savvy bands in the world will send people back into the shops filling their boots with CDs - makes you wonder when was the last time those experts actually stood in a record store and saw what was really going on out there. Naturally, HMV in Dublin will be opening at midnight on Thursday to provide the obligatory snap of U2 fans standing around on Grafton Street to get their hands on the new album. Have these people not heard of ? Joke, OK?

It would be too easy - and, let’s face it, far more entertaining - to continue this post in a similar snarky manner. That would see us going down a road which would lead to an accountant’s office in Amsterdam or a room in the White House where Bono is knee-to-knee with George W Bush. But those are human transgressions. For musical transgressions, you have to head to the new album.

Like every outing since “Achtung Baby”, this album is about trying to go back to that glorious snapshot in time. “Achtung Baby” was where U2 were last at their most thrilling and they know it. Back then, they showed that you could only truly proceed in pop by abandoning everything which had served you well to date. Since then, they’ve tried valiantly to recapture that high ground, yet have not showed the inclination or bravery required to leave the baggage at the door. Once, it seems, was enough for that.

Like its predecessors, “No Line On The Horizon” doesn’t really amount to a hill of beans. It huffs and puffs and throws all the right shapes to make it look like the band are going to the well in search of reinvention and creative salvation. However, it’s all show and no substance. There are a flurry of ideas here and the usual retinue of astute helpers are on hand too to turn these ideas into potential gold and platinum, yet there’s little to indicate that the band have the mettle to challenge themelves by doing what is not expected of a band in their position. The notion that Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois (and Steve Lillywhite is here too to keep things truly old-school) will always save the day is written large throughout. The fact is, though, that Eno and Lanois are only as good as who and what they’re working with and this is where the problems begin.

Actually, no, let’s be fair, there are a few positives here, a few turns like “Magnificent” when U2 fire on all cylinders like it’s the most natural thing in the world for four geezers to stand around in a room and make this sort of gut-busting music together. You can hear the cogs turning, the guitars and drums perfectly in synch, the sound of stadiums jumping up and down with glee. You can hear where the album could have gone and how it would have cocked a snook to the notion that such acts as Coldplay, Kings of Leon and The Killers are fit to stand on the same stage as U2. It’s the sound of a band not merely applying for their old job back, but actually writing a whole new “smart boys wanted” advert.

Sadly, such euhoria doesn’t last. You listen to “Unknown Caller”, “Breathe”, “Stand Up Comedy” and “Cedars Of Lebanon” and wonder what the hell is going on. It’s the comedown after the sugar rush. Like most of the album, each of these four tracks is a bit of a muddle with the band sounding strangely ill-at-ease with each other’s contributions and the song itself. It’s a strange kind of collective misfit, tracks trying to poke oneanother into making some semblance of sense together because they sure as hell don’t do so on their own.

It would be much too easy to signal out Bono’s lyrics for a bit of a lash here, but the truth is that he’s just one culprit in this blustery, burpy, over-cooked melodrama. The album’s glaring lack of coherence can be attributed to many factors, including a lengthy gestation period and a surplus of chefs at the pass, but such excuses only serve to show up again how a great album needs more than good intentions and ideas. It really needs a bundle of great songs and “No Line On The Horizon” is sorely lacking in this department.

While listening to the album, I kept going back to that careless run of shows in Croker in 2005 when the band went through the motions like a bunch of bored rich pre-occupied men counting their money. But pop fans are always willing to sit around for a second act. Like all romantics, we give our heroes the benefit of the doubt, hence why so many will fire up “No Line On The Horizon” and will it to be great. Just great - no-one is expecting a grime or hip-hop U2 (that was “Passengers”, wasn’t it?) or anything like that.

What we were after was an album to make us forget and overlook the distractions which the band have become about. We wanted an album to remind us that four musicians could stand together and deliver an album which was as honest as the day was long and as true to itself as rock can still sometimes be.

But with every song which doesn’t sound quite up to scratch, every groove which sounds too layered and over-analysed, every track which keeps meandering without any direction home and every awful bum lyric which makes you wince with pity for the writer, you’re reminded that U2 have other priorities these days and that this is an album created with those priorities in mind. This album will fill stadiums, newspapers, radio stations, web sites, quarterly target spreadsheets, bank balances, pension funds and investment opportunities in the tech sector. But, unlike so many other albums which will be released with far less fuss this year, it won’t fill your soul.

