Strange Goings On.....

I've been thinking about NLOTH and it strikes me that it is having a painful and messy birth (well I wrote about my U2 marriage, so now I'm writing about a U2 birth!).

First working for a year or so with Rick Rubin, then binning all that work to start from scratch again with Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois.

Then the rumoured release date is put back to March.

The proposed album cover is released to the public only for it to come out that the same cover picture, by Japanese artist Hiroshi Sugimoto, has already been used for Deupree and Chartier's Specification.Fifteen, released in 2006. How come U2 or their people did not know that? It certainly takes the edge off it (forgive the pun!).

Then the first single from the album Get On Your Boots is released for airplay 19th January with the accompanying video due to be premiered January 30th. The video is pulled at the last minute. Then a rough cut of the video appears all over the Internet, complete with Getty Images watermarks that were the reason the video was pulled in the first place. Someone messed up big time and we all saw it. Now, seven days later U2.com says the video will be premiered on their website before 5pm GMT. It's 4pm now so they've got an hour to get it on there!

The final mess (hopefully!) is that the single release of GOYB has been put back in some European countries. No explanation has been given for this so far. There are rumours that the single will be available for free download, what, after all that Paul McGuinness said about people stealing music from the Internet??? But that is just a rumour so maybe there's nothing in it.

So, No Line On The Horizon has had a difficult, almost chaotic birthing process. For a band like U2, who are very controlling, that's quite worrying. Let's hope the birth goes smoothly and new life of this album makes it all worthwhile.

Confirmed - Next U2 Album Out in Early 2009

Bono confirms that the next album won't be out until 2009 on U2.com here . He's waxing lyrical as usual and I like some of what he says such as.

"The last two records were very personal, with a kind of three piece at their heart, the primary colours of rock - bass, guitars and drum. But what we’re about now is of the same order as the transition that took us from The Joshua Tree to Achtung Baby."

I really hope that is true - I need music like that from U2! Strange though that Daniel Lanois said that the album was almost finished way back in June.

Let's hope the longer wait will be worhtwhile. And, the great thing for me personally, is that the album won't be coming out when I'm away on holiday in November!

U2's Album Almost Finished

Daniel Lanois has said in a Canadian interview that the U2 album is finished except for a few mixes. He said the album was different in many ways but, like Achtung Baby in the past, it pushes the known limits of sound. I hope it is as good as that second sentence suggests. So it looks like the band is on track for an October/November release - I'm getting so excited!

It's All Starting......

Daniel Lanois said in an interview on June 4th that the new U2 album is going great, all tracks are done, they are finishing vocals, and all the recording part should be finished in the next three or four weeks. He also said that the new album is one of the great innovative records from U2. Rumours are that it will be released in November this year which is the band's usual pattern.

Just hearing that has made me so excited! I love this time when a new album is on it's way and the anticipation builds. I so need an "innovative" album from U2 next time as I was a little disappointed with How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb. It was ok, but it didn't challenge me, it was safe and it didn't venture into any new ground. And they took one of the best songs they've done for a long time, Mercy, off the album. I knew when I heard that particular song that U2 still had "it" and I've a feeling I am going to be made to sit up and go, "What the ....." when I hear the new music. And that's exactly what I want!