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Sicy

Sicy

Sizzlin' Sicilian
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The review thread is nearing 1000 posts so lets use this thread to post only professional reviews and discuss them. For fan reviews, please use any of the many already existing threads discussing the album and songs, or please send your fan reviews to Anu (see this thread: http://www.u2interference.com/forum...l-sought-for-interference-webzine-194043.html).

Thanks to .:MrMacPhisto:. for compiling this list!



U2 Swiss Home - No Line On The Horizon
Perfectly Cromulent - First Impressions of the New U2 Album, No Line On The Horizon
Track by track: how the new U2 album rates - Music - Entertainment - smh.com.au
[FONT=&quot]U2 - No Line On The Horizon track by track - Music - Time Out Sydney[/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]
New U2 album "No Line on the Horizon" confirms Bono's majesty | The Australian
U2 has returned to top form
The new U2 album: track by track - Music - Independent.ie
U2 return to form with new album : thewest.com.au
Stepping out, with a touch of adventure - Music - Entertainment - Home
U2 set to release twelfth studio album - and we have the lowdown - The Sunday Mail
U2 On the Horizon reviwew | Celeb XS | Showbiz|xs | News Of The World
Ípsilon
U2 apresentam No Line On The Horizon - Expresso.pt
BLITZ: A BLITZ j[FONT=&quot]�[/FONT] ouviu o novo disco dos U2: saiba ao que soa No Line On The Horizon
U2 No Line On The Horizon, A First Impression | undercover.com.au, Music, News, Entertainment
[URL="http://www.herald.ie/entertainment/music/eamon-carrs-verdict-u2-1638876.html"]Eamon Carr's Verdict: U2 - Music, Entertainment - Herald.ie [/URL]
[FONT=&quot]White As Snow: U2's most intimate song | Music | guardian.co.uk[/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]
http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/showbiz/xs/151000/U2-On-the-Horizon-reviwe-Celeb-XS.html
U2 No Line On The Horizon review
[FONT=&quot]No flies on the U2 musical horizon - Analysis - Independent.ie[/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]
U2: No Line On The Horizon - full review (plus what Bono really thinks)
[FONT=&quot][URL="http://www.herald.ie/entertainment/music/no-line-on-the-horizon-delivers-some-real-surprises-1641321.html"]No Line on the Horizon delivers some real surprises - Music, Entertainment - Herald.ie[/FONT][/URL]
U2, 'No Line on the Horizon' (Interscope) | Spin Magazine Online[URL="http://www.herald.ie/entertainment/music/no-line-on-the-horizon-delivers-some-real-surprises-1641321.html"] [URL="http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/cd_reviews/article5740885.ece"]U2: No Line on the Horizon review | CD reviews | Music - Times Online
[/URL] U2 - No Line on the Horizon, review - Telegraph
No Line On The Horizon : U2 : Review : Rolling Stone
REVIEW: U2's 'No Line on the Horizon' on Hitfix
The Quietus | Features | Track-by-track: | U2 No Line On The Horizon Track-By-Track Album Review
[URL="http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/release/xc54/"]U2 album review on BBC Music

Can new album keep U2 on top?
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http://perfectlycromulent.tumblr.co...mpressions-of-the-new-u2-album-no-line-on-the
 
I'm predicting at least a 4/5 from AllMusicGuide, and something in the low 7s from Pitchfork.

This will translate to high 70s, low 80s on metacritic.
 
LemonMelon said:
I'm predicting at least a 4/5 from AllMusicGuide, and something in the low 7s from Pitchfork.

This will translate to high 70s, low 80s on metacritic.
Click to expand...

Metacritic didn't even have the album on their list last I checked-- do they wait for the street date?
 
LemonMelon said:
I'm predicting at least a 4/5 from AllMusicGuide, and something in the low 7s from Pitchfork.

This will translate to high 70s, low 80s on metacritic.
Click to expand...

That would put NLOTH at almost identical critical reception to the last two (which are 78-79 on metacritic I belive).
 
:ohmy: Four pages.
Wow... cool!


Anyway, I got a Hotpress 4 star review here, but I don't have the link. And I can't find it anywhere, anyone has that link?
 
