Old thoughts on U2's new album

These are my two reviews of U2's "No Line on the Horizon" that I wrote a few months ago. I had a good friend asking for my take, so I'm reposting them.

I’m a huge U2 fan. I love each of their albums (with the exclusion of Rattle & Hum). My favorite of their albums is, without a doubt, Achtung Baby! And though I don’t think they were their best projects from an artistic standpoint, I think that Zooropa and Pop I personally love those two bizarre albums. So in other words, I like U2 experimental side. I’m a fan of their stripped down, anthem albums like The Joshua Tree and All that You can’t Leave Behind but at the end of the day it is their experimental albums that I come back to again and again. All that to say, if you don’t like U2’s more experimental albums, then you may not want to put a lot of stock into what I’m about to write.

I’ve now listened to this album a few times all the way through, mostly when doing schoolwork. It works fine as background music insofar as several of the songs don’t call attention to themselves. This isn’t a record that demands a listener’s attention (except for the odd first single “Get on your boots” and the rocker of the album “Breathe”). But that doesn’t mean that the album is bland or dull. The complete opposite is true. This is an album whose depth (both musical and emotional) is there to be discovered, but it isn’t being broadcasted and exploited for attention. Nothing on this album immediately jumps out as an instant U2 classic! but instead this is simply a collection of good songs. At this point, I don’t really see this album joining the three U2 classic albums: Joshua Tree, Achtung Baby!, and All that You Can’t Leave Behind. Instead, I see this as a solid album along the lines of War-- a few highlights, a few lowlights but the highs aren’t outrageously high nor are the lows outrageously low. It is an even, solid, enjoyable album-- neither a bomb nor a classic.

STRENGTHS:
This album has a lot of things going for it. What follows are a few of my initial thoughts on NLotH’s strengths:
The Edge’s guitar. Over the last few albums, U2 has been talking about really wanting to make a ‘rock’ album where Edge’s guitar is front and center. And in many ways, 2004’s How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb was that rock album. But this current album has a few solid moments where Edge’s guitar really shines. “Stand Up Comedy” features a catchy riff which adds a muscular strength to the song while Bono contributes his typical “oohhhHooooo” effects. “Get On Your Boots” features Edge doing his crunchy guitar thing that was so typical of his work on Bomb. “Breathe” is the real rocker of this album and the guitar is probably fiercer in this song than it has ever been. It has been really great seeing the Edge experiment more and the focus on the guitar in the last few albums has been a refreshing turn away from the bleeps and boops of Zoo TV and Popmart phase.
The structure. This is an album that lacks a coherent musical vision or coherence and yet the way in which the songs are situation works very well. Instead of opening with a full out rocker like Vertigo, this album begins with the upbeat but instrumentally restrained title track that draws its strength and power more from the passion of Bono’s vocals than from the instrumentality. It then moves into the second track which offers shimmering guitars an electronic beat and soaring vocals. The same is true for the 7+ minute third track Moment of Surrender which rounds out the top three. Each of these tracks contain some elements that are different and create a different sound and beat for U2 but there are enough correlations to vintage U2 that you can easily see the connection between these songs and previous albums. The next five tracks, however, take us into a foreign realm drawing from Zooropa’s electronic experimentation, from Pop’s self-conscious and self-referential lyrics, and Bono’s ever persistent desire to have his goofiness taken seriously. The breakdown mantra of “Get On Your Boots” is Bono’s impassioned cry to “Let me in the sound”. This is nonsense of course but Bono’s voice is so passionate and sincere that you can’t help searching those lyrics for undiscovered wisdom. But much like 2000’s Elevation (“a mole/digging in a hole/digging up my soul), the lyrics of these rocking songs are more flash than substance but because they are placed after three deep, emotional and lyrically powerful songs, the fluff of these rock songs is given immediate credibility. The final three songs return to both musical and lyrical seriousness. Each of these final songs seem darker, or perhaps bleaker, than they truly are simply because they are proceeded by such off-the-wall fluff. This structure allows U2 to have a little bit of everything in this album-- the dark, the fluff, the epic. Structurally, though there is so much difference between each song on this album, the album flows beautifully.
The experimentation. U2 draws on a lot of different elements for this production that do not usually have a prominent role in their music. The use of brass instruments is an especially noticeable addition. I’m not a huge fan of brass in general and so I’m reluctant to accept its presence in rock music, but U2’s use of it is sparing and it adds a nice touch when they bring it in. You can also see some of the influence of recording in Morocco coming in with some of the instruments used in Breathe especially. There is a lot of choral presence in this album which is again atypical of U2. This works well for the album insofar as Bono’s voice is rougher and grittier than it was on Bomb and so the addition of a chorus behind him gives the vocal performance a more hopeful and more resonant quality.

