This is a record full of the band’s stories and triumph, memory and confession detonated with adventure and poise. In its range of sounds, there may be no more complete U2 album.”I have a will for survival,” Bono sings in the closing track, “The Troubles.” Songs of Innocence is the proof – and the emotionally raw rock album of the year, at any price.

IT WAS THE biggest story in rock and roll all year and, despite being maligned to the extent that many didn’t want it for free, U2′s newest album Songs Of Innocence has been voted the best of the year.

That is the verdict of Rolling Stone, once seen as the authoritative voice on contemporary music.

Bono and the lads reminding Springsteen where he came. Source: Markus Schreiber

In their rankings for the top 50 LPs this year, the magazine says that U2 “put their lives on the line” making the album.

Bono, the Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr. put their lives on the line: giving away 11 songs of guitar rapture and frank, emotional tales of how they became a band out of the rough streets and spiritual ferment of Seventies Dublin. This is personal history with details.

The magazine had given the album a five-star review upon release, with NME, Pitchfork and the Chicago Tribune all slating it.

With Bruce Springsteen’s High Hopes in second, reaction has been…unfavourable.

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The rest of the top 10 list is:

1. U2 “Songs of Innocence”
2. Bruce Springsteen “High Hopes”
3. The Black Keys “Turn Blue”
4. St Vincent “St Vincent”
5. Miranda Lambert “Platinum”
6. Charli XCX “Sucker”
7. Lana Del Rey “Ultraviolence”
8. Run the Jewels “Run the Jewels 2″
9. Mac DeMarco “Salad Days”
10. Taylor Swift “1989″

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Read: Bono named ‘least influential person of 2014’ in major burn by US magazine