Rate: No Line on the Horizon Album

[Galeongirl]

is there a way to know what I voted ?

It shows the result in italics

 

[digitize]

Someone should make a "Rate NLOTH Five Years On" poll. I'd love to see how opinions have changed.

I made one about a year ago.

 

[pepokiss]

I found it "Extraordinary"
I think I'm staying there

 

[Afliktor]

i voted level 9 "masterpiece." i've been on a big NLOTH kick lately. like i love how every song on the album is completely distinct - no two sound too similar - but the album still feels quite cohesive.

it's a musical journey, it really is

 

[Tumbling Dice]

I consider it a "good" U2 album.

Basically, I reckon that it's their sixth best album.

It could have been better with a different mix, a different tracklisting, Winter (linear) and Soon included and no I'll Go Crazy and SUC.

 

[Nick66]

I consider it a "good" U2 album.

Basically, I reckon that it's their sixth best album.

It could have been better with a different mix, a different tracklisting, Winter (linear) and Soon included and no I'll Go Crazy and SUC.

Get bored over at @U2 TD?

 

[Tumbling Dice]

Get bored over at @U2 TD?

Got banned.

 

[Vlad n U 2]

You sure haven't taken your time in posting a lot already.

 

[U2NativeSon]

Still an interesting album, I feel Eno is too involved, too much going on, should have been a much simpler stripped down rock album. Breathe is still my favorite song from this album. Lose the techno, synth, treatments.

I have a feeling that there was a second album to follow, "Songs Of Ascent".It was likely more Eno inspired Passengers type music. Too ambient to follow an already low selling album the band felt disconnected from.

I like Coldplay, they have made some decent music, especially the first 2 albums, but listen to what has happened to them when Eno gets too involved. It becomes an Eno album, the band works for him, loss of instrumentation, heavy synth, even vocal treatments. I listened to Midnight and heard Passengers

 

[cjboog]

Average rating so far is 7.82/10 although many of those votes were probably cast very early after the album's release.

Upon first release I probably would have given NLOTH a 9 or 10. Today I think its more like an 8. Magnificent, Moment of Surrender and Breathe are among my all time favorite U2 songs. To me those are U2 at the top of their game. No Line and Fez are also U2 on form. I still like the overall feel of this album, however, over time I've become frustrated with the fluff - Crazy and Stand Up are more annoying than anything else (I take that back - the first 2:30 of Crazy is annoying, the ending is actually pretty good). I appreciate White as Snow and Cedars but they're not timeless by any stretch. Boots... it was an awful first single to represent the entire album, but a decent throwaway rocker. I think it kind of became the target for ridiculing the album among its detractors.

My bother, cousin and I all became fans of U2 when Bomb was released when we heard the Vertigo commercial on TV. We spent the next few years buying and devouring every U2 album, seeing them several times live, buying DVDs and became pretty hardcore fans. When NLOTH came out, I was the only one who wasn't disappointed. So at least among the U2 fans I know personally, the album was received with mixed reaction. I'd argue with my brother about how good the album was and I'd point to the great reviews and he's say, "Well OF COURSE Rolling Stone gives it 5 stars - it's Rolling Stone!" and on and on... My uncle I'd say was a "casual" U2 fan who knew some of their classic stuff and liked Bomb - he's another example of a casual fan put off by Boots and disappointed by the album as a whole.

Overall I think it's a great album that is underrated generally and by the band themselves. I was disappointed by the seemingly tepid reaction among general listeners (it's got a 3.6 on Amazon, a 2.84 on Rate Your Music). I was also disappointed with how some of the songs went over live - the stadium crowds just didn't connect with many of the songs. I still enjoy listening NLOTH however because it's newish, although musically I won't claim that it stands up to their best. Some of its peaks do, but as an overall album it doesn't.

 

[RoKKeR]

Solid 7. First 4 and last 4 songs are all really great, middle 3 are really not good.

I recently revisited NLoTH and really discovered how much I love songs like Fez and Cedars. Overall very solid album, better on my recent revisitations than I had thought!

 

[Zoo Lemon]

8 for me. I must admit though that songs vary in my preferences. 'Breathe' was a long time favourite, especially live, but curiously the studio version is now lower on my NLOTH chart. I love NLOTH, MOS, Being Born, Cedars.

'Magnificent' and 'Unknown Caller' are good songs but, especially on the former, there's something in the production that left me satisfied or bored alternately. Not a top favourite, just that. 'Boots' and 'Crazy Tonight', I don't condemn them like others do. Even if I agree that without that central trio the album spirit and concept wouldn't have suffered at all.

