U2

U2's most lived-in record in a decade, No Line on the Horizon still might get thick with cornball one-liners, electro beats and chest-swelling grandeur, but there's also something here that's been out of U2's musical vocabulary for a while: subtlety. It sneaks up in a pair of six-minute supertankers, "Unknown Caller" and "Moment of Surrender," and creeps in amongst the surly sing-speak politicizing of "Breathe." The first two have an organic, dramatic arch that shows that these guys can be rousing without being unctuous. The last one reminds us of something that we'd nearly forgotten: U2 are still a great rock 'n' roll band.