U2 have released their new album No Line On The Horizon and as far as new releases go, this was always going to be a trial - mainly because it’s difficult to separate U2 the band from U2 the brand. However, RealMusic Blog thought it only right and proper that we give them a fair hearing - everyone deserves that at the very least. Well, everyone except perhaps Eoghan of X-Factor fame, should that day ever come…
We had hoped that they might revisit their former glories in the shape of another The Joshua Tree or Achtung Baby - but that wasn’t to be for this, their 12th studio album. Instead you get the impression that Bono and the boys had far more loftier ideas on their minds - one being that their honourable quest of saving the world from itself should be satisfying enough for us mere mortals, but we beg to differ. For instance, two songs in and we have Bono crying that it’s “only love that can leave such a mark” on Magnificent - OK, we get the picture but it’s all slightly pretentious. Elsewhere there are far too many gently lilting keyboard parts begging for a vocal choir to chime in but instead we get the boys chanting in unison on Moment Of Surrender.
True there’s an awful lot of music here that goes beyond basic guitar rock and the production is as you would expect with the holy trinity of Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois and Steve Lilywhite at one time or another behind the control knobs. Even so as Bono explains “it’s not a hill it’s a mountain” that one has to climb to reach the summit this time around on I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight. The lead single Get On Your Boots saves the day and is the best thing here followed by Stand Up Comedy which at least acknowledges that some of us crave a bit of excitement and dare we say energy from our musical heroes. This album has been three years in the making and there’s the additional promise of another album to follow later on in the year due to the sheer volume of material that was recorded for these sessions. One can only hope that they’ve saved the best till last.
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No Line On The Horizon is out now
(Andrew John)
