U2 -- No Line On the Horizon

8/10

*Sigh* U2's 2009 album, No Line On the Horizon, could have been a classic, among the band's best. Instead, it is merely very good. I want to stress before I start complaining about my favorite band that I really enjoy the majority of No Line On the Horizon.
The album kicks off with the jaunty, mystical, mysterious, and rhythmic title track. The song begins with a stunning breakout of effects-drenched guitar, rolling drums, and driving bass, and it evolves and permutates from there, from stunning, unexpected passages, to huge bursts of sound. It's one of U2's best, most intriguing album openers, and leads the way into what should have been the album's lead single, "Magnificent." "Magnificent" is essentially the perfect U2 song, mystical, mysterious, sensuous, and soaring, an uplifting moment of corporate worship that only U2 could create. What makes the song even better is that, as "U2" as it is, it actually progresses the band's sound and texture palette, while keeping a cohesion with the opener--there's a mist of ancient and exotic spiritualism here that could only come from a more wizened and world-traveled U2. "Magnificent" is followed by perhaps the crowning achievement of U2's 21st Century work, the seven-plus minute "Moment of Surrender."

Apparently, the band's goal when they set out to create this album was to make "future hymns," songs that could carry on for an eternity. "Moment of Surrender," at least up to this point in history, achieves that goal. Completely adlibbed by the band in one live take, "Moment of Surrender" should act as a blueprint for anything else U2 do for the rest of their career. Unfortunately, it seems, as the gaps between U2's albums grow longer and longer, the band have become perfectionists who overthink everything they put to tape to the point that they can't get anything done. The band even thought of tampering with "Moment of Surrender," as legendary producer, Brian Eno, stated to the Irish Independent, "These fucking guys, they're supposed to be so spiritual—they don't spot a miracle when it hits them in the face. Nothing like that ever happened to me in the studio in my whole life." Thankfully, the song here arrives mostly intact. Haunting, trancelike drums and bass groove underlie organ and piano, as guitarist, the Edge, eventually comes in to add the kind of ghostly, eternal guitar accents only he can create. Bono sings from the perspective of an ailing addict (for some reason, the band's most powerful, drawn-out songs are about drug addicts), as he has a moment of religious epiphany. It is incredible. It is my favorite U2 song.
And for another track, the band keep this going! "Unknown Caller" begins with bird song from the courtyard of the North African house where U2 recorded most of this, moving to a chiming guitar line, and a tom-heavy pattern from Larry Mullen, Jr. Bono's vocals soon give way to group singing, a mostly new development from the band that posits them as aged shamans of the rock world, the only four men who could create this music...and then the middle-third of No Line On the Horizon kicks the legs out from under the whole damn thing.
This trio of songs begin with the solid "I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight," which, while a decent song, has hints of modern trend-pandering in the chorus and doesn't quite fit with what came before. Still, this would only signal as a brief diversion, and not a "classic album" sinker by any means. Unfortunately, though, it's not followed by a return to the album's cohesive sound, but by U2's career nadir, the absolutely abominable "Get On Your Boots."

"Get On Your Boots" commits two cardinal sins: it sounds like four men in their late 40's who are trying to make people think they are cool, and it sounds like eight songs fighting against each other. It begins with a fuzzy hyperactive guitar riff that I can't tell apart from the one they used on 2004's "Vertigo." Then, the band go into a weird, bonky verse where it sounds like Bono is trying to rap. Not good. Next we get to the "wait, are you serious?" moment where Bono busts into the "Get on your boots, sexy boots!" refrain, before more lousy verse rapping. Then we get to the one moment that resembles the rest of the album, a Middle-Eastern scale group vocal in the pre-chorus. I maybe would have liked a song centered around that. Instead, the disaster proceeds full speed ahead, with a pre-bridge and bridge that sound cut and pasted from a different song, outside of Adam Clayton's guitar-echoing bassline. Meanwhile, there are goofy noises coming from every direction, and the song ends on a super lousy, half-hearted Bono "Hey, hey, hey." I can't mince words here. "Get On Your Boots" is embarrassing. I love U2 so much, but good grief, this song is indefensibly bad. The band inadvertently killed this album's sales by releasing "Get On Your Boots" as the lead single. Most of the American public responded with revulsion, and No Line On the Horizon suffered some of the worst sales of U2's career...which isn't fair, as it's far from U2's worst album. What a boneheaded error.

