yeah, exactly....some of you like to think U2 started working on this album the day after the HTDAAB was released or something....which is just bs....
I was under the impression that U2 (mostly Bono and then Edge) write stuff most of the time (riffs, melodies, lyric ideas...) even on the road?
So in that sense I guess they started working on the new album after How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb was released.
They started writing most songs that ended up on the previous record during the All That You Can't Leave Behind sessions and even earlier as well.
Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own - Had "been around for years" according to Bono, without the falsetto piece.
Love And Peace or Else was started during the previous album sessions ("Love and Peace").
City of Blinding Lights started it's life as a POP outtake.
A Man and A Woman - Another All That You Can't Leave Behind leftover
Original Of The Species - same as the above ("Origin Of The Species").
Miracle Drug - Yet another song of All That You Can't Leave Behind origin.
Vertigo - The Edge says he came up with the main riff it while on the road.
That leaves us with four fresh songs: All Because of You, Crumbs From Your Table, One Step Closer and Yahweh.
(Although "One Step Closer To Knowing" might've been an earlier version of that track. Perhaps they just changed the title in the end?)
Also Are You Gonna Wait Forever started out as "Are You Going To Wait Forever?" from the All That You Can't Leave Behind sessions.
Source(s): http://www.u2interference.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=96182
Of course, taking rough ideas and making them into complete songs are a different matter and takes time to accomplish.
But I hope I've made it clear that U2 aren't working exclusively in a studio in the company of producers.
I don't know if that is what you were saying there Rob? I might've misunderstood you and I'm sorry if I did.