U2 Fan Club

After nearly five years since their last big hit, U2’s fans have a lot to cheer about with the release of “No Line on the Horizon”. The long gap however, may not be all that surprising since U2’s history has always been characterized by significant gestation periods between their successive releases. Since 1976, U2 has released just twelve studio albums, with four of them coming in the first five years. It says a lot about U2’s efforts to create soulful music that has managed to touch many million hearts worldwide.

The basic idea for “No Line on the Horizon” came nearly 2 years back, when the band was contemplating its next move and was thinking on the lines of creating something esoteric to gel with their soulful music style and essence. Band members admit that there were a lot more experimentation involved in the making of this album, even though they were not sure as to how fans would react to their new music style. Things eventually have turned out in their favor, as can be seen from critical reviews, most of which classify U2’s latest release as some of the best music ever created.

The music used in “No Line on the Horizon” is in fact a lot different in comparison to earlier works of U2. It does not even reflect anything that is happening at the moment, but still band members and fans alike admit that they are more than impressed with this new kind of music that combines the essence of rhythmic beats of Moroccan country music and western rock ‘n’ roll. In the process of creating this album, it appears that U2 band members have managed to uncover the unexplained connection that does exist between North African music and that of the United States.

“Get On Your Boots” was the first track created for “No Line On The Horizon”, the essence of which was captured brilliantly in the video shot by Alex Courtes, a well known French film maker and artist. It was only through this video that reviewers were able to better understand as to what this album was all about and the core message it intended to deliver.

Co-writer Brian Eno, however, feels that of the hundreds of songs he had come across in his career, the “Moment of Surrender” has been his best experience ever. He says that this song, which is the third track in the album, has undergone very little editing and appears in the final release in quite the same it was originally recorded and played for the first time.
The single, “White as Snow” has also received rave reviews, with one leading newspaper branding it as one of the best ever created by the band. The song’s music appears to be inspired by an old composition that goes, “Oh Come, Oh Come, Emmanuel”, supposedly created by an anonymous author, way back in the eleventh century AD. The song captures the conflicting thoughts of a soldier approaching death, about his life, the choices he made and the ones he avoided.