SPUTNIK MUSIC...4/5 Stars

U2 is a band which has been around the block a time or two or three. Having started out over 30 years ago from the kitchen of drummer Larry Mullen Jr. and having reached the highest highs of any rock band who came before or since, you wonder when this band might truly peak. In rock n roll a 30 year career will see many peaks and valleys for any band, and U2 is no stranger to either. But three decades into their now storied history, with each release we are somehow amazed at the consistency at which they reach new peaks and avoid the valleys. With the release of their latest album No Line On The Horizon, we once again find U2 at the top of the heap and on top of their game.

Working once again with the production team of Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois, who together are responsible for pulling some of the best work out of the group over years (The Unforgettable Fire, The Joshua Tree, Achtung Baby, Zooropa, and All That You Can't Leave Behind, respectively), the album opens with the title cut, which immediately sets the tone for the rest of the album. Drowned in fuzz, reverb, and layered keyboards, No Line On The Horizon cuts a deep groove through the air while managing to rock out and create a soulful ambiance all the while. A marked departure from the opening track on U2's last release, the power chord hungry Vertigo, it sets the table nicely for the diverse musical palette to come. And it gives long time U2 listeners something to smile widely about. Which is U2 without compromise or calculation.

Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois must be given much credit for this burst of musical creativity and complex song structure which make this new work such a rich and rewarding listening experience. Sharing songwriting credits with the band on no less then seven of the eleven tracks here, it is undeniable U2 is a better band on record with this production team then without. And as if to acknowledge this fact the album is front loaded with four songs written in collaboration with Eno and Lanois right off the bat.

This four pack of songs serve as the foundation of the album in much regard. Subtle, thoughtful, and without a hint of the bloated bombast found on U2's last album, instead we are treated to warm electronic ambiance, Edge's splintered and shimmering guitar work, and the steady beats and rhythms of bassist Adam Clayton and drummer Larry Mullen Jr. Magnificent manages to recall U2 anthems past while incorporating lush keyboards, soft electronic hand claps, and a subtle Euro disco vibe which recalls Zooropa era U2 and gets our hips shaking. The lovely seven minute junkie prayer Moment Of Surrender merges spiritually tinged lyrics of longing and desperate hope with syncopated beats, thick bass lines, Edge's moody guitar, and U2's trademark chant like backing harmonies, creating a piece which floats by you as if in a dream. And Unknown Caller, a track Edge has said is about a person who's "phone starts talking to him" while in an "altered state" of some sort, rides along atop his trademark ringing guitar and wide open vocal choruses of simple oh oh oh's. What is interesting about this track and those which proceed it are the way they smartly unfold before the listener. Nothing is rushed, no urgency involved, they are utterly stripped of angst both musically and lyrically. These songs reveal themselves slowly to us over their duration, yet never bore us with mindless doodling or self indulgent muck. Every note, every lyric it would seem, serves its larger purpose. And nothing is put to waste.

However as if to remind us they are still a rock band that can still, well, rock, the middle portion of this album backs away from all this goodness for more standard U2 fare as we have come to know it this past half decade. Ditching Eno and Lanois's songwriting influence and handing production and mixing duties over to Boy, October, War, producer Steve Lillywhite, the band takes a mid album foray into How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb style stadium rock. An album also produced by Lillywhite. While their is nothing particularly wrong with these tunes (the tuneful but ordinary I'll Go Crazy Tonight, dance rock oriented Get On Your Boots, and anthemic rocker Stand Up Comedy, respectively) they nonetheless sound inserted and out of place surrounded by tracks as deft and subtle as the Eno Lanois collaborations. It's as if someone took off the new album and put on a new set of unreleased cuts from the How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb sessions. Not to disparage that album, its a fine recording for what it is. However it doesn't belong here, and it shows. Their is a reason U2 stopped working exclusively with Steve Lillywhite after the early records, as good as they were. And those reasons were his limitations as producer, and the creative restrictions the band felt working under them. And taken in straight doses such as this, those limitations are all too apparent. As they were on U2's previous album produced with him. Some say U2 were a better band in the early years and wish they would return to that sound and style. Well, if that's what you think you'll love these middle tracks. For the rest of us its a case of "careful what you wish for."

