NLOTH: General discussion thread

Originally posted by vanquish:[..]

Yeah, you can hear all those lyrics the reviewer quoted in the Breathe beach clip.

I really like Unknown Caller though, I don't know why reviewers are calling it odd, or experimental.
The intro might be, but the song proper while different is a immediately catchy, kind of like Mysterious Ways.

Originally posted by germcevoy:enjoying the 45 second previews. Enjoying the wait to. Nice gradual build up of excitement

Originally posted by MWSAH:[..]

Yep, and we have a new performance coming at Wednesday. I wonder what they might have changed after the Grammy-performance.

Originally posted by blink:apparently the latest news is a leak will be online at 2:00 am

Originally posted by MWSAH:[..]

Yep, and we have a new performance coming at Wednesday. I wonder what they might have changed after the Grammy-performance.

Originally posted by germcevoy:who gives a turd about when a leak 'might' appear?

Originally posted by dieder:[..]

Your previous avatar was better Casper

Euh I think there's not very much to improve but the chorus and the bridge. Those were pretty poor at the Grammys.

Originally posted by BBC
by Chris Jones
16 February 2009

Like all of U2's best work there's a schism at the heart of their 12th studio album. It's the polarity between the hedonistic and the profound; the thin line between the general and the particular: rock and a very hard place. Their very lucrative humanitarianism may stick in the craw of many, but this skill allows them to make important points about all our lives while never forgetting to move our collective booties.

Much of No Line On the Horizon examines the state of the planet from the viewpoint of victims and witnesses. White As Snow sets a traditional air beneath a tale of an Afghanistan where ‘’only poppies laugh under a crescent moon’’. World citizenry is reflected in uber-cool, William Gibson-style lyrics on Breathe (''16th of June, Chinese Stocks are going up, And I'm coming down with some new Asian virus''). However the hi-tech metaphor card is perhaps overplayed on Unknown Caller's dreadful ''Force quit and move to trash'' lines.

There's plenty to rejoice about here. Not only is old mucker Steve Lillywhite back at the desk on several tracks, resurrecting the days of War, but the Edge's guitar also returns to the glory days on the title track as well as the hilariously titled I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight with the echo pedal set to eleven. Add to these the massed ''oh, oh''s, and it at least feels like a classic, even if a lack of obviously hummable tunes makes it more of a grower than an instant hit.

The symbiotic relationship with Brian Eno (and Daniel Lanois) seems to have almost reached the point of imperceptibility. From the musical box sprinkles on the chugging title track to the the mid-point palate cleanser FEZ-Being Born's cut-up first half, the touch may be light but it's as much a part of their sound as Larry's rattling toms or Adam's one note runs.

Get On Your Boots, sounds unnervingly like U2 doing a Muse impersonation. Not necessarily a bad thing but, as on Pop, it sounds odd when U2 sound like followers rather than leaders. But it would be unrealistic to expect a band at the wrong end of a 35-year career to be as lithe as they once were.

But there are at least two classics here. The closing Cedars Of Lebanon is beautifully weary tale told by a journalist in the Middle East; while conversely Stand Up Comedy is a rowdy, grand gesture urging you to ''stand up for love'' as as only U2 can. It also contains one of Bono's greatest lines in "stop helping God across the road like an little old lady''.

It seems that faith is what still drives these men: the faith in music to convey an important message; the faith in the power of faith itself. But overall No Line On The Horizon seems to show that U2 really still have faith in themselves.