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.

What Video?

Well it was the video that never was premiered that most of us got to see! The official premiere was cancelled, an official statement on the Irish Independent website saying the video wasn't quite finished. Then a friend sends me a copy of the video, huh? And I look online and it's all over the place, as fast as it gets pulled from one site it appears on another.

The eagle eyed fans amongst us noticed that on a few clips there are Getty Images watermarks, was that why it wasn't released, copyright restrictions? Who messed up there? Then other people noticed, shock, horror, an uncovered nipple, maybe that was why it bit the dust? Of course it could also be one of their now famous "leaks," just that this time it was video instead of music. We'll probably never know, but whatever the reason it was a big mess. You don't expect something like this to happen with a band like U2.

Having said that I LOVE the video! You could watch it a hundred times and still see something new. I love the colours, the Hubble-like images at the beginning, it's artsy, clever, without being pretentious and celebrates women in all their guises (which is what Bono said the song is about though I'd never have guessed!). The band look great, especially Bono without his shirt!! Here are a few screen captures.