What we really do know about NLOTH ...

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UPDATE (02/02/2009)

An analytical summary of NLOTH from the journalist's view, with the tunes in a casual running-order:

1. First the Q-source from November visiting the Olympic Studios and a private session with Bono ...

2. 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 ...

3. 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!!!)

4. 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...

5. 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).

6. The 2nd detailed review of the single by skott100 (I got on "Boots" this morning! (Single review))

7. Including the official tracklist, confirmed by u2.com and new descriptions by billboard.com

8. Dave Fanning's reviews

9. Daniel Lanois in an interview with Alan Cross

10. "Independent article", that refers to the album's playback in Dublin on St. Stephen's Greeen (01/29/09)

11. The review on "www.u2tour.de" (in rough translation from German in English), that unfortunately doesn't tell us much more about the album's themes & lyrics, but at least about the sounds. The reviewer wants to confirm: "Fez" is NOT "Tripoli"! – which might be true or not. I don't believe the source on u2tour.de, instead I do think "Fez" is identical with "Tripoli" (the 'Cadiz', 'landscape', 'journey'-theme is so striking and it would be strange, if U2 had written two 'experimental' tunes with the same topic. So I left the descriptions for "Tripoli" in ...)

12. A reviewer's translation from Brunocam, that gives us more insight in the lyrics

13. Sunday Mail

... enjoy and thanx for keeping this 'analytical' thread alive!


NO LINE ON THE HORIZON: TRACK BY TRACK SUMMARY


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"
• - Brunocam: "Characteristic of the U2 song, the epic sense in growing, guitars sometimes quiet, sometimes strident, with Bono singing "i know a girl who's like the sea / I watch her everyday changing for me / Oh yeah." Originally had a very environmental treatment, through the production of Brian Eno, but in the end it became an abrasive rock song."
• - Sunday Mail: "This opens with a loud sonic drone before Bono sings: "I knew a girl who's like the sea/I watch her changing every day for me."
Then Larry's drums kick in and the song lifts off. It could be their best live stadium opener since Zoo Station.")

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."
• - Brunocam: "One of the songs that promises immediate membership. "Only love can reset your mind" Bono sings, among the environments that lead to the U2 album "Unforgettable Fire", in combination with the most direct route rock of recent albums. There are electronic effects, orchestral arrangements that evoke the period "The Joshua Tree" and a balance of typical song of love - "I was born to sing for you / I did not have a choice but to lift you up / And sing whatever song you wanted me to / I give you my voice back."
• - Sunday Mail: "A future single choice which more than lives up to its bold title. The Edge's driving guitar gives the song a New Year's Day-style mood.
Bono is in great form when he sings: "I was born to sing for you/I didn't have a choice but to lift you up." He's dead right because, just two numbers in, the album already has a classic feel.")

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"
• - Brunocam: "Promises to be a classic in many concerts in the line of what happens with ballads like "One". Melodic song of seven minutes, starts slow, with lyrics about "dark stars" and with Bono's voice a little hoarse evoking existential crises - "I myself tied with wire / To let the horses free / Playing with the fire until the fire played with me. " The pace and syncope, the blues guitar of The Edge line of low and delicate environment, creating a hypnotic effect general."
• Sunday Mail: "Bono reckons this is one of the best songs U2 have written - and with their back catalogue, that's saying something. It opens with a guitar sound reminiscent of Where The Streets Have No Name and features a great Edge solo. In one of his most personal lyrics, Bono says: "I've been in every black hole/At the altar of the dark star/My body's now a begging bowl/That's begging to get back." A stunning song Springsteen or Dylan would be proud of.")

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"
• - Brunocam: "It is one of the songs where Bono is in a fictional role, someone in an altered state that is faced with a phone that speech. On the sound could belong to "All That You Can not Leave Behind," the half-time pace, silky, with light body and The Edge to leave its mark in an intricate guitar break."
• Sunday Mail: "An epic with double-tracked vocals, wailing Edge guitar and pounding Adam bass. It's a musical feast with so much going on it's initially tough to take it all in. In the chant-style chorus Bono sings: "Hear me/Cease to speak/That I may speak/Shush now." If nothing else, that's got to be another first for U2 - a pop song with "Shush" in the lyric.")

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"
• - Brunocam: "As the title suggests, is one of the most daytime, and markedly festival pop along the lines of classics like "Beautiful Day", with some echoes, reverberations, refrain effective (I'll go crazy if i do not go crazy tonight " ), guitars and falsetto loose from Bono to proclaim "every generation gets a chance to change the world."
• Sunday Mail: "Thumping drums, pulsing bass and piano get this potential single off the launch pad. Musically, it has all the trademarks of a U2 classic with another soaring Bono vocal and great "woo-oo" hook on the chorus.")

