New album in the works while in NZ and Australia

[Inner El Guapo]

All due respect...AB is often considered a dramatic departure (for U2) by people who know what they're talking about. Sorry, the more I say, the more condescending I'll be. I'll leave it there.

 

[Vlad n U 2]

so after 58 pages, when is the new coming out?

It seems like it'll come out around May.

 

[ozeeko]

All due respect...AB is often considered a dramatic departure (for U2) by people who know what they're talking about. Sorry, the more I say, the more condescending I'll be. I'll leave it there.

Lol, which poster was this directed at? Please, go on...

 

[coolian2]

we've gone full circle and we're back onto achtung baby.

why can't we ever have a great big circle jerk over the studio tracks from rattle and hum?

 

[mama cass]

I didn't say anything about R&H foreshadowing AB. I said that some of AB's songs could have arguably fit on R&H or JT.

And I agree, some of JT songs could have fit very nicely on AB, especially some of the b-sides. However, the darker tone of R&H does blend better with some of the darker elements on the second half of AB.

sorry, but i can't see that at all...

 

[U2girl]

Didn't Adam also say that NLOTH ended a trilogy and this is an new area for them?

And he was right.

It is interesting how the manager says album will be out by May (US tour dates) and now the producer said he's "wrapping up" - and nothing from the band.

 

[purpleoscar]

It is interesting how the manager says album will be out by May (US tour dates) and now the producer said he's "wrapping up" - and nothing from the band.

I'm sure the mastering process and advertising will take up the rest of the time.

 

[Earnie Shavers]

Mastering doesn’t take too long. It’s the marketing planning (and action), and production planning (and action) that will take up all the time and effort from now.

 

[JamietheEdgefan]

What do you mean by production planning?

 

[dan_smee]

Physical production (making cd's in factories and cd covers etc), not twiddling studio knobs

 

[zoopop]

There is a nice little break between San Paulo, April 13th and Mexico City, May 11th.

I'm thinking new album May 3rd or May 10th. This gives U2 the opportunity to discuss/promote new album while in the US.

I just want some new music from these guys. Were going on 2 years since NLOTH



I would like to add if you add South Africa, South America, and the US, Leg 5 will be the biggest leg of the 360 Tour. Surely they have to put some more material out

 

[Earnie Shavers]

Yep, the physical production and distribution. Marketing planning/delivery. Publicity planning. Design. etc etc. This might not have been all done at a regular pace either. I mean, they’ve been on and off working on material since the tour began, but they might not have sort of hit “Right, its looking like an album!” gear until only in the last few months. A lot of the creative/marketing stuff can and would be worked on as they are working on it in the studio, and a lot of it would be when they know what they are doing – they know they are off tour, they’ve had a break, the job is to release an album in 12-18mths, we can pace the workload. But with this one, that might not be the case. They've been mostly on tour, and might not have made a final "go for it" decision till October/November-ish?

At some point an album title is picked. At some point an artwork concept is conceived – and this U2 so there’ll be a new logo and font concept, no doubt. Sometimes these are all related, sometimes not, so perhaps no movement there till there was a title, and perhaps there wasn’t a title till (near) the end. At some point they’ll work out what they want to do with the release – Single CD, Download, App maybe? Or multiple CD versions (this is U2!) including some super swanky overpriced thing that will require special design, materials sourced from somewhere (Book? Poster? Film? Weird transforming holographic cover made of rare space goo material or something?), and production of its parts completed somewhere and perhaps assembled somewhere else – and can all markets put this together themselves, or will some have to import? Will the release strategy be standard, or something new and tricky? Will there be partners on board? What do they need? There’ll need to be publicity photos shot, promo videos recorded, EPK’s designed and put together. All awaiting art concept, to be confirmed. At which point agencies are engaged. Advertising is created, from billboard to banner, distributed, booked. There’ll need to be global release scheduling – probably already well and truly locked in if Paul McG was talking about firm May related deadlines. You work well ahead of time, months in advance, on publicity – magazine interviews etc (which is why the major Album Hype articles nearly always include references to songs that aren’t actually on the album.)

