Discography
No Line On The Horizon
27 February, 2009 7
  1. No Line On The Horizon Lyrics
  2. Magnificent Lyrics
  3. Moment of Surrender Lyrics
  4. Unknown Caller Lyrics
  5. I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight Lyrics
  6. Get On Your Boots Lyrics
  7. Stand Up Comedy Lyrics
  8. Fez -- Being Born Lyrics
  9. White As Snow Lyrics
  10. Breathe Lyrics
  11. Cedars Of Lebanon Lyrics
Get the Album
share


Released on Saturday Feb 27th 2009 in Ireland, and in the rest of the world two days later, No Line On The Horizon, was the band's 12th studio album and their first since How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb, in 2004.

Recording began in 2007 in Fez, Morocco, where longtime producers Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois joined U2 as songwriting partners. Work continued in the band's own studio in Dublin, moved to New York's Platinum Sound Recording Studios before work was completed in December 2008 at Olympic Studios in London where Steve Lillywhite contributed additional production.

The album debuted at No. 1 in 30 countries with 5million copies sold by June 2009. The striking cover art features a photograph of Lake Constance by Japanese photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto - an image which inspired the writing of the title song. Special editions of the album also included Linear, a film directed by Anton Corbijn based on a story developed with Bono about a Parisian motorcycle officer. Corbijn described as ' a new way to listen to a record... and to connect to music.'

No Line On The Horizon was the band's 10th No.1 album in the UK and seventh in the US. Some critics loved it, some were less convinced. For David Fricke of Rolling Stone it was U2's best album since Achtung Baby in 1991 while Entertainment Weekly concluded that it 'speaks to the zeitgeist the way only U2 can and dare to do'. Andrew Mueller in Uncut said it was their 'least immediate album' but might become 'one of their most enduring.' Time, by contrast, called it 'unsatisfied'.

The album was nominated for Best Rock Album at the 2010 Grammy Awards, while 'I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight' was nominated for two other Grammy's. Rolling Stone made No Line on the Horizon best album of the year and 'Moment of Surrender' song of the year.
Release Date:
27 February, 2009
Produced By:
Brian Eno, Steve Lillywhite, Danny Lanois
Engineer:
Richard Rainey, Declan Gaffney, CJ Eriksson, Carl Glanville, Tony Mangurian and Dave Emery
Label:
Universal - Island Records
Recorded At:
HQ, Riad El Yacout in Fez, Platinum Sound Recording Studios in New York, and Olympic Studios in London

No Line On The Horizon VIDEOS

No Line On The Horizon News

25 Mar 2010
'Adding more?'
Not long now. In just a couple of months U2360° ...
19 Dec 2009
'Still Hungry'
'We're still capable of doing our best-ever album.' ...
15 Dec 2009
'Winter' Nominated for Globe
Winter', the track the band wrote for Jim Sheridan's ...
04 Dec 2009
'Winter' for Brothers
To mark the premiere of Jim Sheridan's movie 'Brothers' ...
02 Dec 2009
Triple Grammy Nomination
Nominations for the 52nd Annual GRAMMY Awards have been ...
ALL News Stories

No Line On The Horizon Reviews

11 Mar 2009
It's No.1
From Australia and Canada to the US and the UK, 'No ...
02 Mar 2009
Salvation in Adam's bass...
The reviews of the new album are coming thick and fast, ...
01 Mar 2009
'Absolutely Unsnobbish'
'They don't think that any forum is unworthy of their ...
27 Feb 2009
'Horizon' Arrives
No Line on the Horizon is released in Ireland today... ...
25 Feb 2009
'Unusual ideas and influences...'
The reviews of the new album are starting to arrive... ...
ALL Reviews

Soundbites

Buy digital album (MP3) from U2.com (US)
Buy digital album (FLAC) exclusively from U2.com (US)
Buy from iTunes (UK)


