dr. zooeuss
War Child
I was curious to know what's the latest "official" word on the new music//album, etc and this is what a Google search turned up:
*** *** *** * *** *** ***
ALBUM NAME: unknown
PRODUCER(s): undecided; possibly Rick Rubin
ALBUM RELEASE DATE: unknown
FORMATS: unknown
TRACKLIST: unknown
POSSIBLE SONGS MENTIONED:
These are songs that have been mentioned in the buildup to U2's next studio album:
* "Love Is All We Have Left" - a song Bono named during his May, 2006, trip to Africa as one that he had recently written. "It’s like an old Broadway tune. I thought it was a Frank Sinatra song," Bono said.
* "North Star," a song from the How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb sessions which included a guest organ appearance from Michael W. Smith. In this CCM article, Smith describes the song as a tribute to Johnny Cash.
* "Mercy", one of the last songs to get cut from How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, described in Blender magazine as "a six-and-a-half-minute outpouring of U2 at its most uninhibitedly U2-ish"
* "Lead Me In The Way I Should Go" -- a contender for Atomic Bomb first mentioned in this February, 2003, interview with Bono in Grammy Magazine
* "You Can't Give Away Your Heart" - a contender for Atomic Bomb first mentioned in SPIN magazine
LATEST NEWS
April 21, 2007: Before a Music Rising auction in New York, Edge spoke about the band's new work with ABCNews.com:
"We are working on a lot of material at the moment, but I have to say, it's without any particular ambition, without having to think about where it's going to go, and we're really enjoying that. It's very liberating. We're making music just for the sake of making it, and some wonderful things are happening as a result. I'm really resisting the temptation to start thinking in terms of making a record, of finishing anything and putting a record out -- I want to keep this spirit going for as long as possible. Who knows -- we may end up with two or three albums at the end of it. But for the moment, we're just loving getting lost in the music."
March 29, 2007: Edge spoke about the current recording sessions with Rolling Stone magazine:
"We're working on new songs and getting lost in the music," he says. "I don't think we're going to try and think too much about what we're going to do with it yet, we're just going to do a lot of writing and just see what gives. We're giving ourselves the luxury of just working on the songs. There's some amazing things coming through." He calls the material the group's been working on with producer Rick Rubin "fascinating stuff." When asked whether the band will team up again with longtime collaborators Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno, he merely laughs: "You might be surprised how quickly that happens."
December 25, 2006: In an interview that airs on Christmas, Bono told BBC Radio 1's Jo Whiley about the U218 album and where U2 may be headed next:
"But when you do these collections, they are usually to mark the end of something, and our band has certainly reached the end of where we've been at for the last couple of albums. I want to see what else we can do with it, take it to the next level; I think that's what we've got to do."
You going to continue to be a rock band?
"We're gonna continue to be a band, but maybe the rock will have to go; maybe the rock has to get a lot harder. But whatever it is, it's not gonna stay where it is."
He also talked about Bruce Springsteen's recent music.
"He's amazing. There's real power there, in voice and the acoustic guitar. I would like to do a couple of tunes in that direction, with just a lot of space around the voice. I'd like to strip things down; that's something I'd be very interested in at the moment."
December, 2006: In the January, 2007, issue of Q magazine, Edge talks about U2's next studio album:
"Will there be a new record next year? We hope, but we don't know. We've got about five or six songs that are in good enough shape that we feel strong about them, but not in good enough shape that we could record them.
"It's going to be a very melodic record. It's interesting to me that some of the artists who were really glossed over in the early period of the band's existence I'm starting to 'get' more and more now. People like the BeeGees. You listen to their work now and think 'My God, how brilliant were they as songwriters?' but totally undermined by a lot of bad hair and living in Los Angeles or whatever.
"And some of the things that the Eagles wrote -- amazing songs. It's a new-found appreciation for pure melody. That seems to be what we're all interested in at the moment."
November 5, 2006: In a Sydney Morning Herald article, Bono talked about progress on a new studio album, saying "I think a U2 album will not be that far away, I hope. We've hit the vein, I think."
September 26, 2006: MTV news interviews Edge in New York, and reports that U2 plans to continue working on new songs with Rick Rubin, though no date is set for a new album. Says Edge:
"We've been doing a lot of work with Rick, and at this point, it seems to be going very well, so my guess would be yes, he's going to be producing our new record," Edge said. "We're still in the early stages, so it's difficult to say what will happen or what it will be like, but we've really been enjoying the sessions, and I don't see any reason why they should stop."
September 17, 2006: In a recent interview with TIME magazine, Edge was asked "if there's a new U2 album around the bend?" His reply:
"Noooo. Nowhere near. We're here with [producer] Rick Rubin and enjoying the chemistry, but we're nowhere near a timetable or anything. I will say that we're having a good time. And I have a feeling that because of Rick's presence it's going to sound very different. When people spend time with it, they'll pick up on a different spirit, and I think it is a departure. We don't want to spend a whole lot of time on this album, so hopefully we'll get on a roll and get it out there. But really, it's early days."
September 5, 2006: U2 arrive at Abbey Road studios in London to begin what's expected to be almost three weeks of recording with producer Rick Rubin
August 22, 2006: While at the Sarajevo Film Festival, Bono does an interview with Bosnian TV, and says a new album will be out in 2007:
"I would like to think that we're doing our best work now. We're about to make a new album for next year, and it's the most important thing. We like being in a room with each other. We like playing. Something happens when we play, we have some sort of chemistry. And Edge, right now, is on fire. He's really rockin'. He's playing guitar like I've never seen him playing guitar. So, I like to think that the best is yet to come."
August, 2006: Various reports suggest U2 will be in the studio in September with Jacknife Lee producing, and the team of Rick Rubin and Greg Fidelman mixing tracks at Abbey Road Studios.