 

[Tumbling Dice]

For me, Cedars and MOS elevate the album above the other 00s albums. The inclusion of Winter (Linear) would have done, too. There is a place for Boots on the album, although I think SUC and I'll Go Crazy are redundant. I would have preferred a tracklisting like this:-

1. Fez/BB
2. Get on your Boots
3. Magnificent
4. Moment of Surrender
5. Unknown Caller
6. No Line on the Horizon
7. Winter (Linear)
8. White as Snow
9. Soon
10 Breathe
11. Cedars of Lebanon

 

[BigMacPhisto]

Classic Songs:

none


Great Songs:

Breathe
Fez - Being Born
I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight
Magnificent
Moment of Surrender
No Line On The Horizon

Good Tracks:

Cedars of Lebanon
Get On Your Boots

Lame Tracks:

Stand Up Comedy
Unknown Caller
White As Snow


I give it a 7 out of 10 at this point. I gave it an 8 back in the day, but I'm less tolerant of "White As Snow" and "Unknown Caller" as I was back then. "Breathe" proved to be the album's true grower and one of its best songs.

 

[asr]

I feel that U2 went out on a high note with 'No Line...' I'm really going to miss these guys.

 

[Musikwala]

I rated it 7. It is miles better than its predecessor. But it still has its share of clunkers in the middle of the album.

I still cannot fathom how the world outside Interference thinks that NLOTH is worse than Atomic Bomb.

Is everyone on crack or is it us who need to clean out our ears??

 

[Moser]

It felt like U2's new masterpiece, and after five years it still feels that way, although my appreciation for songs have changed over the years.

'Fez','White as Snow','Cedars', and 'Winter' capture the vision of the album the best, while the Lillywhite production of 'Crazy','Boots', and 'Stand up Comedy' don't really belong on the album.

The live versions of 'Crazy' are on a much different level, while the studio version of 'Boots' lacks the punch of its live counterpart. I enjoyed 'Stand up Comedy', but I felt it's production was just sticking out like a thorn compared to the Eno and Lanois treatment.

The opening track is still strong. The ambient distortion creates a void in which Bono seems to fill with his shower singing. This song deserves to be cranked up to high volume.

'Magnificent' felt like the best song back then, but now it feels a little too long. Here the Edge should have really let loose on the slide solo as like he does on 'Even Better than the Real Thing', but he cuts it off where the song deserved more. Transitioning back into the chorus was a little lackluster.

'Moment of Surrender' is a fantastic studio track. It's powerful. Not a great live performance closer.

Unknown Caller. I enjoyed the studio version of this track. Live, I don't think it worked. It's hard to make it work. It's a deep, personal track and the sing along chorus distracts the audience from making this song heart felt. Really good song though. Love it.

So after five years, financially poor performance, good but not great critical reviews, its in the top five of U2's album hierarchy. It showcases their maturity, musicianship, and creativity, but also their insecurities about making an artsy album by throwing in the Lillywhite production in the middle of the album which hurt the album concept a little.

Overall, 9/10. A masterpiece.

I'd rank my top 5 U2 albums as:

1) Achtung Baby
2) The Joshua Tree
3) All That You Can't Leave Behind
4) No Line on the Horizon
5) The Unforgettable Fire

 

[RockNRollDawgie]

I still rate it highly. I do find myself listening to the "Linear" soundtrack
more than the album itself though. I like the "Winter"/"White As Snow"
combination. (I know "Winter" sounds like an unfinished demo, but with
more work, it would've been a great tune)

 

[CosmoKramer]

I still cannot fathom how the world outside Interference thinks that NLOTH is worse than Atomic Bomb.

Is everyone on crack or is it us who need to clean out our ears??

I'm part of that world, I would take Bomb over NLOTH any day if the week. I find Bomb, even with some of its imperfections, to be in their top 3 albums, just slightly better than ATYCLB.

For me NLOTH is a 6.

1) Achtung Baby
2) Joshua Tree
3) Bomb
4)ATYCLB
5)UF
6)War
7)R&H
8)NLOTH
9)Pop
10) Boy
11)Zoorooa
12)October
50) Passengers(although I refuse to consider this a U2 album)

 

[Catman]

well, fuck it--I had written up a nice little hypothesis about why NLOTH wasn't heralded as highly as it, IMO, should've been, relating media expectations of the band to what U2, themselves, also consider as being successful... but after reading some more reviews on the album, that was a somewhat baseless claim lol (sort of, anyway--certainly not as pervasive as I assumed it to be).

Well, whatever. NLOTH is great, and, unlike the 2 albums preceding it, I was/ would've been all for the idea of a follow-up "sister" record (and even though I consider ATYLCB a superior work, a sibling follow-up within that same musical territory wouldn't have really excited me). No Line wasn't the big, grand leap we were all hoping for from U2, but it's a solid collection of tunes, IMO, and a record I come back to far more frequently than any other U2 record since Achtung

 

[The Slow Loris]

I was listening to 'Fez (Being Born)' today and came to a realization that it has the same motivations of sonic landscape as, say, a 'Zooropa' (and in fact much of the album seems to have the desire to be a more mature, modern Zooropa), but where it differs is the build up towards ecstacy that we feel on 'Zooropa'. It has the electronic flourishes, but not the driving spirit that begs a song to explode. It just never seems to take off like 'Zooropa' does. This ecstatic explosion is what defines much of U2's earlier music, and seems to be compromised for over-discipline and sticking to a repetitive song structure. Even a song like 'Bad' was able to build up into something explosive, giving off the feeling this explosive ecstacy is not just simply despite its repetitive structure, but almost because of it. I suppose this is where the magic is born. But with 'Fez', it never really is born.