This is not to say the album sinks under the bloated weight of these middle songs. Strangely enough by albums end rather then feel we have heard an album divided in two, we are left with the impression of a recording which is in perfect balance with itself. An album whose sum is definitely greater then its parts, No Line On The Horizon easily overcomes its shortcomings by it's overwhelming artistic vision and audacious creative reach. Returning to the team of Eno and Lanois for three of the four final cuts we once again find the loveliness in the album which enveloped us earlier, and the recording simply falls into perfect place. For the first minute of Fez - Being Born the song simply drifts on a soft wave of muted far off guitar noodling, broken percussion, whirling electronic noises, and whisper quiet vocals before breaking into a soaring and melodic soundscape with accompanying vocals. And White As Snow is as lovely a ballad of mystery and innocence lost as the group has ever recorded. And as the album closes through the eyes of a man looking out onto a world at war with itself in the quietly angry eulogy Cedars Of Lebanon, we want nothing more then to listen to this album again and again to keep discovering the slowly unfolding mysteries it offers. It is a deeply fascinating musical work in most every way.

And through it all U2 remain very much U2. Bono's lyrics touch on his familiar themes of hope, hopelessness, redemption, addiction, joy and pain. The Edge's guitar soars, rings out, and get's loud and quiet seemingly all at once. And the rhythm section of Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr. remains one of the most solid and skillful in all of music. By opening themselves up to the empty spaces within these songs and allowing those spaces to be filled not with noisy banter or stadium rock bravado but with melodic musical subtlety, U2 have crafted an album on par with 1984's flawed but ambitious The Unforgettable Fire in artistic vision. However with over 20 years of experience now behind them to draw on since that albums release they bring more clarity to that vision and have created a near modern masterpiece of an album which most bands 30 plus years into a long career of making rock music simply aren't capable of. This should come as no surprise for long time followers of the band who have come to expect the unexpected from U2 every so often. But what does surprise is the maturity and grace with which it is executed on No Line On The Horizon. And we can only hope it is once again a new beginning for this group which has given us a few of those in the past.

U2 - No Line on the Horizon Review - sputnikmusic

Their reviews often get used on MetaCritic
 
Yes that's a cracking review alright - It doesn't shy away from the uneasy fact that the middle three tracks are slightly problematic but it conveys perfectly the way that somehow for it's slight faults the album still hangs together as a beautiful whole...

Although I must say, the more I listen to the record the more I think Crazy Tonight doesn't actually break the mood of the first half - it's ambience is soft and rich just like Unknown Caller beforehand. Much more straighforward obviously but it's cut from the same cloth. It's acually the opening drums of GOYB that cause the "rift" for want of a better word - I often find myself turning down the volume at this point for some reason even though I absolutely love GOYB as a single. Similarly Stand Up Comedy is just about funky and dynamic enough to ease the transition back into wierdness that is Fez-Being Born and the somewhat disparite styles that round out the album... Anyway, there's more to this running order than meets the eye I think, I just haven't quite worked out what it is yet..!
 
Indeed, I cannot for the life of me understand why so many people feek Crazy Tonight doesn't fit. I think it flows perfectly well from Unknown Caller, precisely because it's so uplifting after some quite dark stuff, but still has a matching sound.

BUT, for me when you get to Boots it does feel out of place, and I think Stand Up also does not really fit. Still, I think they do provide a nice break in a way.

Proof once again that this is all very subjective :wink:
 
Cut and paste of the Music radar long revew for better reading:

BLOG: No Line On The Horizon is U2's finest hour
One writer's view on the upcoming album
Joe Bosso, Sat 21 Feb 2009, 4:25 pm UTC

With 'Horizon,' U2 maintain that the album is a complete art form
View in gallery


Over the years, people have lost interest in the album format. Because of iTunes and various other digital music services, ordering up a current hit song or two and ignoring the filler tracks on a record has become standard practice.
It's almost as if finger-touch technology has brought the future back to the past and we're in the pre-Beatles era, where singles - from Elvis to Buddy Holly to Frankie Avalon - ruled the day and albums were pumped out as novelties, quick cash-in merch.
The album as an art form? That doesn't happen anymore, right?

Throughout their career, U2 never gave up on the long-player as art - and, for a time, neither did their audience. Records such as War, The Unforgettable Fire, The Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby were revered as complete works, with each song viewed as inseparable from the other. But now it seems as if listeners have lost hope, as if those albums are now relics and nothing can possibly be as good as it was then.

The rough reinvention
Falling back in love with their original sound, U2 discovered the band they were meant to be
From the high of Achtung Baby, U2 were in for a rough ride through much of the '90s. Reinvention of their traditional sound - discarding it altogether, really - quickly led them into a cul-de-sac.
They stumbled hard on the tentative, fumbling, intentionally ironic Pop and the tour that followed - the first time in years they failed to pack venues - but corruption at that point in their career seemed almost inevitable, and hence something we could deal with, as long as they got back to serious, heartfelt business, which they did on All That You Can't Leave Behind.
Flirting with their original sound, dancing with it, embracing it and finally falling back in love with it in a way audiences always hoped they would - much of it based on the shoulders of The Edge and his revolutionary and much-copied use of echo-driven note patterns - they discovered the band they always were and were meant to be.
Since then, they haven't lost the plot.


