NO LINE ON THE HORIZON, the epic new U2 album opus

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/53/NoLineU2Promo.jpg

01 No Line on the Horizon
02 Magnificent
03 Moment of Surrender
04 Unknown Caller
05 I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight
06 Get on Your Boots
07 Stand Up Comedy
08 Fez - Being Born
09 White as Snow
10 Breathe
11 Cedars of Lebanon

there are some batshit song titles here

http://la.curbed.com/uploads/2009.01.yellow.jpg

would be cool if this was a concept album about $cient0l0gy real estate holdings

I do not want Bono to go crazy tonight.

Kind of looks like an ECM album cover ... does Jan Garbarek guest?

miroslav vitous jack de johnette dave evans

looks like a nin cover

Notice there is a line above the horizon, and a line below the horizon, but ...

okay if you lol at a jan garbarek joke like i just did i think you've reached some pitiful new low in dorkdom

no shame, dude.

11 Cedars of Lebanon

Bob Marley reference? It's the name of the hospital where he died; U2 and Marley were briefly labelmates ...

oh god please let it be a tribute to marley song

05 I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight

^kenny chesney cover?

"Cedars of Lebanon" - says it all, right there.

o whoops - didn't catch the Marley ref. It still sounds Bono-rific tho.

That is a pretty great album cover.

Cedars of Lebanon hospital postcard would have been a better cover.

Agree that it's a great cover. I guess some people may be disappointed by the music though. I don't think U2 are ready to make anymore "artistic" and experimental albums by now. That was the 90s and that phase is left behind.

maybe they...can't leave it behind? ;-)

Well, judging from the contents of that album, it is their 80s albums that they can't leave behind. :)

;-)

http://www.hotmoviesale.com/dvds/11444/1/Left-Behind-II-Tribulation-Force.jpg

I'm pretty sure I'm much more excited about the idea of this record than I will be by the record itself.

the cedars of lebanon hospital on that postcard (which is now a big scieno bldg) was the original location of the famously celebrity-infested cedars-sinai.

'I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight' sounds like a Britney shaved head era song title

The cover photo (sans equal sign) is by Hiroshi Sugimoto, he's been doing black & white half sea/half sky photos around the world for about the last 30 years.

I'm most looking forward to the Fabolous cover.

it's kind of interesting that the band isn't on the cover. kind of.

Not particularly anticipating the record, but very excited about the publicity for the great Hiroshi Sugimoto!

I once spent an hour in a room of his photos of the ocean at midnight. From a distance they look like black rectangles. But up close you can see tiny differences in _texture_ between the black sky and the black sea. I don't know if photographs really have texture but that's now it looked to me.

(xp beaten as always by I DIED)

07 Stand Up Comedy
08 Fez - Being Born

waht

i quite like the ludicrousness of a title like 'fez - being born' alongside the usual cliches ('moment of surrender', 'white as snow' etc.)

Tommy Copper tribute

oh for fuck's sake

Richard Chartier / Taylor Deupree - Specification.Fifteen

http://www.dotshop.se/ds/media/images/item/full/LINE027CD.jpg

hmm

I'm a huge Sugimoto fan, too. Always kind thought ISIS should use his stuff as cover art.

heard a couple quick clips off a radio show... whatever I heard sounded kinda like "Pump It Up" or Shabooh/Thieves INXS.

I do not know what this means.

The Sound 100.3 in Los Angeles said that they get the album on Monday and will play it throughout the day.

i don't need to hear any new U2.

I'm just listening to Get On Your Boots, the first single off this album... i found it utterly boring. Would like to know if it's just me or the start sounding like a bad quality rip is really as annoying as i think. Somehow the chorus reminded me Alice In Chains chorus harmonies. Did Edge had to use again that Vertigo's scratch sound? Was it imperative?

makes me think a little bit of muse.

Oh man I didn't know Bono repped for That 70s Show

I saw Bone-O on TV yesterday talking about MLK.

