•
Rating:
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!
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
Loading comments slowly
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 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.
