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Rating:
From the very first listen, you understand that the Unforgettable Fire hasn't extinguished... and indeed, it has returned to burn majestically like it hadn't for years.
This new work from the four boys from Dublin marks a double turning point: both in terms of sound and composition. The atmosphere of this album is that of extreme and remote places both in time and space, whose boundaries are vague and undefined... often they have the tones of the guitar of an Edge more inspired than ever, like an impressionist painter, he enjoys spreading from his strings brushstrokes of notes that reach the soul and captivate for their beauty, sometimes they blend with the background as in the title track alongside the velvety layers of keyboards that Lanois and Eno manage to weave as only they know how.
The beginning ("No Line on the Horizon") has the rhythm and tension of a race like a frantic search, an unusual progression that measures the sound change and which some synth notes in the end manage only to ease, with the marks of time that Bono's voice reveals climbing dangerously on the higher notes (Fez-Being Born) and at the same time sketching and telling us in a low voice, wonderful images as in "White as Snow" and "Cedars of Lebanon", the latter a true gem that brings us back to the magic of works like "If You Wear that velvet dress" in short, an epic album closure.
Tracks like "Moment of Surrender" are almost a gospel with layers of keyboards and synths that abstract us from any spatial dimension almost to the point of floating like pure spirit, with an ever-expanding breath that the chorus of the refrain emphasizes, an emotional tension also found in "Fez-Being Born", a track with a top-notch percussive groove and almost 2 minutes of intro of just music... in short, music and melody have finally returned to the forefront and more than the refrains, these atmospheres are what captivate about this album. Even the catchiness of tracks more in U2's style like "Magnificent", "I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight" or the beautiful "Unknown Caller" is enriched by a sonic search and arrangements that manage to enrich the tracks with new suggestions without ever overburdening them. This new vigor also benefits the Rock side of U2's music with tracks like "Stand Up Comedy" and the powerful "Breathe" sounding fresher and more authentic or something very far from stuff like "Vertigo" and "Elevation".
The only discordant note is the first single. In all honesty, the choice of "Get On Your Boots" as the first single is, ultimately, to be interpreted as an act of faith that the band wanted to subject its fans to (and not only them), I also add that this song has very little to do with the rest of the album not only in terms of atmosphere but also in terms of pure and simple quality, in short, 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!
Ultimately, the best U2 album since the days of "Pop" and maybe even beyond.
Tracklist Lyrics Samples 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 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.
By Jokerman
This 'No Line On The Horizon' is a great CD, a welcome return to the past that will particularly please long-time fans.
We hope this album represents a starting point for U2, who will certainly continue to produce excellent works.
