U2 - No Line On The Horizon (2009)

Based on my mild savaging of The Joshua Tree, one would expect that I harbor some infantile hatred of everything U2. Not so, Mssr. Pangloss. I actually love early U2 and find most of their remaining output to be beautiful little musical gems surrounded by middling corporate schlock. Case in point: No Line On The Horizon, yet another album that I and many people have bought at this point, out of nostalgia, awe, completionism, or just a simple pining for a good song. But make no mistake, this is no better an album than anything in recent years. "Get On Your Boots," by merits a sequel to "Vertigo," is okay, but what really gets me is "I got a submarine / You got gasoline / I don't want to talk about wars between nations / Sexy boots." Sexy boots? Sexy boots? Yep. It's actually more annoying when heard.

Anyway, that's my only real gripe. Everything else is business as usual: long boring filler ("Moment Of Surrender," "Unknown Caller"), excellent Edge guitar textures ("No Line On The Horizon" and "I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight") and my favorite song -- which every U2 album has -- the gorgeous "Magnificent." I love the the vintage tinkling guitar and chord sequences. It's a definitely a keeper and probably will sound great live. Otherwise, file it with the rest of their stuff and make sure not to kill yourself in trying to see them when they come around. C-

U2 - The Joshua Tree (1987)

This is sacrilege, I know, but I don't understand why this album receives as much praise as it does. I chock this up to our singles culture wherein people only remember the name of an album because of how many singles it produces. In this case, "Where The Streets Have No Name," "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For," "Without Or Without You," In God's Country" and "One Tree Hill" where more or less the releases in the US, UK and abroad. The first three singles are purely indicative of why U2 are truly great tunesmiths; the rest is truly unremarkable filler. Interestingly enough, these same three singles open the album; therefore, after "Bullet The Blue Sky," the fourth track, the album significantly plummets into oblivion. That was too abstract. It basically takes a sloppy wet shit. "In God's Country" tries to stop the bleeding, but let's face it, this album signifies the incontrovertible fact that U2 were too lazy to arrange the songs better, knowing quite well that the enormity and brand of their name alone would guarantee that people would listen to this album no matter how the songs were arranged. Then again, sorting five songs among eleven wouldn't make that much of a difference. It's a shame, really, because The Edge has some tasty riffs. C+