U2
No Line On The Horizon

THE REVIEW

I swear. I tried my best to stay out of it. I read the reviews in magazines and newspapers absentmindedly.
I read that The Edge reveals that the album "sounds like a U2 record but like nothing else we've done before" and adds that "it doesn't resemble anything you can hear around."
What the heck did they come up with this time, I immediately thought!
After yet another media hype about the "return to the origins of the fabulous U2" and the "hoped-for return to the sounds of Pop and Achtung Baby" spread by newspapers like XELLE or Rolling Stones, well, yes. I let myself be swept away and infected and bought a very-not-legal copy of the latest (?) work by U2 titled "No Line on the Horizon".
And once again I fell into the "trap".
Damn. I fell for it like a cooked pear.
I held back words by biting my tongue.
I told myself "just shut up, after all, these are things for kids, come on, get a grip, Lesto, you're no longer at the age to hang around Debaser."
No way.
The irritation was stronger than me.
Just a few lines, maybe really the last ones, but let me express them.
Great work by the Press Agency (undeniable) and P.R. for an album that's overall amorphous, tasteless, and watered down right from the title track (muffled in the arrangements by the usual Bryan-Prezzemolo-Eno, assisted by Danny Lanois and Steve Lillywhite).
An album of Great Craftsmanship and licking of sounds (good heavens, 5 years of gestation... that would be missing!) but that, contrary to what Edge says, seems to really copy soundscapes and attitudes, things already heard here and there (Coldplay first and foremost or the latest Oasis).
Over all, a layer of pseudo-sacredness-neo-age so dear to Bono & Co. (including the Ohh-Ohhh hooks to sing at concerts) but all in all, an album neither shameful nor praiseworthy, at times even pleasant, I don't deny it, but lacking those particular peaks of genius or energy (really sketched at times and sparingly).
After all, what more could you ask from a now sluggish band that's been standing for over 20 years thanks to sonic facelifts and more attentive to certain marketing logics than to the true inspiration of the early period (which very likely went to get mocked a long time ago)?
In short, the double "minus minus" signs on the cover fit perfectly, considering that the signature is "U2" and not "Pizza & Figs" and never has a title been so fitting, which roughly translates into: "Nothing new on the horizon (rating:) - - "
Thanks, huh?:...beyond the damage, the mockery!