A brave review and a bit of fresh air after the first storm called hype has lied down. Do I agree with the review? For a big part NO but at least it is an honest anti-suckfest which in all honesty makes the album even better to swallow. Raher this than hearing for the 3232823 billion time that this is the best record in he last 10 years and that coldplay suck

Oh. Edge should quit if he has any compassion left because he has been on a holiday for the last 11 years. Glad he emailed magnificent and beautiful day from wherever he has gone to. Enjoy your retirement; you have more than earned it and I take my hat of to you sir but Damn I MISS YOU!!!!!!!!

 

[last unicorn]

That's the Irish Times, right?
Haven't we read a couple of reviews from them already?

Anyway, even though I think that review sucks I am totally focussing on the positive things here and say the guy wrote some nice stuff about Magnificent.

It is my opinion that the reviewer is wrong on almost everything else he writes.

Apart from that I say the guy is so full of himself and yet fails miserably at writing a really coherent piece, this "review" is an avalanche of words. And I don't think I can identify with the "we" he's using, how arrogant.

 

[purpleoscar]

It's like calling Dark side of the moon wasted effort. All you have to do is listen to top 40 music to see this is one of the best albums of the decade.

 

[ramblin rose]

I hope this guy feels better now.

I actually don't mind the negative reviews. What usually rubs me the wrong way is that some of the negative reviewers can't hide their disdain for Bono and it is that dislike which doesn't allow them to be unbiased.

 

[cdirani]

The big issue for me is that these days we've got TOO many reviews. In the past, there were 10, 15 reviews now we get 40 reviews and none of them seem to match which proves that they are subjective and irregular. Even the good ones do not make a lot of sense for me. Amazingly, the David Fricke review (though it's 5 stars) is quite cohesive. I'm looking forward for a bad review that justify its points.

 

[brianvox]

That's the Irish Times, right?
Haven't we read a couple of reviews from them already?

Anyway, even though I think that review sucks I am totally focussing on the positive things here and say the guy wrote some nice stuff about Magnificent.

It is my opinion that the reviewer is wrong on almost everything else he writes.

Apart from that I say the guy is so full of himself and yet fails miserably at writing a really coherent piece, this "review" is an avalanche of words. And I don't think I can identify with the "we" he's using, how arrogant.

I think its worth reading the comments too. Jim Carroll is a pretty decent guy who truly loves music. At least he has shown the guile to write a review with a bit of thought and balance.

As you say he says some nice things about Magnificent. This must be the next single.

 

[Salome]

A brave review

what is brave about going into a review with as only intent to slam the album?
this was just bashing for the sake of bashing
apparently the writer hates everything they've done since Achtung
the only reason I kept reading was to find out why he did like Achtung and was so spiteful about everything since, but I didn't even manage to figure that out

I don't mind negative reviews as long as they're informative on what's wrong with the album according to the reviewer
the only thing I learned here is that the reviewer has a chip on his shoulder the size of the titanic and comes across as a dick

 

[U2girl]

Like every outing since “Achtung Baby”, this album is about trying to go back to that glorious snapshot in time
I somewhat agree with what he said about Eno/Lanois though. I'm not sure U2 can get a masterpiece with them anymore.

 

[laurent37]

A lot of the negative reviews are as Ramblin Rose said fueled by the autor's loathing for Bono. They can't stand him and think he is an arrogant irish little bigmouth who should keep his trap shut. Fortunately the man is everything these people will never be and they know it. If Bono was more low profile and modest they would hail every U2 record as the second comming. But if Bono was what these so called reviewers want him to be U2 wouldn't be as nearly as good as they are today and certainly not as interesting.

 

[Irishteen]

I think its worth reading the comments too. Jim Carroll is a pretty decent guy who truly loves music. At least he has shown the guile to write a review with a bit of thought and balance.

As you say he says some nice things about Magnificent. This must be the next single.

Jim Carroll hates U2 and makes no secret of it. Seriously U2 could release the best album ever and he'd hate it. Okay maybe a little harsh but he was never gonna praise it

 

[cdirani]

A lot of the negative reviews are as Ramblin Rose said fueled by the autor's loathing for Bono. They can't stand him and think he is an arrogant irish little bigmouth who should keep his trap shut. Fortunately the man is everything these people will never be and they know it. If Bono was more low profile and modest they would hail every U2 record as the second comming. But if Bono was what these so called reviewers want him to be U2 wouldn't be as nearly as good as they are today and certainly not as interesting.

I think people take it too seriously. Most of Bono's comments are self-deprecating or jokes. Kind of "Punk from Venus". Maybe there's lack of sense of humour in the world right now and that's bad.