Big emotions, big sound
Bono is one of those rare singers who can make feelings jump through his skin. Whether it's an economical gesture or a grand wail, he conveys his lyrics as if electrically prodded. His performances are a turn, but they're inseparable from his role as U2's front man. The part calls for big emotions, big ideas - and a sound big enough to support them.

They're all there in full-scale Technicolor on U2's new album, No Line On The Horizon, their first in nearly five years. To call it the band's greatest album since Achtung Baby is reasonable enough. But it also just might be the greatest record U2 have made thus far.
'Horizon' comes off as effortless and seamless as The Joshua Tree, which seemed to spill out of U2

I've listened to No Line On The Horizon three times now - and once was enough for me to place it alongside U2's towering achievements.
While it's no secret that the band labored over the album - marathon recording session in various cities, and some aborted sessions with producer Rick Rubin (hopefully, we'll hear those outtakes one day on an expanded collection; or perhaps somebody will leak them), the results hardly sound labored; in fact, the album comes off as effortless and seamless, as free-flowing as The Joshua Tree, which seemed to spill right out of them.

The super-deluxe set (above)
Working with their most trusted trio of confidants and collaborators, Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois and Steve Lillywhite (Eno and Lanois even share songwriting and playing credits), U2 have created a work of atmospheric eroticism and sustained emotional substance. Overall, it's probably the dirtiest sounding album they've ever made, but it's one in which all of the elements they've succeeded in - jarring guitars clashing with surrealistic electronica over tight pop and big anthems - come together with supreme grace and majesty.


Why anybody would download an appetizer of a single is beyond me when they can feast on a full course meal of an album this rich and sumptuous. It's a turn-on all right, but for all of its machinery, it's hardly mechanical.

Quite possibly, it's U2's most earthy and liberating album, and certainly a signal to every other band out there with bold ambitions and dreams of shocking the world with great art: Go ahead, be bold, be audacious, be fearless. It can be done. Here's how.
Bono looms large

"I know a girl who's like the sea/ I watch her changing every day for me" Bono sings in the opening, jarring title cut. The grinding power of the instrumentation, by turns techno and retro-rock, driven by a forceful guitar line, is urgent, and it shakes you like a 3am phone call. Bono doesn't let up; he charges at you with the same wicked intensity as Mick Jagger did on Beggar's Banquet, and you feel his desperation in the pit of your stomach.

Bono's voice has matured, but it's gained depth and strength
"Every night I have the same dream/ I'm hatching some plot, scheming some scheme," he sings towards the end. The same man who now has world leaders on his BlackBerry can still dial into raw urges like a man left all alone with his racing thoughts and nothing more.
As a singer, Bono's presence looms large. His voice has matured - there's a certain kind of ragged world-weariness that is to be expected with the passage of time - but it's gained depth and strength. I have a feeling he'll one day be as commanding a vocalist as Johnny Cash was in his later years.

This is The Edge!
The Edge pursues sounds both pure and unnatural. His trademark guitar lines ring out like gunshots
Still, The Edge stands his ground, and the resolve with which he pursues sounds both pure and unnatural - his trademark guitar lines on Magnificent (a echo-laden stadium slammer), Unknown Caller and Breathe ring out like gunshots, each note hitting its mark - continues to be his greatest gift.

The Edge's contributions cannot be overstated. In his hands, a guitar is an instrument of change, one which can alter the senses - on the title cut, distorted guitars slam against one another; it's like you're in a cave filled with amps, and you can't tell where the sounds are coming from, because they're everywhere.

But he's capable of subtler tricks too: Take Moment Of Surrender, for example, in which he's looking in a mirror, but he's also staring at a poster of David Gilmour and riding out a slide solo that is tubey, bluesy and oh-so-Strat-ish. It's one thing to invent a sound; it's another thing to marry it with somebody else's; and it's one quite another to turn it all into something totally new, which is what The Edge does here.

