Someone did their own review article thingy about the 30 second clips. Might as well post it
Put On Your Boots most upbeat
Tue, February 10, 2009
CD REVIEW: Wal-Mart let its website users in on a sampling of U2's No Line on the Horizon -- for a short while at least
It only takes a few seconds to make a good first impression -- or a colossally bad mistake.
Wal-Mart may have pulled off both at once this weekend when the retail behemoth posted 22-second clips of all the songs on U2's upcoming album -- No Line on the Horizon, out March * -- onto its website. Naturally, the clips were quickly removed -- but not before they got on their boots and rampaged to the outer horizons of the interwebs.
A horrifying public relations nightmare or a Machiavellian marketing scheme? We'll let you be the judge. We'll stick to what we do: Making half-baked snap judgments about music.
Here are our first impressions of the new U2 tracks:
No Line on the Horizon
A moody opener -- if the noisy keyboard-and-guitar drone and heartbeat-thump backbeat are any sign. Things seem to get prettier in the chorus, though.
Magnificent
Edge's chiming melodies and choppy strumming, Larry Mullen's snare rolls, Bono wailing the title -- this is closer to typical U2. But maybe a little bouncier and poppier.
Moment of Surrender
Just layers of churchy keyboards set to a sparse, slow-burning groove. There are no vocals in this clip, so your guess is as good as ours where it goes from here.
Unknown Caller
Glistening guitar arpeggios give way to another low-key beat -- and some indistinct falsetto crooning from Bono. Another ballad? Unknown.
I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight
Finally, some lyrics and OK ones: "Every beauty needs to go out with an idiot," sings Bono. Too bad he's singing them over yet another gently jangly backdrop. It's got a bit more energy than the last few cuts, but come on -- where's the rock?
Get On Your Boots
Finally, here it is: U2 revamps Pump it Up for the disco-rock masses. So far, this is easily the most upbeat track.
Stand Up Comedy
The band serves up a dash of slow-rolling funk, while Bono seems to be urging us to "stop helping God across the road like a little old lady." Um, sure.
Fez -- Being Born
It starts off all atmospheric and woozy -- with Bono chanting "Let me hear the sound" in the background -- then shifts midway into something groovier. Could be interesting.
White as Snow
With its spooky ambiance and plucked acoustic guitar, this ballad sounds fittingly wintry -- and just a teeny bit like Radiohead.
Breathe
A sweeping, swaggering blues-rock waltz with a touch of '70s Zeppish grandeur. It sounds promising. Until Bono announces "I wasn't going to buy just anyone's cockatoo, so why would I invite a complete stranger into my home? Would you?" What the . . . ?
Cedars of Lebanon
"Woke up in my clothes in a dirty heap," Bono rasps over the umpteenth smoky, ambient soundscape. After all those ballads, you'd think they'd go out with a bang, not a whimper. Apparently not -- but time will tell.
Going to delete your posts now as I have just added them to the first post.
. I know we all hate digging for them.