01 No Line on the Horizon (feat. Clipse)
02 Magnificent (feat. Kanye West)
03 Moment of Surrender (feat. Noriega)
04 Unknown Caller (feat. L'il Wayne, Jay-Z)
05 I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight (feat. Chris Gaines)
06 Get on Your Boots (feat. Hammer, Treach, MC Lyte)
07 Stand Up Comedy (feat. Chris Rock)
08 Fez - Being Born (feat. Common, India.Arie)
09 White as Snow (feat. Everlast, Prince Paul)
10 Breathe (Quiet Storm Remix)
11 Cedars of Lebanon

It's a Nu-Metal "We Didn't Start the Fire"

Get On Your Boots sounds like the song from the end credits of Only Fools And Horses.

If only this was, in fact, the new single:

http://www.currentworldnews.net/2009/01/19/u2-single-released-to-irish-radio-station/

it's called the horizon line for a reason...no line, no horizon...

Correct to above tracklist: it turns out that "Unknown Caller" and "Stand Up Comedy" are in fact skits, not songs.

is that a joke

As far as i'm concerned, the single was sent to every decent station at midnight so we could play it today. For territorial reasons the Irish station played it first while in Mexico was premiered at around 8:00am local time.

I don't think U2 are ready to make anymore "artistic" and experimental albums by now

according to the Q interview, thats exactly what they are doing.
experimenting with sound again as opposed to just looking over their shoulders.
app. lots of eno involvement - even songwriting credits.

Leaked.

Cursory listen indicates nothing for me. This album is all over the damn place. More keyboards than anything since Pop, though, and some twinkly vintage guitar styles from The Edge.

That single is too close to The Escape Club for my own comfort.

I refuse to pick this up for more than $3 from the clearance bin in a few years.

14 hours on, I can't tell you a thing about what I listened to. It's unremarkably flat and wandering. When Bono said it's time to not rock anymore, he wasn't kidding.

not sure how being "close to the escape club" could be seen as a negative

I like the big clattering drum fills on the 45, but the verses (melody and lyric) seem very standard-issue late Bono. It picks up a bit when it threatens to change key.

In a way I was moved to watch them start the Brit Awards tonight, just for the sense of these 4 men, still together after ... 33 years or so? - playing their piece to a live audience for the first time.

http://www.spotify.com/go/20090223-u2-excl-preview-guardian

whole LP audible now

Get On Your Boots sounds like the song from the end credits of Only Fools And Horses.

not heard it yet but i really wish they had done this

it doesn't sound like that

not that I watched it

let's release the U2 album before U2 releases the U2 album

Big Sunday NY Times Pareles feature/interview and they're doing the Leterman show all week. Musc biz blogger Lefsetz says they'd sell more copies if they did the morning tv talk shows instead...Did somebody mention on another thread how Bono and the Edge are trying to defend their tax practices from charges of hypocracy.

All that hanging out with George Bush must have told them something.

Letterman hypocrisy

vs. Chinese democracy

Correcting my spelling.

Now they're doing Led Zep covers in rehearsals because of a project the Edge was involved with

Better than Led Zeppelin originals...

Many tracks had their names changed during the recording sessions. "French Disco", "Chromium Chords" and "For Your Love" were retitled as "Magnificent", "Fez – Being Born", and "Stand Up" respectively.

Did Stereolab sue over the first two?

I'm giving this a shot because it was produced by the same guys who did Unforgettable Fire, which is far and away the best U2 album. Also, my friend snagged me a promo copy from the radio station she works at.

I'm giving this a shot because it was produced by the same guys who did Unforgettable Fire

I like how Eno's career is reduced to this. "Oh yeah, that guy."

: (

Let's not make everything about Brian Eno.

Which I think is an oblique strategy.

That explains the last 15 years of U2 albums - someone gave them a rigged OS deck where every card said "Try and make everything the same"...

We should make our own set of Oblique Strategies to help U2 create their next album.

DISREGARD NUMBERS FOUR THROUGH THIRTEEN

JUST ONE SONG ABOUT PLIGHTS

LET THE LYRICS BE TERRIBLE

Heard that "Crazy if I don't Go Crazy tonight" on the radio this AM...

ugg...though one Bono-defining lyric though:

The right to be ridiculous is something I hold dear

My brain is having trouble mapping this onto Unforgettable Fire.

This album would be classic with the vocals removed. What is WRONG WITH YOU, Bono?

Cedars of Lebanon samples a Harold Budd track!

I think this is great stuff. Interesting and atmospheric arrangements, but without losing sight of the tunes. Upon first listen, seems to me like one of the best ever U2 works.

