1970's that was fine.. and today people do that as a JOKE song at kareoki now-- hardly the artistic vein U2 has set for themesleves-- Clever logic but no Cockatoo!
NLOTH Album Reviews - Professional / Web / Mag Reviews ONLY
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1970's that was fine.. and today people do that as a JOKE song at kareoki now-- hardly the artistic vein U2 has set for themesleves-- Clever logic but no Cockatoo!
Lemonfix
Refugee
Err, are. you. SERIOUS?
I'd say you sound like an immature 13 year old with that post, but that would be insulting to immature 13 year olds.
catlhere
Rock n' Roll Doggie VIP PASS
Exclusive: U2's new album No Line On The Horizon reviewed track by track
Feb 27 2009 By John Dingwall
U2 may be the biggest band on the planet, but they have admitted they are taking nothing for granted with their new album No Line On The Horizon.
The Irish superstars delivered an electronic version to the Razz this week, the first time a newspaper in the UK has been given the tracks in full.
But despite excitement from rock fans, Bono, Larry Mullen, The Edge and Adam Clayton insist they are having to work hard to make sure their fans stick with them.
Bono said: "A lot of people have a U2 album, why would they want another one?
"We feel we have to fight hard to convince people as to why they should come on this ride with us."
The band insist they are not resting on their laurels - and say they are still as rooted to the punk rock ideals that led them to form in 1976.
The Edge explained: "Punk came at the right moment to shake everything up and challenge everybody on the basis that music had to mean everything.
"Because we started out in the audience at those punk gigs, we felt what it was like to be at a Clash show or a Buzzcocks show.
"We were 15 and it made such an impact. Being there, you never lose what it is like to be in the crowd."
The band are giving a series of sneak previews of tracks on MySpace ahead of the album release next week.
It will be released in a standard format with a 24-page booklet and in adigipak format, which includes an extended booklet and the album's companion film, Linear, by Anton Corbijn.
A limited edition 64-page magazine will also be available, featuring the band in conversation with artist Catherine Owens and new Anton Corbijn photographs.
The band will also release the album on 12-inch vinyl in homage to the classic punk albums that inspired them to get together.
Helmed by heavyweight production trio Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois and Steve Lillywhite, No Line On The Horizon is a global affair, having been recorded in Morocco, Dublin, New York and London.
"We always seem to need locations," Bono said: "It was Berlin for Achtung Baby and in our heads the landscape of America for the Joshua Tree, and Miami for Pop."
Four of the songs on the album were recorded in one take, A Moment Of Surrender, No Line On The Horizon, Being Born and Unknown caller.
Here's the lowdown on the new album:
1 No Line On The Horizon
Droning keyboards and krautrock beats, it's apparently disco rock. The track opens with trademark Edge guitar. 8/10
2 Magnificent
The Edge delivers growling guitar over a synth canvas and a pounding beat, before Bono lifts the song into classic U2 territory. 9/10
3 Moment of Surrender
This is U2 at the height of their powers. A gospel-tinged power ballad. 10/10
4 Unknown Caller
Electronic loops slowly bring Unknown Caller to life before the song bursts to life. 9/10
5 I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight
Bono does his falsetto best on this laid-back track. 8/10
6 Get On Your Boots
The big hitter single that introduced us to the album, influenced by Elvis Costello and Muse. 7/10
7 Stand Up Comedy
This is a banker to become a future single. Big and beefy. 9/10
8 Being Born
There's a Middle-Eastern feel to this song but also features Radiohead-like beats and Bono sounding like Thom Yorke. 8/10
9 White As Snow
The Middle East features here and ends in country and western territory. 7/10
10 Breathe
A track produced by Lilywhite, it turns into a bar room blues rocker. 7/10
11 Cedars Of Lebanon
A trippy way to close what must be one of the most original U2 albums in years. 9/10.
[no album score, but the average is around 8.3 I believe]
Feb 27 2009 By John Dingwall
U2 may be the biggest band on the planet, but they have admitted they are taking nothing for granted with their new album No Line On The Horizon.
The Irish superstars delivered an electronic version to the Razz this week, the first time a newspaper in the UK has been given the tracks in full.
But despite excitement from rock fans, Bono, Larry Mullen, The Edge and Adam Clayton insist they are having to work hard to make sure their fans stick with them.
Bono said: "A lot of people have a U2 album, why would they want another one?
"We feel we have to fight hard to convince people as to why they should come on this ride with us."
The band insist they are not resting on their laurels - and say they are still as rooted to the punk rock ideals that led them to form in 1976.
