No Line On The Horizon

U2 | Format: MP3 Music

Product Details

• Original Release Date: March 3, 2009
• Release Date: March 3, 2009
• Label: Interscope
• Copyright: (C) 2009 Universal-Island Records Ltd. under exclusive license to Mercury Records Limited in the UK, Interscope Records in the US and Universal Music Group for the rest of the world.
• Record Company Required Metadata: Music file metadata contains unique purchase identifier. Learn more.
• Total Length: 53:42
• Genres:
  • Pop
  • Rock
• ASIN: B001S6HZTE
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (616 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #16,111 Paid in MP3 Albums (See Top 100 Paid in MP3 Albums)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

89 of 100 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Review Of Deluxe Box Set Content March 10, 2009

By Bornintime VINE™ VOICE

Format:Audio CD

This review is for the deluxe box set. Since the cd is the same the question is whether you want to pay anywhere from 65 to 95 dollars for the extras. You get 2 posters - 1 a large reproduction of the album cover that to me has gotten boring pretty quickly. The other side of that poster and the other smaller poster show the band standing around looking serious and important as they are prone to do. There is a large sharp-looking high-quality white hardcover book with some nice pictures and an interview with the band. I've read it through once and enjoyed it, and will probably read it once or twice again before my death hopefully many years from now. I guess I bought this set primarily for the dvd by Anton Corbijn, a film that is played over the new U2 songs. Mostly it shows a man riding his motorcycle and walking. The only U2 content is the band playing Magnificent on a staticky cafe television, really too distracting to watch. I want to say that watching this dvd was as exciting as watching paint dry but I think that would be insulting to paint. I don't think I will ever watch it again, even if I live a long long time. All of these things are packed in a big mother of a box (12" x 9" x 2"). I absolutely love the NLOTH cd, but with this box set and with U2 bigger is not always better. Like with their new stadium tour called U2 360 - the band will play from a stage "in the round" so more fans can see the band (and their backsides) than would normally fit in a 60,000 person stadium. As far as the De-luxe edition it currently takes up a large space on my bookshelf, always reminding me that I could have bought the regular cd for $10. UPDATE ONE YEAR LATER 3/20/10: Another thing that bugs me about these "De-Luxe, Limited Edition, Collectors Items" is that they never are. One year later you could pick up a new copy here on amazon for $25, a third of the original price. Any collectors item or high priced deluxe edition mass produced for a major artist will NEVER go up in value.

54 of 61 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Vintage U2 March 20, 2009

By C. Jacob

Format:Audio CD

If you want to nit-pick that this album isn't Joshua Tree or Achtung Baby, and is thus by default a steaming pile of cow manure, go right on ahead and live in your own pool of negativity. No this isn't those albums. Those are masterpieces, pure and simple.

OK, for this album just sit back, put on the head phones and soak it in. Like any U2 album, it plants a seed, sprouts, grows and matures if you listen to it more than a simple fast forward on your ipod like many shortened attention span detractors probably did. I believe it lives in the top 5 of the band's compilations. Sonically, the Edge continues to expand his boundaries. The man has given us a lifetime of musical gifts. How many other musicians can continue to create interesting music after 30 years! Bono continues to spew his classic Bono-isms. The words, poetry, and one-liners that stick in your head and make you think. I find his lyric effort the best since 1991. As usual, Clayton and Mullen Jr keep things tight and round out the experience.

My favorites?
1) Magnificent - might place in their top 10 songs. Made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Like Streets have No Name did when I first heard it.
2) Being Born - Interesting direction in sound that I hope they explore more in the upcoming sister album.
3) Unknown Caller - Vintage U2 take on things. your personal interpretation necessary
4) I'll Go Crazy - Yeah, its got to be the first song played at the live show
5) Moment of Surrender - Might live long as one of their best. Like "One" did after AB.

I've loved this band since the War days. I can't believe they are still pumping out great music! Thank you U2!

86 of 109 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars A Review Intended For The More 'Casual' U2 Fan March 3, 2009

By HuskerDog

Format:MP3 Music

While it's far too early to be making definitive judgements of U2's No Line On The Horizon, a few conclusions about what this album is and is not can be drawn after only limited listening. I'll have to qualify myself as a 'casual' fan, however; through the years I've found myself connecting mainly with songs in the same vein as the first three tracks of The Joshua Tree, and other than "One", from Achtung Baby, U2 fell off my radar until the last two albums gave me "Stuck In A Moment...", "Walk On" and "Sometimes You Can't Make It...". There are, of course, other styles and songs much to my liking, but when a new U2 record comes out, the midtempo, beautifully melodic, more in the mainstream-type gems are what I listen for. So, if you have similar tastes, my thoughts on NLOTH are geared toward you.

> This is NOT a 'commercial' record. That's not to say this album won't sell, but that the producers' attempts at churning out a few radio hits didn't work, IMO. There are plenty of 'catchy' parts of songs, especially in the first five tracks, but in general these songs just aren't set up to become mega-hits.

> The Edge is in top form on this record. The guitar work here is nothing short of brilliant.

> Most of the big 'music critics' and fans of some of U2's more experimental efforts should find lots to like, especially when comparing this to the band's previous two albums. This is quite the artistic endeavor...U2 did not 'play it safe' here. This is a record that combines a bit of 'classic' U2 sound with a heavy dose of fresh, exploratory music.

> On the flip side, if those last two albums (or even The Joshua Tree) are your favorites, you may be disappointed. I think you'll find the first half of the record to have some redeeming qualities. For example, the chorus of "Moment Of Surrender" is outstanding, with beautiful harmonies and melody. It's perhaps the strongest song of all, but its length of over 7 minutes would call for major editing to get it into radio-shape...likewise with "Unknown Caller", my favorite from a musical standpoint. The guitar/bass combination is spine-tingling, but while there's good melody in the 'verse', the vocal chanting in the same note wasn't exactly what I wanted to hear, and it's 6 minutes long (radio edits required). "Magnificent" is fairly decent all around and could be a radio hit, but it still doesn't stack up well when compared to the songs I mentioned in my introduction.

> Many of the songs have moody, pulsating and/or atmospheric instrumental intros, most of which are very sonically interesting.

> For the more casual U2 listener who favors 'mainstream' sound, the middle and bottom half of this record doesn't have a lot to offer. I thought the choice of putting out "Get On Your Boots" as a first single to be quite strange...it's mainly groove-based and not melodic at all. "I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight" is one of those 'in-between' type songs...you want to like it, you kind of like it, yet it sounds a little 'forced' and not genuine to me. Bono goes a little crazy when he throws in a couple of odd-sounding falsetto notes about 30 seconds in...that certainly doesn't help matters. On many of the songs toward the end Bono does more talking than he does singing, and while they are somewhat interesting sonically, the beautiful melodies are missing. "White As Snow" is a laid-back hymn with sparse instrumentation reminiscent of songs from a Western...it's kind of nice but I'm not sold yet.

> At least the album starts strong. The opening title track is a high-energy rocker with an aggressive vocal and a memorable chorus. Throughout the record Bono's vocals are loose, ragged and edgy as opposed to controlled and pure.

With a band as diverse as U2, you won't always find what you're looking for (pardon the pun). For some, NLOTH will eventually be considered a masterpiece. But for more casual fans like me hoping to hear fresh takes (not remakes) of the classic, midtempo, melodic, memorable mainstream stunners that U2 has delivered before...well, we're kind of left in the dust with this release and will have to wait for the next one with fingers crossed.