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"
• Brunocam: "It is the single in advance, the subject most virulent of the whole disc and one of the most powerful and fastest-ever of the quartet, mixed strident guitar rock & roll, and a synthetic elements that Bono shouted: "Get on your boots / Sexy boots / You do not know how beautiful you are.")

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".
• - Brunocam: "Another rocker, noisy and powerful. Bono pulls the voice, but it's the guitar that dominates. The fact that The Edge has participated in a documentary with Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin) seems to have left marks, so the guitar evokes the Zeppelin of other times.To the original title - "Stand up," alluding to the humanist movement The Stand Up and Take Action Against Poverty - was added "comedy" and listening to the song it is perceived why, what seems to be a moment of self-irony of Bono: " On a voyage of discovery stand up to rock stars, Napoleon is in high heels / Josephine, be careful of small men with big ideas."
• Sunday Mail: "This proves the group are huge Led Zeppelin fans because Edge's guitar riff has a real Jimmy Page feel. In terms of being musically adventurous, it's not for the faint-hearted and definitely up there with "Exit" from The Joshua Tree in 1987.")

8. "Fez -- Being Born"

• - Billboard: "more experimental fare".
• - 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"
• - Brunocam: "The African experience - recorded in Fez, Morocco - is the subject, one of the best and most adventurous. "Six o 'clock on the autoroute / Burning rubber, burning chrome / Boy of Cadiz and ferry home / Atlantic sea cut glass / African Sun at last" Bono launches, through a compact sound architecture. It is perhaps the one that best summarizes the album, combining the spirit of direct rock and recent rib adventurous 90s."
• - 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.""))

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"
• Brunocam: "Atmospheric acoustic ballad, about a soldier lost in snow in Afghanistan. "Where I came from there were no hills at all / The land was flat, straight highway and the wider / My brother and i would drive for hours" recalls Bono, travel by the mind of a soldier lost in their memories, in an epic track.")

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."
• - Brunocam: "Eastern slow start with allusions to the level of the arrangements, but then there is a growing continuum of intensity, what is the favorite song of producer Brian Eno. It is indicative of a more complex disc - each song integrates various dynamics - that his two predecessors.")

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"
• - Brunocam: "Bono wears the role of a war correspondent for atmospheric evocation not far from songs like "With or without you." The tone is confessional, the reflective verses end: "choose your enemies carefully 'cos they will define you / Make them interesting' cos in some ways they will mind you / They're not there in the beginning but when your story ends / Gonna last with you longer than your friend."
• - Sunday Mail: "Bono almost speaks his vocal over a more hymnal, hypnotic backing which leads to a beautiful, almost choral, hook. Some atmospheric Edge guitar creeps in and builds the mood. This song is so good you don't want it to end. A fitting finale to a classic U2 album.")


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 (Australia, Japan, maybe also Europe & USA)
12. No Line On The Horizon (alternative version)
 
So much info to die for, who would've thought we'd have got so much by know? :wink:
 
UPDATE (02/02/2009)[/B]

An analytical summary of NLOTH from the journalist's view, with the tunes in a casual running-order:

1. First the Q-source from November visiting the Olympic Studios and a private session with Bono ...

2. 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 ...

3. 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!!!)

4. 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...

5. 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).

6. The 2nd detailed review of the single by skott100 (I got on "Boots" this morning! (Single review))

7. Including the official tracklist, confirmed by u2.com and new descriptions by billboard.com

8. Dave Fanning's reviews

9. Daniel Lanois in an interview with Alan Cross

10. "Independent article", that refers to the album's playback in Dublin on St. Stephen's Greeen (01/29/09)

11. The review on "www.u2tour.de" (in rough translation from German in English), that unfortunately doesn't tell us much more about the album's themes & lyrics, but at least about the sounds. The reviewer wants to confirm: "Fez" is NOT "Tripoli"! – which might be true or not. I don't believe the source on u2tour.de, instead I do think "Fez" is identical with "Tripoli" (the 'Cadiz', 'landscape', 'journey'-theme is so striking and it would be strange, if U2 had written two 'experimental' tunes with the same topic. So I left the descriptions for "Tripoli" in ...)

12. A reviewer's translation from Brunocam, that gives us more insight in the lyrics

13. Sunday Mail

14. The Sydney Morning Herald, with some more insight on sounds :wave:

... enjoy and thanx for keeping this 'analytical' thread alive!


