No Line on the Horizon...
 

anyone get the new U2 yet?

Now, I really like U2 a lot. This new album...definitely a STEP BACKWARDS. I have listened to it 3x thru. I don't really enjoy any of it. Maybe the track "Magnificent" but thats it. I'm sorely disappointed.

Wow, I think it's their best in years and years. I really like it.

I'm going to download it tonight... I saw them on David Letterman last night and I thought they sounded fantastic. From the handful of fan reviews I've read on Amazon, it seems that this is an album that you either love or hate- I've never seen such sharply divided sentiment ever. Since I've never been a fan of their "soaring, majestic" power ballads, I have a feeling this one is going to be good for me...

Well, for me "a step backwards" for U2 is a GOOD thing. :shrug:

I kind of "dropped" them after Achtung Baby. The two or three albums after that didn't do much for me. The last couple of albums have kind of spurred my interest in them again.

If anything on this album is even half as good as The Fly, I'll eat my underwear.

Okay, I'll eat a can of anchovies. :rolleyes:

I downloaded it right after it leaked, so I've had a few weeks to sit with it. I didn't like it at all the first 3 or 4 times I listened to it, and didn't really know what to make of it. I chalk it up to being conditioned to automatically expect the mostly-bland U2 by-the-numbers of the last two albums- albums that sounded great upon the first couple listens, until repeated listens exposed what dreck some of those tracks truly were (ex. "Miracle Drug").

Its definitely their most experimental album since "Pop", or even "Passengers" (ex. "Fez/Being Born" on a U2 album in 2009 is a minor miracle)- and this is largely a good thing. "Unknown Caller" is the low point- a droning clunker that goes on two minutes too long. All the others grew on me, and continue to do so. A perfect example, "Crazy Tonight"- a total "WTF" on the first listen, but its got a great hook. The title track is very good (if not great), as is "Magnificent" and "Moment Of Surrender". I can take or leave "Cedars of Lebanon".

Really? Wow. I love almost all their albums from the 80s.

90s era...I love Achtung Baby...I like Pop...and I love the last two albums (All You Cant Leave Behind, and Atomic Bomb)...this new album seems morose. All sizzle with no steak.

Apropos for the time, no?

To me, this sums up "Bomb" far better. Tracks like "All Because Of You" immediately spring to mind.

I guess it depends on your point of view. I suppose they could've gone and made a happy go lucky record despite the current times.

Atomic Bomb speaks to me. On an emotional level, at least. When I hear some of those songs (like Sometimes You Can't Make it On Your Own)...i'm moved. I can identify with it. Maybe NO LINE is too new for me to pass judgement. It just seems I can't identify with whatever they are trying to say with this record.

I feel the same way about a couple of tracks from"Bomb"- "City of Blinding Lights" and "Crumbs From Your Table" are both better than anything on this new album. But there are some songs (here's another one- "A Man and A Woman") that are amongst the very worst U2 has ever recorded.

Wow. I actually really like "A Man and a Woman"

KFOG played the entire album a week or so ago..Bono in typical fit of grandiosity is proclaiming that if it isn't U2's best album then U2 are irrelevant..by his own definition then U2 are irrelevent.

Yeah its not their best album...not even in their top 5

I did not like any of it except for Magnificent after the first listen ... That was the only track that reminded me of anything U2 has done and that sound of theirs was there and familiar. I'm still not blown away by the album... I think it's a sound/production issue.. it sounds condensed or compressed or something - I don't know I can't explain it - it doesn't seem to have that BIG sound. I like a number of tracks on it now after listening to it repeatedly. I kept reading so many positive reviews on this, I thought WTF, what am I missing...Why don't I feel the same? I still don't get all the high praise it's getting... But it's not bad...

Yes- this is a MAJOR issue. This album and the last one both had this huge problem. In particular, Bono's vocals on "Crazy Tonight" are so poorly compressed & mixed that its impossible to believe that its the final version. Just like "Bomb", it does detract from the quality & overall experience of the album.

This is a problem that has plagued a number of high profile releases recently. A group of Metallica fans signed a petition seeing to remix their most recent album due to similar problems- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_m...ing_production Its an issue too complex to elaborate on in one post.