Okay. So what doesn’t work?
No classics. Like I said before, this is a solid album and all of the songs are good but there’s not a single song on this album that I would predict being a classic. The song that comes closest to being a U2 classic is Moment of Surrender. That song has the quasi-spiritual content and the epic sound that may give it staying power.
This album will become dated because the lyrics (with few exceptions) address the spirit of the age instead of timeless issues of love, hate, forgiveness and redemption. One of the major themes of this album is ‘the land’ (White as Snow, Cedars of Lebanon). Such a focus on contemporary issues makes this album relevant but I think it will end up dating the album. I really see this album as a new “War”-- “War” was a great album but it doesn’t have the timeless quality of JT, AB!, or ATYCLB.
Cedars of Lebanon. One of the things that I like the most about U2 is that most of their albums end with a spiritual song: Yahweh, Grace, 40, even Wake Up Dead Man. But Cedars of Lebanon is a disappointment. Instead of being a cry to God (even a cry of dereliction and rebellion like Wake Up Dead Man), Cedars is a bleak meditation on being an exile from ‘the land’. While that is a powerful topic, it ends the album on a bleak and unresolved note. Musically, I find Cedars to be a disappointment as well. It is a spoken-verse song which ends on a musically unresolved note by having Bono’s final spoken words being muttered overtop of a few last electronic bleeps. So both lyrically and musically Cedars ends the album on a loose, unresolved note. I imagine that this was what they were trying to do but I found it to be a misstep especially in comparison with the way Yahweh brought such clear resolution and consummation to all of the songs on Bomb. But I suppose this again is a testimony to the fact that No Line lacks a coherent vision in the same way Bomb did. Bomb’s subject was the atomic bomb of Bono’s heart and Yahweh was the spiritual culmination of the emotional outpouring of Bono’s heart on that album. But No Line has no such coherent vision and so there isn’t really any way to have the last song serve as a summation of the entire album. So I suppose Cedars is the inevitable conclusion to this album but it is representative of my main disappointment with No Line and that is that it lacks the thematic and musical unity of U2’s other albums. Maybe one day I’ll see this as a benefit but for this initial review, I find it to be more of a disappointment.

So that’s my conclusion: this album succeeds insofar as it is a collection of good songs. But the album fails insofar as it is merely a collection of good songs. I could never be so critical of any other band other than U2. But U2 has the ability to make an album that is greater than the sum of its parts. This is not one of those albums. Grade: B.

**FURTHER THOUGHTS**

Alrighty, so I’m a solid fan of the new U2 album, No Line on the Horizon. Big fan. It’s not my favorite album by any stretch, but I do like it a lot. So I thought I would follow up my initial review with some brief comments/ratings about each song:

No Line on the Horizon: 7/10-- This is a solid opener to the album. It is familiar sounding enough for old school U2 listeners to feel comfortable but some of the shimmering keyboard effects and loops point to the fact that this is a more experimental album. The bridge, complete with Bono’s typical “Ohh ohh, uh ohh oh oh oh” is insanely catchy.
Magnificent: 8/10-- As far as I can tell, this will be the second single of the album. It is definitely one of the best songs on the album-- straight forward U2 melody and guitar with the addition of some loops and a more aggressive drumbeat than usual. This song strikes me as a deliberate updating of their old pre-Joshua Tree sound. Very good song; I love Edge’s subtle guitar on this song.
Moment of Surrender: 9/10-- I love this song. Soaring vocals, shimmering music and earnest lyrics of spiritual longing and awakening. That’s what makes a good U2 song in my opinion. Bono’s vocals on this song are, in my opinion, the best on the album. I love the lyrical allusions as well: I was speeding on the subway/through the stations of the Cross. Good stuff that.
Unknown Caller: 6/10-- I honestly do not know what to make of this song. The lyrics are so strange and the choral chorus is so foreign to U2’s studio albums that I feel like I’m in a completely different world with this track. It starts out slow and quiet and then builds to an upbeat chorus. Honestly, I feel like this is akin to a trippy Beatles’ track: odd combinations of music and vocals and lyrics. It’s enjoyable to listen to at least.
I’ll Go Crazy if I Don’t Go Crazy: 8/10-- This is standard U2 pop. And a gem at that. Insanely catchy and cheerful. This is a song that makes me glad to be alive.
Get On Your Boots: 6/10-- I don’t know what to do with this song either. I like the dirty guitar on this track a lot, and I like the funky breakdown where Bono begs to be ‘let into the sound’-- whatever the heck that means. Still, the drums are weird, the lyrics are strange and the chorus falls flat. The best parts of this song are Edge’s guitar and Adam’s bass line.
Stand Up Comedy: 7/10-- Another song that highlight’s Adam’s bass line. Another upbeat celebration of life and love. Another good guitar hook. And it has a great line: Josephine be careful/ I’m a small man with big ideas. You gotta love it when Bono makes fun of himself.
Fez/ Being Born: 7/10-- The most experimental song on the album-- a double song really-- Fez is just some electronica but Being Born is a solid, Zooropa-esque track.
White As Snow: 10/10-- Hands down the best song of the album and one of the best songs U2 has ever written. Bono’s vocals are soaring and passionate here but it is the construction and lyrics that make this song so amazing. Lyrically, the song is the dying memories of a Palestinian solider who is dying from wounds he received in the war with Israel. But what makes this song so powerful is that these lyrics are structurally built around the melody of Oh Come, Oh Come Immanuel. I can’t think of a more powerful statement than that.
Breathe: 9/10-- This is the hardest rocker on the album and my favorite out of the harder songs. I love the combination of guitar and keyboard and Bono’s off-kilter lyrics and delivery. An enjoyable rocker-- the Elevation and Vertigo of this album.
Cedars of Lebanon: 3/10-- I do not like this song at all. Some of the lyrical imagery is memorable and captivating but neither the music nor the vocals are especially noteworthy. The lone curse word seems pointless to me as well. I can’t imagine why U2 decided to end the album on such a sour, dull note.

So there you go. It’s a good album and definitely worth repeated plays.