The Edge explained: "Punk came at the right moment to shake everything up and challenge everybody on the basis that music had to mean everything.
"Because we started out in the audience at those punk gigs, we felt what it was like to be at a Clash show or a Buzzcocks show.
"We were 15 and it made such an impact. Being there, you never lose what it is like to be in the crowd."
The band are giving a series of sneak previews of tracks on MySpace ahead of the album release next week.
It will be released in a standard format with a 24-page booklet and in adigipak format, which includes an extended booklet and the album's companion film, Linear, by Anton Corbijn.
A limited edition 64-page magazine will also be available, featuring the band in conversation with artist Catherine Owens and new Anton Corbijn photographs.
The band will also release the album on 12-inch vinyl in homage to the classic punk albums that inspired them to get together.
Helmed by heavyweight production trio Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois and Steve Lillywhite, No Line On The Horizon is a global affair, having been recorded in Morocco, Dublin, New York and London.
"We always seem to need locations," Bono said: "It was Berlin for Achtung Baby and in our heads the landscape of America for the Joshua Tree, and Miami for Pop."
Four of the songs on the album were recorded in one take, A Moment Of Surrender, No Line On The Horizon, Being Born and Unknown caller.
Here's the lowdown on the new album:
1 No Line On The Horizon
Droning keyboards and krautrock beats, it's apparently disco rock. The track opens with trademark Edge guitar. 8/10
2 Magnificent
The Edge delivers growling guitar over a synth canvas and a pounding beat, before Bono lifts the song into classic U2 territory. 9/10
3 Moment of Surrender
This is U2 at the height of their powers. A gospel-tinged power ballad. 10/10
4 Unknown Caller
Electronic loops slowly bring Unknown Caller to life before the song bursts to life. 9/10
5 I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight
Bono does his falsetto best on this laid-back track. 8/10
6 Get On Your Boots
The big hitter single that introduced us to the album, influenced by Elvis Costello and Muse. 7/10
7 Stand Up Comedy
This is a banker to become a future single. Big and beefy. 9/10
8 Being Born
There's a Middle-Eastern feel to this song but also features Radiohead-like beats and Bono sounding like Thom Yorke. 8/10
9 White As Snow
The Middle East features here and ends in country and western territory. 7/10
10 Breathe
A track produced by Lilywhite, it turns into a bar room blues rocker. 7/10
11 Cedars Of Lebanon
A trippy way to close what must be one of the most original U2 albums in years. 9/10.
[no album score, but the average is around 8.3 I believe]
Err, are. you. SERIOUS?
I'd say you sound like an immature 13 year old with that post, but that would be insulting to immature 13 year olds.
Err Shush now, how's that nerve I touched?-- this album is truely a bummer (except mag)..
I put together in one big Word doc almost all reviews yet. From listening party ones to the latested posted from USA Today.
They all (almost) have the link so you can see the original site.
I don't think there's a problem in posting a link for this, so here it goes:
http://www.m e g aupload.com/?d=1Z6MXMY0
They all (almost) have the link so you can see the original site.
I don't think there's a problem in posting a link for this, so here it goes:
http://www.m e g aupload.com/?d=1Z6MXMY0
okay the off topic posts need to stop right now. this is the second warning. this thread is ONLY for posting professional reviews and discussing them. nothing else.
last unicorn
Blue Crack Addict
last unicorn
Blue Crack Addict
I got a whole shitload of media reviews sent to me this morning via @u2 newsletter, and the majority was positive, some to my big surprise. I must say, overall I have the impression that the media gave the album mostly balanced, slightly positive reviews, sometimes they are very positive. Of course there has also be some bashing. The only thing I don't really understand at the moment is how TIME couldn't find a more professional person to write the review. This guy obviously doesn't know what he's writing about. I find it strange that after so many years of kissing U2's, and mostly Bono's ass, they had to find the most dilletant reviewer to write an article about the new album. 
Village Idiot
The Fly
Adam Clayton Q&A - MOJO Magazine, February 26, 2009
Not sure if this should be posted here but then not sure where it should be posted.
--------------------
Adam Clayton Q&A
MOJO Magazine, February 26, 2009
By Keith Cameron
He's the ever-urbane architect of U2's prowling basslines and, courtesy of Achtung Baby's sleeve art, the only member of U2 whose "old chap" is in the public domain. But Adam Clayton also has a plausible explanation of No Line on the Horizon's tortured delivery and that's not all. Did Brian Eno really throw "the rattle out of the pram"? And what did Bono get Adam for Christmas? In the director's cut of an interview printed in this month's MOJO magazine, all will be revealed.
