3 1/2 years after we last heard from U2, they’re back. Get On Your Boots is the first single from their new album No Line on the Horizon, and you can listen to it here. My initial thoughts? Sounds like the boys are rocking harder than they have in years. Boots sounds a bit like Vertigo, the first single from their last album, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, but with a little bit more stank on it. All in all, a solid welcome back for Bono and the boys. Now, what do YOU think?
There was a collective sigh of disappointment among U2 fans when the Irish supergroup announced that they were not going to put out an album this year, although the reasoning behind it (“umm…we’re not ready”) was sound enough. At any rate, our patience has been rewarded, as it has recently been confirmed that the band’s upcoming album, entitled No Line on the Horizon, will be released in the U.S. on March 3rd. New Line will be the followup to 2004’s multi-Grammy winning behemoth How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb. As a longtime U2 fan who is grateful that they got their mojo back after a couple of mediocre 90s albums (Zooropa and Pop), I’m certainly looking forward to this release, although this Billboard article states that one song will feature will.i.am. Groan. Also according to the article, this album will be available in five different configurations-including one that carries a $96 price tag. What? Bono, don’t you know we’re in a recession?
From an instrumental standpoint, New Year’s Day is one of the best U2 singles in a career filled with great singles hell, and great abums too!). It’s insistent as all hell. Adam Clayton’s bass bears down on the track and The Edge’s piano gives the song an eerie feel. According to Wikipedia (man, this countdown would not exist if it weren’t for Wikipedia), the song was inspired by the Polish solidarity movement, although Bono initially began to write it as a love letter to his wife. Either way, it’s the centerpiece of U2’s first truly great album (War), and one of the greatest songs from the legendary band’s first decade.
New Year’s Day has always been my personal favorite holiday, because I’m weird of the promise of a clean slate. Amid the insistence of the instrumentation and the emotion of Bono’s vocal, there’s a glimmer of hope for a better tomorrow that peeks through and makes the song extra special.