An infinite list of little things. And they might well be seriously pushing for time, if this is all a little bit (comparatively) last minute.

 

[Earnie Shavers]

There is a nice little break between San Paulo, April 13th and Mexico City, May 11th.

I'm thinking new album May 3rd or May 10th. This gives U2 the opportunity to discuss/promote new album while in the US.

$10 on May 3, thanks.

 

[Rachel D.]

Saw this link on Facebook:

Concerts, New Album and Spider Man� - U2 360 Tour News - U2 360 Tour News, U2 Videos, U2 Music, U2 Concerts, U2 Lyrics, Twitter, Facebook, Youtube

New Album(s): Its just a rumor but hey rumors can be fun sometimes. We heard that we could see two new projects from them this year and two the following year. Lots of studio work has been going and now days studio work can be done anywhere in the world. So expect to see some interesting mixes from some interesting artists. Now of course we could not name names.

Two albums this year and two next year? Can't "name names"? It sounds like they're just making stuff up.

 

[cleazer]

Come on, that's nothing new. We've been hearing about shitloads of different projects that they're working on, but if you really think they'll release 2 projects this year and 2 more next year, well, lets just say that would be a radical departure from what we've usually been getting from U2.

 

[JamietheEdgefan]

Ah, that makes a lot of sense, thanks for explaining guys!
I see now why there is such a gap between finishing an album (seems to be done now) and actual release.

Factoring in font/album designs, shooting photos and music videos, and arranging magazine previews etc, it makes sense that they require a lot of time.
The following few months should be pretty interesting

If they plan to release in may, when should we expect to start getting more detailed news (e.g. magazine interviews, album title etc), and when would a lead single be coming out?

 

[Rachel D.]

Ah, that makes a lot of sense, thanks for explaining guys!
I see now why there is such a gap between finishing an album (seems to be done now) and actual release.

Factoring in font/album designs, shooting photos and music videos, and arranging magazine previews etc, it makes sense that they require a lot of time.
The following few months should be pretty interesting

If they plan to release in may, when should we expect to start getting more detailed news (e.g. magazine interviews, album title etc), and when would a lead single be coming out?

Maybe February? Unless they really are going to do a sneak attack, then maybe nothing until April. Maybe.

 

[doctorwho]

All due respect...AB is often considered a dramatic departure (for U2) by people who know what they're talking about. Sorry, the more I say, the more condescending I'll be. I'll leave it there.

I would concur. If this were still 1991. I am fully cognizant that Brian Eno supposedly rejected songs that sounded "too U2". However, if that was really true, then it's amazing how many U2 sounding-songs were left on the album.

After the passage of 20 years, we now have the advantage of perspective. While there are some obvious differences on AB compared to U2's prior work, upon closer examination, the departure is not nearly as dramatic.

It's like with "Pop" - the first three songs on the album are quite different for U2. But many of the remaining songs blend in with U2's other albums. Some respected artists even felt "Pop" was a bit of a "Best Of" type of album as it seemed to cover all aspects of U2's career.

I won't say that AB is some sort of "Best Of", but it's similar to "Pop" in that there are dramatic differences, but there are also songs - especially the ones on latter half of the album - that could work on JT or R&H. And that was my point - the new always has hints of the old. It's inherent because of who is writing the music.

If I did not make this point clear enough with this third post, then so be it.

My real point of writing this is to try to slightly calm the upcoming and inevitable backlash from people who state how the new album isn't really "that different" or "experimental enough" based on what they thought it would be.

 

[JamietheEdgefan]

Maybe February? Unless they really are going to do a sneak attack, then maybe nothing until April. Maybe.