MOJO: It's never a smooth process, finishing off a U2 record, and this seems to have been no exception. Was there much chopping and changing down to the wire?
Adam: There was sort of an 11th hour scenario, because we got caught up on the running order towards the end, primarily because we'd all come to the conclusion that How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb had suffered by having a compromised running order, and we didn't want to make the same mistake this time around. So, we pulled "White As Snow" out of the "maybe" file, and that seemed to balance some of the up-tempo rock tunes. It gave the listener a break.
We had another track called "Every Breaking Wave" which, if we'd included it, would have made for a very long record. Anyway, we decided that song just hadn't reached its potential, so, we put it back in the cupboard for the next record (laughs)."
Before Christmas, I heard a track called "Winter." Has that become something else?
That was possibly going to be on the record and possibly part of a soundtrack for an upcoming movie and it didn't make the record but may still be part of that movie soundtrack. [NB since this interview "Winter" has been confirmed as part of Anton Corbijn's "visual accompaniment" to No Line on the Horizon, entitled Linear, included in the Deluxe package of the album.]
It sounds like you've got a lot of material. Could you release another album quite soon?
Well we could, and it's part of our plan to not leave it too long. Once the tour is up and running there would be no reason why we couldn't find a week and go into the studio and work on things. It sort of depends on Bono and Edge's commitments; they've got a Spiderman project in the works too (laughs).
So, Spiderman permitting, you could be working on the new album during the next tour?
It would be nice to continue working in the same way. Instead of doing this record in one solid bloc, we sort of did two-week sessions with Brian and Dan, as writing collaborators, and out of those sessions came a lot of really good raw material. But it wasn't until April of last year that we went into the studio and said, Look, no one gets out of here until it's finished.
The breaks meant we could come back to things. And, I think that helped everyone. I think it worked really well for Edge from a compositional point of view; he really got to look at how the album hung together and to see what was missing musically. I think it enabled Bono to complete and fully resolve some of the lyrics.
Originally we were looking at a deadline of last August but I think by taking a break instead of trying to push through we were able to come back to it and to pull in some new material. For instance, "I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight" came out of that period and "Every Breaking Wave" came out of that period, even though the last one didn't get onto the album. It just made for a really good record and I think, from Larry's and my own point of view, it gave us a chance to live with the material and to really have an influence on how it was finished.
So I think the breaks stopped us getting snow-blindness. I also think there was a fundamental shift in the band, in that the material became much more internalised. It wasn't striving to reach out to connect to people; it became much more about inviting people to come in and be part of the experience.
That's interesting. I would say the last two records broadly fell into the "striving to connect" category...
I think that was the end of a period. When we were coming through the '90s and we were playing a lot of big outdoor shows, we lost some connection with ourselves because it was about reaching out to those really big places and that was how we probably conceived a lot of that music. All That You Can't Leave Behind was the beginning of the shift back, as we knew we were playing relatively small places, but they were much more musical experiences. I think it took the last two records for the band to value what we had together, to value our DNA. I think this record capitalizes and makes the most of that experience.
Did Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno's writing credits make them try harder?
I don't know about try harder but I think they were happier! [laughs] I think they both bring a phenomenal commitment to a U2 project in very different ways. Danny really does stay in the trenches and is the last one to leave the building. Brian tends to be the first man in in the morning, working on things that will influence the attitude of people, get them thinking in creative and inspired ways.
Long, creative relationships are unusual in rock 'n' roll, but the mileage and the knowledge and the understanding from having been around with them for 20 years makes them a pleasure to work with. And they haven't really changed much. They're still questioning in the same way.
Who has the final say?
I think it is us. And it's probably swung more that way. We've moved into a way of working where Brian will commit to a two or a three-week period then he goes off and does his other projects. And the same would be true of Danny [Lanois]. But there'll be other periods when we're just on our own.
It does come down to us ultimately. It used to infuriate Brian to the point of throwing the rattle out of the pram. Now I think he observes it and I think he has a healthy respect for it. Towards the end of the record, when we were in Olympic [Studios, South West London], he had a commitment to finish the record I haven't seen in him for a long time. He was there and really fighting for the record. Like a true midwife would be.
How early on were you aware of what kind of album you were making?
I think there was a lot more clarity around this record and I can't explain why. It just felt like people knew what this record was. Again, from a very personal point of view, it was like that from the beginning. When we first got together and started to play together, the sound that happened, there was a richness to it. The sound seemed to be a product of the time it was being created in. It was very unusual. The complex, sort of North African feel that's a part of the record was there right from inception.