 

[MrBTH]

Yea, I have to say thats one review that really got my back up - He's clearly simply a "Hater" with whom there will be no reasoning... I just feel sorry for people like that who are so caught up in their hatred for Bono or whatever that they will miss out on the beauty of this record completely...

 

[Dragonfave]

CD review: U2 'No Line on the Horizon' | Austin Music Source

4 Stars

The operative words for decoding the new U2 album are: Brian Eno. The longtime U2 producer is having quite the comeback, collaborating with David Byrne here (last year’s “Everything That Happens Will Happen Today”), producing Coldplay’s very own U2 record there (the Grammy-wining “Viva La Vida”).

Eno and longtime U2 co-helmer Daniel Lanois both get writing credits on all but two songs on “No Line On the Horizon” and the effect is more in line with Eno’s records with Byrne than something by those four blokes from Dublin.

Gauzy and proggy with spawling outros and angelic synths, think of “No Line” as an Eno album with Bono belting and warbling over top. The other three are clearly playing - that’s obviously Edge’s guitar in there and Larry Mullen’s signature, militaristic semi-breakbeats abound.

But there’s a disconnect, like the band is playing the complicated songs and saving their creative juice for selling these songs on the road, which is what U2 does best, anyway.

The title track opener pops like the Big Bang, all widescreen atmospherics and some decent one-liners from Bono (“She said, ‘Time’s irrelevant, it’s not linear’/ Then she put her tongue in my ear” Ta-dow!). Bono’s gospel belt on “Moment of Surrender” contrasts nicely with the synth burbles and stealthy melodic lines, while “Magnificent” rhythms harken back to the band’s electronica-inflected 1997 album “Pop.”

In fact, “No Line” seems like a sequel to the much-maligned “Pop,” an album that had nothing to do with its title. Older and wiser now, the band is futzing with the formula, but there’s enough in the songs keeping with the sound of 21st century U2, Inc. that fans won’t run screaming.

“Unknown Caller” brings everything together - keyboard drone, rolling drums, bird calls, strings, interlacing star-light guitar lines, anthemic horns, a slightly goofy Edge guitar solo and Bono contrasting the natural (“Sunshine/sunshine/I was lost between the midnight and the dawning”) with the artificial (“Force quit!/And move to trash!”), a difference Eno has been playing with his whole career.

There’s also a terrible single (“Get On Your Boots”) and two high-octane non-Eno, Steve Lillywhite-produced songs (“Breathe” and the unfortunately titled “I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight”) that don’t make much sense with the rest of the record, but would have made a killer non-album single, say, eight or so months from now.

But for maximum Bono/Eno (Beeno?) effect, program your CD player 4-3-2-1-7-8-9-11, which carves a spotty 53 minutes into the best 41-minute prog rock album you’re going to hear this year. Or rather, it’ll be the only one with Bono singing.

 

[standrums]

There was a review in tonights London Lite - slammed the album - gave it 2 stars (out of 5).

Don't know if it's online - anyone see it?

I'm not one of those people who slags any of the journalists who give bad review but I thought this guy was way off the mark - the review was unfair I think.

 

[Dragonfave]

Bloomberg.com: Arts and Culture

Feb. 24 (Bloomberg) -- U2 is a group that divides the world, for all Bono’s efforts to spread peace and harmony.

Maybe it is because of the front man’s globetrotting, grandstanding and speechifying that the act draws mixed reactions even after selling 140 million albums. For all those who pillory Bono as a pompous do-gooder, there are plenty more who see him as a sincere crusader who has saved lives. U2 gets attacked for its bombast one minute and praised for its rock anthems the next.

The early release online of the quartet’s newest effort after an Internet leak has stirred up both sides of the argument. The group’s 12th studio album, “No Line on the Horizon,” is pretty good, although unlikely to swing many listeners across the chasm between U2 bashers and U2 lovers.

In truth, it was never likely to be bad: The band worked on dozens of song ideas since mid-2006, moving between Morocco, Dublin, New York and London. Some of the most expensive producers money can buy were involved -- Rick Rubin (whose sessions don’t form part of the final album) and U2’s old collaborators Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois and Steve Lillywhite.

Interscope Records had tried to impose tight security for critics: no review copies and only listening parties with recording devices not allowed. The best-laid plans went awry when Universal Music Australia’s online store put the album on digital sale briefly. As the recording was downloaded and appeared all over the Web, U2 started streaming it on the MySpace site in some countries. The official CD release still is set to roll out worldwide, starting next week.

