I actually like "No line on the Horizon"

[Globo14]

Crazy Tonight doesn't fit with the album.

That said, it's my second favorite track off the album, only after Breathe.

 

[digitize]

"Boots" is the one song I just can't connect with. What is the song supposed to be about, because I'm not really getting it.

Being in a carnival in the middle of a war and ignoring your surroundings, I'm pretty sure (Bono has said something to that effect). I think it's actually a pretty cool song lyrically (obviously there's more meaning in that than the literal).

 

[Fly-2000]

My main issue, taking the album as a whole, is the running order of the tracks tbh. I've tried a few variants and that usually helps.

If I remember correctly the last one I tried was this:

1- FEZ - Being Born
2- I'll Go Crazy If I don't Go Crazy tonight
3- Unknown Caller
4- Magnificent
5- Moment of Surrender
6- Stand Up Comedy
7- Get On Your Boots
8- White As Snow
9- Cedars of Lebanon
10- No Line On The Horizon
11- Breathe

 

[stevenpk]

I love it!!

I think it's the best thing they've released since passengers, and, for me it sits alongside AB JT and OS1 as their best album. I am confident that in 10 yrs it will be seen as a classic whereas Htdaab and the other bland one that immediately preceded it will be long forgotten....

.... I'll get my coat

 

[alanah]

"Boots" is the one song I just can't connect with. What is the song supposed to be about, because I'm not really getting it.

 

[LuckyNumber7]

"Boots" is the one song I just can't connect with. What is the song supposed to be about, because I'm not really getting it.

It's about getting on your boots. Your sexy boots.

The song is as valuable as the poorly produced music video.

It annoys me that "I'll Go Crazy if I Don't Go Crazy Tonight" gets the same wrap though. I love that song. And I love the music video. Although may I note that somewhere around the minute mark the animated fat lady gets out of the elevator and then walks down the stairs. That bothered me from day 1.

 

[last unicorn]

I agree about MOS and I also love Breathe and Magnificent but after that the songs get a bit weak. Overall, I like the album but it's not as their other 2000 material (I'll probably get killed for that). My reasoning:

1-Unknown Caller- the lyrics hear are weak and I cannot connect to them
2-GOYB- Great beat and sound to this song but lyrically it makes me cringe at certain moments
3-SUC- Similar to Last Night on Earth from POP, I want to like this song but I just can't for some reason
4-COL-I don't like this song at all. The melody is just not appealing to me and lyrically it's weak


Now those are just my opinions and others might love those songs but I can't get into them. Perhaps over time I will.

Agree about Unknown Caller (though the fact if you can relate to lyrics or not is highly subjective, as is musical taste in general), very strongly disagree about Cedars. For me, it's one of Bono's strongest lyrical moments. And I am very much into poetry.

 

[nielsgov]

One thing I don't get about Boots is that almost everyone prefers the live version. At least the studio version has some groove and some interesting sounds in the back of the mix. They just made it even plainer live. The only thing that they improved is the lyrics.

 

[WalkOn21]

I really like the album, and feel that it actually flows very well. IMO, Crazy Tonight and Stand Up Comedy are both great songs that fit in just fine with the album.

"Boots" is the one song I just can't connect with. What is the song supposed to be about, because I'm not really getting it.

It's East African for "put on a condom", according to Bono. U2 live@ Jonathan Ross '09 (Get on Your Boots & Breathe) - YouTube Must be a song about sex, then.

 

[GopherMacPhisto]

Am I the only one here who thought the "Crazy Tonight" remix from the 2011 tour >> the album cut of "Crazy Tonight?

 

[cobl04]

One thing I don't get about Boots is that almost everyone prefers the live version. At least the studio version has some groove and some interesting sounds in the back of the mix. They just made it even plainer live. The only thing that they improved is the lyrics.

were you watching the gig from outside the stadium or something? Edge fucking melted the walls with that riff at the three shows I saw...

 

[digitize]

Am I the only one here who thought the "Crazy Tonight" remix from the 2011 tour >> the album cut of "Crazy Tonight?

Nope, you are definitely not the only one.

 

[cobl04]

Am I the only one here who thought the "Crazy Tonight" remix from the 2011 tour >> the album cut of "Crazy Tonight?

