No Line On The Horizon: the most underrated album?

[U2FAN4LIFE]

Bombast and grandiosity is how they became huge. So it's ok on JT but not on No Line?

I agree with the sentiment above. Though I have no problem with a bit of bombast and grandiosity as long as it's not book-ended by crap/wtf moments.

Every U2 album has it's moments of bombast & grandiosity, it just feels to me like the other tracks play an outsized role in framing how we may perceive those bombastic moments. With respect to NLOTH this would be the reason that so many folks lament not having Winter and/or Mercy instead of the most cringe worthy moments (pick 2 of SUC, Boots, Crazy Tonight).

 

[zoopop]

I remember listening to tracks 1-4 in bed the night it leaked and thinking holy !!

NLOTH
Magnificent
MOS
Unknown Caller (I know many people don't like it but it just flows and wraps up the epic 3 song beginning)


But after that......

Boots has not aged well at all. I don't think I can say this about any U2 song.

Crazy & SUC feels like 1,000 ideas crammed into 4 minutes.

I enjoy WAS & Fez but it doesn't help what U2 were going for after the 3 craptacular songs before it.

Things get back on track with Breathe and the dark closer/mood of Cedars is refreshing.


NLOTH & MOS are 2 of my favorite U2 songs. MOS is a top 10 song in my book. Really out there as far as U2 standards.

If NLOTH would have been the lead single and maybe do a double release single w/ MOS, people would have turned their heads towards U2 again. In a musical/artistic way.

 

[corianderstem]

I remember after first listen, the two songs that made me sit up (metaphorically, as I remained lying down with my headphones on) and take notice were the title track and Cedars of Lebanon. Like "This is cool and interesting."

The rest of the album quickly grew on me, but I always like it when I hear an anticipated album for the first time and there's stuff that makes you go "Whoa" on first listen.



Fun fact: "Stuff That Makes You Go Whoa" was the alternate title for C&C Music Factory's hit.

 

[Hewson]

Fun fact: "Stuff That Makes You Go Whoa" was the alternate title for C&C Music Factory's hit.

Hmmm

 

[MrPryck2U]

Boots and Stand Up take a beating, but I really enjoy the other songs on the album with Moment, Magnificent, and Fez being my top favorites. I thought that Cedars and Snow also had an awesome vibe going on. Now, yes, Stand Up and Boots are my least favorites, but I can still listen to them.

 

[U2FAN4LIFE]

So I listened to NLOTH on my way into work (I have a long commute) and nothing has changed for me... it starts well, it ends well but those middle 3 tracks

Makes me wonder what NLOTH could have been like as a 6 or 7 track EP... though who know's what the band would have cut!

My "nightmare" 6 track EP... (no offence to the 2 tunes I quite like ):

Boots
White as Snow
SUC
Crazy tonight
Cedars
Bonus... Boots remix

 

[trevgreg]

Bonus... Boots remix

Truth be told, I actually tolerate the remix for it a lot better than the song itself.

 

[corianderstem]

yeah, the Boots remix I'm thinking of is actually pretty great. I'd been disinterested in 95% of the remixes they'd put out for a long time, but NLOTH was a very pleasant surprise, remix-wise.

 

[womanfish]

yeah, the Boots remix I'm thinking of is actually pretty great. I'd been disinterested in 95% of the remixes they'd put out for a long time, but NLOTH was a very pleasant surprise, remix-wise.

The RAC Remix of Magnificent is one of my favorites ever.

 

[BVS]

SUC(there really wasn't much we could do with this) remix, was meh

 

[super fly guy]

Unknown Caller is a far more interesting and worthwhile track than Song for Someone. Virtually everything bad about 21st century U2 is contained in SFS, it's just missing an overproduced rock section.

Spot on,can't listen to SFS. Just so boring.

 

[Catman]

I don't know that it's U2's most "underrated" record, but it's certainly superior to SOI, given that NLOTH, despite its unevenness, sounds like a band who still has their soul.

You are dead to me.

 

[Catman]

But to extrapolate for a moment on my previous content, I felt that SoI rectified one of my chief gripes with "modern" U2--the lyrics!

