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This annoys me: The Courier Mail (Aust Paper) reviewed the album today and said nice things. They did a track by tracks analysis type thing. HOWEVER, because the Aust version has NLOTH 2 as the bonus track at the end (without stating its a bonus track btw) the reviewer assumed this was the last song on the album! He said it was a strange way to finish the album with a reprise of the open track and that it should have ended with Cedars! lol.
 
Greatest comeback? They recaptured mass sales with ATYCLB, but never really went downhill in popularity, they've been probably the biggest live act since 1987, and besides not releasing anything between late 2004 and early 2009, they are hardly in need of a 'comeback', RS liked HTDAAB like most critics, even if they didn't find it an overwhelming masterpiece which I think is how most fans perceived it.
 
That Blender review was an excellent read, and it seems like its written by someone who can actually objectively look at music for music's sake, he's not hung up on the mainstream's silly hate for U2 and its success (and dare I say it, their earnest emotions in music) or with eating up everything they do, and I share much of his view on this latest, I would say NLOTH isn't quite up to the JT/AB pantheon, but it is complete and flows and brings some new flavors and attitudes to their sound. They made two perfect albums, and a lot of classic songs on the way but this is the first release they've had in nearly two decades to fit all together (a feat not only for them, but the modern music industry especially).
 
bono_man said:
This annoys me: The Courier Mail (Aust Paper) reviewed the album today and said nice things. They did a track by tracks analysis type thing. HOWEVER, because the Aust version has NLOTH 2 as the bonus track at the end (without stating its a bonus track btw) the reviewer assumed this was the last song on the album! He said it was a strange way to finish the album with a reprise of the open track and that it should have ended with Cedars! lol.
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Why are Aussie reviewers always dumbarses.....they tend to have no idea about anything.
 
"Bono actually sounds scared of something in this song [Moment of Surrender], and whether his nightmares are religious or sexual, the fear gives his voice some heft. Compared to “Moment of Surrender,” “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” just sounds like a callow kid trying to snag a date at Bible camp."

:applaud: So, so true.
 
No Line On The Horizon - CD Reviews - Music - Entertainment - theage.com.au

"a lush, adventurous, grandiose and epic album"

" Each listen rewards with new sumptuous sonic surprises. The biggest problem is the lack of cohesion. By trying to please old, recent and potentially new fans, they have thrown the kitchen sink at this record. Five years, four countries and three producers will have that effect."



3.5 Stars from THE AGE; their reviews are usually crap because they tend to recap more about who the artistis and about their career rather than talking about the album that is under review. The review for Years Of Refusal last week was utterly abysmal. It was just a few paragraphs about who Morrissey is and what he writes about, as opposed to discussing the album and it's songs itself.

Interestingly, NLOTH is criticised here for lacking cohesion, and that seems to be the only fault mentioned.
 
powerhour24 said:
Greatest comeback? They recaptured mass sales with ATYCLB, but never really went downhill in popularity, they've been probably the biggest live act since 1987, and besides not releasing anything between late 2004 and early 2009, they are hardly in need of a 'comeback', RS liked HTDAAB like most critics, even if they didn't find it an overwhelming masterpiece which I think is how most fans perceived it.
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Well, when you don't release anything for "five" years, it's like a "comeback" when you return. On U2's particular case I would call it an "event". :wink:
 
Greatest Music Event of 2009 is more like it haha. I'll just say screw what the silly haters say this is making my year, the fact that people would rather gloss over their career and look at them as egomaniacs than see them as sonically exploratory and truly beautiful musicians is their problem, they're missing out on an amazing experience. I like some popular artists as other people do, but there's nothing as inherently powerful as U2 is over me, their popularity doesn't play into it (although it makes for huge events of concerts).

