Originally posted by U2.com18.12.2008
'No Line on the Horizon'
No Line On The Horizon, the new studio album from U2, will be released on Monday 2nd March 2009.
Written and recorded in various locations, No Line On The Horizon is the group’s 12th studio album and is their first release since the 9 million selling album How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb, released in late 2004.
Sessions for No Line On The Horizon began last year in Fez, Morocco, continued in the band’s own studio in Dublin, before moving to New York’s Platinum Sound Recording Studios, and finally being completed at Olympic Studios in London.
The album calls on the production talents of long-time collaborators Brian Eno and Danny Lanois, with additional production by Steve Lillywhite.
What we know so far (as of 29/1):
It's time for a new perspective on the new album's tracks, I guess. I will try an analytical summary of NLOTH from the journalist's view, with the tunes in a casual running-order:
- First the Q-source from November visiting the Olympic Studios and a private session with Bono ...
- Second the Q-magazine snippets, that might capture nearly the same period than the first source and might have the same roots as controbution for Q's special ...
- Third the RS-review of the tracks from early December (with the wrong date, 22nd January, but claiming to be part of the 7th January issue!!!)
-Fourth the current RS-article (01/07/2009), that was obviosuly written on the same occasion as the RS-review. This article confirms our impression here in the forum, that the time, Q and RS visited U2, the work was far from finished. One consequence: At least in parts the known album tracks are 'only' working titles; to create a tracklist for NLOTH out of this, is pure speculation. "We're at the point where half the album is done, and half the album is in a state where anything can happen — and probably will" – says the Edge and thus, this is all we know here on the board regarding the different tunes...
-Fifth the detailed (and officially by the mangement allowed?) Alan Cross statements and impressions on the new single "Get On Your Boots", who's yet to be the first known to us journalist, who obviously has listened to the track (Twitter / alancross).
-Sixth the 2nd detailed review of the single by skott100 (I got on "Boots" this morning! (Single review))
- Seventh including the official tracklist, confirmed by u2.com and new descriptions by billboard.com
- Eighth Dave Fanning's reviews
- Ninth Daniel Lanois in an interview with Alan Cross
... enjoy and thanx for keeping this 'analytical' thread alive!
1. "No Line On The Horizon"
(- Q-source: "further unfinished"; "two versions were extant: the first is another TUF-esque slow burner that builds to a euphoric coda, the second a punky Pixies/Buzzcocks homage that proceeds at a breathless pace", "Bono very excited about the second version"
(- Q-magazine: "began life as a slow paced Eno-esque ambient treatment, before being dramatically reworked in the Olympic Sessions into an abrasive punk-rock tune akin to Vertigo, with its "No! Line!" chorus chant"
- RS-source: "the title track's relentless groove began as a group improvisation. "It's very raw and very to the point," says the Edge. "It's like rock & roll 2009""
-RS-article: "churning, tribal groove and a deadpan chorus"; ""after-dark" song"; "one of those tunes, where, Bono says, "we allow our interest in electronic music, in Can, Neu! and Kraftwerk, to come out."")
2. "Magnificence"
(- Q-source: "classic U2-isms"; "echoes TUF's opening track A Sort Of Homecoming in its atmospheric sweep"
- Q-magazine: "slow building anthem with the ambience of TUF and laced with the wide eyed wonder of U2's earlier albums. Edge here is at his most dynamic. Features the line:"Only love can reset your mind""
- RS-source: ""Only love can leave such a mark," Bono roars on what sounds like an instant U2 anthem. Will.i.am has already done what Bono calls "the most extraordinary" remix of the tune"
- RS-article: "familiarly chiming U2 anthem")
3. "Moment Of Surrender"
(- Q-source: "particular excitement was reserved for"; "a strident seven-minute epic recorded in a single take"; "sounds like a great U2 moment in the spirit of "One""
- Q-magazine: "georgiously melodic 7 minute song that already has the air of the U2 classic about it, with lyrics about dark stars and existential crises:"I did not notice the passers-by/And they did not notice me". Recorded in one take. This album's "One""
- RS-source: "this seven-minute-long track is one of the album's most ambitious, merging a TJT-style gospel feel with a hypnotically loping bass line and a syncopated beat""
-RS-article: "astonishing seven-minute"; "was played just one time — the band improvised the version on the album from thin air"
- Billboard: "more experimental fare"; "an electro-leaning track with an Eastern-inspired scale in the chorus, making it one of the weirder U2 tracks in decades.")