A sense of wonder and grandeur permeates the whole of Horizon. Epic hymns, ie, the "big statements," such as Moment Of Surrender (the album's emotional center, a luxurious 7-minute meditation), Unknown Caller (its intro beautifully recalling Bad until it takes off in its own direction) and FEZ - Being Born (a bit of a Roxy Music groove here, not surprising give Eno's touch) masquerade as rock, but they have a spiritual pull that suck you in and overwhelm.

On previous albums, Bono brazenly beseeched listeners to fall to their knees, but on tracks this potent, he doesn't have to ask - the impulse is instinctual.

King-sized riffs
"Let me in the sound!" Bono shouts in Get On Your Boots, and it's no empty slogan - it's an order
Since Achtung Baby, U2 have woven king-sized riffs (The Fly, Discotheque, Elevation, Vertigo) into their narrative, and songs like Get On Your Boots and Stand Up Comedy (both of which pack some in-your-face Zep-like guitar crunch that don't sound out of place) deliver yet more cock-punch chapters to the continuing story.

Detractors who dismiss these tracks as contrivances are missing out on the fact that U2 sink their teeth into them are fiercely as Jimmy Page (a recent inspiration for The Edge) and co ever did - they believe whole-heartedly in their big-time rock. "Let me in the sound, let me in the sound!" Bono shouts in Get On Your Boots, and it's no empty slogan - it's an order.
Slippery time signatures

Historically, the contributions of Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr go largely unnoticed on U2 albums, and that's to be expected from non-flashy rhythm sections who do their job and don't get in the way (John McVie and Mick Fleetwood, anybody?). But expect the occasional surprise: White As Snow has a slippery time signature that will keep you scratching your head. How they follow The Edge's delicately plucked acoustic guitars is anybody's guess - or is he following them?

The album doesn't feel 'fussed over.' It arrives fully formed, the natural order in check
While U2's previous album, How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb, won the Grammy for Album Of The Year and was universally hailed as a solid collection - and songs such as City Of Blinding Lights and Origin Of The Species, not to mention All Because Of You, are positively glittering affairs - the record felt at times like patchwork.

You could almost sense the band standing over you, analyzing its strengths and weaknesses, agonizing over the order of songs - "We need a rocker here, we need to slow it down there, does this track make any sense at all?"

No Line On The Horizon has no such baggage. It doesn't feel 'fussed over.' It arrives fully formed in the way The Joshua Tree did, its presentation complete, the natural order in check. More significantly, it's the first album in eons in which U2 aren't noticeably trying on somebody else's clothes: gone are the blues and gospel experimentations; the obvious attempts at au courant dancefloor jams, too, are nowhere to be found. These days, U2 aren't trying to be anybody but U2.

In that way, they've found what they're looking for.
Click to expand...
 
Owls Head - U2’s ‘Line’ is solid - Member Blogs - VillageSoup

OWLS HEAD (Feb 22): U2: No Line on the Horizon (Island CD, 54:38, due March 3). The newest U2 has melodies crafted by the band with Brian Eno and Danny Lanois, with production by Eno, Lanois and Steve Lillywhite. This is the same team that put together the Irish band’s classic albums “The Unforgettable Fire” in 1984 and “Achtung Baby” in 1991.


This album is not as radical as “Achtung Baby,” but it still moves the band in new directions. Most of the lyrics are by singer Bono, with a lot of input from guitarist The Edge. Eno contributes rhythm loops, programming, synthesizers and vocals, while Lanois plays guitar and adds backing vocals.

The album starts off in fine fashion with back-to-back rockers: the upbeat title track and the new classic “Magnificent.” Written with Eno and Lanois, it has some of the “glorious” element of the band’s past and soars, as Bono sings: “Only love can leave such a mark.” “Moment of Surrender” is softer and makes a radical change when it reaches the chorus, going for quite a different sound. The midterm “Unknown Caller” has the band’s signature ringing guitar tones, plus an organ break which then adds a horn. Bono sings a bit of falsetto on “I’ll Go Crazy, If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight,” which the singer says is the band’s most unabashed pop song since “Sweetest Thing.” It’s a definite winner and I like the slight Celtic flavor near the end.

The rocking first single is “Get on Your Boots,” with such lines as “Satan loves a bomb scare.” The band debuted it at the recent Grammy Awards. Much of the album was written during a group retreat to Fex in Morocco and that experience is reflects in both “Fez -- Being Born,” which has pretty instrumental portions that show the definite touch of Eno, and the closing “Lebanon,” which Bono sings from the perspective of a war correspondent. The other standout track is the hard rocker “Stand Up Comedy,” which has a slinky groove and a riff that recalls Led Zeppelin’s “Heartbreaker.” The album is available in five different formats, with some including an extra booklet, and either a downloadable or an additional DVD of an Anton Corbijn film that uses U2’s music. Grade: B+
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From the sputnikmusic review...

