New U2 Record This Week

I first heard U2 the summer between my eighth and ninth grade year - maybe 1983ish. I was at the pool, hanging around some sophomore girls - no comments, please - and they had their little boom-box with a cassette tape of "War" playing. I remember it being like nothing else I had heard up to that point. I bought the record, and after that, every new release became an event for me and my friends: running to Peaches Records on my lunch break to buy "The Unforgettable Fire" the day it was released (my sophomore year of high school); returning from my senior spring break to Florida and stopping at Musicland on the way home from the airport to get "The Joshua Tree."

This week, U2's new record, "No Line on the Horizon," was released. I have not bought it yet, however. These days I buy most of my music as mp3s from iTunes. U2 is an exception: I want the CD with the jacket. I have not had time to get it so I am definitely behind the curve this time around. But I am going to pick it up on the way home tonight. What I have done is record The David Letterman Show each night this week. U2 is the musical guest all five nights. I have seen two of the performances so far. And I continue to be impressed - with the music, the performance, with the ability to connect with an audience, and the passion for music that is so obvious. I know, it's no longer cool to like U2. I don't care. This band refuses to sit on its laurels. They evolve. This community of musicians called U2 are still hungry as artists - after 30 years of being at the top of their profession and craft. Their willingness to deconstruct and reinvent themselves - sometimes wildly overreaching - is amazing to me.

So, I'm curious...have you bought the record? I've read about six reviews, some very favorable, others mixed or negative. What do you think?

Comments

[Adam J]

I picked up the record on Tuesday morning while on the way home from work (the suspense of a new U2 record kills me). I've listened to it at least half a dozen times since picking it up and I will say that my first impression is that it's growing on me. I know I will like this record, maybe even call it my favorite U2 album of the decade and there's a small chance that it could be my favorite album of all time (jury will be out on that for at least a couple of years).

There's something very different about this album. It could be a couple of factors all coming in to play, like Lillywhite, Lanois and Eno all having work on this album. Possibly the fact that U2 let Eno and Lanios work with them on the lyrical side of the songs for the first time ever. I definitely sense a change in the tone of U2's seriousness level, they have become much more intense here. There's a spiritual side of this album that I always enjoy looking for when I pick up a new piece of U2's work and they don't dissapoint.

I look forward to the future when I can pick out specific songs that are the most "standout" on this album. Until then, I will enjoy the feeling of having a new piece of U2's work and revel in the unfamiliararity of these songs (something that only happens a couple of times a decade).

Sidenote: Tim, don't know if you check your "Inbox" on your facebook page very often, but I sent you an interesting review from a theological perspective on this new album. Thought that might be of interest to you.

[aaron m]

I have listened to it once in an uninterrupted fashion, and I must say the song writing on this record is the best since unforgettable fire, joshua tree and achtung baby..... maybe better.

There are so many moments where the tunes take turns you don't expect. And those shifts are riving to hear those shifts.

And that is not to disregard the last two records, I've loved the last two records.

[brad brisco]

Tim, I have listen through twice so far from yesterday's download (I too will also purchase the cd). I really like this album. So far I would say it ranks a close third behind Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby. I can't imagine it moving past those two as my favorites, but time will tell.

[Chad]

I had a six hour car trip yesterday and listened to to it seven times.

I think it is a great. It works really well as a complete album. The sequencing of the songs is really well done. I didn't like "Get On Your Boots" nearly as much until I heard it as part of the album. It is that kind of good.

St. Louis - October 1987 - Joshua Tree Tour - Bono, wearing St. Louis Cardinals Cowboy Hat, announces shortly before the encore that the Cardinals just lost the final game of the World Series and then said something like "I guess we will just have to play a little longer."

Bring on the tour.

[Tim]

Hey guys - thanks for the input. So I left work and as I said I would, I bought the record. But in a definite sign of my life-stage, I purchased it at Target while running an errand with my daughter for something she needed.

I have listened through it twice now and like it. I need a few more times to make any comments.

[eric reynolds]

I love it, Tim. And put me in the group that still is a huge U2 fan even though "it's no longer cool to like U2" as you say.

[Tim Keel]

Cool, Eric. BTW, Chad, I read what was for me some discouraging news about the tour they are mounting. Not at all what I was hoping to see. This is a link to the KC Star's music blog, "Back to Rockville."

http://backtorockville.typepad.com/back_to_rockville/2009/03/u2-tour-bigger-but-not-better.html

[Kelley Johnson]

Cool or not, I adore U2. And like you, the album release remains an event. I pre-ordered on amazon so the album arrived in my mailbox the day it was released, Nice! I have listened to it several times through and appreciate what they are aiming for. I agree, I appreciate that they are always growing as artists and not allowing previous success to box them in or clip their creative wings. Even the debut week was telling - all the promotion as if they needed to convince us... but they didn't take anything for granted! There are a few songs that take my breath away every time, other one-liners that I hum over and over and riffs that delight me with each hearing. I am not disappointed.