In your honor, U2DMfan, I've taken a few posts I've found at random throughout the (very long) thread:
http://www.u2interference.com/forum...anything-about-the-new-album-here-188125.html
From page 9:
Originally Posted by waynetravis
What does the album cover look like?
The prediction:
There has not been a decision on the final album cover, and the photographs have not been finalized. I see a cover that is either black and white or something of the other extreme....that is to say, very, very colourful.
Originally Posted by Jim
Slow Loris you have me by the knackers with these readings!!
Questions:
Does the album lend itself to a more stripped back tour or a something at the other end of the scale?
What have the band been listening too that may have inspired them during the album session?
Cheers,
Jim
The prediction:
The album is stripped down in the organic sense of the phrase, yet there are heavy distortion and electronic effects throughout. The tour will be primarily a stadium tour, as the songs are very "big" and some are even epic. There are also very intimate moments on the album that are very stripped down. This album is extemely varied in style.
The band have been listening to everything from Led Zeppelin to Sufi Moroccan music. Their palette is deep on this record, and there are many influences from rock n' roll and celtic and arabic roots.
Also from page 9:
Originally Posted by MissAdamBomb87
1)If you could describe the album in terms of sound, how would you describe it?
2)Is there any significant or personal theme that relates to any of the band members?
3)Could you describe what the best song on the album will sound like?
The prediction:
Shiny and rythmic with plenty of style and dynamics. Cascading guitars tumbling down rhythmic foundations. Plenty of atmosphere, plenty of groove, melodies that won't stop playing in your head, melodies that take you out of the muddy feelings of life and back to the places where inspirations bloom. You will want to play this album in the garden before sunset....the smell of the roses and the sunlight intermingling as feelings, memories, and hopes and dreams wash over you. It's one of those albums.
I feel Adam is a a strong presence on this record, and in the way Bono wrote about some of Edge's emotional states on Achtung Baby, Bono does some of that with Adam on this record.
There are so many great songs on this album that are completely different to each other, that no one will agree on the "best" song. I don't really see that one standout track, though some will call 'Moment of Surrender' that song. A spiritual song with an emotional charge that will change the atmosphere and vibration of any room, and also the world, once it hits the airwaves.
From page 12 (this one really shocked me, as I believe there is infinite guitar on both 'Breathe' and 'Winter'
):
Originally Posted by windylad72
Yo Loris,
Does Edge use his infinite guitar on this one? Only used this for WOWY I think?
Anything to rival or beat Streets as an unbelievable get up and jump around in a Stadium song?
Cheers papa bear
The prediction:
Yes on both questions. It's mixed and produced to sound very different however.
From page 3:
Originally Posted by Roland of Gilead
The Slow Loris rocks! ...even it is slow. Nice to see you back.
I'm curious if this album will have a non-single with the spiritual power of the likes of Bad, Gone and Kite that turns into a monster in the live show. This is my kind of U2.
The prediction:
Yes, there will be a song that will raise the roof of any stadium, but will not be released as a single. The chant like chorus builds with an overpowering refrain that will encapsulate anything and everything around it into a frenzy of hair raising energy. Stadiums across the world will be shouting this song back to U2. The most unconventional, ecstatic song since 'Bad'.
From page 4:
Originally Posted by Rosebud
Obvious question:
Mercy?
please check yes __ or no __
The prediction:
The following are all from page 6:
please tell me Slow Lois -
Total references in "knees", "kneel", or "kneeling" on said album = ?
The prediction:
*gazes into a ball of Indonesian crystal...*
As the idea of grace is a big theme of All That You Can't Leave Behind, the idea of surrender is a big theme on this album...
Dearest Loris: Will the new album sound like Coldplay?
The prediction:
No. It will sound more Brian Eno than Coldplay, but mostly Lanois.
Originally Posted by Sleep Over Jack
Does the album have any really long tracks on it?
The prediction:
Following are from page 7:
Originally Posted by TheClash253
oh great slow loris, any idea how soon we might be hearing something official from this album?
edit: also, might that "all my life" song mentioned have anything to do with the spiderman musical?
The prediction:
Greetings humans! *Swinging wildly from the nearest branch*
You will hear something official within the next few weeks. I feel the song you are referring to will not be on this album. It is too good to discard, and will be a big hit on one of the side projects U2 will invariably come up with, possibly a soundtrack album.
Originally Posted by pacemaker
Do Larry and Adam love the album?
Any cool time signatures on the album (and no, 6/8 does not count)?
The Prediction:
Yes, they practically ARE the album. Sequencers abound
Originally Posted by rileybug
Dearest Slow Loris,
Will we get to hear the song that Michael W. Smith appeared on? Will it be on this album?
The prediction:
At some point, but not on this album.
Originally Posted by believer75
will this be a single or double album?
The Prediction:
Single album. It could have easily been a double or even a tripple. They may release more songs after the first release.
From page 16
(This pretty much describes the theme of the album cover and album title, No Line On The Horizon):
Originally Posted by ps333
Dear Slow Loris,
Any of the following on the new album:
-distorted or altered vocals?
-drum machine parts?
-"chingy" U2-esque guitar?
-string sections?
-thunderous african style drum work?
-drum beats with uncommon timing? ....atleast as far as U2 are concerned (i.e. intro to Where the Streets Have No Name)
-super stripped down song? (i.e. October or Wake Up Dead Man)
-songs referencing specific current world events, directly or indirectly? (if so, which events?)
Just wondering...Thanks a bunch!
The Prediction:
Yes, to some degree, to all of the questions. The rhythm section is allowed to experiment on this record...new timings, but no thunderous African drum work...African influenced, just not thunderous. I feel this album is sort of a calling out to the people to take a good hard look at themselves in the time we live in. It's an album asking us to surrender to ourselves so that we may surrender to each other...to put down our arms with open arms. A personal record, though camouflaged with the political. At the center of all things is where the line disappears...and this is the main theme of this album....surrendering to that place where the line disappears from the personal and the political. Like getting from the bark of a tree to the middle where the rings get so small they disappear...scaling back to the center of our lives..the political becoming the personal.
I think that should be enough examples for you, U2DMfan, to show that I at least got some of them right.... Can we hug it out now?