"...U2 have crafted an album on par with 1984's flawed but ambitious The Unforgettable Fire in artistic vision. However with over 20 years of experience now behind them to draw on since that albums release they bring more clarity to that vision and have created a near modern masterpiece of an album..."


This was my prediction in an earlier thread before the album leaked, and I agree 100% - I never placed TUF on a pedestal like many here... it's flawed and feels a little incomplete. No Line on the Horizon rectifies those problems I had and brings us a sort of TUF 2.0 (with a dash of Passengers and POP for good measure :wink:)



EDIT: And thanks, Sicy - it's nice to have all the professional reviews consolidated into one thread :D
 
oceane said:
Indeed, I cannot for the life of me understand why so many people feek Crazy Tonight doesn't fit. I think it flows perfectly well from Unknown Caller, precisely because it's so uplifting after some quite dark stuff, but still has a matching sound.

BUT, for me when you get to Boots it does feel out of place, and I think Stand Up also does not really fit. Still, I think they do provide a nice break in a way.

Proof once again that this is all very subjective :wink:
Click to expand...

I think the best description I've seen of GOYB placement and purpose on the album is that it is the halftime show of the album. It does make a kind of sense that way. That description works even if you also think Crazy and SUC don't belong either. Depending on your view halftime is either one track are all three of those.

Dana
 
I could swear I saw a jpb scan from some magazine called "NME" or something close that out here in a thread -- I think the scans also had the RS review -- can someone pleae help -- what is NME magazine -- clearly, I might not be very close NME could be NEM or NEMO or who knows -- thanks.

em bcwgobuffs@gmail.com
 
BWU2Buffs said:
I could swear I saw a jpb scan from some magazine called "NME" or something close that out here in a thread -- I think the scans also had the RS review -- can someone pleae help -- what is NME magazine -- clearly, I might not be very close NME could be NEM or NEMO or who knows -- thanks.

em bcwgobuffs@gmail.com
Click to expand...


NME is New Musical Express. I saw the scan you are referring too but I really don't remember what thread they are in. And quite honestly don't rememeber if they were NME. Could be in the original NLOTH album review thread.
I read a ton of reviews and posted some here as well. I'll keep an eye out for it. :wink:
 
NME had an article about the band, but the review has not yet come out. It's expected next week, along with a number of other major reviews.
 
Spin Magazine.

U2
No Line on the Horizon
3 ½ Stars

With a boost from his rejuvenated mates, Bono rediscovers his calling.


"I’ll Go Crazy if I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight” reads like a bumper sticker on an SUV in a Wal-Mart parking lot -- a meek yelp of rebellion from a mortgage-stressed husband who dreams of creeping out for Nascar Bud Shootout night at Hooters. But on the song of that title from U2’s 12th studio album, Bono belts out the line with liberating glee -- like a giddy favela kid swinging onto an arm of Rio’s Christ the Redeemer statue. And we’re right there swinging along too, because when surging vox and chiming guitar and frisky beat congregate in the proper spirit, and when the foursome don’t sound like geezers defensively proclaiming their conceptual or aesthetic vigor, U2 still inspire flashes of elation, awe, and yes, hope like no other rock band.

And for most of us, that’s enough -- they created a sound, they shrewdly expanded and reinvented it, and they never became ghoulish, price-gouging buffoons like the Stones. But unlike 2000’s All That You Can’t Leave Behind (the follow-up to 1997’s electronica-tweaked misfire Pop), No Line on the Horizon isn’t content to reaffirm U2’s iconic sonic virtues. With coproducers Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois explicitly included in the songwriting, it’s an effort to tinker and rough up and refine anew their music’s essence -- with nobly sketchy results.

The title-track opener masses the Edge’s guitar and synth tracks into a dense whir and swirl amid gurning polyrhythms, giving Bono’s whoa-ohs a gritty context (as if he’s fronting a reanimated Killing Joke). “Magnificent” could’ve been a standard U2 secular hymn, but it’s constructed like a Sasha & Digweed trance anthem, with peak-hour drum programming and electronic swoosh. “Moment of Surrender,” a celebrity-at-the-crossroads soul ballad, is given an ambient gospel sweep that’s both haunted and joyful. More clumsily, “Stand Up Comedy” and “Get on Your Boots” adopt a self-conscious Zoo TV swagger that only exposes Bono’s dodgier wordplay.