Jubilant Bloggers

U2’s detractors wasted no time in asserting that this was a publicity ploy after a lukewarm welcome to the single “Get On Your Boots” performed at the Grammy and Brit prize ceremonies. Fans, though, were elated. Bloggers hailed the return of “the best band in the world,” anticipating a slew of Grammys in 2010. (U2 has won 22 Grammy awards.)

The tuneless single is about the worst thing on the 53- minute album, which hasn’t got as many memorable hooks as “The Joshua Tree” (1987). Still, it is a definite grower.

Bono images himself as a host of personalities: a weary journalist in the Middle East on the closing “Cedars of Lebanon” and a dying soldier in Afghanistan on “White as Snow.”

U2 watchers may rejoice that the band is trying to be experimental again. While this CD isn’t as radical as “Achtung Baby” (1991) or “Pop” (1997) and certainly not as surprising as the “Passengers” project, at least it has more ambition than the mainstream “How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb” (2004) and “All That You Can’t Leave Behind” (2000).

Designer Tweaks

The Irish group is like a carmaker that issues a new model every few years with a couple of tweaks designed to lure you back. When you look closely it isn’t radically different to what came before. “Unknown Caller” has the sort of delay pedal that Edge used around the time of “The Unforgettable Fire” in 1984.

U2 remains a force to be reckoned with. “Breathe” is an old-fashioned, solid rock track with explosive guitars and Bono scattering lyrical shrapnel: “16th of June, Chinese stocks are going up / And I’m coming down with some new Asian virus ... Doc says you’re fine, or dying.” Wow.

The album will be released in a standard box, digipak with the album’s companion film “Linear” by Anton Corbijn, a 64- page magazine and on 180gm vinyl. Prices start at $13.98. Download fees vary across services.

Release dates: March 3 in the U.S., March 2 in the U.K.

Rating: *** 1/2.

.....out of ****.

 

[mikeuk]

There was a review in tonights London Lite - slammed the album - gave it 2 stars (out of 5).

Don't know if it's online - anyone see it?

I'm not one of those people who slags any of the journalists who give bad review but I thought this guy was way off the mark - the review was unfair I think.

this publication is given out free _ indeed pushed into hands_ and is really just a summary of the red-tops in the UK so in summary no journalistic integrity at all Mike

 

[Matthew_Page2000]

I think its worth reading the comments too. Jim Carroll is a pretty decent guy who truly loves music. At least he has shown the guile to write a review with a bit of thought and balance.

As you say he says some nice things about Magnificent. This must be the next single.

Don't agree at at. It would be difficult to write a more snarky, meanspirited review. Every critic who loves the album is just sucking up to Bono. Sure.
Critics like this should just step in front of a freight train and do us all a favor.

 

[ny_atom]

Here's Jim DeRogatis's take on the album (3 1/2 stars), from the Chicago Sun Times:

In the late '70s, as the punk explosion transformed the British and American rock scenes, some of the biggest groups of the preceding years drew inspiration from the new energy and aesthetic to craft albums which, in many cases, stand as great last gasps before impending dinosaurdom.

The Rolling Stones responded with "Some Girls" (1978), Led Zeppelin with "In Through the Out Door" (1979) and Yes with "Going for the One" (1977), to name a few.

Classic-rock superstars on the same level a generation later, U2 did something similar with "Achtung Baby" in 1991, at the height of the alternative and Britpop movements. But Bono and his bandmates arguably were even more courageous in abandoning the stadium bombast that had come to characterize their sound in favor of much edgier art-rock experimentation and a new ironic attitude that seemed to scoff at their earlier, often pompous and heavy-handed rattle and hum.

It was a good trick, but the Irish rockers could only really do it once, and after "Zooropa" (1993) and "Pop" (1997) continued trying to push the envelope with ever-diminishing results, the musicians retreated to bland, retro-minded U2-by-numbers conservatism in the new millennium with "All That You Can't Leave Behind" (2000) and "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb (2004), in between Bono's decidedly non-ironic attempts to end world hunger, cure AIDS and stop global conflict.

These good acts stand in sharp contrast to blatant money-grabs such as the band's mega-merchandising deal with Live Nation or its high-priced stadium tours, and as the musicians edged closer to age 50, it seemed as if their own status as musical dinosaurs was a sad inevitability. Or was it?

That question looms large over "No Line on the Horizon," the band's 12th studio album, arriving in stores on Tuesday (Mar. 3) but already streaming online. It was voiced most eloquently by Bono himself: "If this isn't our best album, we're irrelevant," he told the Times of London (though during the obnoxious hype campaign, I've heard him say something similar to many a great sage, including Billy Bush of "Access Hollywood").