Did the environment in Morocco have a marked impact on the finished product?
I think there was a time when it was more dominant. Earlier on in the record there was a time when it was a bit more challenging and questioning in a cultural sense -- east and west and the war was a bit more central to the record. And then it seemed to shift again and it became the record that it is now. I think you're aware that something has happened in the world. The world has changed and this record doesn't actually stand up and tell you that because you should know it anyway -- but it acknowledges that things are different now and there's a different value system. I don't know if you've read The Road by Cormac McCarthy? That has a very interesting, brooding atmosphere about it, a sense that you know that something has happened but you're not quite sure what it is. I think this record has that quality.
Does Eno like bass?
[Laughs] He loves it if he's playing it!
Do you and Eno always see eye to eye musically?
We have a really healthy respect for each other. It's probably taken a little while to get to that point but quite often we'll be digging in the same hole. The great thing about Brian is that he acknowledges his limitations and I have learned to acknowledge mine. He'll sometimes take something I'm doing and I'll think, "Oh shit, he's playing my bass part again!" And I have to go and do something else. But the result is always better. And quite often it'll be the other way around: he'll say, "Why don't you play this?" Or he'll give me a part and then he'll figure out something else around it. It's very much a collaborative experience.
The thing that I love about Brian is that he gets so excited that he's got a group of people to play with. Because a lot of his time is spent on his own. I think that's probably why he can be a little impatient. By the time he's worked something up he just wants to get off it and on to something else.
Black Eyed Peas' will.i.am is credited on "I'll Go Crazy..." What does he contribute?
Will helped early on in the arranging of the demo ideas in the summer. Then when he came in we recut it and he helped us push it up the hill. The final version is a recut that we did late on when we'd kind of played it in a bit. But he's a lovely, inspiring man to be around.
The version I heard before Christmas is almost more over the top than the version on the record...
You're absolutely right. We did try and take some of the bells and whistles off it and bring it back down to earth. It doffs the cap towards Motown and it's great to hear the band do a song like that. Unashamedly it's a pop song and it's got a pretty good one-two [chuckles]"
Interesting to hear French horns on a U2 record. On at least two songs I think.
Yeah. They're a lovely mournful sound. Real brass is something that you don't hear very much and it is a fabulous sound. Those tunes inherently had those brass parts written into them. But we did find a great horn player who came in and embellished them.
It works especially well with the guitar solo on "Unknown Caller..."
And that is one of Edge's great guitar solos. Fabulous.
The internal chemistry of the band must shift over time and the process of making a record must be intense. Have you all come out the other side happy?
Erm...[laughs] I think people are more relaxed now. When you have the kind of success that we had early on it brings a kind of responsibility with it. For some of the band, that became a burden that we fought against and wrestled with. But now instead of thinking that the band is limiting we feel it is very free. And we can do things that we can't do as individuals.
Most of us daydream about being millionaires. Do you ever wonder what you'd do if you woke up and weren't a millionaire?
Primarily, I don't identify myself as a millionaire but I am grateful on a regular basis that I don't have to think about [money] too much. If things changed, I could live within my means. I'd probably find it difficult but it wouldn't be the end of the world.
There's a lot of talk about the concert business downsizing. Could U2 tour on anything other than a massive scale?
I think it can change, depending on our appetite for big tours or for long tours or the economics of it. But for the tour coming up, I think we want to take on the big places again. It feels right to play the songs in stadiums this time. But I don't know what songs we're going to play yet. We're about to go off and do some promo for TV and when we get back from that we'll be rehearsing for the tour.
What did Bono get you for Christmas?
[Laughs nervously] Actually, we don't do Christmas presents any more. It was negotiated a few years back. We tend to pass books around.
© MOJO, 2009.
==========================
Not sure if this should be posted here but then not sure where it should be posted.
--------------------
Adam Clayton Q&A
MOJO Magazine, February 26, 2009
By Keith Cameron
He's the ever-urbane architect of U2's prowling basslines and, courtesy of Achtung Baby's sleeve art, the only member of U2 whose "old chap" is in the public domain. But Adam Clayton also has a plausible explanation of No Line on the Horizon's tortured delivery and that's not all. Did Brian Eno really throw "the rattle out of the pram"? And what did Bono get Adam for Christmas? In the director's cut of an interview printed in this month's MOJO magazine, all will be revealed.
MOJO: It's never a smooth process, finishing off a U2 record, and this seems to have been no exception. Was there much chopping and changing down to the wire?