And ultimately, No Line hinges on your appetite for, or patience with, the Nobel Peace Prize nominee’s lyrical approach. “I’m sick of Bono and I am him,” the singer admitted of his persona recently. So he abridges his first-person pronouncements, taking the point of view of a war correspondent on the moody diary “Cedars of Lebanon,” and of a suicidal man who thinks his phone is texting him instructions via computer commands (“Force quit and move to trash!”) on “Unknown Caller.” He imagines himself as invisible in “Moment of Surrender” and is a mostly phonetic presence during “Fez—Being Born.” It’s odd that the world’s most voluble one-named activist, who holds forth at will on, say, Larry King Live, seems unsure of how to express himself in a musical context. Maybe, like most rational adults, he’s lost some faith in pop or rock to transform the planet, but if you’re gonna be the leader of U2, you oughta embrace the pulpit.

So it's finally startling when the confident rumble of “Breathe” emerges. Bono sounds wired, paranoid, and defiantly sympathetic, ranting about an “Asian virus,” “juju man,” and “St. John the Divine.” Then, suddenly, his ambivalent anxiety recedes. And by simply being a rock star who’s singing his heart out, he depicts our ability to reenter the grind every day without cynicism as a near-heroic act. The edge’s concise, ascending solo sears the point home.

Sick of Bono? Maybe. Sick of U2? Not yet.
Click to expand...

It must have hurt for Spin to give them 3 1/2 stars. They don't want to like U2's albums but they just can't help but like this one.:wink:

Edited: oops forgot the link.
http://www.spin.com/reviews/u2-no-line-horizon-interscope
 
This goes to review for posting online tomorrow AM. I thought I'd let the subjective crowd on this forum get a "first look" at what I'm submitting for editing as a thank-you for all the constant postings and links you all provided. This is a great online community, run by true fans. Thank you. Hope you all enjoy!

Thankfully, No Line on U2's Horizon

Staff Reviewer
02/24/2009


You could be forgiven for initially doubting U2's mettle behind their latest work, No Line on the Horizon, based simply off of lead single "Get On Your Boots". While as chunky and gritty as any U2 lead single, it does a miserable job of representing the collective it ushers in on U2's latest effort since 2004's How to Dismantle An Atomic Bomb. Unlike its predecessor, this piece is not immediately friendly, familiar, or easy to stomach. Indeed, it's the challenge of stepping back into the round for more punches that makes the sometimes heady lyrics presented here resonate- taking heed of "small men with big ideas". Whenever Bono is close to the edge with his storytelling and similes, a confident Edge and surprisingly- Larry Mullen Jr. and Adam Clayton in a resurgent rhythm section- rescue the album from the cliffs and make us realize it was all for a reason…and somewhat metaphoric.

Of all the themes U2 have explored in the finest moments of their expansive sonic pantheon: from innocence lost on Boy and October, peace and inner passion on The Unforgettable Fire, America, guilt, and longing on The Joshua Tree, and the frailty and absurdity between love and lust on Achtung Baby- the one theme seemingly left to chronicle was reconciliation and the human condition. Taken in that context, No Line is the perfect bookend- sophisticated, complicated, and above all else, dense in a welcome and (thank heavens for the music industry) refreshing way that is ambitious even by U2 standards.

The opening stanzas of a stunning opener, "No Line on the Horizon", bring shadows from their most glorious moments, with Bono exploring more space than he has in a decade and hitting notes not heard since he paraded around stadiums worldwide wearing white makeup. It is a glorious track, and one that is quickly swallowed by another steamroller of sound, "Magnificent", presenting U2 hitting both familiar and new ground with furious pace on a song that would be a shame to not see daylight as a single. U2 then go into the murky country of heartache and reflection with a combined 13 minutes of pure emotion. "Moment of Surrender" wanders over a sea of ambient loops and brings Bono in grizzled, reflective form before a set of verses seeming more confessional than confrontational- a welcome return to the dark human profiles explored during some of the greatest moments of Achtung Baby. While "Unknown Caller" may seem a bit clunky on the surface, what with mentions of "rebooting" oneself and entering a password, it is still pretty enough to be loved. And the use of lyrical irony, often a hallmark of the best and worst of U2's work, seems perfectly sandwiched between one of the most musically memorable songs on the album.

