U2 - No Line On The Horizon

Track Listing
No Line On The Horizon
Magnificent
Moment of Surrender
Unknown Caller
I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight
Get On Your Boots
Stand Up Comedy
Fez Being Born
White As Snow
Breathe
Cedars Of Lebanon

If you don’t already know what to expect from U2’s twelfth studio album then you’re either a goldfish with Alzheimer’s or newborn, and if that’s the case then there are probably much better places for you to start than No Line On The Horizon. However, for the rest of us this is everything it should be, even if it’s nothing you wouldn’t expect. The lead in single "Get On Your Boots" might have forgotten to pack a chorus and instead crammed in a bewildering mash of Nancy Sinatra, Cameo’s "Word Up" and Led Zeppelin in an effort to reignite the pop art dervishes in them that time washed down the creek, but it does actually get more singularly feisty with every listen. "Stand Up Comedy" is equally absurd ("Stand" by REM/"Love Spreads" by The Stone Roses/generic Red Hot Chilli Peppers in a light funk sandwich), but the album’s not all about them trying to prove their creative audacity. The title track vibrates with the mild threat of modernity and a chest-beating, loud-hailer bravado, "Moment Of Surrender" allows Bono to shed some passion over the measured, subdued backdrop and the triple of "Unknown Caller", "I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight" and "Magnificent" make no bones about being classic U2, ringing chimes reverberating from The Edge’s guitar like endlessly reproducing embryos under the microscope; the kind of stuff that professional obsessives The Killers would, you know, kill for.--James Berry 

CD Description 
No Line On The Horizon is U2's twelfth studio album, and follows the massive success of 2004's How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb. The first single from the album, "Get On Your Boots", may be an all-out rocker akin to previous successes like "Vertigo", but the remainder of the album sees the band diversifying in ways similar to their Zooropa days. It is inescapably a U2 album, though, so Bono's vocals still speak of injustices personal and global, and The Edge's guitar work continues to be both feathery and metallic in equal dose. As far as continuing the band's lengthy career goes, No Line On The Horizon is simultaneously a crowd-pleaser and musical step forward. 

This standard CD version includes No Line On The Horizon in a jewel case, along with a 24 page booklet. 
Customer Reviews

Brilliant 
Ive heard such wide ranging opinions on this CD! I love it!No Line, Magnificent, Breathe! Bono's voice is just amazing, and Edge's guitar work is blowing me away on this CD! If you are expecting War crossed with Achtung you're in the wrong decade! It wont happen again, we're in a different time and place....and for a band to go for this long and to keep up this sort of musical prowess...well! awesome stuff

Magnifico 
This is a typical U2 album really, a mixture of some blinding tracks and a few distinctly average thrown in for good measure. 

Certainly not as experimental as some would have you believe and in some ways quite similar in style to their last offering some four years previous 'HTDAAB' albeit a bit more 'in your face'. 

Highlights include lead single 'Get on your boots', which has a 'Discotheque' feel about it and Elvis Costello's 'Pump it up' is also a fair comparison, it is a song that gets your attention right away and screams that U2 are back. 

'Stand up comedy' carries on in similar vein and if you liked their recent collaboration with Green Day you will love this too. 

'Magnificent' is just that....magnificent,this must rank as one of the best songs they have written for many a year and would not look out of place on the classics like The Joshua Tree or Achtung Baby. 

'Moment of surrender' is A.T.Y.C.L.B's 'Stuck in a moment' and H.T.D.A.A.B's 'Sometimes you can't make it on your own'. 

'Breathe' is a breathe of fresh air sandwiched between the rather dull 'White as snow' and 'Cedars of Lebanon' and challanges Magnificent for top dog. 

U2 had 60 songs to choose from apparently and it's a pity they couldn't have found better than 'Fez' and the aforementioned 'White as snow' and 'Cedars of Lebanon' amonst them because this isn't that far off from being another 'classic' U2 album instead of just another 'good' one. 

More durable than previous 2 albums 
After the first listen of this album, I wasn't impressed, but after 4 or 5 listens you begin to realise that this album is probably going to be more durable than the previous 2 albums. The first 3 or 4 tracks are classic sounding U2 - Moment of Surrender and Magnificent are impressive, as is the title track - which then leads into a batch of songs which are probably best described as "more commercial". Reading the reviews, I thought I would struggle with these songs, but Get On Your Boots (first single, not best song but also certainly not the worst on the album either), Stand Up Comedy and I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight are to me really enjoyable. The album finishes strongly with Breathe and Cedars Of Lebanon. The album is only let down by White As Snow - surely right down there with Peace On Earth from All That You Can't Leave Behind - which is a shame as the album would have worked much better as a concise 10 tracks. Impressive album, but don't expect this album to have as much impact as say The Joshua Tree or Achtung! Baby.