*** *** *** * *** *** ***
ALBUM NAME: unknown
PRODUCER(s): undecided; possibly Rick Rubin
ALBUM RELEASE DATE: unknown
FORMATS: unknown
TRACKLIST: unknown
POSSIBLE SONGS MENTIONED:
These are songs that have been mentioned in the buildup to U2's next studio album:
* "Love Is All We Have Left" - a song Bono named during his May, 2006, trip to Africa as one that he had recently written. "It’s like an old Broadway tune. I thought it was a Frank Sinatra song," Bono said.
* "North Star," a song from the How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb sessions which included a guest organ appearance from Michael W. Smith. In this CCM article, Smith describes the song as a tribute to Johnny Cash.
* "Mercy", one of the last songs to get cut from How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, described in Blender magazine as "a six-and-a-half-minute outpouring of U2 at its most uninhibitedly U2-ish"
* "Lead Me In The Way I Should Go" -- a contender for Atomic Bomb first mentioned in this February, 2003, interview with Bono in Grammy Magazine
* "You Can't Give Away Your Heart" - a contender for Atomic Bomb first mentioned in SPIN magazine
LATEST NEWS
April 21, 2007: Before a Music Rising auction in New York, Edge spoke about the band's new work with ABCNews.com:
"We are working on a lot of material at the moment, but I have to say, it's without any particular ambition, without having to think about where it's going to go, and we're really enjoying that. It's very liberating. We're making music just for the sake of making it, and some wonderful things are happening as a result. I'm really resisting the temptation to start thinking in terms of making a record, of finishing anything and putting a record out -- I want to keep this spirit going for as long as possible. Who knows -- we may end up with two or three albums at the end of it. But for the moment, we're just loving getting lost in the music."
March 29, 2007: Edge spoke about the current recording sessions with Rolling Stone magazine:
"We're working on new songs and getting lost in the music," he says. "I don't think we're going to try and think too much about what we're going to do with it yet, we're just going to do a lot of writing and just see what gives. We're giving ourselves the luxury of just working on the songs. There's some amazing things coming through." He calls the material the group's been working on with producer Rick Rubin "fascinating stuff." When asked whether the band will team up again with longtime collaborators Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno, he merely laughs: "You might be surprised how quickly that happens."
December 25, 2006: In an interview that airs on Christmas, Bono told BBC Radio 1's Jo Whiley about the U218 album and where U2 may be headed next:
"But when you do these collections, they are usually to mark the end of something, and our band has certainly reached the end of where we've been at for the last couple of albums. I want to see what else we can do with it, take it to the next level; I think that's what we've got to do."
You going to continue to be a rock band?
"We're gonna continue to be a band, but maybe the rock will have to go; maybe the rock has to get a lot harder. But whatever it is, it's not gonna stay where it is."
He also talked about Bruce Springsteen's recent music.
"He's amazing. There's real power there, in voice and the acoustic guitar. I would like to do a couple of tunes in that direction, with just a lot of space around the voice. I'd like to strip things down; that's something I'd be very interested in at the moment."
December, 2006: In the January, 2007, issue of Q magazine, Edge talks about U2's next studio album:
"Will there be a new record next year? We hope, but we don't know. We've got about five or six songs that are in good enough shape that we feel strong about them, but not in good enough shape that we could record them.
"It's going to be a very melodic record. It's interesting to me that some of the artists who were really glossed over in the early period of the band's existence I'm starting to 'get' more and more now. People like the BeeGees. You listen to their work now and think 'My God, how brilliant were they as songwriters?' but totally undermined by a lot of bad hair and living in Los Angeles or whatever.
"And some of the things that the Eagles wrote -- amazing songs. It's a new-found appreciation for pure melody. That seems to be what we're all interested in at the moment."
November 5, 2006: In a Sydney Morning Herald article, Bono talked about progress on a new studio album, saying "I think a U2 album will not be that far away, I hope. We've hit the vein, I think."
September 26, 2006: MTV news interviews Edge in New York, and reports that U2 plans to continue working on new songs with Rick Rubin, though no date is set for a new album. Says Edge:
"We've been doing a lot of work with Rick, and at this point, it seems to be going very well, so my guess would be yes, he's going to be producing our new record," Edge said. "We're still in the early stages, so it's difficult to say what will happen or what it will be like, but we've really been enjoying the sessions, and I don't see any reason why they should stop."
September 17, 2006: In a recent interview with TIME magazine, Edge was asked "if there's a new U2 album around the bend?" His reply:
"Noooo. Nowhere near. We're here with [producer] Rick Rubin and enjoying the chemistry, but we're nowhere near a timetable or anything. I will say that we're having a good time. And I have a feeling that because of Rick's presence it's going to sound very different. When people spend time with it, they'll pick up on a different spirit, and I think it is a departure. We don't want to spend a whole lot of time on this album, so hopefully we'll get on a roll and get it out there. But really, it's early days."
September 5, 2006: U2 arrive at Abbey Road studios in London to begin what's expected to be almost three weeks of recording with producer Rick Rubin
August 22, 2006: While at the Sarajevo Film Festival, Bono does an interview with Bosnian TV, and says a new album will be out in 2007:
"I would like to think that we're doing our best work now. We're about to make a new album for next year, and it's the most important thing. We like being in a room with each other. We like playing. Something happens when we play, we have some sort of chemistry. And Edge, right now, is on fire. He's really rockin'. He's playing guitar like I've never seen him playing guitar. So, I like to think that the best is yet to come."
August, 2006: Various reports suggest U2 will be in the studio in September with Jacknife Lee producing, and the team of Rick Rubin and Greg Fidelman mixing tracks at Abbey Road Studios.
