UPDATE (01/29/2009, newest version)
An analytical summary of NLOTH from the journalist's view, with the tunes in a casual running-order:
- First the Q-source from November visiting the Olympic Studios and a private session with Bono ...
- Second the Q-magazine snippets, that might capture nearly the same period than the first source and might have the same roots as controbution for Q's special ...
- Third the RS-review of the tracks from early December (with the wrong date, 22nd January, but claiming to be part of the 7th January issue!!!)
-Fourth the current RS-article (01/07/2009), that was obviosuly written on the same occasion as the RS-review. This article confirms our impression here in the forum, that the time, Q and RS visited U2, the work was far from finished. One consequence: At least in parts the known album tracks are 'only' working titles; to create a tracklist for NLOTH out of this, is pure speculation. "We're at the point where half the album is done, and half the album is in a state where anything can happen — and probably will" – says the Edge and thus, this is all we know here on the board regarding the different tunes...
-Fifth the detailed (and officially by the mangement allowed?) Alan Cross statements and impressions on the new single "Get On Your Boots", who's yet to be the first known to us journalist, who obviously has listened to the track (
Twitter / alancross).
-Sixth the 2nd detailed review of the single by skott100 (
http://www.u2interference.com/forums/f196/i-got-on-boots-this-morning-single-review-192159.html)
- Seventh including the official tracklist, confirmed by u2.com and new descriptions by billboard.com
- Eighth Dave Fanning's reviews
- Ninth Daniel Lanois in an interview with Alan Cross
- Tenth "Independent article", that refers to the album's playback in Dublin on St. Stephen's Greeen (01/29/09)
- Eleventh "www.u2tour.de", that unfortunately doesn't tell us much more about the album's themes & lyrics, but at least about the sounds ...
... enjoy and thanx for keeping this 'analytical' thread alive!
1. "No Line On The Horizon"
(- Q-source: "further unfinished"; "two versions were extant: the first is another TUF-esque slow burner that builds to a euphoric coda, the second a punky Pixies/Buzzcocks homage that proceeds at a breathless pace", "Bono very excited about the second version"
(- Q-magazine: "began life as a slow paced Eno-esque ambient treatment, before being dramatically reworked in the Olympic Sessions into an abrasive punk-rock tune akin to Vertigo, with its "No! Line!" chorus chant"
- RS-source: "the title track's relentless groove began as a group improvisation. "It's very raw and very to the point," says the Edge. "It's like rock & roll 2009""
-RS-article: "churning, tribal groove and a deadpan chorus"; ""after-dark" song"; "one of those tunes, where, Bono says, "we allow our interest in electronic music, in Can, Neu! and Kraftwerk, to come out."
- Independent: "the opening title track kicks off with a crunchy, distorted guitar riff from the Edge"
- tour.de: "booming guitar riffs", "slamming bass", "Bono's voice cries, hurts, and only slowly gets more melodic"; "the catchy chorus is a surprise, carried vocally by The Edge"; "in the middle the song is slower", "classic U2 song structures, before it gains more speed again"; "at the end guitar parts that remind of Lady With The Spinning Head"; "a dense atmospheric song"; "U2's music in a changed world of sounds")
2. "Magnificent"
(- Q-source: "classic U2-isms"; "echoes TUF's opening track A Sort Of Homecoming in its atmospheric sweep"
- Q-magazine: "slow building anthem with the ambience of TUF and laced with the wide eyed wonder of U2's earlier albums. Edge here is at his most dynamic. Features the line:"Only love can reset your mind""
- RS-source: ""Only love can leave such a mark," Bono roars on what sounds like an instant U2 anthem. Will.i.am has already done what Bono calls "the most extraordinary" remix of the tune"
- RS-article: "familiarly chiming U2 anthem"
- Independent: "dancey electro flourishes introduce an atmospheric track with moody leanings"
- u2tour.de: "begins with loud drums, there are loops and riffs, chasing each other, before Edge's classical guitar sound sets in"; "Bono starts singing his part with the title of the song"; "a very melodical song, perhaps one of the best on the whole album"; "but also one that would have fit on previous U2 albums"; "also new layers of sound and would perhaps still feel fine on 'Achtung Baby'"; "a strong coda finishes the song, which we already know as Beachclip No. 4.")