Overall I think most serious music journalists are seeing NLOTH for what it is, and those that publish rants without truly knowing the music and calling it a review should be ashamed. People can dislike the music if they want, but I'm not seeing reviews that are actually engaging with the reviews and coming out negative. Leave the baggage behind and embrace earnest musicians.
 
powerhour24 said:
Greatest Music Event of 2009 is more like it haha. I'll just say screw what the silly haters say this is making my year, the fact that people would rather gloss over their career and look at them as egomaniacs than see them as sonically exploratory and truly beautiful musicians is their problem, they're missing out on an amazing experience. I like some popular artists as other people do, but there's nothing as inherently powerful as U2 is over me, their popularity doesn't play into it (although it makes for huge events of concerts).

Overall I think most serious music journalists are seeing NLOTH for what it is, and those that publish rants without truly knowing the music and calling it a review should be ashamed. People can dislike the music if they want, but I'm not seeing reviews that are actually engaging with the reviews and coming out negative. Leave the baggage behind and embrace earnest musicians.
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Dare I say decade? :wink:
Well, I believe that it's hard for us, as fans, to look at a negative review and analyze it objectively. But I truly haven't found one negative review that was well written by someone that seems familiar with the band's work and that was truly disappointed as a music listener by the songs.
 
Irvine511 said:
this guy actually gets it. it's nice to read. :up:
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:up:

So many critics have written about an album they really don't know anything about. It is refreshing to read a critique from someone who has actually listened/studied the tracks.

I don't care if they don't like it but by god you have to really listen. This isn't top fucking 20 shit. The album isn't Get on your Boots, either.
It's obvious in some cases they don't really have a real clue.
 
LemonMelon said:
Wow...a perfect score from Blender? I wasn't expecting that. Three 100s at the top of Metacritic will look sweet.

Of course, I wasn't expecting NLOTH to receive a middling review from AMG either, so it evens out.
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If Allmusic give it a lower rating than Bomb it will officially confirm for me they've gone completely downhill

Plus that review says Bomb was released in 2006

Allmusic has just become crappy lately (by which I mean subjectively I really dislike their current taste)
 
Billboard.com got the review up, but have no idea what the metacritic score is going to be:

U2 has been so reliable for so long that even its occasional missteps are fascinating, like a master French chef suddenly taking up sushi. Since 2000's "All That You Can't Leave Behind," the band has played it almost completely straight down the middle, with satisfying results. This time, U2 has it both ways. "Get On Your Boots" and "Stand Up Comedy" are big, visceral rockers. But there are also intriguing stylistic experiments like the seven-minute soul ballad "Moment of Surrender"; the gang vocals of "Unknown Caller"; the weary-sounding, chorus-free "Cedars of Lebanon"; and the Middle Eastern-flavored "Fez—Being Born," inspired by Morocco. Digesting the blend takes some time, but the best moments offer that immediacy, as on the opening punch of the groovy title track and the chiming "Magnificent." —Jonathan Cohen
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ATYCLB got 80, HTDAAB got 90, NLOTH will get ____?
 
5/100 : Q, Rolling Stone, Blender, People (4/4), USA Today (4/4)
4.5/90 : The Sun, Entertainment Weekly (A-/91)
4/80 : Sunday Observer, Hot Press, Irish Times, Mojo, Uncut, Sunday Times, Daily Mail, Nuts, Sputnik
3.75/75 : LA Times (3/4)
3.5/70 : Entertainment.ie (Ireland), Jamcanoe.com, IGN.com (7/10), NME (7/10), Spin, The Age.com.au
3/60 : The Times, Zoo, Daily Express, Daily Mirror, The Guardian
2.5/50 : Drowned In Sound (5/10)
2/40 : London Lite
1.66/33 : Time Out Sydney (2/6)

Average of 3.74/74.78 from these 31 reviews (115.91)
 
NME 7/10, says a local forum. NLOTH should end up higher than Bomb or ATYCLB on Metacritic.