Adam: There was sort of an 11th hour scenario, because we got caught up on the running order towards the end, primarily because we'd all come to the conclusion that How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb had suffered by having a compromised running order, and we didn't want to make the same mistake this time around. So, we pulled "White As Snow" out of the "maybe" file, and that seemed to balance some of the up-tempo rock tunes. It gave the listener a break.
We had another track called "Every Breaking Wave" which, if we'd included it, would have made for a very long record. Anyway, we decided that song just hadn't reached its potential, so, we put it back in the cupboard for the next record (laughs)."
Before Christmas, I heard a track called "Winter." Has that become something else?
That was possibly going to be on the record and possibly part of a soundtrack for an upcoming movie and it didn't make the record but may still be part of that movie soundtrack. [NB since this interview "Winter" has been confirmed as part of Anton Corbijn's "visual accompaniment" to No Line on the Horizon, entitled Linear, included in the Deluxe package of the album.]
It sounds like you've got a lot of material. Could you release another album quite soon?
Well we could, and it's part of our plan to not leave it too long. Once the tour is up and running there would be no reason why we couldn't find a week and go into the studio and work on things. It sort of depends on Bono and Edge's commitments; they've got a Spiderman project in the works too (laughs).
So, Spiderman permitting, you could be working on the new album during the next tour?
It would be nice to continue working in the same way. Instead of doing this record in one solid bloc, we sort of did two-week sessions with Brian and Dan, as writing collaborators, and out of those sessions came a lot of really good raw material. But it wasn't until April of last year that we went into the studio and said, Look, no one gets out of here until it's finished.
The breaks meant we could come back to things. And, I think that helped everyone. I think it worked really well for Edge from a compositional point of view; he really got to look at how the album hung together and to see what was missing musically. I think it enabled Bono to complete and fully resolve some of the lyrics.
Originally we were looking at a deadline of last August but I think by taking a break instead of trying to push through we were able to come back to it and to pull in some new material. For instance, "I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight" came out of that period and "Every Breaking Wave" came out of that period, even though the last one didn't get onto the album. It just made for a really good record and I think, from Larry's and my own point of view, it gave us a chance to live with the material and to really have an influence on how it was finished.
So I think the breaks stopped us getting snow-blindness. I also think there was a fundamental shift in the band, in that the material became much more internalised. It wasn't striving to reach out to connect to people; it became much more about inviting people to come in and be part of the experience.
That's interesting. I would say the last two records broadly fell into the "striving to connect" category...
I think that was the end of a period. When we were coming through the '90s and we were playing a lot of big outdoor shows, we lost some connection with ourselves because it was about reaching out to those really big places and that was how we probably conceived a lot of that music. All That You Can't Leave Behind was the beginning of the shift back, as we knew we were playing relatively small places, but they were much more musical experiences. I think it took the last two records for the band to value what we had together, to value our DNA. I think this record capitalizes and makes the most of that experience.
Did Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno's writing credits make them try harder?
I don't know about try harder but I think they were happier! [laughs] I think they both bring a phenomenal commitment to a U2 project in very different ways. Danny really does stay in the trenches and is the last one to leave the building. Brian tends to be the first man in in the morning, working on things that will influence the attitude of people, get them thinking in creative and inspired ways.
Long, creative relationships are unusual in rock 'n' roll, but the mileage and the knowledge and the understanding from having been around with them for 20 years makes them a pleasure to work with. And they haven't really changed much. They're still questioning in the same way.
Who has the final say?
I think it is us. And it's probably swung more that way. We've moved into a way of working where Brian will commit to a two or a three-week period then he goes off and does his other projects. And the same would be true of Danny [Lanois]. But there'll be other periods when we're just on our own.
It does come down to us ultimately. It used to infuriate Brian to the point of throwing the rattle out of the pram. Now I think he observes it and I think he has a healthy respect for it. Towards the end of the record, when we were in Olympic [Studios, South West London], he had a commitment to finish the record I haven't seen in him for a long time. He was there and really fighting for the record. Like a true midwife would be.
How early on were you aware of what kind of album you were making?
I think there was a lot more clarity around this record and I can't explain why. It just felt like people knew what this record was. Again, from a very personal point of view, it was like that from the beginning. When we first got together and started to play together, the sound that happened, there was a richness to it. The sound seemed to be a product of the time it was being created in. It was very unusual. The complex, sort of North African feel that's a part of the record was there right from inception.
Did the environment in Morocco have a marked impact on the finished product?