Which melodies here do you think are worthwhile, Geir? To me that's its biggest failing-- no tunes at all.

I haven't gotten them into my head, but there are choruses. Big, catchy choruses. And that is a good tune to me.

big catchy choruses that you can't remember?

btw geir, i was wondering, do you like iron maiden?

Looking at the wiki entry, I noticed that every song I like gives Eno/Lanois writing credits and every song I don't like is just U2.

btw geir, i was wondering, do you like iron maiden?

No, although that has more to do with annoying operatic screaming vocals and annoying drumming with way too much use of the bass drum, than with actual lack of tunes.

from the Ideal Copy newsletter i just got: "The new U2 album is out today and we are bewildered that only one customer has ordered it from us. Many ordered the single which only results in more head-scratching about the album."

haha, maybe the single put everyone off?

Looking at the wiki entry, I noticed that every song I like gives Eno/Lanois writing credits and every song I don't like is just U2.

I don't dislike any of them, but the ones with input from Eno/Lanois seem like generally the best songs. Also because of Lanois being an ace producer as always.

Daniel "Fuckloads of Reverb" Lanois

Amazon reviewer sez:

1.0 out of 5 stars See the Shark. Jump the Shark., March 3, 2009

By wordnat "wordnat" (boise, idaho United States) - See all my reviews

Great records are daring, spontaneous things. "Blonde on Blonde", "OK Computer", and "Tha Carter III" share little other than a fearless certainty of purpose and execution. Bad records -- apart from being artistically bankrupt, of course -- are timid, inherently dishonest concoctions that sacrifice any legitimate artistic goals in favor of financial ones. They play not to lose -- all bets are securely hedged. Truly bad records -- from Michael Jackson's "Bad" (pun intended?) through Brittany Spears' "Oops! I Did it Again", and on to U2's embarrassing, calculating "No Line on the Horizon" -- are terminally self-conscious ones. NLOTH is a VERY self-conscious record, and it's easily the band's worst since their last pure piece of undiluted musical product, 1997's "Pop". In fact, NLOTH is even weaker than "Pop", because it lacks that snoozefest's all-encompassing ironic gloss. In other words, U2 can't say "Just kidding!" this time -- and that's what makes NLOTH so disappointing: it's the sound of the plot truly being lost, backed with a looped sample of laughing all the way to the bank....

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Comment Comments (24)

Yeah right up until the MJ dis I was in full agreeance.

OK Computer spontaneous?

recording an album in a studio is about the least spontaneous thing possible.

so if i liked Pop does that mean I'll like this album more then ?

OK Computer spontaneous?

ok maybe not full agreeance

fwiw from ilx's single u2 stan

achtung baby >> pop/zooropa > passengers >>>>> no line on the horizon >> all that you can't leave behind >>>>> how to dismantle an atomic bomb

i listened to achtung baby for the first time in years, man "Zoo Station" is a fucking awesome song.

and the other day the local indie station played this song and i was all like "oh is this comsat angels? chameleons? sweet song!" and it turned out to be some deep cut offa the first U2 album

U2 was really amazing for 3 albums, very, very good for 2, annoying for 1, then really amazing again for 1 before appreciating them had to start carrying qualifiers to handwave Bono's growing ego.

Daniel "Fuckloads of Reverb" Lanois

I am usually not a big fan of reverb myself, but Lanois, unlike most 80s "indie" producers did, uses it in a tasteful way, making the music bigger and more "spacey" but still managing to keep each instrument very much separated and not create the "porridge" with the vocals completely drowned in the rest of the sound etc. which was a problem with the overreverbiated 80s guitar pop/indie. By giving each instrument their own reverb effect rather than the entire sound the same reverb, he manages this.

Nigel Godrich does largely the same thing great too today.

thanks for dis mah 40 year old virgin friend!!!

The title from "I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight" looks like it was conceived by Jim Steiman.

geir otm. this is so much better than i thought it would be. even "get on your boots" doesn't sound horrible where it's placed in the song sequence. nothing's stood out yet as U2 Anthem but for realz this could be "the best u2 album since 'achtung baby'"

You realize I'm reading that in the context of only hearing the ILX version of the album.

I bet the reviews are pretty funny if you only go off the ILX version

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-ragogna/huffpost-reviews-u2-emno_b_170968.html

That brings us to one of the album's more "commercial" tracks, "Get On Your Boots." If you love Elvis Costello's "Pump It Up," you're gonna REALLY kinda like this one.

