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10.0
3112
10.0 |
Blender
They’re no longer apologizing for their messy emotions or their lofty ambitions. Ego really isn’t their enemy—it’s their instrument, and on No Line on the Horizon they just plug it in and play.
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10.0
3121
10.0 |
Rolling Stone
Bono knows he was born with a voice. He also knows that without Mullen, Clayton and the Edge, he'd be just another big mouth.
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8.0
3117
8.0 |
musicOMH
U2 have reached the point where anything they do will be, at least in some quarters, heralded as a masterpiece…
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8.0
3113
8.0 |
Daily Telegraph
Their 12th studio album is, like its immediate predecessors, less a record than an event, breathtaking in its ambition and its shimmering, mesmerising and sometimes outright volcanic sound.
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8.0
3124
8.0 |
The Irish Times
U2 are no longer constrained by perspective or depth, and are free to throw the colours and shapes around and see where it takes them. They may not be the safe home ground of old, but they’ve arrived at a pretty interesting place.
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8.0
3126
8.0 |
The Observer
Occasional irruptions of non-U fare are just not enough to make the world's biggest band into anything more pressing than that. Fans of Coldplay, Arcade Fire and Kings of Leon may find they already own it in instalments.
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8.0
3127
8.0 |
The Scotsman
Embraces all the existing sides of the U2 sound – the anthemic, the philosophical, the intimate, the mischievous, the spiritual – to satisfactory ends.
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8.0
3129
8.0 |
Uncut
It gets more difficult with every release to hear a U2 album as anything but a U2 album... but there’s something about it that suggests it may be one of their most enduring.
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8.0
5934
8.0 |
The Quietus
People less allergic to the full-blown Bono than myself do seem to agree with my claim that this remains U2's most intriguing album (alongside Achtung Baby, perhaps). The fact that I can stand to listen to it at all... is testament to its allure. I missed it first time around but am liberal enough to enjoy it here, now, in its state of unlikely relevance
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7.0
3118
7.0 |
No Ripcord
Nothing has changed. They don’t do it as well as they have on other albums but they are still preaching to the choir and the willing converts.
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7.0
3122
7.0 |
Spin
When surging vox and chiming guitar and frisky beat congregate in the proper spirit, U2 still inspire flashes of elation, awe, and yes, hope like no other rock band.
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6.0
3123
6.0 |
The Guardian
Guaranteed multi-platinum success will give them more confidence next time round. That's one of the privileges of life in the rarefied world beyond rock stardom: you always get another chance.
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6.0
3115
6.0 |
Evening Standard
It's a perfectly competent U2 album, but they really need to shake things up next time.
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6.0
3120
6.0 |
PopMatters
U2 may have rediscovered the art of subtlety, but when it comes to triumphantly uniting the world behind them, small gestures have never gone very far.
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6.0
3128
6.0 |
The Times
U2 come out of the traps sounding like, well, their old selves.
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6.0
3125
6.0 |
The List
U2 were still attractive enough a proposition a couple of years back to sell iPods, but are they still fit to fill them? On evidence of this, yes, for now, but only as long as they can stop being so self-consciously U2.
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5.0
3114
5.0 |
Drowned In Sound
Too much sounds staid and uninspired, again maybe due to the changing musical landscape that was going on all around them during the making of the record.
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4.2
3119
4.2 |
Pitchfork
Horizon is clearly playing not to lose-- it's a defensive gesture, and a rather pitiful one at that.
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4.0
3116
4.0 |
Independent on Sunday
For all its glaring faults... sounds big, expensive and important. For U2's core constituency, that will be enough.
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