Originally posted by U2achtung.com/TranslatedReview from Bedoc
How to aprehend this first listen, in a context so unique. A fan in the middle of journalists… not knowing with which sauce he will be eaten.
Let’s get straight in the heart of the matter:
No Line On The Horizon : First song on the album. First song, first slap in the face ! A huge slap. The one I was waiting for since Pop, the one I thought I had heard with Vertigo. A heavy atmosphere with Edge omnipresent. Bono’s signing is also very surprising, since he is screaming during the whole song, but in a totally controlled manner, a delight and a future great moment live !
Magnificent : Kicks open the door already opened by NLOTH. The omnipresence of the drums is obvious, and Edge is very sharp, especially on his solo.
Moment of Surrender : The rhythm falls down a bit (the longest song on the album, maybe a bit too long). This song sounds like a prayer with a quite sad atmosphere. Edge is at the piano, well complemented by the bass and the drums.
Unknown caller : The beginning did not totally convince me, but the build-up is super-efficient, because of the drums first, and then supported by the Edge’s guitar, who is offering us another great solo (Jimmy Page influence in the sound ?) that I am looking forward to hear in concert.
I’ll Go Crazy If I don’t Go Crazy Tonight : A fairly classical rythm, with a more scattered signing. Bono even tried to go in the very high notes (with a certain success). The chorus is quite catchy.
Get On Your Boots : Obviously already heard, therefore I was looking forward to see ho it fits on the album. Answer: perfectly.
Stand Up Comedy : The guitar reminds me of another song, but impossible on the spot to remember which one (doesn’t really help). We will remember a bridge mixing electro and drums quite efficiently. The song takes a bit of time to get going, but Edge because more and more powerful (taking over the bass on the second part of the verse), to give a very convincing result in the end.
Fez – Being Born : 2 songs into one. The first part includes quite a nebulours atmosphere, mixing the « Let me in the sound » of Boots (in the background) and a north african woman signing (going back to the beginnings of the album ?). Then the second part starts with Larry with a sound close to Daddy’s Gonna Pay. This song is mostly instrumental and could be used to close concerts.
White As Snow :From what I can remember, the one I least hooked on. It’s the calmest song on the album, and a good ballad, with an Irish spirit, and Bono signing is an more relaxed way. The second part of the album includes a mix of guitar and trumpet (in the background,. Rest assured) that is quite interesting.
Breathe : We get back to serious business with a drums/keyboards intro and a quite fast rythm, especially in the lyrics (a response to the title ?) where Bono alternates between talking and signing. There is a second guitar in support which gives quite a heavy sonic atmosphere. The guitar bridge is followed by violins which brings the mood back down, before being picked up again with a final Edge flight.
Cedars of Lebanon : What was going to be the last song ? Everything here is about simplicity: clam drums, Bono who is talking with a slightly modified voice and an echo effect at the end of sentences. The mood is confessional (story of a soldier in a war), with added noises of rain, radio, helicopter, in the background. The chorus is quite unexpected, very high (in fact I’m not sure it’s Bono, I though I heard two voices…). This one ends the album perfectly.
These details on the songs are obviously personal and coming from notes taken during the listening. One listen is too little to remember everything, to keep the tunes in my head. Therefore it’s the global point of view which is I think the most revealing. Personally, after a first listen, I was completely blown away by this album. Bono and Edge were selling it to us like their best, and frankly they are not far from being right. In any case, it’s the most finished and consistent since Pop (and maybe even AB, I dare say). Too bad we don’t have the lyrics in hand.
The album is much more homogenous, much more refined (the link between NLOTH and Magnificient is to die for), and there are no throwaway songs. We can feel a real overall structure, every song has its place and the order is coherent. Every band member makes himself heard when necessary, and Bono’s voice is at the top! He seems to have improved himself, with a voice that he is mastering in my opinion a bit better than for the last 2 albums, alternating between power, going in the high notes, and quasi-talking signing. There is however a slight abuse of “ohohoho”, present on almost all the songs.