NO LINE ON THE HORIZON: TRACK BY TRACK SUMMARY


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"
• - Brunocam: "Characteristic of the U2 song, the epic sense in growing, guitars sometimes quiet, sometimes strident, with Bono singing "i know a girl who's like the sea / I watch her everyday changing for me / Oh yeah." Originally had a very environmental treatment, through the production of Brian Eno, but in the end it became an abrasive rock song."
• - Sunday Mail: "This opens with a loud sonic drone before Bono sings: "I knew a girl who's like the sea/I watch her changing every day for me."
Then Larry's drums kick in and the song lifts off. It could be their best live stadium opener since Zoo Station."
• - The Sydney Morning Herald: "Buzzy guitars and offkilter Enoesque noises vie for attention while Bono strains for effect as he reflects both the tension and the intensity of the song. The chorus (not a big one; more a devolving of the verse) retains the tension, but puts it in a gentler setting. Bono seems to be singing to, or about, a girl, not for the last time on the album, but it's not easy to decipher.")

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."
• - Brunocam: "One of the songs that promises immediate membership. "Only love can reset your mind" Bono sings, among the environments that lead to the U2 album "Unforgettable Fire", in combination with the most direct route rock of recent albums. There are electronic effects, orchestral arrangements that evoke the period "The Joshua Tree" and a balance of typical song of love - "I was born to sing for you / I did not have a choice but to lift you up / And sing whatever song you wanted me to / I give you my voice back."
• - Sunday Mail: "A future single choice which more than lives up to its bold title. The Edge's driving guitar gives the song a New Year's Day-style mood.
Bono is in great form when he sings: "I was born to sing for you/I didn't have a choice but to lift you up." He's dead right because, just two numbers in, the album already has a classic feel."
• - The Sydney Morning Herald: "More of those odd sounds behind treated guitars and synthesisers and the song opens in two or would now be called "classic U2", the familiar 80s quick marching rhythm and the Edge's exploratory guitar lines. The most traditional sounding song on the album has Bono declaring that "I was born to sing for you/I didn't have a choice" before confessing that "only love can leave such a mark".")

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"
• - Brunocam: "Promises to be a classic in many concerts in the line of what happens with ballads like "One". Melodic song of seven minutes, starts slow, with lyrics about "dark stars" and with Bono's voice a little hoarse evoking existential crises - "I myself tied with wire / To let the horses free / Playing with the fire until the fire played with me. " The pace and syncope, the blues guitar of The Edge line of low and delicate environment, creating a hypnotic effect general."
• Sunday Mail: "Bono reckons this is one of the best songs U2 have written - and with their back catalogue, that's saying something. It opens with a guitar sound reminiscent of Where The Streets Have No Name and features a great Edge solo. In one of his most personal lyrics, Bono says: "I've been in every black hole/At the altar of the dark star/My body's now a begging bowl/That's begging to get back." A stunning song Springsteen or Dylan would be proud of."
• - The Sydney Morning Herald: "A moodier track with irregular hand percussion (or a loop, or both) picking away at the edges of a bed of synthesisers and violin. The emotional tone is late '80s U2; the musical palette, with hints of electronica, is more early '90s. Before those richly layered Eno/Lanois-signature backing vocals arrived late in the piece Bono goes from enigmatic: "I tied myself with wire to let the horses run free/playing with fire till the fire plays with me" (I think) to matters closer to the heart: "it's not if I believe in love but if love believes in me".")

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"
• - Brunocam: "It is one of the songs where Bono is in a fictional role, someone in an altered state that is faced with a phone that speech. On the sound could belong to "All That You Can not Leave Behind," the half-time pace, silky, with light body and The Edge to leave its mark in an intricate guitar break."
• Sunday Mail: "An epic with double-tracked vocals, wailing Edge guitar and pounding Adam bass. It's a musical feast with so much going on it's initially tough to take it all in. In the chant-style chorus Bono sings: "Hear me/Cease to speak/That I may speak/Shush now." If nothing else, that's got to be another first for U2 - a pop song with "Shush" in the lyric."
• - The Sydney Morning Herald: "Some really interesting ambient sounds in a late, late night setting more concerned with atmosphere than asserting itself. It's 3.33am "in a place of no consequence or company" and he's "speed dialling with no signal at all". The lyrics seem more impressionistic, disconnected and with a touch of David Bowie in the chanting underneath. And is that French horns at the end? Not usually heard on a U2 album.")

