No Line On The Horizon: The Verdicts

Two weeks ago, The Ticket published a four-star review of No Line on the Horizon – but not everyone agrees with it. On his blog this week, JIM CARROLLtook a different view, and a flood of reader comments followed. His review is printed below, along with a selection of the comments

THE ARRIVAL of a new U2 album has a strange effect on sane people. Many of my fellow critics have greeted the new arrival with open arms, ticker-tape parades, unrestrained praise and new shades of purple prose.

This is to be expected from the band’s own golden circle of house-trained scribes, but it’s something else entirely when usually reliable bellwethers join the circus. Maybe they’re holding out for a 25-minute session with The Edge or it’s like the banking cowboys exhorting people to put on the green jersey.

Like every outing since Achtung Baby, this album is about trying to go back to that glorious snapshot in time. Achtung Babywas where U2 were last at their most thrilling and they know it. Back then, they showed that you could only truly proceed in pop by abandoning everything which had served you well to date.

Like its immediate predecessors, No Line On The Horizondoesn't really amount to a hill of beans. It huffs and puffs and throws all the right shapes to make it look like the band are going to the well in search of reinvention and creative salvation. However, it's all show and no substance. There is a flurry of ideas, and the usual retinue of astute helpers are on hand to turn these ideas into potential gold and platinum, yet there's little to indicate that the band have the mettle to challenge themselves by doing what is not expected of a band in their position.

The notion that Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois will always save the day is written large throughout. The fact is, though, that Eno and Lanois are only as good as who and what they’re working with, and this is where the problems begin.

To be fair, there are a few positives here, like the track Magnificent, when U2 fire on all cylinders as though it's the most natural thing in the world for four geezers to stand around in a room and make this sort of gut-busting music together.

You can hear the cogs turning, the guitars and drums perfectly in synch, the sound of stadiums jumping up and down with glee. You can hear where the album could have gone and how it would have cocked a snook to the notion that such acts as Coldplay, Kings of Leon and The Killers are fit to stand on the same stage as U2. It’s the sound of a band not merely applying for their old job back, but actually writing a whole new “smart boys wanted” advert.

Sadly, such euphoria doesn't last. You listen to Unknown Caller, Breathe, Stand Up Comedyand Cedars Of Lebanonand wonder what the hell is going on. It's the comedown after the sugar rush.

Like most of the album, each of these four tracks is a bit of a muddle. The band sound strangely ill-at-ease with each other’s contributions and with the songs themselves.

It would be much too easy to single out Bono's lyrics for a bit of a lash here, but the truth is that he's just one culprit in this blustery, burpy, over-cooked melodrama. The album's glaring incoherence can be attributed to many factors, including a lengthy gestation period and a surplus of chefs, but such excuses only show up again how a great album needs more than good intentions and ideas. It really needs a bundle of great songs, and No Line On The Horizonis sorely lacking in this department.

With every song which doesn’t sound quite up to scratch, every groove which sounds too layered and over-analysed, every track which keeps meandering and every bum lyric which makes you wince with pity for the writer, you’re reminded that U2 members have other priorities these days and that this is an album created with those priorities in mind.

This album will fill stadiums, newspapers, radio stations, websites, quarterly target spreadsheets, bank balances, pension funds and investment opportunities in the tech sector. But – unlike so many other albums which will be released with far less fuss this year – it won’t fill your soul.

Reader comments

I heard the album on Friday and it's pretty underwhelming. Even a buddy who is a diehard fan found himself wishing for the finish line on No Line. - James D

"Magnificent" aside there was very few stand out moments if any, on my first impression ... Have only heard it once and like to give an album about three spins before fully deciding but so far so-meh. I'll still go see them live though. - Joe

I wonder what the Rick Rubin sessions sounded like. - Sean D

What do you expect rock music to do, solve all your problems? No wonder you’re disappointed. This sounds like classic U2. And like all their albums, they take time to absorb. If you’re so tired of them, why not stop writing about them. - Florence Maynard

U2 - Yawn. I think I'd rather buy an album of improv acoustic folk by Bill Gates. - Liam

I'd love to see U2 go off and really "dream it all up again". It ain't gonna happen though. They are at the pinnacle of their earning power. I think the more interesting albums will follow when the band are in their fifties. - Paul

After 30 years of being a U2 fan and following them to the four corners of the world on world tours, this is the end of the 'line'. If U2 played for free outside my house I couldn't be bothered. - Bugsy Sugars

Oh cool, a bunch of Irish begrudgers pissing on their own as usual. Yawn. - Cazza

I was wondering when the "You're all a bunch of begrudgers" line would be wheeled out. - Quint

Give U2 a break. They've given us all more than enough great music. By the way, I actually really like the album. - Conor Furlong

Wow, no one is talking about the track Fez - Being Born. I'm absolutely loving this song. I dig the entire album as well. - Hanky

I can honestly say I've read more articles giving out about the hype around the album than hyping up the album itself. - Joe

I would like to see if U2 could achieve the success they have if they were a new band on the scene. - Spacey

Wow! You really do not know what you are talking about. I hope you are coherent with your dumb hate for Bono and U2. This album is full of inspiration and moving songs, up there with Achtung baby -you just do not seem to get it. - Fabrizio

A 4 star review in the normally astute Culture Mag and a 5 in Rolling Stone. Thanks Jim, it's refreshing to see that there is still people in the mainstream media willing to tell it as it is. - hugger

The Irish sure love to piss on their own. You are all miserable bastards. I love this album. - G Brogan

No begudgery here, but I really had hoped for better. Starting to look like the first U2 album that I don't go out and buy. - David P

How good is it?

U2's albums, ranked by Kevin Courtney

1 - Achtung Baby, 1992

2 - The Joshua Tree, 1987

3 - All That You Can’t Leave Behind, 2000

4 - Boy, 1980

5 - The Unforgettable Fire, 1984

6 - War, 1983

7 - Rattle &

Hum,

1988

8 - No Line on the Horizon, 2009

9 - How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, 2004

10 - Under a Blood Red Sky, 1983

11 - October, 1981

12 - Pop, 1997

13 - Zooropa, 1993