Yeah i guess you're right. I'd suppose the first single would be out for april (it would have to be out before the album if u2 hope for the audience to 'appreciate it' - rather than saying "what the hell is this?"), which would be a month before the alleged album release date.
So if april is the first time we hear anything, then by march we'll probably have concrete news, like the album title, release date, name of first single.
I also hope that by next month we start getting some magazine previews

 

[Rachel D.]

I also hope that by next month we start getting some magazine previews

Hopefully; if we don't hear anything next month, not even any rumors, I'm going to start worrying.

 

[ozeeko]

I've always been part of the Wait-And-See tribe. Until an official release date is set, I refuse to get worked up. ABSOLUTELY REFUSE!!!

 

[Vlad n U 2]

However tempted you may be.

On the other hand, I had a bit of an excited fit inside my head when I read that little tidbit.

 

[U2387]

Here's how it went for NLOTH:

Rumors get started: Early 2008

Hit a roadblock: August/September 2008 with the delay of the album intended by the end of the year.

Rumors start back up: November 2008(roughly). Get stronger until.......

Release Date Announced: December 17 or 18 2008(can't remember and I'm too lazy to check) as March 3, 2009. This was the day that U2's site format changed to promote NLOTH. A good amount of magazine articles start featuring NLOTH news and continue until the album drops.

1st Single Hits the radio: January 19, 2009.

Album Leaks: February 18, 2009(around midnight in the Eastern US).

Released: March 3, 2009

So following this timeline, we are right on schedule with the rumors getting stronger, should start seeing some magazine interviews and should expect an official announcement mid February and a single to radio mid March for an early May release.

 

[An Cat Gav]

I would concur. If this were still 1991. I am fully cognizant that Brian Eno supposedly rejected songs that sounded "too U2". However, if that was really true, then it's amazing how many U2 sounding-songs were left on the album.

After the passage of 20 years, we now have the advantage of perspective. While there are some obvious differences on AB compared to U2's prior work, upon closer examination, the departure is not nearly as dramatic.

It's like with "Pop" - the first three songs on the album are quite different for U2. But many of the remaining songs blend in with U2's other albums. Some respected artists even felt "Pop" was a bit of a "Best Of" type of album as it seemed to cover all aspects of U2's career.

I won't say that AB is some sort of "Best Of", but it's similar to "Pop" in that there are dramatic differences, but there are also songs - especially the ones on latter half of the album - that could work on JT or R&H. And that was my point - the new always has hints of the old. It's inherent because of who is writing the music.

If I did not make this point clear enough with this third post, then so be it.

My real point of writing this is to try to slightly calm the upcoming and inevitable backlash from people who state how the new album isn't really "that different" or "experimental enough" based on what they thought it would be.

Many good points!

The departures for U2 in 1991 weren't just musical, their image changed dramatically and of course the way they toured, ZOO TV did at least as much to changed the perception of U2 as Achtung Baby did, add all this together and you can see that this era really was a major departure for U2. But agreed, songs like WGRYWH don't show any dramatic shift in syle.

 

[Earnie Shavers]

Given that they got burnt a bit last time by perhaps overdoing it in several different ways, I hope that their promo approach this time is both shorter and more ‘about the music’ focused. I’d love to see it be more like ATYCLB, rather than Bomb or No Line. Release a single. CLUB GIGS around the place, and just a very small amount of the big ticket promo slots on tv etc in a last week push. But focus on downplaying, and putting the music first and keeping it all tight (which the tour schedule effectively guarantees anyway.)

 

[Earnie Shavers]

 

[Vlad n U 2]

I hope Bono knows how to use that gun.

 

[nirniva]

I'm pretty sure this is the coolest picture ever drawn.
EDIT: New avvy!

 

[zoopop]

Who created that pic? Awesome!!

Can we add Edge as Skywalker, Adam as R2D2, and ........Larry as C3PO

 

[trojanchick99]

That is brilliant. Positively brilliant.