U2 - No Line On The Horizon
|
List Price: Our Price: $2.89 You Save: $11.09 (79%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $1.02 (click here) Category: Music CD See more new music releases 
|
|---|
Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store
Canadian Music Store
Free Music Notes for No Line On The Horizon
Free Music Review: A Discerning Fan's Classic
Hit: 5 Stars
Just as discerning fans of the Beatles have favorite - and not so favorite - albums of that band, but can still recognize the brilliance of the band's music and creativity in any album, so too is it with this latest U2 album, No Line On The Horizon, and discerning U2 fans.
I admit that when this first came out, I was worried this might be go in my very short list of not so favorite U2 albums, but the more I've listened to this over the past month, the more I'm convinced otherwise. This is a quietly innovative collection of songs that will - if it does not already - rank in any eventual listing of U2's top five albums.
I'll just cite one song that demonstrates this quiet innovation most aptly:
- I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight
With "I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight," the lyrics and the rise and fall of the music crescendos are flawlessly timed. The way Bono sings in a rising voice in the refrain "well I know I'll go crazy if I don't go crazy" and then drops off his voice with the music down into a whisper on the word "tonight." That's a moment of quiet perfection that U2 simply owns as masters of their craft. It's such a simple thing - dropping the voice not all at once, but softly as the music softens - that it truly demonstrates excellence. How many other bands have that timing down? How many others can do this? None. Most - and I listen to a LOT of music - just rise the voice up, and then just suddenly drop it to a whisper. But U2 doesn't do that. Bono's voice slides into a whisper in just two music beats with one word, perfectly contrasting with the previous rising crescendo. Powerful.
This is U2 at its best. And I thank them for giving us music fans the opportunity to hear such powerfully quiet innovations time and time again.
Free Music Review: U2 is back with a 'nuclear' bomb this time and there is no dismantling it.
Hit: 5 Stars
This is my first ever review in amazon and I felt that I had to write this time around. I remember few years back when vertigo was the first U2 song that I ever listened to and from then have been a huge fan of U2. I also listen to led zeppelin which is my favorite band, but LZ never quite connected emotionally like how U2 did. They just had more talented artists whose whole was not better than the sum of its parts like how U2 is. Unlike many U2 fans I ve loved zooropa and pop(I think bono sounded the best in this album), but have also been a fan of ATYCLB and HTDAAB. Never quite understood why JT was known as U2's best album as I feel it is divided into 5 amazing and 6 very average songs. Coming to NLOTH, I think this is the most perfect as a perfect album could be. I have always hated atleast one or two songs in every U2 album, but none from this album. Every song in this album is a greatly crafted masterpiece. Boots though didnt grow on me earlier, it really sounds great along with the album. Picking the worst song in the album would be as hard as a choice as picking the best one would be, though my personal favorite is moment of surrender and Fez-being born. Hope one of them is played in the remaining letterman shows ;)
The only shortcomings of this album would be
1)Edge does a lot of 'recycling of sounds' in this record than most other U2 albums, though there are a lot of new sounds in it.
2)Lyrically this is nowhere near U2's best. 'Cedars of Lebanon' seems plain compared to 'bullet the blue sky' or 'boots' compared to 'fly'.
I hope they do the concerts on time, being an international student(from India, where I sadly dont see U2 playing in the near future) I am going to try to push my graduation long enough to see these guys in a concert once before heading back home :)
Free Music Review: Album of the Decade
Hit: 5 Stars
This is EPIC U2. This is the new U2 sound that we have been waiting for. Something new and something different that at once echoes earlier U2 sound but yet brings forth something else, something we knew was there but hadn't yet heard. The album echoes the sense of spiritual longing and renewal present on The Unforgettable Fire, but given the journey in between, No Line has a more subtle intensity and a more complex emotional depth. We are given a set of evocative, elegiac, and soulful songs, and yet the album rocks.
