Rate the Song: No Line on the Horizon

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NLOTH


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ONE love, blood, life
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It is hard to believe, but we are now moving onto the first round of voting for U2's latest album, No Line on the Horizon.

Please rate No Line on the Horizon on a scale from 0 to 10, using whatever criteria you feel allows you to best evaluate the song as a whole. Please note that NLOTH2 will have its own round. I will not set criteria for people to based on, but if you feel like your best evaluation of the merits of a song comes from voting only based on, say, the studio version, go right ahead and vote that way. Full information on the Rate The Song series may be found in this thread.

Have fun! This poll will close in 96 hours.
 
10. One of my favorite songs from last decade. Simply brilliant. A fantastic mix of energy and ambiance.
 
I've come to appreciate the intense edginess of this song more than I did in 2009 when its appeal passed me by, but I still think it's a bit pedestrian for an opener after a 5-year wait. It seems like the sort of song U2 could write in their sleep. For all of its ordinariness, however, it's a strong composition and retains the essential "U2 sound", thus meaning that I could never dislike it.
 
9. Really dig this one, it's quite the rocker. And it really took off live... what a shame that it wasn't played after 2009 other than that acoustic version in Helsinki.
 
Love the song love the album

Should of been the lead single in my view

At least that way it sounds different to the previous work and it isnt vertigo part 2 that goyb was
 
The second best track on U2's best 00's record, and one of U2's best songs of past decade...actually, just a great song for them period. Love the sound of this one, the sudden chord changes, and the overall ambience of the thing. I listened to this the first time on headphones, and instantly fell in love with it. Mostly, I felt relief that they were still able to make something like this after the stagnant HTDAAB. It doesn't sound like anything U2 has ever done before.

Hmmmm. I've never thought of this song as a "rocker" for some reason. To me it's a different kind of song from Elevation, Vertigo and the other hard stuff on Bomb, or even Boots for that matter. Has a different vibe than those ones. And while I know some disagree, I prefer the original to the second version.

The only problem w/this track is the mastering. There's definitely some distortion there. Not enough that it's unlistenable (and nowhere near as bad as some of the worst tracks on Bomb), but enough that I notice it every time.

I generally only give 10's to the elite of the elite of U2 songs, but this one is about as close as it gets without actually scoring a 10. I also think this is the NLOTH track most likely to survive into future tours.

Welcome back, Brian and Danny.

9.9
 
I loved it as soon as I heard it on the album, and it rocked live when I saw it in Vegas! :up:

9
 
10.

My favourite U2 song of the past decade. Combines the best of the Unforgettable Fire's soundscapes with U2's more upbeat tracks, satisfying expectations and keeping the audience looking forward to the rest of the album. The mosquito buzz of Edge's guitar and Bono's ambiguous lyrics feel like a breath of fresh air. It's ambitious as it shows a U2 that's prepared to not play it entirely (damn you Boots) safe anymore, ready to soar past the stagnancy of Bomb and really knock this new album out of the park. Consequently it should've been the lead single for this album because it embodies was this album was meant to do.

It also transferred beautifully live, the band was in top form, and I think it was one of everyone's highlights in the 2009 shows. It was the one track off the new album I believe that should've been a staple for the entire tour, instead of appalling being dropped off so early on. Just listening to the audience trying to sing along to the 'oh-oh-oh-ohs' (albeit pretty off key), is hilarious yet uplifting at the same time.

Damn I love this track
 
10.

My favourite U2 song of the past decade. Combines the best of the Unforgettable Fire's soundscapes with U2's more upbeat tracks, satisfying expectations and keeping the audience looking forward to the rest of the album. The mosquito buzz of Edge's guitar and Bono's ambiguous lyrics feel like a breath of fresh air. It's ambitious as it shows a U2 that's prepared to not play it entirely (damn you Boots) safe anymore, ready to soar past the stagnancy of Bomb and really knock this new album out of the park. Consequently it should've been the lead single for this album because it embodies was this album was meant to do.

