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93 of 126 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
No Moroccan couscous, but unmistakably classic U2 recipe., March 3, 2009
The Irish band's 12th studio album was originally slated to come out before the end of last year, but the band pulled it back to mold and twist it some more, after the original material recorded with Rick Rubin was shelved.
They've been rocking since the early 80s, when it comes to stadium-filling anthems, there's no challenger to U2's crown.
It's been a while since their last release, 2004's "How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb", but it's been worth the wait.
The result is 11 songs that thematically seem to have no link (although being lost surfaces quite a few times), but sonically unite the many sides of U2: the boys from get back to basics with their strongest offering in years. It was recorded in Dublin, New York, London and Fès, Morocco (but the rumoured North African influences are hardly audible).
Comfortingly, the production comes courtesy of Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois and Steve Lillywhite.
There may be some quibble as to whether this is the best U2 album since Eno and Lanois first worked with the band on 1984's "The Unforgettable Fire".
It starts out blustery and familiar, before gradually revealing an unexpected and almost lovable sense of vulnerability.
"Magnificent" with its drum crescendos, trademark guitar riffs and a soaring Bono vocal is easily the best thing here and is crying out to be released as a single.
There is the odd moment of rocking swagger which seems to be U2's way of saying that they are not too old to pull on the leather trousers yet - the trashy rock of "Get On Your Boots" and "Stand Up Comedy", the latter hinting at the muscular funk-infused rock of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
"Get On Your Boots", the album's lead single, is actually a good track : if this fails to get your foot tapping, we doubt anything will.
"Breathe" suggests that the band's classic approach can still sound contemporary.
And the albums ends in contemplative mood with "Cedars Of Lebanon", a Lanois-style soundscape, which takes shape amid a sonic fug that mirrors the exhaustion of its war reporter narrator: "Child drinking dirty water from the riverbank/ Soldier brings oranges he got out from a tank".
"Breathe" suggests that the band's classic approach can still sound contemporary.
Lyrics like 'the right to appear ridiculous is something I hold dear' on "I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight" show that they still have a sense of humour.
Apart from a couple of the tracks being a bit too long and the album cover being a bit boring, the album - over 54 minutes - is a worthy addition to their catalogue.
"No Line on the Horizon is a bold, beautiful and highly speculative re-imagining of U2's music". - Telegraph
"The slower, meditative efforts where Bono sings rather than screams are surprisingly lovely and hint at a future of Rubin-era Johnny Cash potential. U2 are at their strongest when they play their age but when they try and rock, it's irrelevant and cringeworthy".- L. Bazley
My favourite tracks: "Moment Of Surrender", "Unknown Caller", "Breathe" and "Cedars Of Lebanon"
The Unforgettable Fire
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20 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
SLOTH: Some Line on the Horizon, May 29, 2009
I've been a U2 fan since the mid-90's. Since that time, I've watched their development from the eccentric but soulful beats of Pop to the affirmation of their rock roots and spiritual core in ATYCLB and through its continuation in the zeitgeist-charged internal/external mix of themes in HTDAAB.
U2 has been and still is my favorite band. Through all of the genres, bands great and small, they have always been the most inspired, the most energetic, the most impassioned. To me, they are everything that is good and true about rock music. Some songs I've liked more than others, but I always felt that energy. It's still there. It's just faded.
Looking back, I think I was afraid that one day their status might get the best of them. Maybe it still hasn't, but it certainly seems like it. No Line on the Horizon doesn't just seem half-baked in ideas, but also in plain effort. The vagueness of the title strikes me as too fitting.
Get On Your Boots, the first single and my second-to-least favorite song on the album, sounds like the wretched offspring of Vertigo and Escape Club's Wild Wild West. My least favorite, Stand-Up Comedy, is even more typical, and the lyrics are a joke (pardon the pun). The ho-hum title track's chorus sounds like South Park's Officer Barbrady trying to ask us to move along after seeing some line on the horizon. No, no line on the horizon, no, no line, move along please.
There are glimpses here and there of the real U2. (I shall not say "old U2" as I believe their continual growth is what makes them the best rock band, even if that growth is currently stunted.) Magnificent has a touch of energy in its surprisingly righteous egotism. Moment of Surrender is a meditative song. Unknown Caller, I'll Go Crazy, and Breathe are respectable, yet still not up to U2's potential. Fez-Being Born, White as Snow, and Cedars of Lebanon sound more like what the album should be as a whole (inventive, thoughtful, meaningful) than what it actually is.
Unfortunately, the disappointment of its lackluster composition, empty "upbeat" tracks, and plain typicality I never expected from THE U2 render SLOTH my least favorite of all of their albums. Don't get me wrong, it's a good album. Just not a good U2 album. That's my standard for them, and thus my rating.
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23 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Album's great, but this package is overpriced, March 3, 2009
It goes without saying that a new U2 album is a welcome thing; however, even at a sale price of $22.99, this package is overpriced. Considering the basic CD sells for $9.99, you're essentially purchasing a $13 foldout poster, and a few extra pages of photos in the booklet. There is access to an Anton Corbijn film available online, but I don't feel that justifies the price increase.
Others may consider this a great deal for what's included...as an early purchaser of this product, though, I'm a bit underwhelmed with its contents. Buyer beware.
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