Hahahah!

i really had no hope for this thing. but then i read pitchfork's review. the last time they underrated something i knew i like was alex moulton's exodus. i figured no, can't be, but just maybe they're as wrong about the new u2 album. and hey, what do you know. thanks pitchfork!

I haven't gotten them into my head, but there are choruses. Big, catchy choruses. And that is a good tune to me.
― Geir Hongro, Tuesday, 3 March 2009 Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

big catchy choruses that you can't remember?
― Tracy Michael Jordan Catalano (Jordan), Tuesday

lol

That brings us to one of the album's more "commercial" tracks, "Get On Your Boots." If you love Elvis Costello's "Pump It Up," you're gonna REALLY kinda like this one.

What is it abou those albums that turns its fans into equivocating numbskulls?

*about this

The title from "I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight" looks like it was conceived by Jim Steiman.

― Wally West, Wednesday, March 4, 2009 12:16 PM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

or mid-90s Garth Brooks

^^^
That is exactly what I thought when I first saw the tracklist, I figured something in the tradition of "Longneck Bottle".

longneck bono, let go of my hand

I am usually not a big fan of reverb myself, but Lanois, unlike most 80s "indie" producers did, uses it in a tasteful way, making the music bigger and more "spacey" but still managing to keep each instrument very much separated and not create the "porridge" with the vocals completely drowned in the rest of the sound etc.

when lanois talks about what he learned from eno, he mentions mastering simple tools and reducing unnecessary ornamentation. I'd add "creating a sense of space" to that list. here come the warm jets is one of the great object lessons in virtual soundstage mixes. while most producers and engineers tried to create realistic soundstages where listeners could pinpoint instruments in a 3D field, eno created soundstages where the guitar is 2 stories high, the vocalist is traveling through a tunnel at 80mph, and the drummer is on mars. the same thought process is all over eno's on land, his first collab w/ lanois, that sense of boundless space.

that sense of boundless space is all over the title song, appropriately enough

stop making me want to listen to the new U2 album

it's not bad, honest

when lanois talks about what he learned from eno, he mentions mastering simple tools and reducing unnecessary ornamentation. I'd add "creating a sense of space" to that list. here come the warm jets is one of the great object lessons in virtual soundstage mixes. while most producers and engineers tried to create realistic soundstages where listeners could pinpoint instruments in a 3D field, eno created soundstages where the guitar is 2 stories high, the vocalist is traveling through a tunnel at 80mph, and the drummer is on mars. the same thought process is all over eno's on land, his first collab w/ lanois, that sense of boundless space.

Surely he has learned a lot of this from Eno, but I feel he has developed it even more himself. His work on Dylan's "Oh Mercy", Neville Brothers' "Yellow Moon" and "Wrecking Ball" by Emmylou Harris are brilliant examples of this. I also love the two albums he produced for Peter Gabriel, but I might have regardless of who produced them.

Also, I feel like Nigel Godrich is building even more upon the heritage from Eno and Lanois. He might be the man to work with for U2 if they want to "update" their sound and still preserve the core of what they have always been about.

Wrecking Ball and Time Out of Mind are his nadirs, to my ear: all those caverns, etc.

lol

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/new-u2-album-within-months-1638928.html

The new album will be called 'Songs of Ascent' and will be a sister album to their latest release - a trick U2 already pulled with 'Achtung Baby' and 'Zooropa' and in the early 1990s.

Bono said that it would be a quieter album than the current effort, and the lead single will be called 'Every Breaking Wave', a track pulled from 'No Line On the Horizon' at the last minute.

Bono said that it would be a quieter album than the current effort

WAHT 60% OF THIS ALBUM IS AN UNINTERRUPTED DIRGE

I'm just excited that we can do another comp

Bono's desire to move on with future projects may be a direct response to the lukewarm reception for the band's current single 'Get On Your Boots'.

"I was going off the song myself for a minute," said Bono of the album's lead single. "And then the Grammys really put me back on it. I really enjoyed performing it. It's gonna take a little longer to stick.

"It was never an obvious first single . . . it's an earnest love song. That's what's beautiful about it."

(xpost) yes, and only in a few months too!

