No Line on the Horizon

So U2's new album (do we even say "album" anymore?) is out. I'm finally listening to it for the first time, just letting ITunes pick the running order. I don't know how ITunes does this-when I try to listen to a comedy album, which needs a sequence, ITunes just can't seem to handle that idea. Plus I'm not sure the concept of a running order makes any sense these days.

Remember running order? Originally, of course, albums had literal sides-they were big hunks of black vinyl that you literally had to flip over to listen to the other side of. Like Led Zeppelin IV-Black Dog, then Rock N Roll, then Battle of Evermore, then Stairway to Heaven, and then the mighty thump, track one side two, of Misty Mountain Hop. I can't remember the rest off the top of my head. But there was a texture to an album, to the journey it took you on.

So far, the U2 album is fine-I'm not over the moon about it, but I think the single ("Get On Your Boots") is better than some reviews are saying. It's hard to judge, this being literally my first listen. But I like it.

IGN published a ranking of U2 albums (http://music.ign.com/articles/958/958918p3.html) which was fair, but it underrated an album that is far and away my favorite, Rattle and Hum.