With their spacey guitars, politically conscious lyrics and relentless work ethic, U2 has become one of the most popular bands ever. With their 2004 album, “How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb,” U2 sold nine million albums, earned eight Grammys and embarked on one of the most successful world tours in music history.
U2 will attempt to match that success with their latest effort, “No Line On The Horizon.” On their new album, the Irish rockers stick to the formula, which is the lack of any particular formula.
Sure, the group’s guitarist still uses guitar tones that sound from outer space and singer Bono still sings about social and political revolution, but their music continues to grow and spout in different culturally influenced directions.
U2 began work on the album last year, laying down tracks in Morocco.
The city’s influence is evident in the African style, underlying tribal beat and steel guitars on the album’s opening and title track.
Bono, emotionally charged as always, screams above a running bass line and Bowie-esque guitar.
“No Line On The Horizon,” manages to mix the group’s 1980s stadium, post punk rock with their early 1990s dance songs and track song rolls right into the next comfortably.
This is no surprise considering the group had help from star producers, Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois, who also produced U2’s landmark albums, “Achtung Baby” and “The Joshua Tree.”
Morocco was just the first stop of many in the recording of “No Line On The Horizon.” U2 continued to set up shop in their Dublin studio, Platinum Sound Recording Studio in New York and London’s Olympic Studios.
U2 even draws from newer modern rock styles, like the hazy chorus on the track, “Get On Your Boots,” which sounds strikingly familiar to stoner rockers Queens of the Stone Age.
“Get On Your Boots,” the album’s first single, bares a similar format to their previous hit, “Vertigo,” with aggressive guitars and floor-shaking drums, but Bono steers from his usual lyric writing with lines like, “I don’t want to talk about wars between nations, not right now.”
“Stand-Up Comedy” sticks with the aggressive style, but with a monstrous Zeppelin-esque guitar riff. In the song, Bono begs optimistically for people to “stand up for their love,” claiming he’s a dictator of the heart.
The album’s songwriting sticks to the long-lost hippie theme of love above all else.
Lovers of music and fans of U2 will appreciate the steps that they take to continue pioneering their own genre of rock ’n’ roll on “No Line On The Horizon.”
The group and its producers continue to click, they continue to take the steps needed to make their albums better, or at the very least, different from the last.
As always, Bono’s got a message worth hearing.
By HUNTER EMBRY
Staff Writer
ahembry@ius.edu