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"
• - Brunocam: "As the title suggests, is one of the most daytime, and markedly festival pop along the lines of classics like "Beautiful Day", with some echoes, reverberations, refrain effective (I'll go crazy if i do not go crazy tonight " ), guitars and falsetto loose from Bono to proclaim "every generation gets a chance to change the world."
• Sunday Mail: "Thumping drums, pulsing bass and piano get this potential single off the launch pad. Musically, it has all the trademarks of a U2 classic with another soaring Bono vocal and great "woo-oo" hook on the chorus.")
• - The Sydney Morning Herald: "Mixed marriages don't always work, but should, seems to be the theme. "She's a rainbow and she likes the quite life/I'll go crazy if I don't go crazy tonight." This is a straight out pop song with reverb guitars and Bono in high croon. It's also a U2 track they could do in their sleep, but no less attractive for that. The question is will it last as long as some of the others?")

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."
• - 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"
• Brunocam: "It is the single in advance, the subject most virulent of the whole disc and one of the most powerful and fastest-ever of the quartet, mixed strident guitar rock & roll, and a synthetic elements that Bono shouted: "Get on your boots / Sexy boots / You do not know how beautiful you are."
• - The Sydney Morning Herald: "The first single and perplexing some already. A mess of dirty guitars and urgent energy play through electronic bibs and bobs. You can hear Fly-era U2, with a little less edge, but here something niggling through earlier songs becomes clearer: they have been listening to Brooklyn's art rockers TV On For Radio. It makes some sense: TV On The Radio spent their youth listening to Eno and Bowie too.")

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".
• - Brunocam: "Another rocker, noisy and powerful. Bono pulls the voice, but it's the guitar that dominates. The fact that The Edge has participated in a documentary with Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin) seems to have left marks, so the guitar evokes the Zeppelin of other times.To the original title - "Stand up," alluding to the humanist movement The Stand Up and Take Action Against Poverty - was added "comedy" and listening to the song it is perceived why, what seems to be a moment of self-irony of Bono: " On a voyage of discovery stand up to rock stars, Napoleon is in high heels / Josephine, be careful of small men with big ideas."
• Sunday Mail: "This proves the group are huge Led Zeppelin fans because Edge's guitar riff has a real Jimmy Page feel. In terms of being musically adventurous, it's not for the faint-hearted and definitely up there with "Exit" from The Joshua Tree in 1987."
• - The Sydney Morning Herald: "A strutting 70s guitar finds the Edge channelling his inner Marc Bolan while that Brooklyn fractured dance of rock feels returns (and then becomes almost pure Madchester ecstasy nightclub). The "song" runs out a little earlier than the groove does but it doesn't seem fatal at all.")

8. "Fez -- Being Born"

• - Billboard: "more experimental fare".
• - 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"
• - Brunocam: "The African experience - recorded in Fez, Morocco - is the subject, one of the best and most adventurous. "Six o 'clock on the autoroute / Burning rubber, burning chrome / Boy of Cadiz and ferry home / Atlantic sea cut glass / African Sun at last" Bono launches, through a compact sound architecture. It is perhaps the one that best summarizes the album, combining the spirit of direct rock and recent rib adventurous 90s."
• - 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."
• - The Sydney Morning Herald: "This seems to be two songs hooked together, one a collection of odd sounds and shapes, the other a pulsing rock number which becomes something else again when the sonic oddness returns prior to a drifting away ending.")

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"
• Brunocam: "Atmospheric acoustic ballad, about a soldier lost in snow in Afghanistan. "Where I came from there were no hills at all / The land was flat, straight highway and the wider / My brother and i would drive for hours" recalls Bono, travel by the mind of a soldier lost in their memories, in an epic track."
• - The Sydney Morning Herald: "A ballad not just inspired by but evoking wide spaces and open skies. There are low rumbles and darting sounds, brass even. Could this be U2 aiming for Bruce Springsteen in his solo tales-of-the-desert mode?")

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."
• - Brunocam: "Eastern slow start with allusions to the level of the arrangements, but then there is a growing continuum of intensity, what is the favorite song of producer Brian Eno. It is indicative of a more complex disc - each song integrates various dynamics - that his two predecessors."
• - The Sydney Morning Herald: "This is pushier at immediately, coming with a bit of attitude. Did Bono really just say he is "not somebody's cockatoo"? He definitely says "I'm running down the road like loose electricity while the band in my head plays a striptease" and it's an apt description of this land of atmosphere and aggression.")