I finally heard this over the weekend, its nowhere near as bad as everyone seems to say! I certainly like it better than the last one (and arguably the one before that). It feels like some of the criticism against this (U2 by numbers, lazy) would have better applied last time around. But I'm just a guy that thinks Pop is totally great and underrated, so what do I know?

How does Eno has time for this? He is also currently working with Coldplay, on an album that is supposed to be released in November already.

listened to this with the missus (who's a much bigger U2 fan than me) the other day, and there was a general "hmmm, this is kind of nothing, is it over yet?" feeling among both of us.

How does Eno has time for this?

http://www.canpages.ca/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/dr-manhattan.jpg

No, that's how Right Said Fred have made so many terrible records...

I don't find it that bad: a couple of songs are surprisingly good.

I bought it today, on double-LP vinyl !!

"I don't find it that bad: a couple of songs are surprisingly good"

Obviously this is just another way to say I'm getting old.

Actually you are kind of right. But then, complaining about current music being mastered to sound like shit is like saying you're getting old too, so it seems, in today's age, you have to be getting old to understand some simple things about the quality of music anyway.

Thank you, Elvis Costello.

Now there's another brilliant musician who still makes music that is way better than the stuff modern kids listen to.

eno has time for this and coldplay because they are the same album

The joshua tree is the best lbum of all time. it was made in 1987 an it stills sound like it was made last week. And sargent pepers album from the beatles sound like its time (old).Compare the contemporary artist that are inspire by U2 and compare to the contemporary artitst that are influence by the beatles. Not to say but today U2 is more relevant and infuencil than the beatles. And yes go ahead and say than the beatles this and the beatles that. But U2 will end their carrer as the artist with moust grammies and more sould out shows than any other artist in music history. I got nothing against the beatles, i love the beatles music, but in a coupe of years u2 is going to be the moust sucsesfull band in history. To say that ho is better u2 or the beatles comes down to personal taste. But numbers are numbers, in a couple of years U will be the mous sucsesfull band of all time.

omar I never knew you felt that way

sorry we peer pressured you into besmirching yr heroes

Did anyone ever arrive at a different, eg a more positive view of this record?

I have just listened to every U2 studio LP in order and wound up back at this one. Whether that helps it, I'm not sure. (Actually a highlight was side 2 of Zooropa.)

I pretty much agree with omar(?) above, sort of, um, not quite, in a way, that U2 are "more successful" / "more influential" than The Beatles at this point. The Beatles made music for 7 years. U2 have been making music for 30+. I hear far more echoes of The Joshua Tree in everyday life than I do of Revolver. This makes me sad.

I think that the difference is that the influence of Revolver is disseminated through the generations of bands that have come since, so it's not easy to hear even though it's there. Joshua Tree on the other hand is heard in today's music a lot more directly: just stick some delay on a guitar, find a singer who's a bit up himself, and there you are...

I don't hear any echoes of The Joshua Tree in everyday life, except when I play it or think about it.

But what about the new LP?

The problems with this record are manifold. Either that or its attributes are largely invisible. U2's had more than its share of "major" records - "War," "Fire," "Joshua Tree," "Achtung Baby" - where you can hear the band challenging itself and moving forward. But more importantly, those later three radical (for the band and for music at large - witness how quickly their ideas were adopted and assimilated across the board) albums in particular feel like albums. They feel complete. They tell stories, and at the very least stand as artifacts of transformation and reinvention. This new one, however, I don't know what the band is trying to say with it. There are moments I like, just like there's lots of "Pop" that I like, but I really can't see how after all that time in three different studios, with Eno and Lanois on board as full collaborators, the group listened back to this final product and deemed it both completed and satisfying. The band should have stripped things back (like the perennially underrated Zooropa) or built things up (like Achtung Baby). Instead, they chose to hover in purgatory. Is it any wonder that Bono wasted no time talking up a proposed sister album? Assuming it ever comes out, who wants to bet the "afterthought" disc will turn out to be better?

I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight sounds like a Bon Jovi parody. or homage.

That's a good strong post from Josh in Chicago!

I look forward to the sister record if it happens.

