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Rating: Let me preface this by saying that like many esteemed "colleagues" on this wonderful site, I am not a music critic and I don't even know how to tune a guitar properly... For this reason, what I write is the result of my personal feelings.
Having said that, let's move on to the (brief) analysis of this tedious work, the result of 5 years of reconsiderations and scarcity of ideas. Let's start with the first song "No Line On The Horizon", which bearing the album's title, one would expect it to be the leading track (my pure observation). But unfortunately, it is not a "Wish You Were Here" nor another "The Unforgettable Fire", but a song that repeats some useless "ohh ohh ohh ohhh"s and instead of enhancing Bono's voice, it makes us realize that Bono (unfortunately) no longer has a voice! "Magnificent", the second track, is pleasant and with a melody worthy of the "traditional" U2. The magic stops already at the third track "Moment Of Surrender" and completely fades away with the terrible "Unknown Caller" with the usual "oh oh oh oh oh" that at this point in the CD makes you want to turn it into a smurf-sized frisbee... "Get On Your Boots" is pathetic both in the attempt to publish a "new genre" for U2 and in Bono's attempt to sing loudly as he once did.
It's useless to continue and humiliate one of the best bands of the '80s and '90s. Even if Bono and The Edge keep repeating that their latest work is always the best of all, it would be better to admit that creativity is over and that maybe it's better not to do anything anymore. Or amaze everyone with something truly different without overdoing it (maybe even a nice traditional album with guitar-bass-drums-vocals). It's a pity, the twenty-first century for U2 has not yet arrived!
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
06 Get On Your Boots (03:25)
The future needs a big kiss
Winds blows with a twist
Never seen a moon like this
Can you see it too?
Night is falling everywhere
Rockets at the fun fair
Satan loves a bomb scare
But he won’t scare you
Hey, sexy boots
Get on your boots, yeah
You free me from the dark dream
Candy floss ice cream
All our kids are screaming
But the ghosts aren’t real
Here’s where we gotta be
Love and community
Laughter is eternity
If joy is real
You don’t know how beautiful
You don’t know how beautiful you are
You don’t know, and you don’t get it, do you?
You don’t know how beautiful you are
That’s someone’s stuff they’re blowing up
We’re into growing up
Women of the future
Hold the big revelations
I got a submarine
You got gasoline
I don’t want to talk about wars between nations
Not right now
Hey sexy boots
Get on your boots, yeah
Not right now
Bossy boots
You don’t know how beautiful
You don’t know how beautiful you are
You don’t know, and you don’t get it, do you?
You don’t know how beautiful you are
Hey sexy boots
I don’t want to talk about the wars between the nations
Sexy boots, yeah
Let me in the sound
Let me in the sound
Let me in the sound, sound
Let me in the sound, sound
Meet me in the sound
Let me in the sound
Let me in the sound, now
God, I’m going down
I don’t wanna drown now
Meet me in the sound
Let me in the sound
Let me in the sound
Let me in the sound, sound
Let me in the sound, sound
Meet me in the sound
Get on your boots
Get on your boots
Get on your boots
Yeah hey hey
10 Breathe (05:00)
16th of June, nine 0-five, door bell rings
Man at the door says if I want to stay alive a bit longer
There’s a few things I need you to know.
Three coming from a long line of travelling sales people on my mother’s side
I wasn’t gonna buy just anyone’s cockatoo
So why would I invite a complete stranger into my home
Would you?
These days are better than that
These days are better than that
Every day I die again, and again I’m reborn
Every day I have to find the courage
To walk out into the street
With arms out
Got a love you can’t defeat
Neither down or out
There’s nothing you have that I need
I can breathe
Breathe now
16th of June, Chinese stocks are going up
And I’m coming down with some new Asian virus
Ju Ju man, Ju Ju man
Doc says you’re fine, or dying
Please
Nine 0-nine, St John Divine, on the line, my pulse is fine
But I’m running down the road like loose electricity
While the band in my head plays a striptease
The roar that lies on the other side of silence
The forest fire that is fear so deny it
Walk out into the street
Sing your heart out
The people we meet
Will not be drowned out
There’s nothing you have that I need
I can breathe
Breathe now
Yeah, yeah
We are people borne of sound
The songs are in our eyes
Gonna wear them like a crown
Walk out, into the sunburst street
Sing your heart out, sing my heart out
I’ve found grace inside a sound
I found grace, it’s all that I found
And I can breathe
Breathe now
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Other reviews
By il giustiziere
A well-produced album that manages to overshadow (not that it took much) U2’s previous releases.
Despite some songs smelling of old U2 and others having a Coldplay-like aura, the album deserves a passing grade.
By jude79
The unforgettable fire hasn’t extinguished... it has returned to burn majestically like it hadn’t for years.
They decided to release as the first single a track that is not only the worst of the album but that is not even worthy of being part of it... Mystery of faith!
By Lesto BANG
An album of Great Craftsmanship and licking of sounds but... seems to really copy soundscapes and attitudes, things already heard here and there.
An album neither shameful nor praiseworthy, at times even pleasant, but lacking those particular peaks of genius or energy.
By GrantNicholas
We are probably faced with the best studio material from the band since 'Pop.'
'Fez - Being Born' is a perfectly crafted sound and melody wisely shaped around Bono's voice.
By primiballi
U2's music is now classical music.
This album gives something and takes nothing away, indeed, one could afford some generosity even more.
