U2: No Line On The Horizon (Interscope)
1. No Line On The Horizon2. Magnificent
3. Moment Of Surrender
4. Unknown Caller
5. I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight
6. Get On Your Boots
7. Stand Up Comedy
8. Fez - Being Born
9. White As Snow
10. Breathe
11. Cedars Of Lebanon
Maybe the word desperate is a bit too strong, but Bono and Co's latest offering 'No Line On The Horizon' is, at best, lightweight.
Yes, It has all the trademark elements of the U2 sound, which we don't need to discuss at this stage of their illustrious career and there are a couple of half decent tunes - title track 'No Line On The Horizon' and the optimistically titled 'Magnificent' - but the overall impression is that this is Kaliber when you expect Guinness.
Newly crowned U2 Way sounded better when it was just 53rd Street, U2 sounded better 10 years ago. If No Line On The Horizon were as good as The Joshua Tree or Achtung Baby they might own New York City by now!
Top Track: 'Magnificent'
Album Rating: 6/10
Last 5 NME-E reviews:
Its A Buffalo: 'Don't Be Scared'
The Trestles: 'Hard Faced Town EP'
The Prodigy: 'Invaders Must Die'
Lily Allen: 'It's Not Me, It's You'
Morrissey: 'Years Of Refusal'
Read all NME-E reviews
3 comments:
Nicely put re new U2 album. It had to be said really. I've not heard the whole album but I've since them on TV twice in the last week and they really look like they're doing U2 by numbers.
Shame really as I do rate the Edge as a guitarist and if it wasn't for all the arrogant bombastic messiah complex delusion that has engulfed Bono, he could be a half decent singer. Long way now from the early promise of Boy and October.
Thanks "anonymous" - the way you express yourself reminds me of a top band I know - Overspill Poets - who'll I'll be lucky enough to feature on the site soon.
As for U2, well the feeling is they had to get an album out, but the days of old are clearly gone. Perhaps more worrying still is the fact that two of the Nº 1 albums recently - U2 and Lily Allen - have been, at best, mediocre.
Rumbled. Yes it's me.
It's possible the major labels are feeling the pinch. Sales of physical CD's continue to fall and their traditional dominance in the market is being chipped away.
For years the majors have been guilty of bandwagoning on the back of the indie scene, waiting for something to happen then pumping lots of money behind soundalike acts they see as safe bets. Just look at the recent flood of "housetrained Winehouses" (to quote Uncut) - Duffy, Adele etc.
In the past they got away with it because they controlled distribution. If you were on an indie, it was usually harder to find your records in the shops. The internet has changed all that - anyone can get international digital distribution for next to nothing. Furthermore the internet affords promotional opportunities that far outreach traditional channels.
Suddenly artists (big and small alike) don't need record deals anymore and major labels, with a legacy of not developing artists, have less acts with loyal followings that can weather the downturn.
Perhaps this is why we are seeing them push to squeeze new "product" from their big names, ready or not, in a bid to claw back the ground they are losing.
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