While the tinkering and meticulous perfectionism of producer Brian Eno and his longtime U2 collaborator, co-producer, and musical ambassador Daniel Lanois seems to have paid immense dividends on establishing an ethereal and dramatic mood on the album's front half, the midway point serves as a welcome reprieve and obvious shift. Admittedly, the sound of songs such as "I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight", "Get On Your Boots", and "Stand Up" is undoubtedly conventional- but God love the boys for packaging the content with little surprises in a way unknown for the U2 of this decade. Bum notes that seem to fit. Searing guitar bits that almost seem accidental. Napoleon making a cameo in the lyrics. It’s a testament to the band that they seemed to instinctively guess the listener needed a breather, and would welcome the ironic Bono we all know and love (depending on your musical orientation). On first listens, I am put off by the removal of the transient and layered production presented by Eno and Lanois on tracks 1-4. One wonders how the inclusion of two scrapped cuts from the How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb sessions, "Mercy" and "Fast Cars", would have fit here. But all questions are suspended as the bars of "Crazy Tonight" enter my head out of nowhere later in the evening. Oh, you clever con men.

It should be unsurprising, then, that the return of Eno's input on "Fez/Bring Born" brings almost instant reminders of the forgotten innovations U2 architected on their oft-maligned Passengers Original Soundtracks Vol. I record. Breather over. Streaking in with an almost circus-like loop and excerpts from "Boots", it then shifts shape midway to a choppy, thumping rock number that again sees Bono stretching the atmosphere vocally in a way not seen since the mid-90s. Followed by the expressive, delicate "White As Snow", it becomes obvious that No Line holds exactly the two elements missing from U2's successful yet largely forgettable previous two outings- depth and experimentation. The song would be a great closer, but fits here due to the inherent optimism expressed in a moment of sheer desperation. Any desperation is quickly alleviated further by the optimistic and valiant "Breathe", which sees enormous walls of sound carpeting Bono's rat-a-tat lyrical delivery. It is initially trying, without question, considering mention of "juju men" and "cockatoos". But somehow, the band arrives (again!) to bring everything into a mellow fusion. It's not always perfect, or smooth, but it succeeds magnificently in framing the pieces into a whole. Closed out by the dark, somewhat confusing "Cedars of Lebanon", featuring Bono as a man on his last legs in the middle of a war zone issuing prophecies he only wishes he had learned before the fatal blow ("be careful of your enemies, 'cos they will define you"), I was left to do something I haven't done after previewing a record in years- think.

By refusing to settle, and by reclaiming the stance of (mostly) humble narrative storytellers instead of shouting into the megaphone as rock's remaining chiefs, Bono and U2 have reminded us of what has kept them so enduring, and more importantly, relevant over the 30-plus years of their career. Hardly any band emerges as adventurous on their twelfth offering as their first, but somehow, it's been achieved. And bested.

It is also somewhat heartening to see division critically over No Line instead of the general ambivalence and/or apathy that greets the output of most "bands" in the 50-something bracket. But then, this clearly isn't just any old band. That No Line aims to swing for the fences should be obvious, based on the over two years of construction it entailed; that it actually delivers is the ultimate prize.

When Bono offers the self-deprecating credo: "…be careful of small men with big ideas", he provides a noble warning.

But with all due respect, we haven't been steered wrong yet.
 
sue4u2 said:
Spin Magazine.



It must have hurt for Spin to give them 3 1/2 stars. They don't want to like U2's albums but they just can't help but like this one.:wink:

Edited: oops forgot the link.
U2, 'No Line on the Horizon' (Interscope) | Spin Magazine Online
Click to expand...

This excite me more than a five star review from the rolling stone or Q. Because Spin Magazine isn´t the U2 friendly one. But it seems that they can´t hide from them;)

Found a raffle, does any thread concerning this exist? they´ll give a way thre box sets.

Raffle: Win a U2 ltd. Box Set | stylishkidsinriot.com hearts fashion, music, party, lifestyle on the cutting edge
 
HansaTonImbiss said:
This goes to review for posting online tomorrow AM. I thought I'd let the subjective crowd on this forum get a "first look" at what I'm submitting for editing as a thank-you for all the constant postings and links you all provided. This is a great online community, run by true fans. Thank you. Hope you all enjoy!

Thankfully, No Line on U2's Horizon

Staff Reviewer
02/24/2009
Click to expand...

Fantastic read:up:
 
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