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"
• - Brunocam: "Bono wears the role of a war correspondent for atmospheric evocation not far from songs like "With or without you." The tone is confessional, the reflective verses end: "choose your enemies carefully 'cos they will define you / Make them interesting' cos in some ways they will mind you / They're not there in the beginning but when your story ends / Gonna last with you longer than your friend."
• - Sunday Mail: "Bono almost speaks his vocal over a more hymnal, hypnotic backing which leads to a beautiful, almost choral, hook. Some atmospheric Edge guitar creeps in and builds the mood. This song is so good you don't want it to end. A fitting finale to a classic U2 album."
• - The Sydney Morning Herald: "Lyrically and musically strongly reminiscent of a film noir narration (Bono as Walter Neff? Why not?), the central character is a man cut off from affection and life in general. Some really interesting harmonies - Eno at work again - and a closing set of lines worth pondering for implications. "Choose your enemies well for they will define you ... they are going to last with you longer than your friends".")


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 (Australia, Japan, maybe also Europe & USA)
12. No Line On The Horizon (alternative version)
 
• - 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"
Click to expand...

Okay, if Tripoli = Fez - Being Born, then it makes sense as to why they changed the name, since Fez/Morocco is not in the Tripoli/Triplois area.
 
bcrt2000 said:
Okay, if Tripoli = Fez - Being Born, then it makes sense as to why they changed the name, since Fez/Morocco is not in the Tripoli/Triplois area.
Click to expand...

I still believe, it is the same track. Interesting from that perspective, that the Sydney-reviewer thinks, that "Fez - Being Born" is the clustering of two different tunes. At least one of them might be the old working title track "Tripoli" ...
 
UPDATE (02/02/2009 – "No bonus tracks at all?")

An analytical summary of NLOTH from the journalist's view, with the tunes in a casual running-order:

1. First the Q-source from November visiting the Olympic Studios and a private session with Bono ...

2. 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 ...

3. 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!!!)

4. 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...

5. 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).

6. The 2nd detailed review of the single by skott100 (I got on "Boots" this morning! (Single review))

7. Including the official tracklist, confirmed by u2.com and new descriptions by billboard.com

8. Dave Fanning's reviews

9. Daniel Lanois in an interview with Alan Cross

10. "Independent article", that refers to the album's playback in Dublin on St. Stephen's Greeen (01/29/09)

11. The review on "www.u2tour.de" (in rough translation from German in English), that unfortunately doesn't tell us much more about the album's themes & lyrics, but at least about the sounds. The reviewer wants to confirm: "Fez" is NOT "Tripoli"! – which might be true or not. I don't believe the source on u2tour.de, instead I do think "Fez" is identical with "Tripoli" (the 'Cadiz', 'landscape', 'journey'-theme is so striking and it would be strange, if U2 had written two 'experimental' tunes with the same topic. So I left the descriptions for "Tripoli" in ...)

12. A reviewer's translation from Brunocam, that gives us more insight in the lyrics

13. Sunday Mail

14. The Sydney Morning Herald, with some more insight on sounds :wave:

... enjoy and thanx for keeping this 'analytical' thread alive!


NO LINE ON THE HORIZON: TRACK BY TRACK SUMMARY


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"
• - Brunocam: "Characteristic of the U2 song, the epic sense in growing, guitars sometimes quiet, sometimes strident, with Bono singing "i know a girl who's like the sea / I watch her everyday changing for me / Oh yeah." Originally had a very environmental treatment, through the production of Brian Eno, but in the end it became an abrasive rock song."
• - Sunday Mail: "This opens with a loud sonic drone before Bono sings: "I knew a girl who's like the sea/I watch her changing every day for me."
Then Larry's drums kick in and the song lifts off. It could be their best live stadium opener since Zoo Station."
• - The Sydney Morning Herald: "Buzzy guitars and offkilter Enoesque noises vie for attention while Bono strains for effect as he reflects both the tension and the intensity of the song. The chorus (not a big one; more a devolving of the verse) retains the tension, but puts it in a gentler setting. Bono seems to be singing to, or about, a girl, not for the last time on the album, but it's not easy to decipher.")

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."
• - Brunocam: "One of the songs that promises immediate membership. "Only love can reset your mind" Bono sings, among the environments that lead to the U2 album "Unforgettable Fire", in combination with the most direct route rock of recent albums. There are electronic effects, orchestral arrangements that evoke the period "The Joshua Tree" and a balance of typical song of love - "I was born to sing for you / I did not have a choice but to lift you up / And sing whatever song you wanted me to / I give you my voice back."
• - Sunday Mail: "A future single choice which more than lives up to its bold title. The Edge's driving guitar gives the song a New Year's Day-style mood.
Bono is in great form when he sings: "I was born to sing for you/I didn't have a choice but to lift you up." He's dead right because, just two numbers in, the album already has a classic feel."
• - The Sydney Morning Herald: "More of those odd sounds behind treated guitars and synthesisers and the song opens in two or would now be called "classic U2", the familiar 80s quick marching rhythm and the Edge's exploratory guitar lines. The most traditional sounding song on the album has Bono declaring that "I was born to sing for you/I didn't have a choice" before confessing that "only love can leave such a mark".")

