It's all about the packaging. I've always said that that's one of the things that has helped kill the record industry. When we went to CDs we should have never lost the album packaging. All those great gate fold covers, Poster inserts and extras......you can't download that stuff. Oh well, what's done is done and I guess there is no going back.
This brings us to U2 who has released their latest album "No Line On The Horizon" in 4 different versions:
The Standard Jewell Case Edition will include a 24 page booklet along with the CD.
The Deluxe Digi-Pack edition will include a 32 page booklet, Fold out poster, and the film "Linear" as a digital download.
The LP version features 2 vinyl discs in a folding sleeve with 16-page over-sized booklet
Then there is the Limited Edition Box Set this features the aforementioned digi-pack edition minus the download of the movie "Linear" because the movie has been included as a DVD. Also included is an additional poster and a hard cover book.
I will talk about the music later, but this review is about the tactile experience of this limited Box Set Edition......In other words, the packaging.
First of the all this Digi-pack edition bears at least one difference from it's stand alone counter part. It features a cool clear plastic sleeve with a simple opalescent graphic that improves the albums cover art. Speaking of which, let's talk about the cover.
I love U2, but this is the weakest album cover art that they have ever featured. Getting past that, the rest of this digi-pack is a handsome package. It's a 4 way gatefold. The booklet includes lyrics and plenty of images to keep your eyes busy while you listen with headphones. The insert fold out poster is two sided. It is very nice, but I know that you will never detach it (it is attached with an adheasive) and hang it on your wall. You will keep it in the case and look at it from time to time. One side of the poster features a beautiful full color picture that (in my opinion) would have made a better cover.
If I had to choose between the standard CD and this version, I would choose the Digi-pack edition.
The Second (exclusive stand alone) poster is a poster of album cover art, since I didn't care for this cover, you can guess how much I liked this poster. But it is two sided and the other side features U2 in a classic band against the wall picture.
The hard cover book is quite beautiful. It features exclusive (to this book) one on one interviews with each member of the band. It also features tons of beautifully reproduced high quality photos. Some of which features Bono's hand written lyric sheets.
The DVD is an original film entitled "Linear" by Anton Corbin (U2's photographer). The DVD liner notes describes the film as a silent movie set to the album's music. The idea was to give listeners some moving visual images while they listen to the album.
The films story follows a journey of a disillusioned motorcycle officer in Paris France who burn his motorcycle and then starts on a trek across Europe.
Now what's interesting about this DVD is that this DVD features 11 tracks, just like the CD. BUT - two of the tracks are not on the CD, so you get two bonus U2 tracks on this DVD.
This film is not going to win any film festival awards (but that's not the intent of course) it's a long form music video and you can play the movies soundtrack or turn the sound down and play your CD version which will feature the songs in a different order (plus the 2 tracks not on the DVD).
One thing I want to add is how the box is designed. It's brilliant in it's simplicity to the point where you would think that the folks at Apple Computers designed it. When you open the box, & instead of everything being stuffed into at the same level, the box's lower half is layered and compartmentalized so that everything is staggered upwards. This makes it easy to pull out the item that you want to look at. I think that it will also help protect each individual item.
It is probably the most handsome of any deluxe package that u2 has put out for one of their albums.
Here is what I don't like about it: I wish they included the downloadable version of the film that came with the stand alone digi-pack edition. It would have been nice to put it on your ipod and would have cost nothing extra since it just means including a little coupon with an access code.
Whether you choose this version or one of the less expensive version depends on the level of fan you are. What you get that is different from the stand alone digi pack version is the film "Linear" on DVD, an extra poster, the hard cover book, and of course the fancy package.
If you are going to get the this deluxe box set version I would recommend you do it while online resources like Amazon have it for 32 % off. It won't be around forever and it will go up in price once it's sold out and starts popping up on ebay. But like I said, it all depends on the level of fan you are.
Get the limited edition Box set of no Line On The Horizon here
OK, I need to listen to the album a few times so I can write my review (hey I only just got it today).
But for now read Robert's Review of the album.
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