3. "Moment Of Surrender"
(- Q-source: "particular excitement was reserved for"; "a strident seven-minute epic recorded in a single take"; "sounds like a great U2 moment in the spirit of "One""
- Q-magazine: "georgiously melodic 7 minute song that already has the air of the U2 classic about it, with lyrics about dark stars and existential crises:"I did not notice the passers-by/And they did not notice me". Recorded in one take. This album's "One""
- RS-source: "this seven-minute-long track is one of the album's most ambitious, merging a TJT-style gospel feel with a hypnotically loping bass line and a syncopated beat""
-RS-article: "astonishing seven-minute"; "was played just one time — the band improvised the version on the album from thin air"
- Billboard: "more experimental fare"; "an electro-leaning track with an Eastern-inspired scale in the chorus, making it one of the weirder U2 tracks in decades."
- Independent: "this particular moment of surrender sees a slowing down of the tempo and some delicate, bluesy guitar playing from the Edge"
- u2tour.de: "among the slowest on the CD"; "dripping beats with an obvious influence from the Fez sessions open the track"; "strings and keyboards take over, before Bono's voice surprisingly shaky begins". "parts of the song almost remind of the Passengers' experiments"; "until Bono and Edge come to melodical chorus with Falsetto voice support"; "a gloomy mood"; "a much-layered sound carpet"; "Edge has a very expressive, but slow guitar solo in this song"")
4. "Unknown Caller"
(- Q-source: "stately"; "was recorded in Fez and opens with the sounds of birdsong taped by Eno during a Moroccan dawn"
(- Q-magazine: "opens with the sound of birdsong recorded live in Fez. A middle eastern flavoured percussion loop drives this tale about a man"at the end of his rope" whose phone bizarrely begins texting him random instructions: "Reboot yourself","Password, enter here","You're free to go".
Dallas Schoo describes the song as "one of Edge's major solos in his life - you wont hear better than that on any other song""
- RS-source: "this midtempo track could have fit on ATYCLB. "The idea is that the narrator is in an altered state, and his phone starts talking to him," says the Edge"
-RS-article: not mentioned
- Independent: "more intricate guitar fretwork that builds into a mid-tempo rocker featuring an organ and one of the album's lushest productions"
- u2tour.de: "Bird, electrical noise and keyboards guide "Unknown Caller" on." "The song has exciting breaks in the sound structure, somewhere it always comes back to the classic U2 sound, before it comes consistently interrupted"; "almost the entire track sung in two voices". "In the chorus sings Bono "Restart and reboot yourself" and brings one of the key points, the lyrics may be the concept of the album: "I was lost between the midnight and the dawning"" "Edge with another strong guitar solo and Bono singing "Escape yourself and gravity." "This song is known as Beachclip No. 1")
5. "I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight"
(- Q-source: "straight up pop"; "the track Will.I.Am was taking a pass at"
- Q-magazine: "upbeat pop track with distinct echoes of 60's era Phil Spector, particularly the moment when its chorus disappears into a wash of reverb. Centres around the line: "I'll go crazy If I dont go crazy tonight""
- RS-source: "It's kind of like this album's 'Beautiful Day' — it has that kind of joy to it," Bono says. With the refrain "I know I'll go crazy/If I don't go crazy tonight," it's the band's most unabashed pop tune since "Sweetest Thing"
-RS-article: not mentioned
- Billboard: "classic U2 rocker"
- Independent: "chiming guitar intro, a rousing Bono falsetto and the lyric, "Every generation has a chance to change the world"
- u2tour.de: "one of the shorter songs of the album. The sound is taken from Larry's Drums, Edge comes with catchy guitar parts"; "quiet song sections before Larry comes back powerfully forward". "In the central part of it sometimes reminds a little of the atmosphere in "Sometimes You Can t make it on your own, while the end of the song sounds a lot like "Ultra Violet"-sounds"; "The text of the song is political, Bono sings: "There`s a part of me that wants to riot" and later "Every generation get's a chance to change the world". "I'll go crazy would also be a possible second or third single")
6. "Get On Your Boots"
(- Q-source: "among other instantly striking tracks"; "a heaving electro-rocker that may mark the destination point the band had been seeking on POP"
- Q-magazine: "formerly titled "Sexy Boots", this demented electro grunge employs a proto-rockn'roll riff, but propelled into the future, with a hip-hop twist in the middle. Features Bono in flirtacious, self depreciating mode: "I dont wanna talk about wars between nations""