Edge is not left behind, offering us a heavy sound, with a omnipresent guitar, and with some solo’s having the ‘AB touch’ (MW, EBTTRT). I say this for those who think he didn’t give it all on GOYB ;-)
Larry and Adam complete perfectly the overall, and I felt they had their part in the construction of the songs, contrary to the previous albums. Like on GOYB, they know how to be THE rhythm and THE central piece of some of the songs (NLOTH, MOS, GOYB, Stand Up)
To finish, I tried to hear what the journalists were saying: in general very good, and some even admitted being surprised! I’m not the only one saying it
Originally posted by JournalJournal of Lucile
The context is confusing ... for me, listening to a new U2 album is not only at home, having put the CD in a slightly trembling hand, both excited and anxious to hear the new opus of my 4 Irish favorite. How will it be? The best as announced by Bono, Edge?
And now here I am, fan among journalists, waiting for the start of the meeting, the ears and the heart may be more volatile as they both wait was long, a notebook and pencil, ready to receive my impressions.
55 minutes later ... I think I found U2. What I heard I liked, and for a time in (very) long while! No mouais, medium ... My foot moved, shook my head, my heart vibrated ... even the pen has served more rhythmic as note taker.
The album starts with 2 large claques: No Line On The Horizon, which takes us into the heart of the matter, and sets the tone of the album: powerful and Magnificent, which is a good sized rock anthem, my favorite result Listening to this first.
Back to quiet with Moment of Surrender, the No. 3 spot would be that of the ride? Edge is very present, and provides us several solos. It seems to me a continuation of previous hikes of 2 albums, remembering his mind by the "Sydney 2006" Kite.
Caller Unknom begins with birdsong, Bono sings in the highest tones. A song which at first looks like a ballad and finally gaining momentum, with a chorus removed.
I'll Go Crazy If I Do not Go Crazy Tonight: the song is also gradually rising in power.
Check-in familiar territory, this is Get On Your Boots: the pace is unstoppable, as the refrain. Personal I'm a fan of this first single, which fits perfectly with the album!
Stand Up Comedy: guitar, bass and drums make it sound heavy, and give an electro side to this piece. I noted in my book: it takes in the mouth ... it will probably be more meaningful to the next call!
Fez - Being Born begins with the sound of a crowd which combine "Let me in the sound of Get on your boots. First song in which I feel the influence of Morocco (on the other hand the title also puts us on track!), Piano, string instruments give more strength to this song.
White As Snow: Again the title is a hint, this piece is probably the mildest of the album, the least responsible, the most asked.
Rest does not Breathe brings the rhythms and sounds removed the first rock songs, this time with violins marocains. The chorus is driven, and as for the previous construction is pushed.
Cedars of Lebanon ended in style this album, a song where Bono speaks, declaims rather than sings. And here I am replongée (happily) in the world of Passengers. The battery pack quietly pace the song, guitar and bass are more distant and join the sounds of helicopters, radio ...
No Line On The Horizon album is a dense, heavy, sometimes confined, but decidedly rock in spirit and construction. A coherent album, sometimes confusing (in structure) and therefore an album with a soul. Some titles have been the effect of a bomb (do not see a report with the previous album) and I look forward to the replay. Just as I am looking forward to having the words, which are often important for U2 to identify a song completely.
Of course, these are hot impressions on a single listening. Difficult to distinguish emotion from titles as a first listening and reunion with U2. Also difficult to capture what I felt from my notes without head or tail.
Is this the best I do not know, a very very good no doubt.
Originally posted by Xayide29:Sorry but Boots being the best track on the album? lol
I wish I could smoke whatever it is that person are smoking
Thanks for posting
I be happy if Magnificient will be the next single
Originally posted by vanquish:So Moment of Surrender is 7:12 minutes long and some reviewers are saying it's too long and gets boring. I was worrying about that, long songs always have this kind of problem.
Originally posted by vanquish:So Moment of Surrender is 7:12 minutes long and some reviewers are saying it's too long and gets boring. I was worrying about that, long songs always have this kind of problem.
Originally posted by vanquish:With long songs they have to try harder to be interesting, and not be repetitive, or have 1-2 minute long intro's /outro's that are boring or repetitive.
I have no bias against long songs, (though my fav. U2 songs are middle length ones around the 4-6 minute marks). I just hope Moment of Surrender is not boring like that review suggested.
Originally posted by drewhiggins:[..]
Nothing wrong with a long song. Again, take some common advice: judge yourself with your own mind.
Originally posted by vanquish:[..]