4. "Unknown Caller"
(- Q-source: "stately"; "was recorded in Fez and opens with the sounds of birdsong taped by Eno during a Moroccan dawn"
(- Q-magazine: "opens with the sound of birdsong recorded live in Fez. A middle eastern flavoured percussion loop drives this tale about a man"at the end of his rope" whose phone bizarrely begins texting him random instructions: "Reboot yourself","Password, enter here","You're free to go".
Dallas Schoo describes the song as "one of Edge's major solos in his life - you wont hear better than that on any other song""
- RS-source: "this midtempo track could have fit on ATYCLB. "The idea is that the narrator is in an altered state, and his phone starts talking to him," says the Edge"
-RS-article: not mentioned)
5. "I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight"
(- Q-source: "straight up pop"; "the track Will.I.Am was taking a pass at"
- Q-magazine: "upbeat pop track with distinct echoes of 60's era Phil Spector, particularly the moment when its chorus disappears into a wash of reverb. Centres around the line: "I'll go crazy If I dont go crazy tonight""
- RS-source: "It's kind of like this album's 'Beautiful Day' — it has that kind of joy to it," Bono says. With the refrain "I know I'll go crazy/If I don't go crazy tonight," it's the band's most unabashed pop tune since "Sweetest Thing"
-RS-article: not mentioned
- Billboard: "classic U2 rocker")
6. "Get On Your Boots"
(- Q-source: "among other instantly striking tracks"; "a heaving electro-rocker that may mark the destination point the band had been seeking on POP"
- Q-magazine: "formerly titled "Sexy Boots", this demented electro grunge employs a proto-rockn'roll riff, but propelled into the future, with a hip-hop twist in the middle. Features Bono in flirtacious, self depreciating mode: "I dont wanna talk about wars between nations""
-RS-source: "the likely first single, this blazing, fuzzed-out rocker picks up where "Vertigo" left off. "It started just with me playing and Larry drumming," the Edge recalls. "And we took it from there""
-RS-article: "with a furry monster of a fuzz-guitar riff"; "power chords that, per Bono, echo the Damned's "New Rose"; verses that share a rhythm with "Subterranean Homesick Blues"; and a chorus that mixes whimsy and ardor: "Get on your boots/Sexy boots/You don't know how beautiful you are." "A hundred fifty beats per minute, three minutes, the fastest song we've ever played," Bono says, playing the tune at deafening volume in an airy studio lounge after dinner. "We're not really ready for adult-contemporary just yet."
-Alan Cross in his "twitter"-blog I: "expected to be heard on the radio within ten days, maybe sooner"; "a lot of electronic sounds"; "Larry plays some kind of electronic drums, too"; Bono rhymes "submarine" with "gasoline"";
"the original title was "Sexy Boots, then it was "Get Your Boots On", now it's "Get On Your Boots"; "the new U2 single will be called "Get On Your Boots" (note the subtle title change)"
- Alan Cross in his "twitter"-blog II: "some new sounds, that could only come from an Eno/Lanois production"; "left me with a feeling similar to what I experienced when I heard “The Fly” for the first time"; "not a back-to-basics guitar/bass/drums track like “Vertigo” or even “Beautiful Day”; there’s some definite sonic evolution going on here"; "it does rock" (no ballad); "Bono manages to rhyme “submarine” with “gasoline” and says something about “don’t talk to me about the state of nations”; "there’s a portion of the melody that somehow reminds me of the cadence of the verses in Elvis Costello’s “Pump It Up,” but as I write this, I’m not completely sure"; "part of the song reminded me of…something else"; "Did I like it? I didn’t hate it—but I need to hear it more before I really make up my mind about what I think about….anything to do with the song"; "filled with far more subtleties and complexities that anyone can hear with one listen"
- skott100: "opens with a drum fill, not unlike "Young Folks" by Peter, Bjorn & John"; "signature riff is muscular and catchy in the "Vertigo" vein, with a rapid fire vocal pattern"; "Alan Cross compared the verses to "Pump It Up" by Elvis Costello, and I can't say I disagree with that. It's evocative but I wouldn't call it a rip-off"; "chorus goes all middle eastern with Bono singing "You don't know how beautiful you are""; "half-tempo breakdown/bridge with a processed drum loop ... like John Bonham playing on a Massive Attack song before the song lurches back into the main riff for another verse and chorus"; "feels like a dense 7 minute epic crammed into about 3 and a half minutes"; "most striking are the drums"; "never heard so many layers of rhythm on a U2 song"; "a lot of very processed drums (I thought of Kasabian at one point and N*E*R*D* at another) and loops going on, coming in and out of the mix"; "at points it goes back to traditional sounding drums for emphasis"; "extremely tasteful, but complex enough to make my head spin"; "this is not U2 by the numbers"; "not a "return to form" or "back to basics""; "his is, what the kids like to call, some OTHER shit"; "the 21st Century version of U2"; "hey aren't looking back to their own catalog for inspiration anymore, if this song is any indication"