I think the people who prefer the album cut are in an extremely small minority.

 

[nielsgov]

were you watching the gig from outside the stadium or something? Edge fucking melted the walls with that riff at the three shows I saw...

The riff is good, but that's all the song's got live.

 

[kingofsorrow]

i thought boots was about feminism, being strong and dependent on no one.

 

[WalkOn21]

I think the people who prefer the album cut are in an extremely small minority.

I don't necessarily think that the album cut is better than the live version, but I definitely prefer the album version over the performance included on Artificial Horizon.

 

[LuckyNumber7]

i thought boots was about feminism, being strong and dependent on no one.

That's what I thought too. Or something along the lines, at least.

 

[rennowba]

That's what I thought too. Or something along the lines, at least.

Didnt bono once say its about women taking over the world?

 

[elevated_u2_fan]

Am I the only one here who thought the "Crazy Tonight" remix from the 2011 tour >> the album cut of "Crazy Tonight?

Well, to be honest, some forms of dental surgery >> the album version of "Crazy Tonight"...

 

[rennowba]

I always wondered if get on your boots
would of been a hit if the apple ipod ad would of happened.they did have discussions but they fell through.it would of helped anyway

 

[Galeongirl]

I don't necessarily think that the album cut is better than the live version, but I definitely prefer the album version over the performance included on Artificial Horizon.

Agreed. It's kinda funny, because I was at the show the recording on AH is from. And at the show it rocked very hard. Yet the recording? Holy crap how can they fail so hard at it? It seems so bland and boring, while live it was a party! I have no clue how this happened, but it isn't because of the song, because we've plenty of audience recordings where it does sound great.

 

[sunnysideoflove]

I hated it at first, but it grew like a rose without any thorns, I lap it up nowx

 

[U2girl]

U2 are such good songwriters that I think they should more-or-less give up on trying to craft perfect albums. When they got the balance between craft and fresh inspiration just right (Unforgettable Fire, Joshua Tree), it paid to spend time on the record and make it as good as possible. But with Pop and No Line On The Horizon, I feel that the time spent trying to craft the exact sounds they wanted had the inverse effect of making the results sound labored and over-worked. I say, just work on a batch of songs until you have 10 or 11 great ones, record them quickly, and then just release them! Another bonus is that we might not have to wait 6 years between albums.

U2 aren't nearly good enough songwriters to try the 11-great songs approach they seem intent on this last decade. Even with JT or AB most people agree something like Trip or Tryin' lowers the balance.

ATYCLB tanks midway through, HTDAAB is more consistent but precious few moments of greatness and NLOTH is the best song quality-wise U2's been in years. What it doesn't have is having a strong lyrical theme as the best U2 albums, and more importantly, the real albums have (UF, JT, AB, Boy, Zooropa) in comparison to song collections (every other U2 record). With that, it would have been a possible top 3 candidate. Perhaps with a more consistent in-character writing from Bono.

Thus, it's *merely* their best output since AB and a very good record/song collection. Just not a great U2 album.

 

[mikal]

i don't think songwriting is the issue....it's the constant tinkering that hurts them.

 

[U2girl]

EBW and/or Winter still would not have made for a great album.

Despite the theories.

 

[last unicorn]

U2 albums never had strong lyrical themes. NLOTH, for me, is the best U2 have done in years, as far as songwriting is concerned. Bono has never been a great story-teller, so I don't expect him to become one, his lyrical qualities are different. The best U2 songs are quite simple when it comes to lyrics. Of course there are still things they could have made better, but with NLOTH I think there was actually some craft as well as poetry involved and I'm quite fond of most of the lyrics.

 

[kingofsorrow]

 

[trevgreg]

EBW and/or Winter still would not have made for a great album.

Despite the theories.

Would've been a hell of an improvement over the weaker tracks on there though.

Now what exactly those tracks would be, of course, is up for debate...

 

[mama cass]

ATYCLB tanks midway through, HTDAAB is more consistent but precious few moments of greatness and NLOTH is the best song quality-wise U2's been in years.

see now, i would say the exact opposite... that's why it's all purely subjective and not fact, i guess...

 

[Moser]

Didnt bono once say its about women taking over the world?

Women are the future, all the revelations. Put on your boots, girls.