Bono probably impressed me most on the record; specifically, his lyrics were on point and thoughtful. What kinda bothered me about the band's previous couple of albums was the fact that some songs didn't really know what they wanted to be (other than adhere very generally to a basic guideline of "be uplifting!" or what have you). I mean, I get that his lyrics can be intentionally vague so as to be more open for interpretation, but he seemed to rely a bit too heavily on that philosophy for the past decade or so.

I guess what I'm trying to get at is, when listening to SoI (and in comparison to NLOTH or HTDAAB), there's a cohesion to the work as a whole which makes it greater than the sum of its parts (despite the record never quite reaching those singular peaks of MOS or COBL).

 

[Nick66]

• Moment of Surrender is U2's best song since Streets.
• NLOTH (the song) is one of their best of the 00's. The production on that track is extraordinary.
• Fez-Being Born is lovely. Wonderful hearing something like that from U2.
• Breathe, Magnificent and yes the undeservedly maligned Boots are solid, but not extraordinary, U2 tracks.
• Unknown Caller doesn't deserve the hate it gets around here. I like it, even if the lyrics are bit clunky. I think Bono was trying to make a commentary on how ways we interact have changed.
• White as Snow & Cedars are pleasant, if unremarkable. I don't give either much thought.
• Crazy and SUC are definitely the weak links are, and the record would have been better of without them.

I agree with those who think MOS should have been the single. Yeah, it's not radio friendly, and a lot of people would not have known what to make of it, but I frankly don't think it would have impacted sales much and I think it would have been offset by getting much more favourable press than Boots.

It's a better, more ambitious record than SOI. It's evolutionary from where U2 was with the previous two records. It was U2 trying to do albeit in a compromised way, what everyone say they want U2 to do. And while SOI lacks NLOTH's clunkers, it also doesn't have anything that touches that record at its best.

U2 is not the same band without Brian & Danny.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Unknown Caller is the most infuriating song they've ever done.

I absolutely love the instrumentals... but christ the chorus is the fucking worst. The. Fucking. Worst. Oh oh oh oh, oh oh oh oh..

 

[elevated_u2_fan]

there is a lot to like about Unknown Caller but yeah, the lyrics are pretty clunky.

 

[mikal]

Too bad Bono wasn't ahead of time with his lyrics on Unknown Caller

Open. Camera. Panorama Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh
3D Touch. Retina. Nightshift Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh
Unlock. By fingerprint.

 

[Nick66]

Too bad Bono wasn't ahead of time with his lyrics on Unknown Caller

Open. Camera. Panorama Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh
3D Touch. Retina. Nightshift Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh
Unlock. By fingerprint.

As an Apple insider and FOS, Bono had access to advance protypes of Apple tech.

Remember that story of the lost iPhone protype that ended up in the hands of a tech mag, that was scapegoated on a "careless Apple employee"? It was found in a bar. Where does Bono hang out in his free time?

Put the pieces together.

 

[Hewson]

As an Apple insider and FOS, Bono had access to advance protypes of Apple tech.

Remember that story of the lost iPhone protype that ended up in the hands of a tech mag, that was scapegoated on a "careless Apple employee"? It was found in a bar. Where does Bono hang out in his free time?

Put the pieces together.

If it had been found in a restaurant, we could convict him.

 

[mikal]

As an Apple insider and FOS, Bono had access to advance protypes of Apple tech.

Remember that story of the lost iPhone protype that ended up in the hands of a tech mag, that was scapegoated on a "careless Apple employee"? It was found in a bar. Where does Bono hang out in his free time?

Put the pieces together.

Did that phone have the long lost October lyrics on it?

 

[Nick66]

Did that phone have the long lost October lyrics on it?

No. Those were taken by Pete the Chop.

Do try to see the big picture, mikal.

 

[mikal]

DO try.

 

[lazarus]

• Moment of Surrender is U2's best song since Streets.
• NLOTH (the song) is one of their best of the 00's. The production on that track is extraordinary.
• Fez-Being Born is lovely. Wonderful hearing something like that from U2.
• Breathe, Magnificent and yes the undeservedly maligned Boots are solid, but not extraordinary, U2 tracks.
• Unknown Caller doesn't deserve the hate it gets around here. I like it, even if the lyrics are bit clunky. I think Bono was trying to make a commentary on how ways we interact have changed.
• White as Snow & Cedars are pleasant, if unremarkable. I don't give either much thought.
• Crazy and SUC are definitely the weak links are, and the record would have been better of without them.

