As you might have heard, U2 put out their latest long-player, No Line On The Horizon, to mixed reviews. After reading a few dozen of these, I did some head-scratching, soul-searching, and critical listening and I think I’ve figured out the common tie that binds the minds of the pen-wielding pundits: Magic!
Big fans of big music love it like a drug. It’s gets ’em high, takes them to the next level. Opens the eyes, breaks open the head, transcends the temporal, touches the immortal. You know, it’s a trip. It’s Magic! We love it, and we bow down before it and the shaman that provides it.
The bands we love set expectations to provide this ecstatic experience with every taste of something new: The new single is the prophet’s latest epistle, the show is the ceremony where the rockstar is broken before you, collapsing on stage as one who has given his all for his art, for his fans. Amen brother. And if they let you down, it hurts.
U2 have tapped into that mystical magic as much or more than anyone else over the last 30 years. As Bono once said at the Grammy’s: “It is a gift, much more than it is a craft in our case. We depend on God walking through the room more than most. And God has walked through the room for us.” Their connection to the divine has always been there in the music, whether on the tip of Bono’s tongue or lurking in the back of Larry’s mind. Sometimes it comes out in a way that everyone can relate to (Pride In The Name Of Love! I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For! We’re One, But We’re Not The Same!), and sometimes it’s a little more personal.
And that’s what we’ve got on No Line: These songs grab your heart if your heart’s singing the same tune. They fall flat if it’s not. This last batch of tracks is a more focused thing, and it’s left some on the outside looking in, wondering what happened. For those on the inside, the magic is as real as it’s ever been.
Not to sound like I’ve got the world figured out, but those critics who love it are pretty comfortable when the focus is on God, and the reviewers left cold have their doubts about the whole thing. It seems that if you’re willing to listen with the Almighty on your heart, No Line On The Horizon is a beautiful thing.
Hey folks: The door’s always open. Come on in.