 

[U2andU2andU2]

1. Achtung Baby
2. The Joshua Tree
3. The Unforgettable Fire
4. Rattle & Hum
5. Zooropa
6. War
7. Pop
8. Boy
9. October
10. ATYCLB
11. HTDAAB
12. NLOTH

I found NLOTH a chore to listen to when it came out and it never grew on me. I rarely revisit it. Needless to say I haven't been too happy with U2's quality and quantity of output the past 14 years. I like ATYCLB and HTDAAB alright, it's U2 after all. NLOTH though, I never listen to all the way through. It has some good tracks though. I like Fez in particular.

 

[U2andU2andU2]

As of today the weighted average of the poll is 7.81 (Extraordinary/Great).

 

[Hollow Island]

No Line On The Horizon is great title. The artwork, particularly in the deluxe version, is great. The music...I don't know. I have very conflicted feelings about this record.

I just listened to Zooropa and ATYCLB (I couldn't believe how much I enjoyed that album), and now I'm 5 deep into NLOTH and it's sounding very weak. The main problem with it is that Bono's melodies are weak beyond belief. He's gone the late Michael Stipe route of yelling monotonously. It's not uncommon for singers to lose their melodic gifts, and it can be worked with if the band recognizes that it's happened and compensates for it with more intricate arrangement and lowering the vocals in the mix, but U2 insist on making the vocals more important than they ever have.

And the guitar playing...you have the most inventive guitarist of his generation playing with Lanois, who is a brilliant guitarist in his own right, and somehow they put out a record with really boring guitars. NLOTH sounds like Edge contributed very little to it. I bet Eno and Lanois contributed more to it than he did.

It's a good album and far better than Bomb, but nowhere near the work they did previously.

The only songs that really work on it are MoS (despite the forced singing at the beginning), White As Snow, Breathe, and Cedars of Lebanon. The Linear version of Winter is excellent too, as is Soon. It's a shame that they never released Songs of Ascent because I think it would have been excellent and worthy of the U2 name, which NLOTH is not.

Just finished it, and it's so much worse than ATYCLB that it's shameful. Cedars is a masterpiece though. It's the only one that wouldn't be embarrassed by the company it would share on U2's best.

 

[The Slow Loris]

'Cedars of Lebanon' was lifted straight out Brian Eno's 'Against the Sky':

Brian Eno - Against The Sky - YouTube

Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois co-wrote much of NLOTH, and even they obviously recycle their old ideas at times. 'White as Snow' was taken from the old hymn, 'Oh Come, Oh Come, Emmanuel'.

 

[Hollow Island]

'Cedars of Lebanon' was lifted straight out Brian Eno's 'Against the Sky':

Brian Eno - Against The Sky - YouTube

Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois co-wrote much of NLOTH, and even they obviously recycle their old ideas at times. 'White as Snow' was taken from the old hymn, 'Oh Come, Oh Come, Emmanuel'.

They didn't life Cedars out of Against the Sky: they just used a sample of it to introduce the song.

 

[The Slow Loris]

They didn't life Cedars out of Against the Sky: they just used a sample of it to introduce the song.

Yes, exactly. That sample provides the springboard for the entire song. Not a bad thing at all. I just never realized before.

 

[An Cat Gav]

They didn't life Cedars out of Against the Sky: they just used a sample of it to introduce the song.

Indeed although the sample sets the tone of the song it only really features at the beginning, and if you're going to use an ambient sample you may as well use one from one of the best ambient albums of all time, The Pearl is a truly great album, I'd highly recommend it.
They used samples far more heavily on Pop, the Naked Funk sample on Do You Feel Loved is featured far more heavily throughout the entitety of the song for example. Great song still.

 

[Hollow Island]

Yes, exactly. That sample provides the springboard for the entire song. Not a bad thing at all. I just never realized before.

I think the springboard is the guitar part. The intro is great, but it was probably an afterthought. Poor form, too, for Eno to quote himself like that.

The Pearl is a great album.

 

[drt4]

'Fez','White as Snow','Cedars', and 'Winter' capture the vision of the album the best, while the Lillywhite production of 'Crazy','Boots', and 'Stand up Comedy' don't really belong on the album.

It's kind of the prevailing wisdom that U2 starting second guessing themselves (which I agree with) and went back to Steve Lillywhite and forced in the middle three weak songs (Crazy tonight through SUC).

It should be pointed out that Lillywhite did not work on Boots- that was an Eno-Lanois production. I'm actually one of the few that like Boots quite a bit. It's just the distracting clunky lyrics that are a problem, but I enjoy the song itself.

According to wikipedia (and I think the album liner notes), Lillywhite is the primary producer for Crazy Tonight and Breathe. Always surprising, since Breathe seems like it has more of the original Morocco vibe, and less of the " oh my gosh we need a hit single!" vibe.

Lillywhite also worked on Magnificent, Unknown Caller and SUC.