-RS-source: "the likely first single, this blazing, fuzzed-out rocker picks up where "Vertigo" left off. "It started just with me playing and Larry drumming," the Edge recalls. "And we took it from there""
-RS-article: "with a furry monster of a fuzz-guitar riff"; "power chords that, per Bono, echo the Damned's "New Rose"; verses that share a rhythm with "Subterranean Homesick Blues"; and a chorus that mixes whimsy and ardor: "Get on your boots/Sexy boots/You don't know how beautiful you are." "A hundred fifty beats per minute, three minutes, the fastest song we've ever played," Bono says, playing the tune at deafening volume in an airy studio lounge after dinner. "We're not really ready for adult-contemporary just yet."
-Alan Cross in his "twitter"-blog I: "expected to be heard on the radio within ten days, maybe sooner"; "a lot of electronic sounds"; "Larry plays some kind of electronic drums, too"; Bono rhymes "submarine" with "gasoline"";
"the original title was "Sexy Boots, then it was "Get Your Boots On", now it's "Get On Your Boots"; "the new U2 single will be called "Get On Your Boots" (note the subtle title change)"
- Alan Cross in his "twitter"-blog II: "some new sounds, that could only come from an Eno/Lanois production"; "left me with a feeling similar to what I experienced when I heard “The Fly” for the first time"; "not a back-to-basics guitar/bass/drums track like “Vertigo” or even “Beautiful Day”; there’s some definite sonic evolution going on here"; "it does rock" (no ballad); "Bono manages to rhyme “submarine” with “gasoline” and says something about “don’t talk to me about the state of nations”; "there’s a portion of the melody that somehow reminds me of the cadence of the verses in Elvis Costello’s “Pump It Up,” but as I write this, I’m not completely sure"; "part of the song reminded me of…something else"; "Did I like it? I didn’t hate it—but I need to hear it more before I really make up my mind about what I think about….anything to do with the song"; "filled with far more subtleties and complexities that anyone can hear with one listen"
- skott100: "opens with a drum fill, not unlike "Young Folks" by Peter, Bjorn & John"; "signature riff is muscular and catchy in the "Vertigo" vein, with a rapid fire vocal pattern"; "Alan Cross compared the verses to "Pump It Up" by Elvis Costello, and I can't say I disagree with that. It's evocative but I wouldn't call it a rip-off"; "chorus goes all middle eastern with Bono singing "You don't know how beautiful you are""; "half-tempo breakdown/bridge with a processed drum loop ... like John Bonham playing on a Massive Attack song before the song lurches back into the main riff for another verse and chorus"; "feels like a dense 7 minute epic crammed into about 3 and a half minutes"; "most striking are the drums"; "never heard so many layers of rhythm on a U2 song"; "a lot of very processed drums (I thought of Kasabian at one point and N*E*R*D* at another) and loops going on, coming in and out of the mix"; "at points it goes back to traditional sounding drums for emphasis"; "extremely tasteful, but complex enough to make my head spin"; "this is not U2 by the numbers"; "not a "return to form" or "back to basics""; "his is, what the kids like to call, some OTHER shit"; "the 21st Century version of U2"; "hey aren't looking back to their own catalog for inspiration anymore, if this song is any indication"
- Billboard: "classic u2 rocker; ""premieres Monday (Jan. 19) on Dublin's 2FM. It will be released digitally Feb. 15 and physically the following day"; "the group will perform "Get on Your Boots" Feb. 18 at the BRIT Awards ceremony in London"
- Dave Fanning: "the ‘Vertigo’ of the album - although a completely different kind of song"; "it’s very U2"; "a big song with lots of layers but not overproduced"; "great track"
- Daniel Lanois: "a hell of a groove"; "some of the sounds were provided by The Edge himself. The main guitar parts"; "some nice bits of processing in there, there is a a little sound that sort of scoots by, like a high speed sound effect, that’s one that was born through the process of studio manipulation, and it’s one that stuck"; "a nice interesting mixture of technology and hand-played drums"; "there is a separate track that features kind of a bass drum loop that we did of Larry, and it runs along side of the main kit and is featured in certain sections of it"; "the marriage of hand-played and the electro combination"
- Independent: "the belting single that shot straight to the top of the Irish airplay charts here stands as the halfway tune. The video will be premiered tomorrow on
Irish Independent News in Ireland & Worldwide | Irish Newspaper | News Stories Online�-�Independent.ie from 4.55pm."
