Maps of Music

No Line on the Horizon (2009)

Where the lyrics of No Line on the Horizon take you, and where it was really made.

The band promised its most experimental album since Achtung Baby, but many critics found it was not as experimental as suggested.

Key places

Two weeks in a Fez riad (2007)

Recording site Riad El Yacout — U2, Eno, and Lanois rented the riad of the hotel Riad El Yacout in Fez for two weeks and turned it into a makeshift recording studio. The songs written there were recorded in one take each. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Dublin sessions after Fez (2009)

Recording site STS Studios — After leaving Fez, the band recorded at Hanover Quay Studios in Dublin. The point is placed at city-center level, not at the studio building. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

New York sessions (2009)

Recording site Platinum Sound Recording Studios — After leaving Fez, the band recorded at Platinum Sound Recording Studios in New York City during the sessions that followed. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Final touches in London (2008)

Recording site Olympic Studios — In December 2008 the band returned to Olympic Studios in London to put the finishing touches on the album and make several changes to its content. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• No Line on the Horizon: twelfth studio album by Irish rock band U2
• Produced by Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois, and Steve Lillywhite
• Released 27 February 2009 in Ireland, 2 March in the UK, and 3 March in North America
• First record since How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb (2004), the longest gap in the band's career to that point
• The band first planned two EPs titled Daylight and Darkness, then combined the material into one album
• Anton Corbijn's companion film Linear was released alongside the album and included with several special editions

Background

• In 2006 the band began a follow-up with Rick Rubin, but shelved most of that material
• Rubin's back-to-basics approach conflicted with the band's freeform recording style
• In May 2007 new sessions began with Eno and Lanois in Fez, Morocco, during the World Sacred Music Festival
• Bono invited the bandmates and the producers to write songs meant to be played forever
• Tired of writing in the first person, Bono wrote lyrics from the perspective of different characters

Recording

• Two weeks in the riad of the Riad El Yacout hotel in Fez, turned into a makeshift studio
• Many songs from the Fez sessions were written there and recorded in one take each
• Later sessions took place in Dublin, New York City, and London, with Lillywhite producing a few tracks
• The band scaled back its experimental direction as the sessions went on
• Recording ran through December 2008, and the release was delayed after 50 to 60 songs were composed

Cover

• The cover photograph of Lake Constance was taken by Hiroshi Sugimoto; titled Boden Sea, it is one of 200 pictures in his Seascapes collection
• The image inspired Bono's lyrics for the title track
• Original releases had an equals sign over the middle of the cover; later releases showed only the image

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• U2 are an Irish rock band formed in Dublin in 1976 by teenage pupils of Mount Temple Comprehensive School.
• Members: Bono (lead vocals), the Edge (guitar, keyboards, vocals), Adam Clayton (bass), Larry Mullen Jr. (drums).
• The band was first named Feedback, then The Hype, and in March 1978 took the name U2.
• They won the Pop Group '78 talent contest in Limerick and signed with Island Records in 1980.

Career

• Debut album Boy (1980); War (1983) was their first UK number-one album.
• The Joshua Tree (1987) made them international stars and was their greatest critical and commercial success, selling about 25 million copies.
• The band reinvented their sound in the 1990s with Achtung Baby (1991) and the Zoo TV Tour.
• Their 2009–2011 360° Tour held records for the highest-grossing concert tour until 2019.
• In 2023 they released Songs of Surrender and began the U2:UV Achtung Baby Live residency at Sphere in Las Vegas.
• Estimated record sales: about 170 million worldwide; 22 Grammy Awards; Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees (2005).

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• No Line on the Horizon received generally favourable reviews
• Metacritic average score of 72, based on 30 reviews
• Rolling Stone's David Fricke gave it a five-star score
• Pitchfork's Ryan Dombal gave it 4.2 out of 10
• Time Out Sydney said the album was Brian Eno's new album rather than U2's
• Many critics noted the album was not as experimental as previously suggested

Reappraisal

• Bono said he believes No Line on the Horizon was flawed because the progressive-rock virus had crept in
• The Edge said the band should have presented the album as an experimental work
• Mullen called the release of Get On Your Boots as lead single the beginning of the end

Records

• Debuted at number one in 30 countries
• UK: 157,928 copies in the first week, U2's tenth number-one album
• US: first-week sales over 484,000, U2's seventh number-one album
• Certified platinum in Brazil within one week of release
• Over five million copies sold worldwide by June 2009
• Nominated for Best Rock Album at the 52nd Grammy Awards
• Ranked best album of 2009 by Rolling Stone

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Universal Music Australia's online store accidentally released the album for digital sale on 18 February 2009, almost two weeks before the scheduled date
• The Boden Sea photograph had earlier been used by Richard Chartier and Taylor Deupree for their 2006 album Specification.Fifteen
• Sugimoto's only condition was that no text could be placed over the image
• The album is dedicated to Rob Partridge, who signed the band's first record deal in 1980
• The band struggled to complete Stand Up Comedy, which had been in progress since the Fez sessions 16 months earlier

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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