This out of place middle trio of songs ends with "Standup Comedy," which isn't terrible like "Get On Your Boots," but still doesn't fit with No Line On the Horizon's other eight tracks. They put all that work into channeling this wise, subtle, shamanistic energy, and on "Standup Comedy," here is Bono on a soapbox shouting, "Come all ye people/stand up for your love!" Ugh.

The album immediately gets back on track, with the deep, and experimentally mystical "Fez," which changes gears multiple times in exciting and unpredictable ways, and sees the band again visiting the "wise old guys singing together" well this album finds so much depth in. Next comes the gentle, yet powerful "White as Snow," an absolute stunner, which uses "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel"'s melody as its foundation. Lyrically, the song comes from the perspective of a man dying on a battlefield, and features some of the most impressive vocals Bono and the Edge have ever recorded together. 

Track 10 brings the album's climax, "Breathe," an upbeat song that actually fits the rest of the album. A background cello line and Mullen, Jr.'s drum pattern keep the North African vibe flowing, as Bono sings what could be the album's philosophical mission statement "There's nothing you have that I need/I can breathe," as well as "I found grace inside a sound/I found grace, it's all I found," which might be the most U2 line ever. Edge also plays a trademarked Edge solo in the bridge that's sure to get any U2 fan's blood pumping. It's the perfect climax. Dammit.

"Cedars of Lebanon" follows to close the album on a surprisingly stark note, a more quiet, muted song that ends up being the greatest possible finale No Line On the Horizon could feature. The group vocals return in a quiet fashion with the repeated line "return the call to home," and it sounds amazing. The song comes from the perspective of a morally conflicted and slowly depersonalized war correspondent, and ends with Bono singing acapella the realest lines this band have ever spoken, and my God, how I wish they weren't so true:

Choose your enemies carefully, 'cause they will define you
Make them interesting, 'cause 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

So there you have it, and I'm still angry. 

No Line On the Horizon could have been mentioned in the same breath as The Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby, and the band know it. Just look at their retrospective disappointment in interviews. If they hadn't chickened out on the original aims for this album, and stuck to their guns, they could have easily cut out the "We might be old, but we're still cool!!! Right? Right?!" midsection. Of the purported billion unused songs the band wrote for No Line On the Horizon, certainly two or three of them could have fit into that section instead--how about keep "I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight," then follow it with "Every Breaking Wave" and "Winter," two well-known songs from those sessions?

Would the band have enticed your basic teenager by doing what I suggested instead of doing what they actually did? No, but your basic teenager is not coming for this band, anyway. Hip teenagers in 2009 would have certainly given a critical triumph U2 album a chance, though, and longtime fans...longtime fans would have certainly embraced this album more. Instead, No Line on the Horizon is just a very good, compromised work, instead of the perfect classic it could have been...and I'm scared the band will never come this close again.

P.S.: Look how pumped this crowd gets during Edge's solo on "Breathe!" The band were going through a bit of a live renaissance here, with the NLOTH companion U2 360° Tour drawing rave reviews from critics and fans...including myself. I finally saw my favorite band on this tour, and I was not disappointed (my eight months pregnant wife probably could have done without all of Reliant Stadium's steps, though!). Great song selection, great production values, and an incredible performance. I wish the tour shirt still fit!

2009 Mercury/Island/Interscope
1. No Line on the Horizon 4:12
2. Magnificent 5:24
3. Moment of Surrender 7:24
4. Unknown Caller 6:03
5. I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight 4:14
6. Get On Your Boots 3:25
7. Stand Up Comedy 3:50
8. Fez – Being Born 5:17
9. White as Snow 4:41
10. Breathe 5:00
11. Cedars of Lebanon 4:13