- u2tour.de: "fits perfectly in the album's flow"; "awakens new life while providing a little musical recreation"; "not quite as dense and complex in structure as the previous tracks")
7. "Stand Up Comedy"
(- Q-source: "swaggering"; "wherein U2 get in touch with their, hitherto unheard, funky selves - albeit propelled by some coruscating Edge guitar work, a signature feature of a number of the tracks"; "home to the knowing Bono lyric, "Stand up to rock stars/Napoleon is in high heels/Be careful of small men with big ideas.""
- Q-magazine: "rousing groove-based rocker with shades of Led Zep and Cream. Edge mentions that they're trying to keep Stand Up in a rough state and not overproduce it by putting it through Pro-Tools which cleans up imperfections"
- RS-source: "Stand Up Comedy"; "another hard rock tune, powered by an unexpectedly slinky groove and a riff that lands between the Beatles' "Come Together" and Led Zep's "Heartbreaker." Edge recently hung out with Jimmy Page and Jack White for the upcoming documentary It Might Get Loud, and their penchant for blues-based rock rubbed off: "I was just fascinated with seeing how Jimmy played those riffs so simply, and with Jack as well," he says"
- RS-article: "the words, which he keeps revising, have an almost hip-hop-like cadence: "Stand up, 'cause you can't sit down... Stop helping God across the road like a little old lady... Come on, you people, stand up for your love."; "We haven't quite gotten this right, and I'm the problem", Bono says of the tune, which is called "Stand Up Comedy" — at least for the moment. Tomorrow it will have new lyrics."; "the groove is slinkier than anything U2 have done in years."
- Dave Fanning: "the nearest thing they’ve ever done to Led Zeppelin"
- Independent: "grungy pop with strident drumming from Larry Mullen"
- u2tour.de: "Aa song , that shows the influence of the sessions of The Edge, together with guitarist Jack White and Jimi Page for the film "It might get loud" had. "Stand Up Comedy" seems like straight from the 70s and could also fit on the soundtrack to "Across The Universe". A very rock, a catchy number, has all, a single needs. Here is finally The Edge "on fire".")
8. "Fez -- Being Born"
- Billboard: "more experimental fare".
- Apart from this not mentioned yet, but if it is identical with the working title track "Tripoli", we do know more:
(- Q-source: not mentioned ...
- Q-magazine: "Bono talks about a song called "Tripoli", which is a guy on a motorcycle, a Moraccan french cop, whos going AWOL. He drives though France and Spain down to this village outside of Cadiz where you can actually see the fires of Africa burning"
- RS-source: "this strikingly experimental song lurches between disparate styles, including near-operatic choral music, ZOOROPA-style electronics, and churning arena rock"
-RS-article: "ambitious possible album opener, which violently lurches between different sections"; ""after-dark" song"; "one of those tunes, where, Bono says, "we allow our interest in electronic music, in Can, Neu! and Kraftwerk, to come out."
