A new U2 album drops today, as I’m sure you all know since you frequent this site. (Tip: Amazon is selling the MP3 download for $4) Word on the street is that it’s one of two albums the band will release this year. That’s like having a double Christmas.
As excited as I am, I’m not going to officially review/reflect on the album on this site. Enough words will be written about the album, and my guess is that I’ll just gush and man crush over it if I sit down to write my reflections. No need to publicly ask Bono to kiss you on the mouth, if you can help it. That could come back to haunt you during future job interviews.
What I will take this opportunity to do is stretch my lanky arms far behind me and pat myself on the back.
As of this moment, I have yet to listen to a single second of No Line on the Horizon. Not that I have been devoid of opportunities. Clips of early songs blasting from Bono’s house were on Youtube a few months back. The first single streamed from a European radio station in the middle of the night to debut the album. One friend sent me a link to listen to the entire album on Myspace last week. Another friend sent me a song via email last week and offered to pass on the entire album.
Though I very much appreciated (and was tempted by) the kind offers, my answer to early listens was always “no thanks”. I decided early on that I was not interested in any online previews. There is this romantic part of me that wanted to wait until the official release and then listen to a high quality physical copy of the album on quality audio equipment. It’s the same romantic streak that caused me to stay away from all previews of Return of the King until I could watch the entire movie. I had a deep desire to not have any of the experience spoiled for me by knowing what might happen. I went to such great lengths that when I went to see the Lord of the Rings Trillogy on the opening day of ROTK, I closed my eyes, plugged my ears and hummed to myself when the ROTK previews rolled prior to the first two movies. If I hadn’t been hanging out with hard-core, costume-clad fans who had camped out to get the best seats in the theatre, I’m sure people would have made fun of me.
In the end, my U2 fast had the added benefit of helping my relationship with my wife. For my birthday she preordered the deluxe No Line on the Horizon multimedia pack. She knows me and loves me enough to get me the present I most desired for my birthday. It probably would have killed the moment if I would have responded to the gift by telling her how great the album is as I have already listened to it 20 times.
My relationship with U2 reminds me of the mantra repeated in youth groups all across the land:
True Love Waits. If you listen to the album before it’s release date, it’s like having all of those listens with you in your headphones when you finally open your copy and pop it into the cd player. Plus, downloading music ahead of time can get you a virus. And if you want a brand new mint-condition cd that nobody has listened to before, shouldn’t you have the decency to not listen to other forms of the album? Just sayin’.
Renew and Restore