It also transferred beautifully live, the band was in top form, and I think it was one of everyone's highlights in the 2009 shows. It was the one track off the new album I believe that should've been a staple for the entire tour, instead of appalling being dropped off so early on. Just listening to the audience trying to sing along to the 'oh-oh-oh-ohs' (albeit pretty off key), is hilarious yet uplifting at the same time.

Damn I love this track

:up:

Welcome to the forum!
 
Great imagery, but a little going-through-the-motions by U2 standards. Having said that, it's still better than every song on Bomb save one. 8
 
Soaring vocals, some nice lyrics and the guitar sound is pretty cool. Great opener. 9
 
Always liked this one. A lot of you elaborated on it pretty well too. The production on here was top-notch and seems to nail the sound they were aiming for on this album the best. 9.
 
9. Love it, but I know what it could have been. So no 10, because that would be NLOTH2. Then again, that's at least an 11.
 
When I first sat down with the album and my dusty old discman (had to listen with headphones, on CD and not the iPod!), I had only heard Boots and about 10 seconds of Magnificent.

This song started up, and I got frickin' chills. After first listen, the two songs that really made me sit up and pay attention were this one and Cedars.
 
the weird lyrical tangent to "i'm a traffic cop" brings this from a solid 8 to a dodgy 5 i'm afraid

otherwise, i love the song, but just can't get past that wtf moment i have every time i hear it lol
 
mama cass said:
the weird lyrical tangent to "i'm a traffic cop" brings this from a solid 8 to a dodgy 5 i'm afraid

otherwise, i love the song, but just can't get past that wtf moment i have every time i hear it lol

Funny...that's one of my favorite lyrics on the album.
 
the weird lyrical tangent to "i'm a traffic cop" brings this from a solid 8 to a dodgy 5 i'm afraid

otherwise, i love the song, but just can't get past that wtf moment i have every time i hear it lol

Funny...that's one of my favorite lyrics on the album.

i've worked out why that line seems strange to me - it's because my head is stuck in the sea imagery of the song - i actually interpret the next line "the siren's wailing and it's me that wants to get away" as a "siren" as in the sea imagery, a siren, a mermaid female thing, going nuts and screaming, and not a flashing blue light lol, that's why the cop line has always seemed strange to me...

i do love the whole energy of the song though, that's beautiful
 
Here's how I interpret this. The entirety of NLOTH is based on simile, that is, a girl who he considers to be "like the sea." All of the nautical imagery henceforth needs to be read in that light. A huge chunk of NLOTH, especially evident in Fez-Being Born, relates to freedom and/or feeling trapped (Cedars), and the character here in the title track becomes restless towards the end of the song. He pictures himself as a French gendarme patrolling the Parisian quarter of Marais, which isn't itself a bustling area but is presumably much more exciting than whatever setting NLOTH takes place in. The siren (the woman described throughout the song) wails for him, but he wants to escape from it in the manner I outlined. It's a play on words, and all that. Perhaps the character's fantasy may seem a bit strange (although, hell, Paris is nice), but the fact that he's daydreaming of escaping the "siren" is typical of the record as a whole.

For more info:

http://www.u2interference.com/forums/f194/rue-du-marais-197525.html
 
i've worked out why that line seems strange to me - it's because my head is stuck in the sea imagery of the song - i actually interpret the next line "the siren's wailing and it's me that wants to get away" as a "siren" as in the sea imagery, a siren, a mermaid female thing, going nuts and screaming, and not a flashing blue light lol, that's why the cop line has always seemed strange to me...

i do love the whole energy of the song though, that's beautiful

I agree with you on the traffic cop line...while I love this song (gave it a 9), and it's among my favourites, that one line never worked for me...maybe because I get the image of the traffic cop from that crappy movie they made for it in my mind (and thankfully that's the ONLY time that movie comes to mind...maybe because I've never been able to finish it).

And I love your interpretation of "siren", I frankly never thought of it that way. Though any attempt to interpret this, or just about any U2 song, too literally is a fool's errand. As you aptly point out by example, this song and any song can mean different thing to different people...or pretty much anything you wish it to mean.
 
I love this song so much - I wish it stayed around longer on U2360, as it was a fantastic song live - and could have been a great show opener. One of my favorites on No Line On The Horizon. 10.
 
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