No Line On The Horizon: if you haven't heard this phrase recently, you are probably living under a rock. For some time before the release of the new U2 album, this phrase- which is its name- has been literally everywhere. Now that the album has been released, what's it like?
Some pre-release reviews described it as Achtung Baby on steroids. That is a pretty fair approximation. At first, I was a little disappointed. But as I continued listening, I started hearing things in the music that weren't readily apparent. This album is densely layered musically. I recommend a good stereo with subwoofers, and patience to concentrate on it through several rotations before rendering judgement.
On the whole, it is incredibly uplifting and positive musically. It draws heavily on the North African influence that is Fez, Morocco as did Achtung Baby. The difference is that these influences are a little less restrained than was so on the now legendary 1991 release. Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois were brought in again as producers, as well as Steve Lillywhite for the polishing up. U2 formally recognised this ongoing partnership with Eno and Lanois by giving them co-writer credits this time around. Larry Mullen, Jr. brought in a brand new electronic drum set that he learned to play during recording sessions (interesting stories there: often there could only be one take because he wasn't sure what he did and couldn't recreate a sound) and the Edge applied a new technology to produce a different sound with his guitar. Adam Clayton is playing some of the best bass lines of his career here. It could be that he has finally learned to play his instrument (will he admit it?). Bono is stretching his voice and exploring vocal ranges and keys he has never tried before. This is U2's most experimental work since Pop, hands down.
Bono has said that Moroccan drummers were brought into studio and Eno hinted that other North African/Arabic musicians were brought in as well. In the end, most of their contributions were thrown out because it was feared that the end result would seem too self-consciously worldly. Both Bono and Eno have said that this material was probably the best to come out of the studio work in Fez and that it is a shame it couldn't be used. But it did serve as inspiration. Some of the drumming remains on the finished album as underbeats (listen closely) and the rhythms that permeate No Line On The Horizon are, for the most part, U2 and Eno/Lanois' interpretation of the North African sound. The result is exhilerating at times.
The densely layered positive effect of the music is balanced by subject matter. These are the darkest songs of U2's career. In the title song we are introduced to a girl who has walked the dark side and has come out all the more determined to capture the good side. Moment of Surrender is about a soldier who returned from Somalia as a broken man. Unable to reintegrate into civilian society, he turns to drugs. Then he introduces his wife to the substances. The song picks up his story at the point where he breaks down, begging God to forgive her since in his mind it's not her fault. Unknown Caller documents a man's descent into insanity. He finds himself in a hotel room and recognises he needs help, so he tries to call someone, but has no signal. As his final break with reality takes place his cell phone begins texting him instructions. White As Snow is the thoughts of a dying soldier. In Cedars of Lebanon, Bono takes on the voice of a war correspondent missing home and yet completely removed from it as well.
Cedars of Lebanon represents what may be the most striking departure of the album. U2 habitually end their albums with often short, melodic, overwhelmingly positive pieces. They have at times went to great pains to ensure this as when they wrote and recorded 40 in about ten minutes to close out War. Cedars of Lebanon, on the other hand, is anything but short or melodic. And it is anything but positive. The song is half-spoken cadences of meditative, pensive loneliness and ends with this rueful admonition: "Choose your enemies carefully cos they will define you, make them interesting cos in some ways they will mind you. They're not there in the beginning but when your story ends, gonna last with you longer than your friends." This is certainly the first time U2 have ended an album so abruptly and the effect is unnerving. It leaves one feeling the need to meditate on one's own life and story.
Despite the gravity of the lyrics, Bono claims that the over-all theme of the album is positive. The title signifies reaching for the future and disappearing in it, seeing no end to it, becoming it. In the book that accompanies one release version of No Line On The Horizon, Bono explains that the songs are all about the longing to go back and find that lost love- usually one's first love- that unforgettable person that one has left for whatever reason and still loves. This album is about the search in hopes of a reunion and a chance to have a relationship with that person again- a second chance.
This is the most meditative poetic work U2 has done since The Unforgettable Fire and Achtung Baby. The fusing of musical cultures is in itself worth it to me. While it has much in common with Achtung Baby, it differs in that more of the songs are fast-paced than was the case with its predecessor. I have debated for some time on which is the over-all better work between these two albums- which is serious enough in its connatations on its own since I have always considered Achtung Baby as being the best album in history. In the end, I must conclude they are equal, each being worthy for different reasons.
The boys (as their fans affectionately call them) have done it again. They have proved themselves every bit the equal of the Beatles. Rock on, boys!
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