U2 - Album review: U2 - Album Reviews - NME.COM

First local review :

"I have to confess I was sceptical as I took bought the new U2er record. One of the biggest bands in the world has to make albums that justify megaspectacular world tours. But not this time. U2 proved they sound best under the guide of the legendary Brian Eno. Interestingly No line on the Horizon sounds like their eary, more raw works. Which is of course commendable as the original sound of Bono's voice and Edge's guitar often got lost in the more or less succesful electronica expeditions. And it is the electronica tinged Get on your boots that is the weakest creation on this album. No line on the horizon is a mix, of sorts, between JT and AB - their best albums. The closer, Cedars of Lebanon, is Bono's strongest creation in the last few years". 5/5
 
I don't mean to dredge up the lyrics discussion from a few pages back, and I don't even know if this is the appropriate place, but I got the cd in the mail yesterday and I read the lyrics by themselves, and it seems to me that the more adventurous the song, the better the lyrics. Or the more poppy the song, the worse the lyrics. It seems to me that if U2 wrote a whole album of "Fez - Being Borns" then the lyrics would follow suit as they know they're actually being creative. I don't understand the dichotomy of this band! Look at the lyrics to Being Born and Cedars of Lebanon compared to Crazy Tonight or Stand Up - its the work of a completely different band! Or the moodier they get the more comtemplatively evocative the lyrics, the poppier they get the more throwaway. I think it shows a band in control. I think they realize when they're being really creative and it rubs off in every way, lyrics and music. I hope it catches for a completely creative next album!
 
Speaking of a review written by someone who can actually objectively look at music for music's sake, and not hung up on the mainstream's silly hate for U2 and its success (quote powerhour24), here's another Blender-quality critique:

Sunday Herald: Arts: Culture

Reviewed by Alan Morrison

FOR THE Beatles, it was Abbey Road; for The Rolling Stones, Let It Bleed. Queen delivered A Kind Of Magic; Pink Floyd did The Final Cut. So if U2 still deserve to be considered the biggest rock band in the world, how does their 12th studio album stand up in comparison with these giants of music history? How, indeed, does it stand up in comparison with their own back catalogue?

So far, the Dublin quartet have played it safe in the 21st century. Their previous two albums - All That You Can't Leave Behind (2000) and How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb (2004) - were solid, guitar-driven, commercial hits that added a good few tracks to the canon, but didn't come close to the seminal heights of The Joshua Tree (1987) or Achtung Baby (1991). Respective opening tracks Beautiful Day and Vertigo came charging out of the starting gates, heralding albums with plenty of energy but no obvious desire to push the music scene in any new direction.

Perhaps Bono's mind was elsewhere, as he jetted from the G8 summit to the White House to the Vatican in his campaign to eradicate poverty in Africa. As he agreed to photo opportunities with presidents and metaphorically dipped his hand into the pockets of the world's billionaires, he became an easy target for his detractors. Bono is, however, the model for what a politicised modern-day rock star should be. He's willing to let others feed off his fame if they're willing to pay top dollar, but even in his wraparound shades he never played the jester at the court of Bush and Blair. The proof of his success is plain to see in the increased overseas aid budgets of Western governments and the number of African kids now attending schools.
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There we go again; it's so easy to get distracted from the music. But 33 years into the band's career - a remarkable feat for an unchanged line-up - the time is right for U2 to at least strive for something more: to prove that their global reputation still has some musical currency. With No Line On The Horizon, even the title refuses to set restrictions or acknowledge that the end might be in sight. Producers Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois are back on board (although Steve Lillywhite continues to twiddle knobs, as he did on recent releases), and it's certainly the band's most ambitious record for some time.

The title track opens affairs at mid-pace, saving its urgency for Bono's vocal delivery (he's so happy to be back, he damn near yodels at some points). Magnificent follows up, calming the nerves of long-time fans and coming closest to the band's stadium anthems of the 1980s, as Bono's voice soars and The Edge's guitar chimes: this is U2 doing what only U2 can do.

