Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.
U2's twelfth studio album, "No Line on the Horizon," will arrive
March 3 from Interscope. A track list for the set, which was
produced by Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois and Steve Lillywhite, has not
been announced.
Following sessions in Fez, Dublin and New York, "No Line on the
Horizon" was
originally expected to be released before the end of 2008, but
U2 was not fully satisfied with the material and continued
working.
"I met with the guys in U2, and they say to me, 'You know what?
This album needs two more songs, and it will be exactly what we
have in mind.' I go there and I listen, and I agreed with them,"
Interscope-Geffen-A&M chairman Jimmy Iovine
told Billboard last month. "It's a great record, but it
deserves the time. Labels need to work with artists to help them
achieve their best work, not to jam records out that are half-baked
or three-quarters baked."
"I'm always the one who underestimates how easy it is to simply
'put out the songs now.' If it was just up to me they'd be out
already!," Bono told fans in September. "But early next year people
will be able to start hearing what we've been doing. We want 2009
to be our year, so we're going to start making an impression very
early on."
Among the songs expected to appear on the album are the title
track, "Moment of Surrender" and "Unknown Caller." One source who
has heard several of the songs in their early forms described them
to Billboard as "amazing and a little out there. I hope they don't
change anything."
"No Line on the Horizon" is the follow-up to 2004's "How To
Dismantle an Atomic Bomb." U2 is expected to be back on the road in
2009, marking its first tour as part of a massive recent deal with
Live Nation.