Agree, the reviewer is an idiot, Unknown Caller sounds 3x better that GOYB just from the clips and descriptions.
And GOYB is likely the most changed of the songs from the Beach Clips, all the others were recorded in Fez, so any changes will be more limited.
The last clip is 'Winter' or White as Snow, Bono definitely sounds like a cowboy in that one.
PM me if you want it.
The album track-by-track
1. "No line on the horizon"
Characteristic of the U2 song, the epic sense in growing, guitars sometimes quiet, sometimes strident, with Bono singing "i know a girl who's like the sea / I watch her everyday changing for me / Oh yeah." Originally had a very environmental treatment, through the production of Brian Eno, but in the end it became a abrasive rock song.
2. "Magnificent"
One of the songs that promises immediate membership. "Only love can reset your mind" Bono sings, among the environments that lead to the U2 album "Unforgettable Fire", in combination with the most direct route rock of recent albums. There are electronic effects, orchestral arrangements that evoke the period "The Joshua Tree" and a balance of typical song of love - "I was born to sing for you / I did not have a choice but to lift you up / And sing whatever song you wanted me to / I give you my voice back. "
3. "Moment of surrender"
Promises to be a classic in many concerts in the line of what happens with ballads like "One". Melodic song of seven minutes, starts slow, with lyrics about "dark stars" and with Bono's voice a little hoarse evoking existential crises - "I myself tied with wire / To let the horses free / Playing with the fire until the fire played with me. " The pace and syncope, the blues guitar of The Edge line of low and delicate environment, creating a hypnotic effect general.
4. "Unknown caller"
It is one of the songs where Bono is in a fictional role, someone in an altered state that is faced with a phone that speech. On the sound could belong to "All That You Can not Leave Behind," the half-time pace, silky, with light body and The Edge to leave its mark in an intricate guitar break.
5. "I'll go crazy if i do not go crazy tonight"
As the title suggests, is one of the most daytime, and markedly festival pop along the lines of classics like "Beautiful Day", with some echoes, reverberations, refrain effective (I'll go crazy if i do not go crazy tonight " ), guitars and falsetto loose from Bono to proclaim "every generation gets a chance to change the world."
6. "Get on your boots"
It is the single in advance, the subject most virulent of the whole disc and one of the most powerful and fastest-ever of the quartet, mixed strident guitar rock & roll, and a synthetic elements that Bono shouted: "Get on your boots / Sexy boots / You do not know how beautiful you are. "
7. "Stand up comedy"
Another rocker, noisy and powerful. Bono pulls the voice, but it's the guitar that dominates. The fact that The Edge has participated in a documentary with Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin) seems to have left marks, so the guitar evokes the Zeppelin of other times.To the original title - "Stand up," alluding to the humanist movement The Stand Up and Take Action Against Poverty - was added "comedy" and listening to the song it is perceived why, what seems to be a moment of self-irony of Bono: " On a voyage of discovery stand up to rock stars, Napoleon is in high heels / Josephine, be careful of small men with big ideas. "
8. "Fez - Being born"
The African experience - recorded in Fez, Morocco - is the subject, one of the best and most adventurous. "Six o 'clock on the autoroute / Burning rubber, burning chrome / Boy of Cadiz and ferry home / Atlantic sea cut glass / African Sun at last" Bono launches, through a compact sound architecture. It is perhaps the one that best summarizes the album, combining the spirit of direct rock and recent rib adventurous 90s.
9. "White as the snow"
Atmospheric acoustic ballad, about a soldier lost in snow in Afghanistan. "Where I came from there were no hills at all / The land was flat, straight highway and the wider / My brother and i would drive for hours" recalls Bono, travel by the mind of a soldier lost in their memories, in an epic track.
10. "Breathe"
Eastern slow start with allusions to the level of the arrangements, but then there is a growing continuum of intensity, what is the favorite song of producer Brian Eno. It is indicative of a more complex disc - each song integrates various dynamics - that his two predecessors.
11. "Cedars of Lebanon"
Bono wears the role of a war correspondent for atmospheric evocation not far from songs like "With or without you." The tone is confessional, the reflective verses end: "choose your enemies carefully 'cos they will define you / Make them interesting' cos in some ways they will mind you / They're not there in the beginning but when your story ends / Gonna last with you longer than your friend. "