New Zoo Reviews: U2's "No Line on the Horizon"
Even the haters would have to admit: This is a pretty cool story.
Yeah, the hype for U2's upcoming album has come to a boil.
But is this just "hype"? Check out these reviews...
No Line on the Horizon
It starts out blustery and familiar, before gradually revealing an unexpected and almost lovable sense of vulnerability. A record whose three catchiest songs - the Abba-tinged, Kiss-worthy "I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight," the buzzily priapic Queens of the Stone Age tribute "Get on Your Boots," and the glaringly self-referential "Stand Up Comedy" - are the work of four unapologetically middle-aged men. And a record whose finest moments - Bono seeing his own reflection in a cash machine on "Moment of Surrender"; the euphoric, computer-generated call-and-response of "Unknown Caller"; and the Kings Of Leon-vaporising 70s rock power-surge of "Breathe" - are as memorable as any U2 have ever created.
No Line On The Horizon
On Unknown Caller, Eno’s influence is immediately apparent: it opens with a loop of Arabic rhythms and a sampled bird tweet before morphing into a widescreen torch song. Even more intriguing is Fez, which may well be U2’s most left-field venture since the overtly experimental 1993 album Zooropa. Sounding, in the best sense, like a Radiohead B-side, it begins with a swirl of disembodied voices, churning static and ebbing beats, which eventually give way to a fantastic Edge solo and swirling prayer chants. For these moments alone, No Line On The Horizon deserves to be fast-tracked into the U2 hall of fame.
I'm not bigging up my buddies here. Nodding terms suits both parties. But I'd be remiss if I didn't highlight what I consider to be an artistic heart at the core of this new work that's unerring, fragile and true.
Taken collectively, these songs are a serious piece of work.
There's a line tucked away in the sleeve notes that thanks record company executive Jimmy Iovine "for believing that U2 are a brand new band." Huh! We've heard this before. Yet, once again, the band have managed a unique reinvention.
Not that they're going to emerge as crossdressers or Moonies. But, over the past decade the band appear to have undergone a profound metamorphosis. There's a depth to this album that is subtle, not strident. We've been catching glimpses of it over the years.
Today, there's a scuffed maturity in evidence here that can only come from life experience. It serves U2 well.
In the natural order of things, the ageing U2 should by now be trailing in the wake of younger, more dynamic bands. This is not the case. No Line on the Horizon raises the bar for Coldplay, The Killers and Kings of Leon.
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Just shy of 54 minutes long, it's one of their lengthier efforts. And of the 11 tracks, only two could be described as duds (more of which anon). That's not a bad strike rate by anybody's standards.