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"
• - Brunocam: "Promises to be a classic in many concerts in the line of what happens with ballads like "One". Melodic song of seven minutes, starts slow, with lyrics about "dark stars" and with Bono's voice a little hoarse evoking existential crises - "I myself tied with wire / To let the horses free / Playing with the fire until the fire played with me. " The pace and syncope, the blues guitar of The Edge line of low and delicate environment, creating a hypnotic effect general."
• Sunday Mail: "Bono reckons this is one of the best songs U2 have written - and with their back catalogue, that's saying something. It opens with a guitar sound reminiscent of Where The Streets Have No Name and features a great Edge solo. In one of his most personal lyrics, Bono says: "I've been in every black hole/At the altar of the dark star/My body's now a begging bowl/That's begging to get back." A stunning song Springsteen or Dylan would be proud of."
• - The Sydney Morning Herald: "A moodier track with irregular hand percussion (or a loop, or both) picking away at the edges of a bed of synthesisers and violin. The emotional tone is late '80s U2; the musical palette, with hints of electronica, is more early '90s. Before those richly layered Eno/Lanois-signature backing vocals arrived late in the piece Bono goes from enigmatic: "I tied myself with wire to let the horses run free/playing with fire till the fire plays with me" (I think) to matters closer to the heart: "it's not if I believe in love but if love believes in me".")

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"
• - Brunocam: "It is one of the songs where Bono is in a fictional role, someone in an altered state that is faced with a phone that speech. On the sound could belong to "All That You Can not Leave Behind," the half-time pace, silky, with light body and The Edge to leave its mark in an intricate guitar break."
• Sunday Mail: "An epic with double-tracked vocals, wailing Edge guitar and pounding Adam bass. It's a musical feast with so much going on it's initially tough to take it all in. In the chant-style chorus Bono sings: "Hear me/Cease to speak/That I may speak/Shush now." If nothing else, that's got to be another first for U2 - a pop song with "Shush" in the lyric."
• - The Sydney Morning Herald: "Some really interesting ambient sounds in a late, late night setting more concerned with atmosphere than asserting itself. It's 3.33am "in a place of no consequence or company" and he's "speed dialling with no signal at all". The lyrics seem more impressionistic, disconnected and with a touch of David Bowie in the chanting underneath. And is that French horns at the end? Not usually heard on a U2 album.")

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"
• - Brunocam: "As the title suggests, is one of the most daytime, and markedly festival pop along the lines of classics like "Beautiful Day", with some echoes, reverberations, refrain effective (I'll go crazy if i do not go crazy tonight " ), guitars and falsetto loose from Bono to proclaim "every generation gets a chance to change the world."
• Sunday Mail: "Thumping drums, pulsing bass and piano get this potential single off the launch pad. Musically, it has all the trademarks of a U2 classic with another soaring Bono vocal and great "woo-oo" hook on the chorus.")
• - The Sydney Morning Herald: "Mixed marriages don't always work, but should, seems to be the theme. "She's a rainbow and she likes the quite life/I'll go crazy if I don't go crazy tonight." This is a straight out pop song with reverb guitars and Bono in high croon. It's also a U2 track they could do in their sleep, but no less attractive for that. The question is will it last as long as some of the others?")

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."
• - 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"
• Brunocam: "It is the single in advance, the subject most virulent of the whole disc and one of the most powerful and fastest-ever of the quartet, mixed strident guitar rock & roll, and a synthetic elements that Bono shouted: "Get on your boots / Sexy boots / You do not know how beautiful you are."
• - The Sydney Morning Herald: "The first single and perplexing some already. A mess of dirty guitars and urgent energy play through electronic bibs and bobs. You can hear Fly-era U2, with a little less edge, but here something niggling through earlier songs becomes clearer: they have been listening to Brooklyn's art rockers TV On For Radio. It makes some sense: TV On The Radio spent their youth listening to Eno and Bowie too.")