I agree with those who think MOS should have been the single. Yeah, it's not radio friendly, and a lot of people would not have known what to make of it, but I frankly don't think it would have impacted sales much and I think it would have been offset by getting much more favourable press than Boots.

It's a better, more ambitious record than SOI. It's evolutionary from where U2 was with the previous two records. It was U2 trying to do albeit in a compromised way, what everyone say they want U2 to do. And while SOI lacks NLOTH's clunkers, it also doesn't have anything that touches that record at its best.

U2 is not the same band without Brian & Danny.

I agree with almost all of your No Line notes. The problem with Boots for me is that it doesn't really fit. As a track itself I don't mind it and love the chorus and the bridge.

I don't mind the group "oh" singing on Unknown Caller, either, but yes the chorus lyric is awkward. More painful was Bono trying to get stadium crowds to sing along with a song that clearly was not one of those types.

I'd disagree about SOI not having the same peaks, though. Those final 3 tracks and Wolves I think are pretty damned stellar and show some new colors we hadn't seen before from the band. As well as proof that a whole album produced by Danger Mouse may have approached an Eno/Lanois collaboration.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

No. Those were taken by Pete the Chop.

Do try to see the big picture, mikal.

Whatever happened to that guy?

 

[Mac_Fly]

I think NLOTH is the best produced of all U2 albums thus far, even if it's not their best collection of songs.


My summation of said collection: Breathe is the best, MOS honorable mention. The rest are good to great (I happen to love Boots).


Only song I didn't like: Stand Up Comedy.

 

[Nick66]

Those final 3 tracks and Wolves I think are pretty damned stellar and show some new colors we hadn't seen before from the band. As well as proof that a whole album produced by Danger Mouse may have approached an Eno/Lanois collaboration.

You're right. There are some really good, powerful tracks on that record....Iris comes to mind. It's a quality, modern sounding record that lacks NLOTH's unevenness.

But for me there's something missing on SOI that prevents the songs from jumping from the merely good to great. I don't know if it's over produced, or over thought, but it just feels to me like it's the product of a long and lengthy compromise period by a group of musicians with unlimited resources. It's technically fine, and better than pretty much what any other rock band of U2's age would be capable of producing, but it lacks spark and (ironically given the subject matter) feels uninspired. At least to me.

 

[womanfish]

You're right. There are some really good, powerful tracks on that record....Iris comes to mind. It's a quality, modern sounding record that lacks NLOTH's unevenness.

But for me there's something missing on SOI that prevents the songs from jumping from the merely good to great. I don't know if it's over produced, or over thought, but it just feels to me like it's the product of a long and lengthy compromise period by a group of musicians with unlimited resources. It's technically fine, and better than pretty much what any other rock band of U2's age would be capable of producing, but it lacks spark and (ironically given the subject matter) feels uninspired. At least to me.

I don't disagree here. i do think that as an entire work, i like SOI better than any other post 2000 album. Although it does feel a bit like each song was kind of done in isolation, where UF, JT, AB, Zoo, even ATYCLB and POP sort of feel like they are a group of songs that were created in a certain "moment" or atmosphere...

That is my hope for SOE, that hopefully by they got that from SOI as well, which is why we heard about them going back in and recording some live elements. Keeping it a bit more loose, and hopefully, capturing a "feeling" that permeates the entire album. Fingers crossed.

 

[womanfish]

Just for kicks.

Post 2000 album rank for me:

1. SOI
2. NLOTH
3. ATYCLB
4. HTDAAB

 

[corianderstem]

I really like Unkown Caller.

 

[superchuk5]

there is a lot to like about Unknown Caller but yeah, the lyrics are pretty clunky.

The lyrics over all have to be the album's weakest aspect to me. The whole writing songs from the POV of different characters just doesn't translate. With the exception of the middle three, they did succeed in creating a cool atmosphere. Fortunately, they turned it around on SOI and delivered some of their best lyrics in ages. Say what you will about the production, but the lyrics were on point.