To cut to the chase: No, "No Line on the Horizon" is not U2's best album; that honor still belongs to "Achtung Baby." But it is a much stronger effort than any since, or than I'd have expected the band to still be capable of producing. And if the group doesn't quite seems as brave, original or freshly inspired as it did 18 years back--much less than at the start of its career three decades ago--well, the new disc at least proves that the quartet is not yet totally irrelevant.

Mind you, this is not the same as saying U2 is as important and creative a band as U2 thinks it is, and to an even greater degree than on "The Unforgettable Fire" (1984), "The Joshua Tree" (1987) or "Achtung Baby," a big portion of the credit for the new album's success is due to the familiar production team of Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois, as the musicians themselves acknowledge: Despite their long association, this is the first time Eno and Lanois have received co-songwriting credit with U2--their names appear on seven of 11 tracks--and they also performed with the band in the studio, Lanois on pedal steel guitar and Eno on his famous electronic manipulation/"Enossification."

Having abandoned initial sessions with Rick Rubin, a producer who'd have been much more likely to deliver yet another retread U2 rock album, the musicians invited Eno and Lanois to once again challenge U2 about what U2 "should" sound like. Addressing their relationship in 1992, Eno told me: "They have a lot of people obviously who will encourage them to do more of what they've already done... I'm part of the small contingent that redress that by coming along and hearing things that I don't recognize and saying, 'Wow, now that sounds really exciting. Let's follow that for awhile.'"

Here, the best results come from the roiling grooves and otherworldly melodies of the title track and "Unknown Caller"; the gospel transcendence of "Moment of Surrender" (which brings to mind Eno's recent collaboration with David Byrne on "Everything That Happens Will Happen Today"); the Middle Eastern drone of "Fez--Being Born"; the inspired rewrite of the 12th Century hymn "Oh Come, Oh Come Emmanuel" as "White as Snow," a song about a soldier dying in Afghanistan, and "Cedars of Lebanon," which finds Bono channeling Frank Sinatra during a barroom chat set against trademark Eno ambience.

Through it all, the musicians are at the top of their games, with drummer Larry Mullen Jr. and bassist Adam Clayton sounding more fluid but propulsive than ever, and the Edge once more proving himself a master of minimalism while adding half a dozen simple but striking new sounds to his bag of sonic tricks. As for soon-to-be-49-year-old Nobel Peace Prize contender Paul David Hewson, his instrument remains a strong one, though he's increasingly confused about whether he wants to say Great and Important Things ("I was born/I was born to sing for you/I didn't have a choice but to lift you up," he croons in the soggy and ponderous "Magnificent") or scoff Fly-like at that very notion while laughing at his own ubiquitous image ("Stand up to rock stars/Napoleon is in high heels/Josephine, be careful/Of small men with big ideas," he advises in the equally annoying "Stand Up Comedy").

Even worse are U2's collaboration with will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas on "I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight," an ill-advised attempt to get funky, and the first singe "Get On Your Boots," a space-age take rewrite of a vintage Nancy Sinatra psychedelic go-go ditty. Both tracks find the musicians protesting their youthful vitality to such a degree that they wind up sounding like dirty old men too repulsive and embarrassing to be cast in a Viagra commercial.

Given the cringe-worthy lousiness of those four significant missteps, it's even more of a testament to how the lush melodies and swirling sonic inventions of the rest of the disc keep you wanting to come back again and again (albeit with judicious use of the skip/fast-forward function of your CD player or iPod). "Let me in the sound! Meet me in the sound!" Bono chants at different points in no fewer than three of these new songs, and it turns out to be an invitation that's still well worth accepting.

 

[digitize]

CD review: U2 'No Line on the Horizon' | Austin Music Source

4 Stars

That's my city!

 

[Earnie Shavers]

Here's Jim DeRogatis's take on the album (3 1/2 stars), from the Chicago Sun Times:

Very good review. Disagree about Magnificent, but I totally understand and expect that song to polarize. It’s great, but it’s ultra-U2-ey and has ‘that’ lyric, and that will understandably annoy many. The rest I pretty much agree with totally.

 

[last unicorn]

The Bloomberg review is a nice surprise, they used to bash Bono quite a bit in the past. Good to see them giving a decent review.

Chicago Sun Times is ok, him not liking Magnificent .... I can live with that, after most other reviewers and music fans seem to love/like it. But I think he's genuinly wrong about Boots and Crazy Tonight, I'm not very fond of both songs personally (I prefer Boots), but I think he just don't really "get" these songs.