On the first four songs of the album and three of the last four songs, Eno and Lanois have been given joint credit as creators of the music (not only production credits) and their imprint is fairly transparent as the sound broadens out from some of the ambient minimalism done on The Passengers and The Million Dollar Hotel. But this album carries forward other classical elements in the U2 sound as well. Strains from October, The Joshua Tree, and Achtung Baby can be heard. The Edge draws farther out, at just the right moments, the sonic waves and pulses underlying things, and the result is a richly multi-layered and multi-textured ambient-toned rock.
"Magnificent" is an absolute gem on par with "Where the Streets Have No Name" and "Even Better Than the Real Thing". It begins atmospherically, builds, and then launches into something trance-like and driven, punctured by Bono's Boy-era cry. When the Edge re-launches the chorus, kind of unexpectedly, it is ecstatic, a U2 fan's dream. This is the multi-dimensional height to which the band could and can soar. "Breathe" rocks like a joyful version of "Acrobat" and features a masterful performance by Bono enticing you to sing out loud.
Free Music Review: A New Sonic Soundscape From Our Heroes
Hit: 5 Stars
I'm finding No Line On The Horizon to be a challenging listen and that is exactly what the band seems to have intended. Throughout each of these songs the band adds, subtracts, and just plain mixes up different sounds in ways I haven't heard them attempt since Acthung Baby. Of course, this is a different type of endeavor. When U2 went into the Berlin studio in the early 1990s they had a tremendous monkey on their collective backs. How do they create a new sound that would keep them engaged and not completely lose their audience (I've really oversimplified that explanation a bit but if you're a fan you get the point).
This time out, the band is a lot older and the pressure isn't nearly the same. But that hasn't seemed to slow them down at all. They attack each song as if this were Achtung Baby. And the results are amazing. They blow away the competition in their age group and have put something out that can seriously, and credibly, compete with the coldplays out there. And I mean no disrepect to Coldplay.
As I pointed out in a comment to one of the negative reviews, I've been a fan since Bono was waving a flag on the War tour. I've seen them in concert and I own just about everything they've ever recorded. This is more than a credible release. It's outstanding. And it comes from a band that really doesn't need to do anything else and they'll still be considered one of the best bands ever.
Without getting into the details of each song let me make this recommendation. Put on some headphones and forget this is U2. Just listen to the music. It's hard to complain if you approach it that way (although I'm sure there's someone out there who can find fault with anything).
Free Music Review: Magnificent Anthemic Album!
Hit: 5 Stars
U2's twelfth album brings this Irish phenomenon into a more complex and mature state in years. Its no wonder they took over David Letterman's show for a week as the only musical guest. With lots of welcome help from Brian Eno (ambience and edge) and Danny Lanois (unique guitar work), the band forges ahead on every track with a driving force that sucks you in.
Every cut is fantastic, but some standouts must be mentioned. "No Line On The Horizon" drives full throttle with The Edge creating a echo-like quality to his guitar and Adam Clayton leading with an even and forceful rhythm. "Magnificent" carries forth with several combinations of simple but effective riffs and drummer Larry Mullen Jr. and Adam Clayton bounce that beat along with Bono giving one of the more inventive vocals on the album. In fact, "Magnificent" is almost anthemic in its force. You can hear Eno's eerie ambient contribution on "Moment of Surrender" and that mood is carried throughout with Bono declaring, "I've been in every black hole" backed with a magical keyboard. "Get On Your Boots" is an excellent hard rocker with U2 going at it with hints of songs past. "FEZ-Being Born" and "White as Snow" show a strong influence by Brian Eno right from the start and U2 takes it and runs with it. In fact, Eno's signature is on every track. Finally, "Cedars of Lebanon" is a fine finishing track with clever percussion mixed with a quietly moody guitar and Bono spilling forth with some dark lyrics.
Released in five different packages, this is one of U2's greatest accomplishments and it will be interesting to see how many hits will end up being released. Every track is that good.