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  1. No Line on the Horizon, which has received mixed reviews from both fans and critics, dropped down to No 2 in the Irish charts after just a week at the top, and replaced by Lady GaGa.[\i]

    Well, I think it's by and large false that NLOTH received mixed reviews, especially from the fans. Yet, it is indisputable that it is not having the commercial success HTDAAB had. Should a U2 fan be worried about this?

    Maybe not, after all. The album is so great, I take it, precisely because they tried to produce music, and not necessarily top 10 singles.

    Another reason why the album might not be selling that much yet is that GOYB was a little bit of a disaster as a first single. Maybe Magnificent will push the album up in the charts, when it comes out in May?
  2. Originally posted by julienmurzi:No Line on the Horizon, which has received mixed reviews from both fans and critics, dropped down to No 2 in the Irish charts after just a week at the top, and replaced by Lady GaGa.[\i]

    Well, I think it's by and large false that NLOTH received mixed reviews, especially from the fans. Yet, it is indisputable that it is not having the commercial success HTDAAB had. Should a U2 fan be worried about this?

    Maybe not, after all. The album is so great, I take it, precisely because they tried to produce music, and not necessarily top 10 singles.

    Another reason why the album might not be selling that much yet is that GOYB was a little bit of a disaster as a first single. Maybe Magnificent will push the album up in the charts, when it comes out in May?


    Yeah, I don't think it's a fair comment to say that NLOTH received mixed reviews. Maybe the only justification for that is that peoples' opinions on how good or great the album is are mixed (ha ha). Anyway, I wouldn't worry about dwindling chart performances either. Pop sold something like 4 million in its first week, but then disappeared completely off the radar. I have the feeling that NLOTH will be more of a slow burner but will still end up selling ~ 6 - 8 million copies etc.

    As for the choice of first single, yeah I think GOYB was pretty poor - I would have gone for Magnificent myself; but choice of first-song aside, I think it was their strategy rather than song-choice that actually let them down this time, and I'm a bit surprised at Paul McGuiness' lack of savyy in this respect.

    10 / 15 years ago it was grand to release a song to radio 3-4 weeks before physical release, and to then release the actual album anywhere up to 2 months after that. You just can't adopt that stance in this day & age imo. Anyone that wanted to hear the single heard it that first morning it was on the radio (seems like ages ago now); and then they just downloaded or traded a copy with other fans multiple times in the few weeks before it was actually available for release.

    IMO, they should have broadcast the single on the radio in keeping with tradition etc; but then have had it available for immediate download in every jurisdiction, not just a select few (I mean, you could buy it almost everywhere else before you could in the Irish iTunes store).

    If they had taken this approach, then you would have seen it storm up the charts and hit No.1 a whole lot harder than it ended up doing - and this whole strategy is irrelevant of song choice as well btw. As for the complete lack of a proper b-side, I won't even go there 'cause I'd hazard a guess that even some fairly solid U2 fans weren't even bothered with purchasing a physical copy of the single because of lack of same.

    Come on PMG - it's the 21st century - gotta act more quickly!!
  3. In the long run it will surely prove its qualities - just like POP did. Some records top all charts and are soon forgotten, others are classics without having even reached No.1.

    Give it a year or so. Then wait five more years. Then you have an idea of how the lasting reception of the album is.

    Alex
  4. Originally posted by Alex:In the long run it will surely prove its qualities - just like POP did. Some records top all charts and are soon forgotten, others are classics without having even reached No.1.

    Give it a year or so. Then wait five more years. Then you have an idea of how the lasting reception of the album is.

    Alex


    Amen to that brother
  5. Originally posted by JuJuman:No Line on the Horizon, which has received mixed reviews from both fans and critics, dropped down to No 2 in the Irish charts after just a week at the top, and replaced by Lady GaGa.[\i]

    Well, I think it's by and large false that NLOTH received mixed reviews, especially from the fans. Yet, it is indisputable that it is not having the commercial success HTDAAB had. Should a U2 fan be worried about this?

    Maybe not, after all. The album is so great, I take it, precisely because they tried to produce music, and not necessarily top 10 singles.

    Another reason why the album might not be selling that much yet is that GOYB was a little bit of a disaster as a first single. Maybe Magnificent will push the album up in the charts, when it comes out in May?


    After two commercial successes, U2 can have it. In the end, it should be about the music, not $$$. But I know that's a unrealistic way of looking at it.
  6. Absolutely. I don't quite mind, insofar as the music is great. And it *is* great, I think.

    U2's songs still have a power and an intensity that very few other bands also have - songs like Magnificent, Moment of Surrender, Breathe seem to me to be cases in point. Coldplay, Killers and Kings of Leon can dream of that. Oasis in my view are still great, but, again, their last album is at most very good. Quite not as deep, intense, rich and moving as NLOTH. But OK, I'm a U2 fan.
  7. Originally posted by Alex:In the long run it will surely prove its qualities - just like POP did. Some records top all charts and are soon forgotten, others are classics without having even reached No.1.

    Give it a year or so. Then wait five more years. Then you have an idea of how the lasting reception of the album is.

    Alex


    i´m with you, i´m a u2 fan for more 20 years an NLOTH to me it´s to me their best since AB, this one will be a marathon runner, and if Magnificente for instance was first single, sells could be different.
    If the 2/3 midlle songs of the album would be in the line of the rest of the album, and a better first single, this would be already a classic album.
    Love it from track 1 to 5 and 8 to eleven as the same as the whole UF,JT and AB
  8. the album will hit number 1 again when Magnificent is released
  9. Letting GOYB be the lead single was one gigantic cock up on their part.

    Why not NLOTH, Crazy Tonight or Magnificent?


  10. GOYB and Breathe are the only singles that would've worked as lead off IMO
    NLOTH is not really a good tune
    Crazy Tonight is too not-u2ish to be the lead off, a bit to sweet maybe?
    Magnificent is not catchy enough to be a lead single
    GOYB and Breathe are the only songs that scream U2, but show U2 in a totally different form, a completely new style. Kinda like what The Fly and Disotheque were for AB and Pop...a shock-effect
  11. Originally posted by markp91:[..]

    GOYB and Breathe are the only singles that would've worked as lead off IMO
    NLOTH is not really a good tune
    Crazy Tonight is too not-u2ish to be the lead off, a bit to sweet maybe?
    Magnificent is not catchy enough to be a lead single
    GOYB and Breathe are the only songs that scream U2, but show U2 in a totally different form, a completely new style. Kinda like what The Fly and Disotheque were for AB and Pop...a shock-effect


    Agree on GOYB with that shock-effect, and that's why I love it... kinda balsy of them (again!).
    So it was a good choice. But maybe Magnificent or NLOTH would have worked out better. Or maybe as Eno suggested Moment Of Surrender...

    Magnificent is pretty catchy imo, and NLOTH is an amazing tune

    I really hope this album gets the awards and honour that it deserves. It's a masterpiece.
  12. As long as it isn't hated, and it sells alright. Not all great bands sell the amount of copies NLOTH has had.
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U2start is run by fans for fans. Help us reduce personal costs. Consider to make a donation to support us.
U2start is run by fans for fans. Help us reduce personal costs. Consider to make a donation to support us.