I think '... Crazy Tonight' is probably the best thing on the LP.

and 'Breathe', I'm afraid, is one of the worst.

i wonder how xhuxk feels about the lyric where bono sings about the "atm machine"?

i was listening to this again this morning and it doesn't sound necessarily of a piece, but i still think it's a lot stronger than the last one (and slightly more than 'atyclb'.) i guess for me it comes down to the fact that the fundamental sound of the band is strong and allows them to coast through some weak tracks and almost fool you into thinking they're great epics. this is a strength for those tunes and a weakness for some others that could use less coasting, but i still think it's a good album (the first three songs are pretty A+). i mean i think it's pretty funny (and disappointing as a fan) that U2 was genuinely great and fantastic during the period that they themselves might consider to be not who they really are. i can always listen to the other records but still, i dunno...

I heard a track from this and it sounded like Garth Brooks

i haven't yet. "unknown caller" is one i'd add to the A+s. nice to hear edge's enofied glissando on those four. can't believe it but i'm into this a lot more than the byrne album last year. bono's lyrics aren't always terrible either and endearing sometimes when they are -- "go! shout it out!" broaghy bluster etc. i feel all street team but fwiw for real i haven't listened to a u2 album this much since 'auchtung baby'

RE: "Unknown Caller"

"Force quit/and move to trash" are the most inexcusable lyrics in the history of bad Bono lyrics, and that's saying something.

i get a drunk uncle vibe from them

haven't listened to this much but I always thought of "Breathe" as the best track

I heard a track from this and it sounded like Garth Brooks

I wish!

The first three track start this album out SO strongly that the comedown provided by "Unknown Caller" (worst lyrics ever), "GOYB" (naff all around), and "Stand Up Comedy" (top 5 worst U2 songs ever?) cannot help but color the experience of listening to the final four track, which are pretty great. I'm so upset by the time I get to them that I just want to put on something else.

Apparently I am incapable of writing the word "tracks."

and it's like you're judging who's next by "goin' mobile"

and it's 1971 not now

Interesting.

we all want the title track to be great - but is it? I fear it's not that great. The amount of time he spends going 'a-wo-a-woa-a-woa-a-wao' is a bad sign.

'Magnificent' is an example of U2 coasting as described above, or rather - of their loveable sound pulling through something that's not really very good. I do like it when the riff starts up but Bono jumps on it pretty fast.

'moment of surrender' I doubt but Eno did speak so highly of it. I quite like how it starts very differently from how it goes on (as does Fez).

Agree about the awful computer lyrics in 'unknown caller' but I actually like aspects of this, mainly the old-time Edge sound.

'crazy tonight' I think is the best track!

the 45 is not all so bad. and I'm not sure 'stand-up comedy' is all bad either. But 'Breathe' really can be hard to listen to - what is that accent he winds up with? Nastily midAtlantic.

Maybe No Line On The Horizon isnt really that great, but at least when it comes out of the PA here in the store, it sounds like a breath of fresh air. Its enough for me, these days.

The only difference is, "Goin' Mobile" rulez.

"Cedars of Lebanon" is great. The rest I'll withhold judgement on, because Zooropa was the only U2 I loved immediately, after War, and my opinion slowly shifted on that and every other one except Achtung Baby, which I still don't get. So far, I count more great songs on the last couple.

BBC admits promotion of U2 album was 'inappropriate'

The BBC has admitted coverage of the launch of U2 album No Line On The Horizon last February, went too far - giving "undue prominence" to the band.
Critics said the BBC had given U2 "the sort of publicity money can't buy".

The corporation's editorial complaints unit (ECU) acknowledged that radio coverage of the event, including a rooftop concert, breached guidelines.
It added the use of the slogan U2 = BBC "gave an inappropriate impression of endorsement".

ILX admits promotion of U2 album was 'inappropriate'

U2 admits creation of U2 album was 'unnecessary.'

Shared courtesy of Tom Ewing. And the opening line is, really, just the beginning:

http://www.dailyiowan.com/2009/03/03/Arts/10358.html

no no no no no no no no no no no no no oh god no

That's what she...uh, never mind.

"lighter tunes"...Zippo jingles?

