No definite date on the horizon for new U2 album
A year or so ago, On The Record predicted that one of the landmark releases of 2008 would be an U2 album. Not for the first time, On The Record was wrong.
2008, though, was still a year with many U2 headlines. First, there was the hefty revamp and reissue of the band’s back-catalogue, albeit with poor sales for the lavishly-packaged CDs.
Then, there was that yarn about leaked recordings which surfaces every time there is a new album in the offing. This time, a fan was said to have taped new songs which Bono was blasting out from his house in France.
And finally, there are the ever-present rumours about live shows. The current ones include the story that U2 will do a secret show to launch the 02 venue in Dublin and talk of another three-night stand at Croke Park next summer.
Recording sessions for the album, which will kick-start all this activity, though, are still ongoing.
When Daniel Lanois was interviewed by The Ticket in May of this year, the producer said that recording for the album, which is believed to have a working title of No Line On The Horizon, still had a long way to go at that stage.
Talking this week to the Boston Herald, Lanois indicated that recording was still ongoing and that the new album would surprise fans. “The tracks are wildly innovative. I would never have thought things would have gone this way. I believe rock’n'roll has been reinvented one more time.”
U2 could still take a leaf out of Radiohead and Bloc Party’s book and rush-release the album before Christmas. However, it is far more likely that the album will be given an old-fashioned, all-bells-and- whistles release early in 2009.
That will be followed by a lengthy tour, which should allow their new partners at Live Nation to start recouping some of the huge advance given to the band earlier this year.
12:12 pm
I doubt U2 will pull a Radiohead as many of their fans are of the older non-download generation, and the record company will probably want to advertise it everywhere (like the back of a lorry the last time).
Comment by Ronan