No Line on the Horizon

U2′s new album No Line on the Horizon came out today and if you haven’t already heard it live streamed or didn’t download it illegally already, maybe you are like me getting your first taste of it. To honor the release I am doing a running blog as I listen to the album for the first time.

Song 1 – No Line on the Horizon – No build up like The Streets Have No Name just a hard jump right into it. Familiar feel to the base line, sounds like U2 that is for sure. A real high energy song, really kicks the album into high gear. There is a smooth sound to its energy though.

Song 2 – Magnificent – Not sure if this is a love song or a praise song, but I am sure that someone will do it in a worship service. Great lyrics. “Only love can leave such a mark, only love can such a scar.” “I was born to sing for you I didn’t have a choice, to lift you up, to sing whatever song you wanted me to”. The song really builds up to the that sing to the rafters chorus of Magnificent.

Song 3 – Moment of Surrender – Longest song on the album – 7:34 – Starts with a slower pace, I think they are going to groove for a while. “At the moment of surrender I fell to my knees, I didn’t notice the passers by and they didn’t notice me.” This is one of the signature songs of depth that U2 produces with rich imagery and soulfull reflection. Nice harmonies on the verses. “I was speeding  the subway through the stations of the cross, every eye looking every other way counting down to the …. (can’t catch the last part)”. This is an awesome song it really grooves you into a contemplative place and gives you great blended images of faith and life to chew on.

Song 4 – Unknown Caller – I know they recorded a bunch of this album in a Morrocan court yard and you can hear some of those influences on this song. Can’t get a feel for where the song is going. Seems to be a song about loss with a lot of computer imagery. “reboot yourself, enter password, enter your name in” Kind of a chanting chorus that leads into a bridge with organ music and Morrocan sounds. Definitely my least favorite song so far. Maybe I just don’t get it yet.

Song 5 -I’ll go crazy if I don’t go crazy tonight – This song immediately grabs from the title to the very satisfying chorus.  “Every generation gets a chance to change the world”, “Is it true perfect love drives out all fear” A very Bono song with themes of change, overcoming adversity, a bridge involving him singing Baby, Baby, Baby.  The lead guitar line has a bright sound that keeps the song from feeling pretentious or overbearing. Sounds like a celebration song or a song of encouragement not a song of angst.

Song 6 – Get on Your Boots – This was the first single released from the album and it has a dominant base line that gives it more of a edge than you often expect with U2. Evidently I don’t know how beautiful I am and I need to get on my sexy boots. The chorus has this dissodent sound that is surprising. I like this song but it wouldn’t be my choice for a first single. It has a great sound to it but it doesn’t grab me the way some of the others have. This is a heavy song instrumentally. They kept saying that this album would be a different sound for them and I guess that this song did that.

Song 7 – Stand Up Comedy – Very different sound from last song, not quite a shift without the clutch like Bullet the Blue Sky was but more of a subtle surprise. Less over the top instrumentation, a little brighter, a chorus to inspire, a song trying to get people to make a difference with some tongue in cheek references. “Stand up to rock stars, Napolean is in high heels,  Josephine be careful of a small man with big ideas.”

Song 8 - Fez – Being Born – More of a trance like start to this song with strange interludes, quick samples and then a surprising march like drumline covered by airy keyboards. A lot of sampling of different sounds in this song. This almost sounds like a school project trying to capture an idea in a song. This is advanced U2 which means it is somewhat weird, not the most likable song, but I am sure has some depth that my 300th time I listen to the album I will appreciate greatly.

Song 9 - White as Snow – Sounds like a song from a western. Slow, kind of trotting sound. “Where I came from there were no hills at all. The land was flat the highway straight and wide.” Definitely a journey song. Sounds like a song of spiritual journey, building slowly, now with a horn line over the second verse. Talk of seeking forgiveness and redemption. Water imagery seeking cleansing. “As boys we would go hunting in the woods to sleep the night shooting out the stars. Now the walls are every passing stranger every face we can not know. For me a heart could be as white as snow.” Just kind of stops. The song doesn’t really build to anything it just kinds of keeps journeying.

Song 10 – Breathe – Immediately grabs you. This song has a swinging rhythm with a 6/8 feel, rapid fire lyrics and a complex melody. ‘Every day I have to find the courage to walk down into the street with arms out, got a love you can’t defeat. Neither down nor out, there is nothing you have that I need I can breathe.” The complexities of this song must have taken a long time to create. The rhythms are almost competing but they support and blend in with each other. I really like this song, oh a suprising almost Asian sound in this instrumental. “I found grace inside a sound, I found grace its all I found, I can breathe, breathe now.” Very impressed by that song.

Song 11 – Cedars of Lebanon – Mellow beginning, Bono almost talking over the music. A reflective song maybe a soldiers song. Great lyric right here, “A Sh..tty world sometimes produces a rose, the scent of it lingers.” Not a song for radio play, just an intelligent and thought provoking context grabbing song.  “Choose your enemies carefully because they will define you, make them interesting because in some ways they will mind you… gonna last with you longer than your friends.” Mellow way to finish out the album, it kind of lingers with you.

First Listen Review – Over all a very intelligent, somewhat ecclectic album. They had vowed to come out with a very different sound in this album and they did that to some extent but you know immediately it is U2 you are hearing. They do sound amazingly relevant entering their 3rd or 4th decade as a band. The sound is fresh, the lyrics and themes are typically U2 and it is really enjoyable. For a first listen I would give it an 8.5 or 9 out of 10. I feel like it will be an album that really grows on you the more you listen to it however. Some of the songs that slid by on first listen will come back and grab you more later.