I think there was a time when it was more dominant. Earlier on in the record there was a time when it was a bit more challenging and questioning in a cultural sense -- east and west and the war was a bit more central to the record. And then it seemed to shift again and it became the record that it is now. I think you're aware that something has happened in the world. The world has changed and this record doesn't actually stand up and tell you that because you should know it anyway -- but it acknowledges that things are different now and there's a different value system. I don't know if you've read The Road by Cormac McCarthy? That has a very interesting, brooding atmosphere about it, a sense that you know that something has happened but you're not quite sure what it is. I think this record has that quality.
Does Eno like bass?
[Laughs] He loves it if he's playing it!
Do you and Eno always see eye to eye musically?
We have a really healthy respect for each other. It's probably taken a little while to get to that point but quite often we'll be digging in the same hole. The great thing about Brian is that he acknowledges his limitations and I have learned to acknowledge mine. He'll sometimes take something I'm doing and I'll think, "Oh shit, he's playing my bass part again!" And I have to go and do something else. But the result is always better. And quite often it'll be the other way around: he'll say, "Why don't you play this?" Or he'll give me a part and then he'll figure out something else around it. It's very much a collaborative experience.
The thing that I love about Brian is that he gets so excited that he's got a group of people to play with. Because a lot of his time is spent on his own. I think that's probably why he can be a little impatient. By the time he's worked something up he just wants to get off it and on to something else.
Black Eyed Peas' will.i.am is credited on "I'll Go Crazy..." What does he contribute?
Will helped early on in the arranging of the demo ideas in the summer. Then when he came in we recut it and he helped us push it up the hill. The final version is a recut that we did late on when we'd kind of played it in a bit. But he's a lovely, inspiring man to be around.
The version I heard before Christmas is almost more over the top than the version on the record...
You're absolutely right. We did try and take some of the bells and whistles off it and bring it back down to earth. It doffs the cap towards Motown and it's great to hear the band do a song like that. Unashamedly it's a pop song and it's got a pretty good one-two [chuckles]"
Interesting to hear French horns on a U2 record. On at least two songs I think.
Yeah. They're a lovely mournful sound. Real brass is something that you don't hear very much and it is a fabulous sound. Those tunes inherently had those brass parts written into them. But we did find a great horn player who came in and embellished them.
It works especially well with the guitar solo on "Unknown Caller..."
And that is one of Edge's great guitar solos. Fabulous.
The internal chemistry of the band must shift over time and the process of making a record must be intense. Have you all come out the other side happy?
Erm...[laughs] I think people are more relaxed now. When you have the kind of success that we had early on it brings a kind of responsibility with it. For some of the band, that became a burden that we fought against and wrestled with. But now instead of thinking that the band is limiting we feel it is very free. And we can do things that we can't do as individuals.
Most of us daydream about being millionaires. Do you ever wonder what you'd do if you woke up and weren't a millionaire?
Primarily, I don't identify myself as a millionaire but I am grateful on a regular basis that I don't have to think about [money] too much. If things changed, I could live within my means. I'd probably find it difficult but it wouldn't be the end of the world.
There's a lot of talk about the concert business downsizing. Could U2 tour on anything other than a massive scale?
I think it can change, depending on our appetite for big tours or for long tours or the economics of it. But for the tour coming up, I think we want to take on the big places again. It feels right to play the songs in stadiums this time. But I don't know what songs we're going to play yet. We're about to go off and do some promo for TV and when we get back from that we'll be rehearsing for the tour.
What did Bono get you for Christmas?
[Laughs nervously] Actually, we don't do Christmas presents any more. It was negotiated a few years back. We tend to pass books around.
© MOJO, 2009.
==========================
Dragonfave
New Yorker
Positives:
U2&squo;s No Line on the Horizon shows renewed energy | The Courier-Mail
"Verdict: It's very good, although only repeated plays will tell how good. Always a telling sign when you can't wait to hear it again, though."
People Magazine gave it a 4 stars out of 4 stars. Most of you probably received the review via the @U2 news feed.
And "Village Idiot", that MOJO interview had been posted multiple times already.
U2&squo;s No Line on the Horizon shows renewed energy | The Courier-Mail
"Verdict: It's very good, although only repeated plays will tell how good. Always a telling sign when you can't wait to hear it again, though."
People Magazine gave it a 4 stars out of 4 stars. Most of you probably received the review via the @U2 news feed.
And "Village Idiot", that MOJO interview had been posted multiple times already.
TheEdge1987
Acrobat
Anybody got the latest hotpress material?
