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  1. Originally posted by aussiemofo:[..]

    Can I just re-iterate how disappointed I am that "Mercy" didn't make it on the album?


    I still maintain it's one of the best songs they've recorded in 10 years. Great length, no boring bits, beautiful lyrics and Bono at his passionate best. A real shame it won't see the light of day.........officially


    I agree except for the no boring bits part. the second half of the song is not as good as the first. But a finished production would take care of that I suppose.

    Is there any info to suggest that the Being Born half of Fez, may share something with Mercy, as the 'born' lyric is present in Mercy as well.

    With regards to them not including it on HTDAAB, were they unable to finish it due to time concerns? Or did they want to keep it for their next album (or the HTDAAB rerelease in 20yrs time), incase they didn't have enough quality material or something.
  2. I love the idea of GOYB fading into Fez on live shows, imagine the "Let me in the sound" echo-ing after a stunning performance of Boots, fading into Fez
  3. @ Remy: on the frontpage, the album will be released in Holland on the 27th as well.


  4. (though there is a seperated date topic ).
  5. Another review from the Australian
    http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25010519-5013577,00.html

    New U2 album "No Line on the Horizon" confirms Bono's majesty
    Iain Shedden | February 05, 2009
    Article from: The Australian

    ALL the talk of U2's first album in more than four years has been of new direction and bold innovation. That's partly true.
    Certainly Get Your Boots On, the current single, pushes new buttons, for them at least, with the Edge's heavy metal guitar riff and Bono's semi-rap leaving it sitting oddly, but rewardingly, somewhere between Red Hot Chili Peppers and Elvis Costello.

    Elsewhere, however, the bombast, the clever use of dynamics and the rhythm section's funk-fused rock groove are strikingly familiar.

    The title track is perhaps the best example of these elements' collective power, with Bono milking a huge anthemic chorus. It has stadium written all over it.

    Produced by seasoned U2 campaigners Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois, with additional contributions from Steve Lilywhite, No Line On the Horizon sounds epic.

    On Moment of Surrender and Unknown Caller church organ underpins a more soulful approach, although the latter song fails to deliver on its early promise.

    A couple of others are U2 by numbers, such as FEZ - Being Born (that's one song) and Breathe. That track contains all of the album's recurring themes - love, hope, seizing the day, celebrating life.

    Both White as Snow and Cedars of Lebanon adopt a more sombre tone, with the former providing an acoustic contrast to the electrical storms on either side.

    As to what you'll be hearing constantly on the radio for the next six months or so, the slightly funky Stand Up Comedy, the Edge-heavy I’ll Go Crazy if I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight and the vaguely Where the Streets Have No Name-sounding Magnificent are prime contenders.

    The most striking development on this follow-up to How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb is Bono's voice. Always commanding, even when being melodramatic, Bono pushes, kicks and screams himself into territory more soulful, more emotional and more rock god-like than he has been to before. Imagine how that's going to sound in a stadium.
  7. i think thay Mercy will be the single to the best of 2000 - 2010


  8. It's highly unlikely they'll even bother with Mercy. It's a nice song but is it worthy of inclusion, like The Hands That Built America or Electrical Storm? Bono has a habit also, of re-using lyrics a few years down the track. Levitate, started in the Pop sessions ("freedom has a scent like the top of a newborn baby's head) had those same identical lyrics in 2004 (Miracle Drug) - seven years later.

    There are at least 150 pieces of music they can have as a B-sides and outtakes disc from the three albums from this period. Though if they go with the plan of including songs from after 2010, then possibly, it might make it on there as a hidden track as October did. Artists, in very rare cases, include a song that's not worth releasing. It makes me wonder whether there's other six-minute-plus songs in the vaults.

    If U2 released an acetates disc or another Unreleased and Rare with 85% NLOTH stuff on it, then that would be great. And fitting in with Larry's desire to have another album out sooner than later - though that happened in HTAAB to be Communication Live and Unreleased and Rare, and with ATYCLB it was the 7EP. I have a feeling that it could be the Rubin stuff that they'll go back to down the track, or record some stuff on location - and those sorts of albums come out beautifully. I can think of one where it was totally unexpected.

    From what we've heard of the songs so far, there must be some really interesting material just lying around in the vaults. Just some of the song titles from other Eno sessions - e.g. Seibu, Tokyo, One Finger Piano (Passengers), White City, Rise of the African Spirits (Unforgettable Fire), Get Ready For This, Bulldozer (ATYCLB) make them sound totally awesome.

    Again, there are numerous artists whose demos get out (officially or not) and are absolutely brilliant, and better than some of the actual released tracks.
  9. My, do I wish they kept the stuff from the fez video
    I love the little melody at the end, where Eno? are playing keyboard
  11. Listened to 30sec preview of new album...
    I like it... much better than Atomic Bomb and All That You Cannot.
    Seems like Bono no longer wants to be a saviour of the world, or has decided to return to the usage of metaphors to express it, like he did before All That You Cannot.
    That is great!
    So far I am really impressed by the song Stand Up Comedy.
    Also his signing seems to remind me of AB/Zooropa, which is just awesome.
  12. From Austria

    No big changes materialize: New album by U2

    The first audition was not quite so convincing, because the announced change is not very striking. U2 were more likely once again to play it safe.

    U2 did it first with Rick Rubin but then returned to the tried and tested team. Just like the used good old sounds and didn't re-invent themselves.

    "No Line On The Horizon" follows its predecessor, it is not as light as "All You Can not Leave Behind" and not as pretentious as "How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb."

    The record begins with the title track and a riff like a breakwater. It sounds as if a ship starts it's sail with a horn through the fog. Bono sings the first verse with a deep, subdued voice( "I know a girl who's like the sea, I watch her every day changing for me") and then with a bright one the chorus "No, no line on the horizon."

    The midtemp department has an initial surprise but goes on like we know it from U2. "Magnificent" then offers a few beats, danceable, and is evocative of U2 in the mid 80s. But not as sexy as the last Mando Diao and Franz Ferdinand grooves.

    Puzzled faces at number three: "Moment Of Surrender" invites you to sway rhythmically with a very kitschy chorus, has quite solid guitar moments from The Edge, but little else. "A filler," says a journalist. "radio-friendly", another. Both true. No less conservative - that means boring- is "Unknown Caller". The closing trip to sacral organs doesn't save it.

    In the tame Pop-track "I'll Go Crazy If I Do not Go Crazy Tonight" Bono's lyrics are (not the only time) flat: "Every generation gets a chance to change the world, pity the nation that will not listen to your boys and girls "- it does almost hurt.

    The hotly debated single "Get On Your Boots" is - compared to the previous material - almost courageous. Finally daring sounds "Stand Up Comedy" with a fat guitar sound. "FEZ - Being Born" ignores mainstream song structures but on a first hearing sounds rather set up instead of innovating.

    "White As Snow" is launched beautifully, and becomes an epic ballad.
    For the finale, the band enjoys us with the brisk "Breathe," which many of the attending media representatives rated best.
    At the end, U2 is trying a little Portishead ( "Cedars Of Lebanon" with a speaking voice).

    The cover photo for 'No Line On The Horizon "(bright horizon on the calm sea - held gray in gray) fits perfectly with the contents: The album sounds cohesively monochrome, but has little deepness, it was perfectly produced and recorded, offers radio singles but no bright colors. Trends and shocking innovations are coming from other for quite some time. U2 today are standing for well-established music that can be played in stores - and "Achtung Baby" (1991) remains their best work.
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