One standout, “White As Snow,” has lyrics which include the phrase “Once I knew there was a love divine / Then came a time I thought I knew me not / Who can forgive forgiveness when forgiveness is not / Only the land as white as snow.” Only U2 can pull off using subtle religious references mixed with forgiveness as a lyrical theme and do it with a sultry and classy melody.

waht

was this album just released in Iowa, btw

Nah, check the date of the review. How Tom found out about it probably had to do with the comment section of the Popular entry on "Desire":

http://freakytrigger.co.uk/popular/2010/07/u2-desire/

ah, I only saw that date in the banner, not the date on the review

I was gonna lol hardcore at that but I suppose I'll have to content myself with lolling hardcore at what she actually wrote

U2 lead singer Bono’s pleasing sex voice
U2 lead singer Bono’s pleasing sex voice
U2 lead singer Bono’s pleasing sex voice
U2 lead singer Bono’s pleasing sex voice
U2 lead singer Bono’s pleasing sex voice
U2 lead singer Bono’s pleasing sex voice
U2 lead singer Bono’s pleasing sex voice
U2 lead singer Bono’s pleasing sex voice
U2 lead singer Bono’s pleasing sex voice
U2 lead singer Bono’s pleasing sex voice
U2 lead singer Bono’s pleasing sex voice

One of the remarkable things about U2, which holds true to its newest CD, is its drive to create new styles. The band is known for releasing an album (take War, for instance) with a hard-rock sound, and then turning around releasing its next CD (in this case, The Unforgettable Fire) with lighter tunes.

New styles created by U2, then:

"a hard-rock sound"
"lighter tunes"

All the sex references and I'm thinking this Rachael person really want Bono to bone her.

"With lyrics and melodies that offer more than just Bono’s vox, No Line on the Horizon is nothing if not a gift from God"

AHAHAHAHA GEDDIT? Bono's...Vox?

O_o

http://images.dailyradar.com/media/uploads/showhype/story_large/2008/10/27/article_1080636_023aedff000005dc_479_468x374.jpg
l-r: Rachael, Bono, some girl

Take the singles out of the equation and the last 2 U2 albums are really quite an uneasy listen and nothing like what you'd expect at all from the world's biggest rock band. You'd think it'd be more like 1990s Rolling Stones or something.

Listening to this now, and reading about it, I'm struck by the extent to which all involved felt this record was some big departure. I think the record starts fairly strongly and despite its detour into the Rubin stuff midway, feels more of a piece than some suggest.

But beyond the little intros (which Eno composes for Coldplay too fwiw), it sounds like...U2. Where the record differs it seems is that there feel like structural things going on -- the group chorus on "Unknown Caller," the slow build of "Moment of Surrender," the keyboard break in "FEZ/Being Born" all have the feel of the band, if not exactly stretching out, digging a bit deeper.

Also, between the songwriting credits for Eno/Lanois and the Harold Budd sample, the whole thing seems a little like a band wanting to share the wealth with their heroes and mentors.

Yeah, literally. But for their involvement, and given the advance word on the record, I was hoping for something a little strange, more exciting, more interesting, not just more erratic. I've often heard Eno describe working with U2 as more or less riding a parabola. You start with nothing, things get better, you hit a peak, and then things get worse. That pattern repeats over and over until the band simply runs out of time. If it runs out of time at a high point, things turn out well. If it runs out of time at a low point, things are less satisfying, like this record and "Pop," both of which have their pleasures but neither of which either cohere like the best U2 albums or challenge like the most interesting. Or do both like the best. For a group with unlimited resources, I wish it reverted more to the adventure-mode, but I think at this point it's just such a huge enterprise - and hard enough to get everyone in the same room - its creativity is curtailed by second guessing and a desire to play it safer for the sake of the bottom line.

I think that's probably about right. The advance, at least in part, was based on the fact that many of the original sessions were done with Moroccan musicians -- most of which was wiped off when they felt it sounded too typically "exotic."

The thing that makes me hesitate to dismiss the record, and that gives me the sense that it may be a bit of a grower, is the certitude with which folks like Eno and Lanois were promoting this record. In Eno's case, he called the recording of "Moment of Surrender" something like "the single most extraordinary experience" he ever had in a studio. Now, part of that may be a tendency toward hyperbole in the face of an intense marketing campaign (Eno said something similar about Bowie's Outside sessions).

But it makes me wonder whether there was something about the process of making this record—the ease with which the group was able to establish the core tenets of its sound and to explore within it—that really struck a chord with parties involved. Basically, I wonder if this ended up being less a U2 record made for the public than for the band (and producers) themselves.