AtomicBono
ONE love, blood, life
AtomicBono
ONE love, blood, life
Okay since I'm a dork I've decided to go through all the reviews so far and post whether they're positive or negative (or a rating if given). Thought it'd be cool to be able to glance at the general reception, especially since a lot of these won't be on Metacritic. I'm not gonna do them all at once but here's the first 10:
1. U2 Swiss Home - very positive
2. WaltDisney (Interference member) - very positive
3. Perfectly Cromulent (blog) - very positive
4. Sydney Morning Herald - positive
5. Time Out Sydney - very negative
6. The Australian - positive
7. Metro - very positive
8. Independent.ie - neutral
9. U2.de (Björn) - postitve
10. Iltasanomat (Finnish newspaper) - positive
these are all pre-release listening parties.
1. U2 Swiss Home - very positive
2. WaltDisney (Interference member) - very positive
3. Perfectly Cromulent (blog) - very positive
4. Sydney Morning Herald - positive
5. Time Out Sydney - very negative
6. The Australian - positive
7. Metro - very positive
8. Independent.ie - neutral
9. U2.de (Björn) - postitve
10. Iltasanomat (Finnish newspaper) - positive
these are all pre-release listening parties.
Using that word doc?
It's gonna take you some time, that thing has more than 100 pages.
That's an extremely noble but Sisyphean task. There are going to be hundreds of reviews when it's all said and done. I'd recommend just keeping an eye on the album's Metacritic page. It won't have every review, but it will capture the major ones.
BTW, the Metacritic score is now down to 80 from 84, with the addition of the NME review (70).
Dragonfave
New Yorker
Reviews within the last 6 hours
Positives
With 'No Line On the Horizon' U2 is still epic after all these years - Music - NJ.com
http://www.abpnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3889&Itemid=9
U2 - No Line On The Horizon | album reviews | musicOMH <----- should be in Metacritic 4 stars out of 5
Very negative
CD: U2, 'No Line on the Horizon'
Positives
With 'No Line On the Horizon' U2 is still epic after all these years - Music - NJ.com
http://www.abpnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3889&Itemid=9
U2 - No Line On The Horizon | album reviews | musicOMH <----- should be in Metacritic 4 stars out of 5
Very negative
CD: U2, 'No Line on the Horizon'
last unicorn
Blue Crack Addict
I've skipped through literally hundreds of reviews in various languages today via Google search, only read a view that sounded interesting. I found more positive ones (slightly to very positive) than negative ones, of course I found a few bashing ones. But again, I was actually surprised to find the usual U2 bashing papers writing some positive reviews.
purpleblackeye
War Child
- Joined
- Sep 23, 2004
- Messages
- 742
some of these reviews crack me up...for example, the NJ.com one (from my home state), quotes Magnificent's lyrics as: "only love unites our hearts"
also, that very negative reiveiw is from the San Franciso Chronicle, a paper that is suffering financially and may close down. i guess the reviewer was having a bad day.
also, that very negative reiveiw is from the San Franciso Chronicle, a paper that is suffering financially and may close down. i guess the reviewer was having a bad day.
3/5 seems to be the score every Swedish paper and site gives NLOTH. Almost all of them states that it isn't the innovative album we was promised, and a mixed bag of good and bad songs. They praise slow songs as Moment of Surrender, White As Snow and also seems to enjoy Cedars of Lebanon as well. They seem to like Magnificent and IGCIIDGCT as well, but mostly just call them "perfect for next singles".
They all hate Get On Your Boots, and don't seem to be fond of the title track, SUC and FEZ-Being Born either. Breathe is a "great live song" according to them, though. Agreed on that one.
They all hate Get On Your Boots, and don't seem to be fond of the title track, SUC and FEZ-Being Born either. Breathe is a "great live song" according to them, though. Agreed on that one.
Dragonfave
New Yorker
Here's one of the reviews that will be added to Metacritic: AllMusic
A neutral review (?) by | Stephen Thomas Erlewine
The Allmusic Blog � U2 - No Line on the Horizon
A neutral review (?) by | Stephen Thomas Erlewine
The Allmusic Blog � U2 - No Line on the Horizon
U2DMfan
Rock n' Roll Doggie VIP PASS
Stephen Thomas Erlewine is usually pretty solid, I thought he pretty much nailed his HTDAAB review. I agree with a lot of his take on NLOTH but not all of it.
Seems to me (note his reference to Will.I.Am, as if they ever considered him being a fulltime producer, much less before working with Eno/Lanois) that he, along with so many others, didn't do their homework.
