No Line On The Horizon

3-1/2 stars -- Live it up (interpret it as you like)
When it comes to U2's latest albums (2000 and later), fans seem to be divided down the middle: they either love it or hate it. But usually this is also for the wrong reasons: those that love it will call it the album of the year simply because they love the band, and those that hate it say they hate it because it's no Joshua Tree. So how do I feel about No Line on the Horizon? Well, the album does have its moments, like the aptly titled "Magnificent", as well as "Moment of Surrender" and "Cedars of Lebanon". "White as Snow" (which is loosely based on an old Christmas hymn called "O Emmanuel, O Emmanuel") is also pretty decent. The thing is, though, U2 has always been a "performance" band, thus these songs would sound far greater live than they do on the album -- not that they sound bad, but they just don't jump out at you. And there are a couple of missteps as well: the title track doesn't really go anywhere, and "Get on Your Boots" sounds like a blatant radio-friendly rocker (which actually DID work, but...). No Line on the Horizon is an above-average album but it won't hype you up like one of their performances will. B.I.F. Anthony Rupert

One day this album will be allowed to rock...
No line on the Horizon has, in my opinion, some wonderful musical landscapes. I think it's a more musically exciting album than its predecessors "All that you can't leave behind" and "Bomb". As opposed to many reviewers, I think the lyrics on most of the pieces are fairly well thought out and executed. "Get on your Boots" is very week - obviously a stab at some airplay. "I'll go crazy, etc" is kind of bland, too, but the other tunes outshine these low points, and make up for them. Actually, I think this album will hold up well in the U2 catalog over time - similar to "Unforgettable Fire" with some lingering melodies that will call back to you for another listen. My beef with this album is the recording quality. It's really marred by compression (as are SO MANY recordings being made today). I just can't turn this thing up. It might sound fine on earbuds, but if you try to crank it on a fairly decent audio setup, you're challenged with an unacceptable blending of instruments that detracts from the musical experience. It reminds me of "pink noise" (even though it isn't) resulting from the attempt to make the recording sound as loud as possible on MP3/earbud devices. I hope that one day, this album will be remastered to correct the sonic difficulties imposed on it for mass consumption. It's worth the work, and should have had that advantage from the get-go.

A step up from 'Bomb' but still way below everything else
I'm a long time U2 fan who has pretty much loved everything they've done up until 2004's 'How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb'. That album just seemed very forced and cliched to me. It sounded like instead of making good music they were more focused on making big pop singles and trying to repeat the success of 'All That You Can't Leave Behind'. Now, 'No Line On The Horizon' was hyped to be a departure. All the talk from Bono seemed to indicate that even he himself was disappointed in 'Bomb' and that the band was on to something different. Bono, as only he can, even said this was going to be the equivalent of the transformation the band underwent between 'The Joshua Tree' and 'Achtung Baby'. Now, this is Bono talking - so you know it wasn't going to end up being as big a deal as he made it out to be, but still it was promising. The album gets off to a decent start. The title track is probably as close as U2 come on his album to rekindling their greatness. Very good song with a strong bridge and decent lyrics. Then comes "Magnificent" which is pretty good, if not a little U2-by-numberish. "Moment Of Surrender" is not all it was hyped up to be, but is a good song and has one of Bono's better lyrics in a long time. After that it becomes clear that 'No Line' is unfortunately another forced, uninspred album. This time, instead of trying to force out hits, the band tried to force being experimental and offbeat. With a couple of forced Bomb-ish 'hits' thrown in for good measure ("Stand Up Comedy", "Crazy Tonight"). I wouldn't say there is a bad song on this album, but there aren't any great ones either. And only a few decent ones. I'm used to being blown away by U2, if not immediately then at least having the album grow on me. It's been almost a year and this album still does nothing for me. The Edge is pretty much recycling riffs. Bono seems to have gotten to a point where he's just impossible to relate to. He used to be one of the best lyricists ever - up there with Dylan, Springsteen, Leonard Cohen and Joe Strummer. I don't know what happened. I'll give them another chance with whatever comes next, but right now it seems like the U2 I knew and loved broke up in 2002 with "Electrical Storm" as a farewell single.

Going through the motions.
This album ranks with "Zooropa," "Pop" and "October" as U2's biggest disappointments. There are reasons for the lack of quality of these albums: Bono's book of lyrics was stolen during the recording of "October" so they rushed to get it published quickly, "Zooropa" was done while dealing with the distractions of the "Zoo TV Tour" and "Pop," well, even the Stones released some stinkers. This new release sounds uninspired. This is a U2 "just-going-through-the-motions" album. The aforementioned three releases, while each as a whole not up to U2 standards, each had some memorable moments. I'm having a hard time finding anything impressive on the new release. If they didn't have such a sweet deal with Island, I would think this was one of those 'contractual fulfillment' albums. And this comes from a long-time U2 fan who first saw them play in 1981 and I still have the utmost respect for the band. Better luck next time fellas.

Amazing
I'd have to say that this album combines the best of U2--their songwriting of the 2000's with their use of technology in the 90's and the Eno atmosphere of the 80's. This is a brilliant, 5 star album. After a year, NLOTH is still an amazing experience. No Line on the Horizon- Amazing song, very catchy. Edge's fuzz guitar and Bono's vocals are perfect and set the tone for the album. I personally feel that this song should have been the album's first single. 5/5 Magnificent- Great groove by Adam, chiming guitar, great uplifting song. 4.5/5 Moment of Surrender- Fantastic. The emotion in Bono's vocals is only matched by "one." 5/5 Unknown Caller- Great intro and guitar work by the Edge. The song is interesting and sounds totally different compared to U2's previous work. The back story is awesome--a song about letting go and beginning again. 4.5/5 I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight- Very poppy, well crafted song. 4/5 Get On Your Boots- A great rocker. Awesome percussion from Larry. This song didn't work as the 1st single-it actually took quite a few listens and seeing the song live for me to be a huge fan. 4/5 Stand Up Comedy- Parts of the song are awesome, but the funky verses just don't seem to fit with the album. A fun song that would be great live, but it just doesn't seem to be at home one this album. As a song 4/5...on this album 3/5 Fez-Being Born- Starts with a trippy intro before breaking into Being Born...Bono screaming...joy and anxiousness over "being born." This song is just awesome. 5/5 White As Snow- Nice acoustic ballad based on the melody of "Oh Come Oh Come Emmanuel." This song could be beautiful as a soundtrack song, but is just boring on the album. As a song 4/5..on this album 2.5/5 Breathe- Fantastic. Bono's melody is like no other U2 song. I veiw this song as a 2000's version of a Beatles song--great melody, great music, and great melodies. 5/5 Cedars of Lebanon- This song is very much influenced by Eno-- has a ton of atmosphere and it is hard not to get into this song! Not their best closer ever, but close! 4.5/5 Get this album!