REVIEW: U2's "No Line on the Horizon"

A couple months back, U2 frontman Bono, that carnival barker with a conscience, wrote an op-ed piece in the New York Times. It was dizzy, besotted, a Seussian word scramble about singing along to Sinatra in a beer-doused Dublin pub. For all its cool insight into Ol’ Blue Eyes, I couldn’t get past the chummy idea of our quixotic rock god in billion-dollar goggles bellying up to his neighborhood bar. Hey, Bono, pass the beer nuts!

I kept thinking about Last Call With Bono while listening to U2’s new album, the humble, hummable No Line on the Horizon, in stores Tuesday. Over the course of 11 albums, 29 years, the Irish Four has embraced wild reinvention and sonic chicanery, the biggest band in the world trying like heck to stay there. They were often bold (1997’s Pop), if not always memorable (2004’s How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb).

But No Line on the Horizon isn’t about reinvention, or showing off, or even trying too hard. Despite the trippy found sounds and Dr. Who time changes, the album, at its base, is just fine being a creature comfort, a blue-collar buddy who's closing in on 50. (Yep, Bono, 48.) With the three-headed production team of Daniel Lanois, Brian Eno and Steve Lillywhite, the album’s tone echoes the deep past, the salad days, even as it utilizes modern equipment. Look around: a broken backbeat from Achtung Baby, a tingly lick from The Joshua Tree, a wide-awake roar from The Unforgettable Fire.

If you stopped liking U2 20 years ago, album highlight Magnificent is going to light up your iPod. Over a jackbooted rhythm from drummer Larry Mullen Jr., speaker-buzzing bass from Adam Clayton and one, two, 10 different darting-bird riffs from the incomparable Edge, Bono genuflects to the spotlight: “I was born to sing for you,” he croons, adding “Only love can leave such a mark / But only love, only love can heal such a scar.” It’s so good, so incredibly U2, as shaky Christian Bono tries to make right with the Lord.

The spectacular Moment of Surrender, U2’s requisite leviathan ballad, is a seven-minute purgatory of ATM confessionals and false celebrity. Despite the troubling lyrics, some churchly organs and a liquid-silver solo by the Edge tell us all is not lost. The things that matter still matter; they’re just harder to find. It’s a shameless bear hug, but man, it feels silly good.

The theme of overcoming contemporary malaise continues on Unknown Caller and, to a lighter degree, I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight. The first song uses tortured lyrics to get the message across (“Restart and reboot yourself” — wow, that stinks), but the Edge bails the song out with patented prickly punch. Even Billy Ocean couldn’t dream up a dumb title like I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight, but the over-the-topper charms with chiming crescendoes that will raise arenas.

Alas, like most trips to the local pub, things get messy around closing time. The 11-track album’s second half is a so-so stumble, a filler problem the band has been having since the mid-1990s. First single Get on Your Boots features Bono as unreliable shaman spitting sweet rambles, Subterranean Homesick Blues on Creatine. With its Middle Eastern vibe, FEZ — Being Born is a bit better, a curiosity. But there’s no need to hear it again. And so on.

So go back and listen to that first half. There, the boys are inspired, they’re amped. By embracing where they’ve been instead of where they’re going, U2 has made some of its best music in decades. I’ll tell you one thing, it’s going to sound great in that Dublin bar. Hey Bono, let’s do Jaeger bombs!

Band photo courtesy of the Associated Press

Comments

[Mike]

1st song, title track, despite reworking 'The Fly' riff, is the strongest. Bono's vox haven't been this strong in awhile. Wonder what this album would have sounded like with Rick Rubin producing...

[mark]

More and more, bono and the gang keep uncloaking their Christian identity. He's not trying to make it right with God. He has been made right. Something the rest of the world refuses to hear. Actually cannot hear because they lack the ears for it. He was born to sing about the almighty. Good CD. You can hear eno and lanois all over this.

[Hal]

I’ve never really been a big U2 fan, but I first read about this new album having Christian overtones on the website http://faithtelegraph.com/

So I was doing some searching for a review. I don’t always agree with Bono’s political strides but I can’t say that about most people either.

All that said it sounds like I might like this album will have to give it a chance.

Thanks for the review.

[R554M]

I think you have it wrong about the second half, or post-Boots, as it were.

I would argue that FEZ-Being Born requires multiple listens to really appreciate the tune beyond its musical oddities. Breathe is classic U2 - a great song that does not sound quite as rich on the album as it will live (see Monday night's Letterman performance for proof). White As Snow is a more than solid effort (even if it is borrowed) and Stand Up Comedy is a much better song than some of the "filler" from the last two studio albums.

Unfortunately, Boots is a bit of a throw-away, like Pop's Discotheque. That said, No Line on the Horizon is their best effort, top to bottom, since Achtung Baby.

[CHAD]

i have to agree with you sean, magnificent is a great friggin song. there are a couple clunkers, but overall, i think it's a pretty good cd. another highlight for me is breathe, what a great tune.

[ask Marissa]

about the designer eyeglass cross promotion thing

[Dr. Dim]

About the band photo. Am I seeing a bit of a designer eyeglasses cross promotional thing going on?

[Sean Daly]

Thanks, Lori. Great note. "Chicanery" is my new fave. I've been trying to shoehorn it into a story for awhile.

[Lori]

So many wonderfully unique SD phrases to add to the collection, but I'm gonna pick "sonic chicanery" as best of the column.

Thanks for the review, Sean. I trust you.

[Jeff]

Love the whole album, though it needs more than one listen. And Unknown Caller is actually God using technical lingo to reach out to a guy going through crisis. "Force quit and move to trash" is akin to repent and sin no more. Restart and Reboot yourself - be born again.

Great album. Doesn't have the memories that the others have and that's really why it won't get elevated... yet.

[Gary in Gilroy]

Whoa! Are you dissin' Billy Ocean ?!

[Conni]

It does nothing for me. Too much of it sounds the same. No real highs no real lows. Just more of the safe same.

[Bassnote]

When I listened to the whole thing on MySpace, I came to the same opinion as you: first half- fantastic, second half - not so great. I'll still be picking it up tomorrow, or if I'm lazy, downloading from iTunes.

[Sean Daly]

First half is great, like an old pal. Second half lags. But I'm telling you, "Magnificent" is worth the price of admission alone. Killer track.

[CHAD]

i'll be picking this up tomorrow. i have all the others, why stop now.