- Billboard: "classic u2 rocker; ""premieres Monday (Jan. 19) on Dublin's 2FM. It will be released digitally Feb. 15 and physically the following day"; "the group will perform "Get on Your Boots" Feb. 18 at the BRIT Awards ceremony in London"
- Dave Fanning: "the ‘Vertigo’ of the album - although a completely different kind of song"; "it’s very U2"; "a big song with lots of layers but not overproduced"; "great track"
- Daniel Lanois: "a hell of a groove"; "some of the sounds were provided by The Edge himself. The main guitar parts"; "some nice bits of processing in there, there is a a little sound that sort of scoots by, like a high speed sound effect, that’s one that was born through the process of studio manipulation, and it’s one that stuck"; "a nice interesting mixture of technology and hand-played drums"; "there is a separate track that features kind of a bass drum loop that we did of Larry, and it runs along side of the main kit and is featured in certain sections of it"; "the marriage of hand-played and the electro combination")
7. "Stand Up Comedy"
(- Q-source: "swaggering"; "wherein U2 get in touch with their, hitherto unheard, funky selves - albeit propelled by some coruscating Edge guitar work, a signature feature of a number of the tracks"; "home to the knowing Bono lyric, "Stand up to rock stars/Napoleon is in high heels/Be careful of small men with big ideas.""
- Q-magazine: "rousing groove-based rocker with shades of Led Zep and Cream. Edge mentions that they're trying to keep Stand Up in a rough state and not overproduce it by putting it through Pro-Tools which cleans up imperfections"
- RS-source: "Stand Up Comedy"; "another hard rock tune, powered by an unexpectedly slinky groove and a riff that lands between the Beatles' "Come Together" and Led Zep's "Heartbreaker." Edge recently hung out with Jimmy Page and Jack White for the upcoming documentary It Might Get Loud, and their penchant for blues-based rock rubbed off: "I was just fascinated with seeing how Jimmy played those riffs so simply, and with Jack as well," he says"
- RS-article: "the words, which he keeps revising, have an almost hip-hop-like cadence: "Stand up, 'cause you can't sit down... Stop helping God across the road like a little old lady... Come on, you people, stand up for your love."; "We haven't quite gotten this right, and I'm the problem", Bono says of the tune, which is called "Stand Up Comedy" — at least for the moment. Tomorrow it will have new lyrics."; "the groove is slinkier than anything U2 have done in years."
- Dave Fanning: "the nearest thing they’ve ever done to Led Zeppelin.")
8. "Fez -- Being Born"
- Billboard: "more experimental fare".
- Apart from this not mentioned yet, but if it is identical with the working title track "Tripoli", we do know more:
(- Q-source: not mentioned ...
- Q-magazine: "Bono talks about a song called "Tripoli", which is a guy on a motorcycle, a Moraccan french cop, whos going AWOL. He drives though France and Spain down to this village outside of Cadiz where you can actually see the fires of Africa burning"
- RS-source: "this strikingly experimental song lurches between disparate styles, including near-operatic choral music, ZOOROPA-style electronics, and churning arena rock"
-RS-article: "ambitious possible album opener, which violently lurches between different sections"; ""after-dark" song"; "one of those tunes, where, Bono says, "we allow our interest in electronic music, in Can, Neu! and Kraftwerk, to come out."")
9. "White As Snow"
- identical with the working title track "Winter" (white snow = winter), so we do know more about it
(- Q-source: "featuring a fine Bono lyric about a soldier in an unspecified war zone, surrounded by a deceptively simple rhythm track and an evocative string arrangement courtesy of Eno"
- Q-magazine: "6 minute ballad. Echoes of Simon & Garfunkel in this poignant, acoustic string laden ballad about a soldier in the snow of Afghanistan. Will appear in the new film 'Brothers' starring Tobey Maguire about the emotional fallout of the war. Edge on backing vocals with Bono for Winter""
-RS-source: not mentioned
-RS-article:"lovely discarded ballad")
10. "Breathe"
(- Q-source: "particular excitement was reserved for"; "still a work in progress"; "Eno suggests, this is potentially both the best song the band had written and that he had worked on"
- Q-magazine: "Arabic cello gives way to joyful chorus. Brian Eno says this is U2's best ever song. It's 8pm and Eno, Bono and Will.i.am are on Olympic Studio 1 writing a cello part for a song called Breathe that U2 - a touch ambitiously - are only beginning to record in ths final fortnight, never mind mix – the singer belts out a rollicking vocal featuring door-to-door salesman, a cockatoo and a chorus that begins "Step out into the street, sing your heart out""
- RS-source: not mentioned
-RS-article: "tweaks on his computer what he (The Edge) estimates to be the 80th incarnation")
11. "Cedars Of Lebanon"
(- Q-source: not mentioned ...