Moment Of Surrender is reckoned by its writers to be the emotional high point of the album, its One (personally I reckon that comes later, with White As Snow). Over seven minutes long, it showcases the looping drum rhythms and understated bass lines of the often-overlooked Larry Mullen Jr and Adam Clayton. Strange, however, that the early drama of a voice set against sustained keyboard chords should give way to boy band harmonies (U2 as the alternative Take That?) and a prog-rock guitar solo (The Edge as the Dave Gilmour of cool?). Next up, Unknown Caller drags down the album's overall pace: a six-minute slab, straight after Moment Of Surrender, is surely a programming error. An arpeggio riff is to the fore, but this time the solo has something of Guitar Hero about it: here is The Edge, an overgrown schoolboy, regarding his reflection in a giant mirror ball.

Now, for three songs, comes the back-to-back commercial bit. I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight is, musically speaking, the album's tamest cut, although it does contain a key lyric (Every generation gets a chance to change the world/Pity the nation that will listen to your boys and girls/'Cause the sweetest melody is the one we haven't heard). Current single Get On Your Boots is all dirty fuzz and cheeky fun, an infectious moment of light relief. Stand Up Comedy leaves little impression; it's the kind of funky rock that's best left to the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

The album's final stretch is its most interesting. Fez - Being Born begins with a full minute of atmospheric studio overlays, the section where Eno's input and the band's studio jaunt to Morocco are clearest. White As Snow ties an intimate story to a traditional melody, creating a beautifully poetic portrait of memory and doubt. Breathe is a proper rocker with a proper rocking rhythm, fitting Bono's pressing rap vocal over a gorgeous progression of chords. Cedars Of Lebanon also puts the singer in character, this time as a jaded war correspondent, giving the topical lyrics and military drumbeat a gentle folky wash.

By all accounts, U2 had to work harder at this album; listeners will have to do so too. The band took several years to build up the musical layers in the studio; listeners will require several plays to take them apart again, to appreciate and make sense of each song's construction. If there is a criticism, then it's that this is truly the product of several studio sessions, not a spontaneous, organic whole made by a band who just love to jam together.

No Line On The Horizon isn't easily consumed, but it isn't alienating either, and that combination is exactly what puts U2 on top of the world. This is the sound of a band eager to challenge themselves creatively again, to demolish the image that they're just the warm-up act for their singer's political day-job.
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Don't know if it's been posted, but I got my Time magazine (European one) in the mail this morning and they slam it badly. Call it their unsatisfying new album (title: Stuck In A Moment). They rate only it and Pop as two horrible albums in their catalogue....way below Bomb and ATYCLB. Last sentence is "And a great band's horizon has never looked so close".
 
:ohmy:
Despite bold promises of a departure in direction, the 12th U2 studio album does a mean average of the rest of the dozen. It was recorded in Fès, Morocco (the rumoured North African influences are inaudible), and its generic homogeneity was assured by a too-many-cooks team of Daniel Lanois, Steve Lillywhite and Brian Eno, with a downloadable Anton Corbijn film thrown in to complete the set. 'No Line on the Horizon' is made with the stadium masses in mind. Tracks such as "Magnificent" and "Fez – Being Born" could have come straight out of 'The Joshua Tree'. Elsewhere, Bono does shameless impressions of Dylan ("Get On Your Boots"), Reed ("Cedars of Lebanon") and Springsteen ("Breathe"). The lyrics include familiar tics, such as the open-throated refrain ("Only love, only love can leave such a mark...") and the ponderous metaphor ("this dry ground it bears no fruit at all..."). For all its glaring faults, 'No Line on the Horizon' sounds big, expensive and important. For U2's core constituency, that will be enough.


Pick of the Album: U2 summarised in seven minutes: 'Moment of Surrender'

Album: U2, No Line on the Horizon (Interscope) - Reviews, Music - The Independent
 
Thanks for that review Dragonfave! I love the line about Bono "damn-near yodeling" on NLOTH :applaud:
 
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