Whatever they say to hype their albums about reinventing themselves, going back to their roots, incorporating dance or electronica, U2 always end up sounding like U2. I wouldn’t have it any other way. But I can never remember the titles of U2′s previous two CDs. They weren’t bad and contained some great songs, but they weren’t memorable to me as albums. No Line on the Horizon is.

I’m not religious, I don’t bleed for Africa, I’m not keen on stadium rock. What turned me on to U2 was as much their military beat as a certain Celtic mysticism, their affinity with the European landscape, their singer’s do-or-die delivery and their big ideas.

For some fans, Achtung Baby is the touchstone in assessing a new album’s worth. For others it will always be Pop. My U2 is more ephemeral, present in moments found across their vast back catalog. You can hear echoes of these moments all over NLOTH.

“Moment of Surrender” reaches levels of intensity on par with “Bad” or “Please.” There’s a dash of “Van Diemen’s Land” with “White as Snow.” You’ll hear some Zooropa in “Magnificent” and “FEZ-Being Born,” the latter of which harks back to The Unforgettable Fire, while the first is the 00′s “Gloria”. “Unknown Caller” has roots in The Million Dollar Hotel. “Breathe” comes from the same songbook as “Gone.” And you may hate the single, but “Get On Your Boots” is probably their most Achtung Baby-like track in 20 years, and the title song borrows a riff from “The Fly.”

This is U2 doing what they’re best at: being U2. Except in “Stand Up Comedy,” where they attempt to be Led Zeppelin. Give it up, lads.

Boy
The Electric Co
11 o’clock tick tock
An Cat Dubh

October
Tomorrow

War
Seconds
Surrender
New Year’s Day

The Unforgettable Fire
The Unforgettable Fire
Indian Summer Sky
Wire
Exit
A Sort of Homecoming
Bad

The Joshua Tree
Exit
Red Hill Mining Town
Bullet the Blue Sky
b-sides:
Lumimous Times
Silver and Gold
Spanish Eyes
Deep in the heart
Walk to the water

Rattle and Hum
God Part II
Hawkmoon 269
b-side
A Room at the Heartbreak Hotel

Achtung Baby
Zoo Station
Love is blindness
b-side:
Salome

Zooropa
Zooropa
Stay
The First Time
Daddy’s Gonna Pay For Your Crashed Car

Pop
Mofo
Miami
Please
If You Wear That Velvet Dress

Passengers – Original Soundtracks 1
Your Blue Room

All That You Can’t Leave Behind
Stuck in a moment you can’t get out of
Kite

Best of 1990–2000
Electrical Storm

How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb
Sometimes you can’t make it on your own
A Man and a Woman

U218
Window in the skies

Not yet on Spotify, but will be there soon:
No Line on the Horizon
Moment of Surrender
Cedars of Lebanon
No Line on the Horizon
Magnificent
Fez-Being Born