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".
• - Brunocam: "Another rocker, noisy and powerful. Bono pulls the voice, but it's the guitar that dominates. The fact that The Edge has participated in a documentary with Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin) seems to have left marks, so the guitar evokes the Zeppelin of other times.To the original title - "Stand up," alluding to the humanist movement The Stand Up and Take Action Against Poverty - was added "comedy" and listening to the song it is perceived why, what seems to be a moment of self-irony of Bono: " On a voyage of discovery stand up to rock stars, Napoleon is in high heels / Josephine, be careful of small men with big ideas."
• Sunday Mail: "This proves the group are huge Led Zeppelin fans because Edge's guitar riff has a real Jimmy Page feel. In terms of being musically adventurous, it's not for the faint-hearted and definitely up there with "Exit" from The Joshua Tree in 1987."
• - The Sydney Morning Herald: "A strutting 70s guitar finds the Edge channelling his inner Marc Bolan while that Brooklyn fractured dance of rock feels returns (and then becomes almost pure Madchester ecstasy nightclub). The "song" runs out a little earlier than the groove does but it doesn't seem fatal at all.")

8. "Fez -- Being Born"

• - Billboard: "more experimental fare".
• - 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"
• - Brunocam: "The African experience - recorded in Fez, Morocco - is the subject, one of the best and most adventurous. "Six o 'clock on the autoroute / Burning rubber, burning chrome / Boy of Cadiz and ferry home / Atlantic sea cut glass / African Sun at last" Bono launches, through a compact sound architecture. It is perhaps the one that best summarizes the album, combining the spirit of direct rock and recent rib adventurous 90s."
• - 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."
• - The Sydney Morning Herald: "This seems to be two songs hooked together, one a collection of odd sounds and shapes, the other a pulsing rock number which becomes something else again when the sonic oddness returns prior to a drifting away ending.")

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"
• Brunocam: "Atmospheric acoustic ballad, about a soldier lost in snow in Afghanistan. "Where I came from there were no hills at all / The land was flat, straight highway and the wider / My brother and i would drive for hours" recalls Bono, travel by the mind of a soldier lost in their memories, in an epic track."
• - The Sydney Morning Herald: "A ballad not just inspired by but evoking wide spaces and open skies. There are low rumbles and darting sounds, brass even. Could this be U2 aiming for Bruce Springsteen in his solo tales-of-the-desert mode?")

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."
• - Brunocam: "Eastern slow start with allusions to the level of the arrangements, but then there is a growing continuum of intensity, what is the favorite song of producer Brian Eno. It is indicative of a more complex disc - each song integrates various dynamics - that his two predecessors."
• - The Sydney Morning Herald: "This is pushier at immediately, coming with a bit of attitude. Did Bono really just say he is "not somebody's cockatoo"? He definitely says "I'm running down the road like loose electricity while the band in my head plays a striptease" and it's an apt description of this land of atmosphere and aggression.")

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"
• - Brunocam: "Bono wears the role of a war correspondent for atmospheric evocation not far from songs like "With or without you." The tone is confessional, the reflective verses end: "choose your enemies carefully 'cos they will define you / Make them interesting' cos in some ways they will mind you / They're not there in the beginning but when your story ends / Gonna last with you longer than your friend."
• - Sunday Mail: "Bono almost speaks his vocal over a more hymnal, hypnotic backing which leads to a beautiful, almost choral, hook. Some atmospheric Edge guitar creeps in and builds the mood. This song is so good you don't want it to end. A fitting finale to a classic U2 album."
• - The Sydney Morning Herald: "Lyrically and musically strongly reminiscent of a film noir narration (Bono as Walter Neff? Why not?), the central character is a man cut off from affection and life in general. Some really interesting harmonies - Eno at work again - and a closing set of lines worth pondering for implications. "Choose your enemies well for they will define you ... they are going to last with you longer than your friends".")


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"

:|:ohmy:bonus-track:ohmy::|
On the contrary to earlier rumours, obviously there will be no bonus track at all. The i-tunes bonus track seems to be a remix of "No Line On The Horizon". If so, we can speculate, if the other finished tunes will end up on an album, that as a follow-up to NLOTH might be published earlier than we think. The source for all this is U2TOUR.DE - No Line On The Horizon - U2 Album 2009, Single, DVD, Tour
 
Whoa. Is this being discussed somewhere? That is definitely big news.
 
I'm all in for "no bonus tracks" if that brings us the possibilty of a new album soon even closer.
 
But I want a bonus track. :|

So is the remix the alternative version of NLOTH or not? And is it the same version that will be on the GOYB single?

Man, I so loved the concept of having both versions of NLOTH as opening and closing track on the album.
 
interesting. i'm kind of "what ev" about it. as long as the album is good. if anything, i do think it shows that the band would rather save the track for future endeavors.
 
last unicorn said:
But I want a bonus track. :|

So is the remix the alternative version of NLOTH or not? And is it the same version that will be on the GOYB single?

Man, I so loved the concept of having both versions of NLOTH as opening and closing track on the album.
Click to expand...
:down:I fear, it could be the remix only, that will be also on the single, mate. But I just speculate here. Still hope for the alternative version though, too ...
 
