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Rating:
Not easy, guys, being U2.
Try to think about it... In the end, being cult figures or small musicians who make a living doing something else (like myself) isn't bad. You don't have to answer to anyone except your "4 listeners," who are all the more loyal and not at all demanding. Besides, it's known that the niche endears and the big stage makes you nervous, especially for those who hate the big stage beforehand (and often the wall of hate hides an unbearable blob of envy).
But, being U2... I mean...: try to think about it?
Waking up in the morning and seeing in the mirror not the usual clumsy, stinking, over-the-hill slob, but none other than Bono Vox?
I mean: it must be a thrill, right?
And thinking that you've already sold millions of records, and that you could spend the rest of your splendid life on a nice sunny beach doing nothing from morning to night, maybe spending energy becoming a great connoisseur of whisky, or of women. Or better yet, both.
And instead, no: you persist in writing songs, recording them, and deluding yourself that, somehow, music can also change the world for the better.
The musician friends are always the same, the producers too.
Why change then?
The way of writing, that is obviously always the same, but your songs, come what may, break through. They pass. They get into your head.
And you always fill the stadiums. Because you are Bono Vox. And the others are nothing. Even if you, who are Bono and good, probably don't think like the Marchese del Grillo.
And, as we were saying, you persist in picking up a pen, a sheet of paper, and a guitar, and to bring forth from nothing that little perfection, that little three-minute miracle that is the Song.
Whatever you do, now, for some it will be a masterpiece a priori, while for others it will be, just as a priori, nonsense. Just as at concerts for many you will always be the same, maybe even better, while for many others, inevitably, you will no longer be what you once were.
And so you launch, why not?, into a new album, perfectly crafted, well written and played, and into a world tour that will undoubtedly be splendid.
Because, whether you like it or not, U2's music is now classical music.
Or you'll make the usual album and the usual tour, because, undeniably, U2's music now is pure routine.
Cards on the table and out of the game: this album gives something and takes nothing away, indeed, one could afford some generosity even more. It is, being the latest (for now) work of a band with an undeniably thirty-year success, a record of clear honesty. A work of undeniable compositional-interpretative quality, all with a high standard yet without peaks of absolute perfection. But the album "spins" very well, it lets you listen and love it progressively. Everything is in the right place, thanks also to an absolutely perfect post-production direction, which nevertheless has the task of "playing" with material that is certainly not inferior.
And Bono has also recovered a lot of voice (with the difficult task of confirming it live).
In short: an important chapter, destined to please and displease a priori, according to the schemes (the cursed walls) that we all have in mind.
Album already sold everywhere, and tickets already sold out, for these guys who have always lived an enormous success, and, like it or not, greatly deserved.
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 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 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.