The impression I get is that a lot of these critics have grown weary of the U2 hype machine, so much so, to the point where they aren't even bothering to get their facts right. They'd rather just say "meh..mediocre".
Which is, IMO, the inevitable backlash from the (near consensus) ecstatic reaction to their last unremarkable album. I don't think a lot of these scribes were ever really going ot be fair, there is too much resentment. U2 pulled the wool over the eyes with The Bomb. You can't read a review w/o mention of U2 playing it safe in 2004, yet probably some of these same dullards were proclaiming that album a work of genius back then.
Why? Because they aren't reviewing the music on the album, they are reviewing the popular cultural impact of the album. Notice the disappoint in a lot of these reviews with "not the album they promised us..." who gives a fuck? Review the album as is.
Seems to me (note his reference to Will.I.Am, as if they ever considered him being a fulltime producer, much less before working with Eno/Lanois) that he, along with so many others, didn't do their homework.
The impression I get is that a lot of these critics have grown weary of the U2 hype machine, so much so, to the point where they aren't even bothering to get their facts right. They'd rather just say "meh..mediocre".
Which is, IMO, the inevitable backlash from the (near consensus) ecstatic reaction to their last unremarkable album. I don't think a lot of these scribes were ever really going ot be fair, there is too much resentment. U2 pulled the wool over the eyes with The Bomb. You can't read a review w/o mention of U2 playing it safe in 2004, yet probably some of these same dullards were proclaiming that album a work of genius back then.
Why? Because they aren't reviewing the music on the album, they are reviewing the popular cultural impact of the album. Notice the disappoint in a lot of these reviews with "not the album they promised us..." who gives a fuck? Review the album as is.
hillers
The Fly
That critic at the SF Chronicle sometimes judges albums before even listening to them. Check out this review (No, I'm not comparing Britney Spears to U2, this is just a funny review)
I don't think The Huffington Post's review has been posted yet.
I don't think The Huffington Post's review has been posted yet.
AtomicBono
ONE love, blood, life
As a classics major I appreciate the reference...Well I was just gonna do the ones in the word doc, not every one ever. But those are probably a little biased since a lot of them are the listening party ones where almost everyone was like YEAH BEST ALBUM EVER out of pure excitement from getting to hear the album early
I might skip to the professional reviews. I was mostly interested in all the newspaper ones that wouldn't be on Metacritic. They're not the most important reviews but they give a decent indication of how each country is receiving the album.My actually completing this task depends largely on my level of boredom/if I feel like it
jonnytakeawalk
Refugee
This was from the very negative Aidan Vaziri review....
is he fucking kidding??? Moment of surrender a b-side from pop??
is he fucking kidding??? Moment of surrender a b-side from pop??
LemonMelon
More 5G Than Man
It'll probably hang around in the 77-83 region for the duration, just like the previous two albums.
LemonMelon
More 5G Than Man
Wow...a perfect score from Blender? I wasn't expecting that. Three 100s at the top of Metacritic will look sweet.
Of course, I wasn't expecting NLOTH to receive a middling review from AMG either, so it evens out.
Of course, I wasn't expecting NLOTH to receive a middling review from AMG either, so it evens out.
.
LyricalDrug
Rock n' Roll Doggie
That writer from the SF Chronicle (here in the Bay Area, we locals derisively refer to that paper as the SF Comical, it's so bad) is nothing but a court jester. He knows little about music, is probably about to lose his job (the paper is on the verge of bankruptcy), and calling "Moment of Surrender" a B-side is so outrageous as to be hilarious.
Rolling Stone: 5 stars. Q Magazine: 5 stars. Blender: 5 stars. 'Nuff said.
Personally, I'd rate it at about 4 stars, with points deducted for the "middle 3 songs" (tracks 5-7) being hastily worked into the album at the last minute. Overall, it's a fantastic album. And at this point in the game, with U2's members pushing 50 years of age (Bono's daughter is in college - he could be a grandpa soon!) I'm just happy that they're still around, still making great songs, and are gearing up for a big tour.
Rolling Stone: 5 stars. Q Magazine: 5 stars. Blender: 5 stars. 'Nuff said.
Personally, I'd rate it at about 4 stars, with points deducted for the "middle 3 songs" (tracks 5-7) being hastily worked into the album at the last minute. Overall, it's a fantastic album. And at this point in the game, with U2's members pushing 50 years of age (Bono's daughter is in college - he could be a grandpa soon!) I'm just happy that they're still around, still making great songs, and are gearing up for a big tour.
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