WHY CARE: Um, it’s a new U2 album, “No Line on the Horizon.”
TRIVIA: Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois and Steve Lillywhite, the guys behind “Achtung Baby” and “The Joshua Tree,” produced the album.
STANDOUTS: Like on the previous album, the only truly memorable song here is the first single, the rollicking “Get on Your Boots.”
FANS DIG: Ireland
ANDY SAYS: U2 has become something of a parody of itself. Have your doubts? Listen to “Unknown Caller,” a bloated six-minute track that finds Bono in full rock god mode telling someone who is “speed dialing with no signal” to “go, shout it out, rise up.” Huh? Why? Hard to say. If I bought the hype, I’d say “No Line” split the difference between two great records, “The Joshua Tree” and “Achtung Baby.” It doesn’t. It feels like a band trying to re-create its best work and failing.
GRADE: C
“Oohs &Aahs” Say Hi
WHY CARE: Say Hi takes a step toward the mainstream, releasing its new album on Seattle’s Barsuk Records.
TRIVIA: Say Hi is one man: Eric Elbogen, a recent transplant to Seattle from New York.
STANDOUTS: The synth pop of “Hallie and Henry” works wonderfully. With a slight echo on Elbogen’s vocals, his lyrics blur together, as Hallie tries to get Henry off the couch with her harebrained schemes.
FANS DIG: The Stranger
ANDY SAYS: Say Hi made its name with peculiar songs about vampires. While this new album includes cameos by a monster, a recently deceased partygoer and a yeti, those quirky cameos are just the drapery that surround Elbogen’s characters. Really, his songs are about listening to late-night radio shows and feeling bleak in the wintertime. Each is as compact as a J.D. Salinger story, and often just as charming.
GRADE: A
Andy Rathbun: 425-339-3455, arathbun@heraldnet.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