Buy from Amazon UK
Buy from Amazon US
Buy from Ireland


Get On Your Boots video

'We'd invited Eno and Lanois to come in as writers. It was a big step up for us to say, 'We wanna open the thing up and that will determine the direction.' From the first session Larry was performing on an electronic drum kit. Normally Larry drums so hard, it's very hard to spend hours working stuff up when you've got all this bang and clatter. But the electronic kit made him play in a certain way. So the music came from a different place.'
Adam

'Initially, the idea was to do this esoteric thing and have a few hits there as well. It's kind of morphed into something else. I think there is experimentation in there... it's just a different animal. It's not quite what people would expect a U2 experimental thing would be. I mean, if you think of Zooropa, or Passengers, this is not that. This has got a lot of weight... I think it's some of the best music we've ever written.'
Larry on recording in Morocco

'I want people to listen to it as opposed to just buying it. I want this to be an album people go back to, and really get into, in-depth. Like all the records I love... I think we've learnt a few things over the years... I think it could be a bringing to bear of all those eureka moments from the past. And I think it could be our best album.'
Edge

'...I allowed myself to wear the clothes of characters that wandered into my imagination. So the guy in (new song) 'Cedars of Lebanon' is a war correspondent. I meet a lot of them in my other life. And I have a lot of empathy because I'd probably be one (laughs). And then there's this song that is called 'Tripoli' at the moment, which is this guy on a motorcycle, a Moroccan French cop, who's going awol. He drives through France and Spain down to this village outside of Cadiz where you can actually see the fires of Africa burning...'
Bono On Writing in the Third Person

COMMENTS

7
manitowoc
19 August, 2013
No Line.....
I love this album, it took me a couple of listens, then I couldn't stop listening to it! I wasn't crazy about the first single "Boots", but when listening to it within the context of the the entire album it works well, and actually has become a favorite of mine. The title cut is a classic, and all of it just gets me going, like all of the U2 catalog. There are a few songs I like less than others, but that is the case on all albums. This a special album to me, and was glad so much if it was played on the first leg of the 360 tour. If it's not in your collection, get it, and don't be scared off by 1st listen.
bryanmoroney
28 September, 2012
bryan
I still think that No Line is not what it should be. Doesn't have the spirit of a great U2 album. For example, the lyrics of Unknown Caller let down a great piece of music. Lyrics are pretty juvenile. But then Ceders is genius I bought three copies over the first weekend of release and I've given them all away. First time the band has let me down. Please release something soon..
paoladegliesposti
29 August, 2012
No line on the horizon, to me.
'No line on the horizon', the title could sound intimidatory, a sort of warning and implicit the invitation to revisit the world of inner. Each song is like a slide. Real facts narrated in an accurate outlook. Sounds and rithmes extend to new destinations, melodies are finely structured. It may be an hyperbolic rock electronic album,surely an original and innovative one. It feels the spirit to make a point of the situation, to cultivate love for great values, to react positevely . ' I was punching in the numbers at the ATM machine I could see in the reflection A face staring back at me .At the moment of surrender Of vision over visibility I did not notice the passers-by And they did not notice me.( Moment of surrender lyrics). What we meet is not unique, but we are unique in our being. it's not a hill, it's a mountain As you start out the climb. ( No line on the horizon lyrics).The album counts eleven tracks :_ No line on the horizon, Magnificent, Moment of Surrender, I ll go crazy if i don't go crazy tonight, ' Get on your boots' , ' Stand up Comedy' , ' Fez Being born', ' White as snow', ' Breathe', ' Cedars of Libanon', they trace a path. ' These days are better than that'. ( Breathe Lyrics).
U2fan327
08 August, 2011
Great album!
Great album for short! Expecting more goodness in the future!
timo
03 May, 2011
Love it
Very cool album! Creeper, for sure.
anna10
09 November, 2010
"Rest of..."
Excellent suggestion. I love the songs you mentioned, as well.
filmfanatic
02 September, 2010
new version of "Breathe"
Apparently it aired today on 2DayFM... surprised there was no mention of it anywhere! It really is an underrated track, joining "Like a Song...," "Wire," "Acrobat," and "Gone" as forgotten U2 rockers. Maybe you guys should come out with a "Rest Of..."
Newer comments    1 - 7 of 7    Older comments