- Independent: "on first listen, easily the album's most adventurous and challenging track with ambient synthy hooks"
- u2tour.de: "The first minute, only electronic set pieces to hear"; "a phone ringing, a sample from "Get On Your Boots" - until then, the actual song starts". "Edge's guitar classic, keyboards set, before Bono's voice only restless, then to fast beats, melodically intervenes"; "partial U2 sound here unconsumed and crude as the early 80s on their first singles"; "in the middle part sound synthetic and almost reminiscent of Depeche Mode"; "But the guitar is the direction, Bono with few vocals")
9. "White As Snow"
- identical with the working title track "Winter" (white snow = winter), so we do know more about it
(- Q-source: "featuring a fine Bono lyric about a soldier in an unspecified war zone, surrounded by a deceptively simple rhythm track and an evocative string arrangement courtesy of Eno"
- Q-magazine: "6 minute ballad. Echoes of Simon & Garfunkel in this poignant, acoustic string laden ballad about a soldier in the snow of Afghanistan. Will appear in the new film 'Brothers' starring Tobey Maguire about the emotional fallout of the war. Edge on backing vocals with Bono for Winter""
-RS-source: not mentioned
-RS-article:"lovely discarded ballad"
- Independent: "a stark, stripped back and striking tune with imploring vocals"
- u2tour.de: "This quiet and short track leads almost the end of the album"; "starts with an atmospheric electronic noise, through which the sound of a soulful acoustic guitar sets"; "it is expected formally supporting the voice of Johnny Cash, but Bono is using his voice here similarly intense". "The song is about forgiveness and how your own brother can become a stranger to you". "Musically reminiscent in parts of "Springhill Mining Disaster"")
10. "Breathe"
(- Q-source: "particular excitement was reserved for"; "still a work in progress"; "Eno suggests, this is potentially both the best song the band had written and that he had worked on"
- Q-magazine: "Arabic cello gives way to joyful chorus. Brian Eno says this is U2's best ever song. It's 8pm and Eno, Bono and Will.i.am are on Olympic Studio 1 writing a cello part for a song called Breathe that U2 - a touch ambitiously - are only beginning to record in ths final fortnight, never mind mix – the singer belts out a rollicking vocal featuring door-to-door salesman, a cockatoo and a chorus that begins "Step out into the street, sing your heart out""
- RS-source: not mentioned
-RS-article: "tweaks on his computer what he (The Edge) estimates to be the 80th incarnation"
- Independent: "starts off with a trip-hop beat and cello playing before transforming into an all-out rocker"
- u2tour.de: "booming drums open this song; "Bono on the fast"; "only the chorus is like a U2 classic"; "a dense and intense sound experience, which recalls carefully "Until The End Of The World"; "the song is known Beachclip No. 2.")
11. "Cedars Of Lebanon"
(- Q-source: not mentioned ...
- Q-magazine: "Daniel Lanois instigated closer that finds Bono imagining himself as a weary, lovelorn war correspondent "squeezing complicated lives into a simple headline". Ends with the possibly telling line "Choose your enemies carefully cos they will define you""
- RS-source: ""On this album, you can feel what is going on in the world at the window, scratching at the windowpane," says Bono, who sings this atmospheric ballad from the point of view of a war correspondent"
-RS-article: not mentioned
- Independent: "a reflective parting glass for album number 12, finishing on the line, "Choose your enemies carefully because they will define you"
- u2tour.de: "gloomy keyboards, backed by minimalist lead guitar playing the last song on the album"; "Bono speaks more than he sings and acts very dominant on this track. Drip-end beats and a strong bass line reminding of "If You Were That Velvet Dress." Bono sings from the perspective of a war reporter in Lebanon and the recurring line "return the call to home" sounds like a distant, electronic noise")
Official tracklist (as confirmed by u2.com and billboard)
1. "No Line on the Horizon"
2. "Magnificent"
3. "Moment of Surrender"
4. "Unknown Caller"
5. "I'll Go Crazy if I Don't Go Crazy Tonight"
6. "Get On Your Boots"
7. "Stand Up Comedy"
8. "Fez -- Being Born" (= 'Tripoli'?)
9. "White As Snow" (= 'Winter')
10. "Breathe"
11. "Cedars of Lebanon"
bonus-track:
12. No Line On The Horizon (alternative version)
One important thing, the reviewer has confirmed: "Fez" is NOT "Tripoli"!