I'm not even sure the "alternative version" still exists. They may have merged both versions into one, the final song on the album.

I'm fine with it, but I don't like the thought of having the remix of an album song as a b-side before the album is even released.
 
I'll celebrate this news, even if we don't get a new album soon. I know this is a touchy subject, but I want a single album statement from the band. A remix at the end of a CD is terrible, but only slightly worse than a non-album track. I'm all for b-sides, but keep them off the album.

That said, I think this is a strong hint that we are going to see a Zooropa-like release. Or an EP if they want to copy Coldplay (joking).
 
last unicorn said:
I'm not even sure the "alternative version" still exists. They may have merged both versions into one
Click to expand...
:up: excellent point. But a remix as bonus track would be simply cheap and useless. Hope, it won't come true. Nevertheless I hope for a real album, with a real opener (that might be a strong tour opener) and a real closer (that might be strong tour closer) ...
 
ZOOTVTOURist said:
On the contrary to earlier rumours, obviously there will be no bonus track at all. The i-tunes bonus track seems to be a remix of "No Line On The Horizon". If so, we can speculate, if the other finished tunes will end up on an album, that as a follow-up to NLOTH might be published earlier than we think. The source for all this is U2TOUR.DE - No Line On The Horizon - U2 Album 2009, Single, DVD, Tour
Click to expand...

Thats good news. I was already thinking about making a topic about this. I don't like how everyone wouldn't have the same version of the album if they went the bonus route again. They should just release one version of the album.

Also, I do remember reading elsewhere that they did want to release the next album sooner rather than later. I must imagine they have a backlog of unfinished/unreleased songs from the orchestra/scrapped HTDAAB/Rick Reuben/Fez sessions with the amount of time they've had between the last two album releases.
 
I think Larry said in the Q article that they wanted to get another album out soon because they had a lot of material.

So I hope we get one more Eno/Lanois, and then perhaps a return to Rubin or whatever is necessary based on the success of NLOTH and (hopefully) the follow-up.
 
Gilead12 said:
I think Larry said in the Q article that they wanted to get another album out soon because they had a lot of material.

So I hope we get one more Eno/Lanois, and then perhaps a return to Rubin or whatever is necessary based on the success of NLOTH and (hopefully) the follow-up.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, they say this after they finish every album. Although this time I think it's more likely to be true.
 
There is another common saying in U2. That was from an article published in 2000:

"Nothing is sacred," notes the Edge. "Nothing is finished, literally, until the CD's in the shop."
Click to expand...

:D:wave:


Mojo 2007

Guilty your honour! We were talking about this. Our work process is all about allowing inspiration to arrive at any time during the process. So there's no finality, there's no formality, until it's in the shops. U2 albums never get finished; they just get released.
Click to expand...
 
by u2 standards, getting an album out soon probably means 3 and half years, instead 4 or 5. don't count on any new material for a long, long time...every album has to be released in accordance with some corporate agenda.
 
Gilead12 said:
I think Larry said in the Q article that they wanted to get another album out soon because they had a lot of material.

So I hope we get one more Eno/Lanois, and then perhaps a return to Rubin or whatever is necessary based on the success of NLOTH and (hopefully) the follow-up.
Click to expand...

Just look at the span between 1991 and 2000 to see how much material they released:
1991 - Achtung Baby
1993 - Zooropa
1995 - Original Soundtracks No. 1
1995 - Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me
1996 - Mission Impossible
1997 - Pop
1998 - Sweetest Thing
2000 - Million Dollar Hotel Soundtrack
2000 - All That You Can't Leave Behind

and from 2001-2009 this is how much they've released:
2002 - Electrical Storm/Hands That Built America
2004 - How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
2006 - The Saints Are Coming/Window in the Skies
2009 - No Line on the Horizon

They should have a lot of stuff stockpiled considering how much time they've had off between Elevation Tour & HTDAAB and between Vertigo Tour & NLOTH, whereas last decade 1999 was the only real dead period they had, and even then, Bono was probably working on the Million Dollar Hotel at the time.

I'm crossing my fingers for them to release an album between legs like they did during the Zoo TV tour. It would be nice to see U2 release a bit more material because right now The Best of 2000-2010 is not going to have as deep of a pool of songs to pick from as compared to the previous 2 compilations. I guess the other possibility is that they release the Best of 2000-2010 with 3-5 new songs included on the disc.

By the way, isn't it amazing that 7 years ago, it seemed like U2 would be retired by 2010, and now it seems like they've still got a few more albums in them? (which may lead to a Best of 2010-2020)
 
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