No Line on the Horizon - U2

The new U2 album is not a perfect U2 album (The Joshua Tree and Boy are), but it is very good. The boys still have it, they're still experimenting (and cannibalizing), and when they really hit it on the head, there's not much better.

I'll go song-by-song here.

No Line on the Horizon - Pretty good, not great. It's fun to listen to loud. Edge stole the guitar part from himself (it's also in "The Fly" and one of the band's very best b-sides ever ever ever, "Lady with the Spinning Head"). Every artist is a cannibal, after all.

Magnificent - It is magnificent. This song is one of U2's best ever. I had been hitherto listening to it on my computer and my iPod and already loved it--today I stuck it in the living room stereo and turned it up loud, and WOW, it's a whole new animal. As soon as it started, I could not wait to (hopefully) hear it live & in-person. It fills a room; it's a beautiful thing. It's greater than the sum of its wonderful parts (incredible guitar, synths used in just the right way, fantastic vocals, perfect lyrics, and what sounds like a Middle Eastern or Asian influence), and it just keeps getting better as the song goes on, and with more listens. It fucking rocks.

Moment of Surrender - This one has a lot I like but a lot I'm not thrilled with. The beginning through the first verse is excellent; Bono's vocals are amazing and bring to mind The Unforgettable Fire, The Joshua Tree, and Achtung Baby, and I love that verse's lyrics; but the chorus leaves me flat.

Unknown Caller - One of my favorites from the album. It took a few tries, but it's now solidly in the good (great?) category. Again, loud listening on the stereo helped me really hear how all its parts go together. The chanting (sounds like Brian Eno and/or Daniel Lanois are in there with Bono, or maybe it's the band, or all of them together) and technologically themed lyrics became unexpectedly spiritual when listening that way, and when the organ slides in at 4:25, it makes you realize where you are in this song and what you're doing. I love that beat of Larry's--we've heard it before in U2, not sure what all the songs are at the moment, but it's great; and Edge allows himself a guitar solo: a good one, and a long one. He should allow this more often; guitar solos may suck often, but it sure sounds like U2 ones don't.

I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight - This song is very listenable--it's very song-ish. I don't dislike it really; it's just that I don't like it all that much. It's got that cloying refrain that reminds me of "Walk On" or something else from All That You Can't Leave Behind and maybe something from How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb. It's okay. (I love "Walk On," but I love it as a song of encouragement and healing ... I don't think it's a great song artistically, truth be told.)

Get On Your Boots - It's a fun song. Fun vibe, fun sound, fun lyrics. "I got a submarine, you got gasoline" is particularly good; Bono singing about taking the tugboat to tuna town could never not be entertaining. The "Let me in the sound" part is not the most rousing chant they've ever had, but I'm a sucker for a rock-music-as-sex metaphor, and Bono wanting to get in the audible sound while his submarine wants to get in the watery sound is as good as any. And I like the honking sound that comes after "Hey sexy boots."

Stand Up Comedy - After a drumbeat intro that threatens to turn into "Stuck In a Moment You Can't Get Out Of" (another U2 song I really like but don't want them to make again), a "Love and Peace or Else"-style hard-ass guitar line comes in and saves its ass. But not completely. I can't figure out exactly what keeps this song from really working for me. It goes into a bit of a funk thing during the verses and then morphs into an Achtung Baby or ATYCLB-style bit leading up to the "Stand up for your love" chorus, and I don't like how that all goes together. I also think "Stand up for your love" is a little bit lame as a line. I may not have listened closely to it enough yet, but it seems to me Bono wrote a bunch of lyrics in a notebook, figured out what song to put them in, and then tacked "Stand up for your love" onto it as a "can't argue with that one!" topper. There are some great bits of lyrics in there, though, not least of which are these:

The DNA lotto may have left you smart

But can you stand up to beauty, dictator of the heart

---

But while I'm getting over certainty

Stop helping God across the road like a little old lady

---

Stand up to rock stars, Napoleon is in high heels

Josephine, be careful of small men with big ideas

FEZ-Being Born - Jury's still out on this one. I've wished for awhile that they would get back to some of the experimental type of stuff they did on The Unforgettable Fire, but I'm not sure this is what I was wishing for.

White as Snow - Very good. Excellent lyrics, music that doesn't fight with them. It tells a sad story; it feels like a movie in a song. I like the lyric "If only a heart could be as white as snow." Bono gives a great vocal performance in the last verse.

Breathe - Another of my favorites from the album. I love how Bono spits out the lines, and the music rocks. If their performance of this on Letterman is any indication, this will be another great one on tour. I really like the lyrics to this one, also. And the last bit, from "We are people borne of sound" to the end, is rousing, invigorating--it just makes you feel good, makes you feel right. I think the background singing in that section turns Bono's part into a gospel solo. And when he sings, "Sing your heart out, sing my heart out," wow. Suddenly the boy/man of the first five albums is back. It's incredible when you suddenly realize he sounds the same, because overall, I usually think his voice has changed. I think it's mainly the delivery. Listen closely to that line and you'll fall into a time machine.

Cedars of Lebanon - Jury's still out on this one, too. Bono's delivery and the way it's mixed sound similar to a couple other near-end-of-album songs they've done--"If You Wear That Velvet Dress" comes to mind--and I've never been real fond of them. Very interesting lyric about enemies:

Choose your enemies carefully 'cause they will define you

Make them interesting 'cause in some ways they will mind you.

They're not there in the beginning but when your story ends

Gonna last with you longer than your friends.

Grade: A-