There is no stopping U2
Intelligencer Journal
Published: Apr 03, 2009
18:37 EST

REVIEW: Music

It has been more than 20 years since U2 gained international superstardom with the "Joshua Tree" album and tour.

The group's popularity has proven to be unstoppable, and while you would think these guys are old and rich enough to put their instruments down and retire, U2 shows there is "No Line On The Horizon."

Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen are back with their latest studio album, released March 3.

The only preview of the new album was "Get On Your Boots," the music video available to Comcast subscribers a few days before the album was released.

"Get On Your Boots" has a great riff but still comes short of spectacular when compared to the second track, "Magnificent." Many listeners may wonder just after an album's release which song will be a hit. After listening to "Magnificent," I was certain this song would follow 2000's "Beautiful Day" ("All That You Can't Leave Behind") and 2004's "Vertigo" ("How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb") and take its place at the top of the charts. Only time, sales and radio play will truly tell, but I predict this song to be another monumental anthem.

There are other catchy songs on "No Line On The Horizon," such as the title track and the creatively named "I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight." The album also holds more experimental pieces like "Fez-Being Born" and "Moment of Surrender," incorporating the pop rhythms they used in the '90s. These two songs are long and will probably not receive much airtime, but they are not fillers. "Breathe" holds some of Bono's best lyrics and is semi-autobiographical when he mentions the "long line of traveling salesmen" in his ancestry.

U2 works relentlessly in creating innovative and deep songs for every album but has not allowed the band members' passion for artistic and meditative music to hinder its commercially successful songs. This balance between artistic music and pop music is the reason for the band's ability to not only maintain but to further its mass appeal.

A sister album, temporarily titled "Songs of Ascent," is expected to be released at the end of the year with some of the tracks that were cut from "No Line." The band recently finished a weeklong gig on "The Late Show With David Letterman," where it performed a song from the new album every night except for Thursday, when the group played one everybody knows: "Beautiful Day."

To give another glimpse of how big a new U2 album is, Mayor Bloomberg of New York City changed the name of 53rd Street to U2 Way for the week. With U2's success providing aid to Africa and New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, praise for non-humanitarian efforts has been put off for a few years until now.

With the new album out, the next excitement for fans was the tour announcement. But there was a plethora of disappointed fans March 10, when the band announced its 360 Tour. Initially the group only scheduled shows in New York, Boston, Chicago and Toronto. But as listed on the band's Web site, 11 more U.S. cities have been added, although the dates and ticket information have not yet been released.

From albums to iPods, U2 seems to become more popular with every effort, and it looks like this group has no intention of stopping any time soon.

E-mail: freestyle@lnpnews.com

source: lancasteronline