- Q-magazine: "Daniel Lanois instigated closer that finds Bono imagining himself as a weary, lovelorn war correspondent "squeezing complicated lives into a simple headline". Ends with the possibly telling line "Choose your enemies carefully cos they will define you""
- RS-source: ""On this album, you can feel what is going on in the world at the window, scratching at the windowpane," says Bono, who sings this atmospheric ballad from the point of view of a war correspondent"
-RS-article: not mentioned)
Update of above on 2-2, Sydney Morning Herald:
Track one: No Line On The Horizon
Buzzy guitars and offkilter Enoesque noises vie for attention while Bono strains for effect as he reflects both the tension and the intensity of the song. The chorus (not a big one; more a devolving of the verse) retains the tension but puts it in a gentler setting. Bono seems to be singing to, or about, a girl, not for the last time on the album, but it's not easy to decipher.
Track two: Magnificent
More of those odd sounds behind treated guitars and synthesisers and the song opens in two or would now be called "classic U2", the familiar 80s quick marching rhythm and the Edge's exploratory guitar lines. The most traditional sounding song on the album has Bono declaring that "I was born to sing for you/I didn't have a choice" before confessing that "only love can leave such a mark".
Track three: Moment Of Surrender
A moodier track with irregular hand percussion (or a loop, or both) picking away at the edges of a bed of synthesisers and violin. The emotional tone is late '80s U2; the musical palette, with hints of electronica, is more early '90s. Before those richly layered Eno/Lanois-signature backing vocals arrived late in the piece Bono goes from enigmatic: "I tied myself with wire to let the horses run free/playing with fire till the fire plays with me" (I think) to matters closer to the heart: "it's not if I believe in love but if love believes in me".
Track four: Unknown Caller
Some really interesting ambient sounds in a late, late night setting more concerned with atmosphere than asserting itself. It's 3.33am "in a place of no consequence or company" and he's "speed dialling with no signal at all". The lyrics seem more impressionistic, disconnected and with a touch of David Bowie in the chanting underneath. And is that French horns at the end? Not usually heard on a U2 album.
Track five: I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight
Mixed marriages don't always work, but should, seems to be the theme. "She's a rainbow and she likes the quite life/I'll go crazy if I don't go crazy tonight." This is a straight out pop song with reverb guitars and Bono in high croon. It's also a U2 track they could do in their sleep, but no less attractive for that. The question is will it last as long as some of the others?
Track six: Get On Your Boots
The first single and perplexing some already. A mess of dirty guitars and urgent energy play through electronic bibs and bobs. You can hear Fly-era U2, with a little less edge, but here something niggling through earlier songs becomes clearer: they have been listening to Brooklyn's art rockers TV On For Radio. It makes some sense: TV On The Radio spent their youth listening to Eno and Bowie too.
Track seven: Stand Up Comedy
A strutting 70s guitar finds the Edge channelling his inner Marc Bolan while that Brooklyn fractured dance of rock feels returns (and then becomes almost pure Madchester ecstasy nightclub). The "song" runs out a little earlier than the groove does but it doesn't seem fatal at all.
Track eight: FEZ - Being Born
This seems to be two songs hooked together, one a collection of odd sounds and shapes, the other a pulsing rock number which becomes something else again when the sonic oddness returns prior to a drifting away ending.
Track nine: White As Snow
A ballad not just inspired by but evoking wide spaces and open skies. There are low rumbles and darting sounds, brass even. Could this be U2 aiming for Bruce Springsteen in his solo tales-of-the-desert mode?
Track 10: Breathe
This is pushier at immediately, coming with a bit of attitude. Did Bono really just say he is "not somebody's cockatoo"? He definitely says "I'm running down the road like loose electricity while the band in my head plays a striptease" and it's an apt description of this land of atmosphere and aggression.
Track 11: Cedars Of Lebanon
Lyrically and musically strongly reminiscent of a film noir narration (Bono as Walter Neff? Why not?), the central character is a man cut off from affection and life in general. Some really interesting harmonies - Eno at work again - and a closing set of lines worth pondering for implications. "Choose your enemies well for they will define you ... they are going to last with you longer than your friends".
